The Glenn Beck Program - February 03, 2025


Best of the Program ｜ Guest： Frank McCourt ｜ 2⧸3⧸25


Episode Stats

Length

51 minutes

Words per Minute

148.56577

Word Count

7,686

Sentence Count

632

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

11


Summary

On today's show, Glenn Beck explains why President Trump is walking into a storm, and why we must not blink as he negotiates the task on the borders. Also, the government is opening the lid on the Black Ops and Frank McCourt, the billionaire that wants to buy TikTok, on today's episode of the Glenn Beck Program.


Transcript

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00:00:30.000 Everybody was talking about tariffs today, and that's what I really wanted to explain.
00:00:34.460 I want to explain what Trump is doing with the tariffs and how the clock is ticking on what's happening in America.
00:00:41.140 Also, Doge versus USAID.
00:00:44.800 This one is important.
00:00:46.260 It shows this government is opening the lid on the black ops.
00:00:51.460 And Frank McCourt, the billionaire that wants to buy TikTok, all on today's podcast.
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00:02:03.580 It's realestateagentsitrust.com.
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00:02:18.660 You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program.
00:02:22.760 All right, the clock is ticking now, and I think everybody's very well aware of that ticking clock.
00:02:29.700 And it's happening faster than people realize.
00:02:33.580 There is a freight train that is barreling down the tracks, and we are standing right in its path.
00:02:39.200 And we're debating whether the track should be made of steel or recycled materials.
00:02:44.480 I don't think that's what we should be talking about.
00:02:47.540 The train doesn't care.
00:02:49.080 It's coming either way.
00:02:50.620 You, however, because you are paying attention, you can get off the tracks and warn others as well to the game that's being played now at a global level.
00:03:01.320 We have to move, but we must not blink.
00:03:05.800 Let's start with tariffs here.
00:03:07.220 I'm going to cover a lot of things this hour, but tariffs, they're a really big deal.
00:03:10.760 But Canada, this isn't about you.
00:03:13.140 Okay?
00:03:13.400 It's not about Mexico.
00:03:14.440 It's not about Panama.
00:03:16.680 It's about security.
00:03:18.860 It's about drug runners.
00:03:21.120 It's about our borders.
00:03:22.760 It's about making America strong again.
00:03:26.620 It's honestly about the U.S. and the end of the structure that was set up post-World War II.
00:03:33.200 That's what it is.
00:03:34.340 Now, the left and economic experts will now tell you, you can't do that.
00:03:38.380 But that's what they've been doing.
00:03:39.580 They've been dismantling the economic structure of post-World War II, right?
00:03:45.240 I mean, they say it.
00:03:46.800 It can't continue like this.
00:03:48.880 It's going to collapse.
00:03:50.140 That's why we need a Great Reset.
00:03:53.600 Except they want the Great Reset to go to a bigger global system.
00:03:59.960 Donald Trump says no.
00:04:02.320 It needs to be America first.
00:04:04.280 Just as Canada, the EU, Mexico, and the rest should do the same for their countries.
00:04:11.060 The United States, and quite honestly, the entire Western world, and I think the Eastern world as well,
00:04:16.900 is at the precipice of an economic, political, and societal reckoning,
00:04:21.960 unlike anything the world has faced since maybe the Great Depression.
00:04:25.280 And in some ways, it's worse.
00:04:28.680 Because this time, it's not just about economics.
00:04:32.360 It's about trust.
00:04:33.760 It's about trust in our institutions, trust in our leaders, and even trust in one another.
00:04:39.460 And that's what makes this moment so dangerous.
00:04:43.560 President Trump is walking into a storm, perhaps running headfirst right into it,
00:04:50.680 with a task that borders on the impossible.
00:04:55.480 Think of this.
00:04:57.240 He's got to be right.
00:04:59.280 Not most of the time.
00:05:01.160 Not right on balance.
00:05:02.820 He has to be right almost every time.
00:05:05.540 Every policy, every decision, every negotiation.
00:05:08.860 He's got to be right.
00:05:10.780 It has to be in the right order, the right timing, and the right execution.
00:05:16.800 And we must not blink as he negotiates.
00:05:21.920 Because here's the truth.
00:05:23.620 We are out of margin for error.
00:05:26.240 As pilots would say, we're out of runway.
00:05:29.580 We have no more runway.
00:05:31.820 It's either get this plane up or crash.
00:05:34.720 Now, imagine trying to defuse a bomb with shaky hands after somebody else set the timer
00:05:41.640 and booby-trapped all of the wiring.
00:05:44.140 That's exactly what we're dealing with.
00:05:47.640 However, for anyone who's beginning to shrink because of the shrieks of Justin Trudeau
00:05:53.940 and make you question what Trump is doing with tariffs,
00:05:57.760 look who came to the negotiating table this weekend.
00:06:01.520 Panama.
00:06:01.920 Panama.
00:06:03.560 What?
00:06:04.560 I thought they were going to fight to the bitter end.
00:06:07.340 No.
00:06:08.360 They're returning the control of the Panama Canal to us.
00:06:13.760 We don't own it.
00:06:15.160 But they're kicking China out.
00:06:18.720 That's what he wanted.
00:06:21.280 So for the first time, America, you need to understand,
00:06:24.280 first time since Ronald Reagan, at least,
00:06:26.260 that we've had a president who knows what the truth is and knows how to get it.
00:06:31.800 Just as Reagan said, that's an evil empire of communism, our number one enemy.
00:06:37.860 Trump is declaring globalism our number one enemy
00:06:41.400 and returning jobs and manufacturing back to America.
00:06:47.000 That's what's happening.
00:06:48.380 That's what he's doing.
00:06:49.300 You see, we have to grow our way out of this debt.
00:06:53.860 It's not enough just to cut.
00:06:55.980 We also have to grow.
00:06:57.480 Our debt is over $34 trillion and climbing.
00:07:01.900 Our annual deficit is over $1.7 trillion.
00:07:06.300 The interest on our debt alone is $1 trillion a year.
00:07:11.460 Just the interest.
00:07:13.200 That's more than we spend on national defense.
00:07:18.980 It's going to surpass what we spend on Social Security.
00:07:22.600 And once that happens, the math doesn't work and it collapses under its own weight.
00:07:29.220 And that will happen because almost all of the debt accrued under Biden
00:07:34.920 were written as short-term loans.
00:07:38.120 A lot of it comes back up to be re-loaned and re-mortgaged this next 18 months.
00:07:49.360 Now, because Biden was such a good negotiator,
00:07:53.240 we're going to have to negotiate under higher interest rates.
00:07:59.760 Uh-oh.
00:08:01.140 This is why we don't have a choice.
00:08:03.940 Just this one fact, if not dealt with, quickly will kill us.
00:08:11.160 The Federal Reserve, our so-called economic firefighter, is out of water.
00:08:15.920 In fact, I think they've been an arsonist for a long time.
00:08:18.840 Interest rates are already high.
00:08:20.680 Inflation is sticky.
00:08:22.480 Quantitative easing, the magic trick that they told us would work for over a decade,
00:08:27.180 is no longer even an option.
00:08:28.720 The Fed printed $8 trillion in the last 15 years.
00:08:35.360 And what did we get?
00:08:37.120 What did we get?
00:08:38.720 Did we get new companies, new manufacturing, new jobs everywhere?
00:08:43.240 No, we got asset bubbles, distorted markets,
00:08:45.860 and the illusion of prosperity for us,
00:08:48.980 as the uber-rich and large corporations, along with the banks,
00:08:53.000 just got much, much, much richer.
00:08:55.480 The illusion is finally fading.
00:08:59.320 Reality is setting in.
00:09:01.560 There's going to be a great reset.
00:09:03.520 Most likely it'll be on Wall Street.
00:09:06.280 And just when we thought it couldn't get more complicated,
00:09:09.020 here comes artificial intelligence and artificial superintelligence
00:09:12.960 reshaping the entire world, what will feel like overnight.
00:09:20.420 Millions of jobs are going to be obsolete.
00:09:23.360 Now, will there be new ones?
00:09:25.480 Probably.
00:09:26.080 They usually come.
00:09:27.800 Are they going to come fast enough?
00:09:29.540 No, there's going to be pain.
00:09:30.940 We've talked about that for 15 years.
00:09:32.880 See, everything that we've ever talked about that ended with somebody,
00:09:37.580 usually a president, saying,
00:09:39.220 and at that point there will be no good options,
00:09:43.140 we're here.
00:09:44.640 That's where we are.
00:09:45.720 And the economy isn't, it's not a machine you can just reboot.
00:09:52.940 It's more like an ecosystem, and we've been poisoning it now for decades.
00:09:58.140 So how do you fix this?
00:10:00.520 How do you pull a nation back from the brink when it's addicted to easy money and cheap credit and government handouts?
00:10:07.420 Well, you start by telling the truth.
00:10:11.600 And that's what Donald Trump has been saying.
00:10:14.200 We screwed ourselves, and we've been screwed by every other nation,
00:10:18.520 and including ourselves, mainly ourselves.
00:10:21.020 Look, we're broke.
00:10:23.520 Yes, if the world were a neighborhood, we'd be the one that had the biggest house, the nicest cars.
00:10:29.580 We might even have a fleet of jets.
00:10:32.340 But what the neighbors now know is that everything in our house, including our house,
00:10:38.680 was purchased on loan, and our income can no longer service just the interest on the loan.
00:10:46.160 Everybody knows, it seems, except perhaps the family inside of the house with the fancy gates.
00:10:52.060 That would be us.
00:10:54.520 This is why the $1 trillion cuts, $4 billion a day that Elon Musk announced over the weekend,
00:11:01.380 is a really big deal.
00:11:02.620 But it cannot be the end.
00:11:05.060 It has to be the beginning.
00:11:07.520 Because we can't afford to be the world's babysitter or policeman anymore.
00:11:11.340 We can't keep writing blank checks to foreign countries while our own people are in real danger.
00:11:21.640 It's really easy.
00:11:22.880 We as a nation, as a nation, need to downsize.
00:11:26.240 That's it.
00:11:27.500 We need to look at our government and say, it's far too big.
00:11:30.720 We need cuts.
00:11:32.500 And the most important thing is a new mindset.
00:11:35.260 The post-World War II order is over.
00:11:38.940 That system where America props up the global economy, defends half the planet,
00:11:44.340 underwrites everybody else's welfare state, it's over.
00:11:47.300 It's dead.
00:11:48.900 Why?
00:11:49.760 Why are we still living under trade laws that were written right after World War II
00:11:55.340 to help rebuild the European and German car companies?
00:12:00.560 I think Mercedes is okay.
00:12:02.600 I think they'll make it without us.
00:12:06.340 It's been dead for years.
00:12:12.420 This thing has been on life support for decades, and it's been dead for at least two decades,
00:12:21.840 maybe three.
00:12:22.800 We just haven't had the funeral yet, and we need to.
00:12:26.420 Countries like Panama are already beginning at the negotiating table.
00:12:30.100 Why?
00:12:31.300 Why?
00:12:32.540 Donald Trump is playing a serious game.
00:12:35.880 He is a serious negotiator.
00:12:38.920 We still hold sway in that neighborhood, even though everybody knows we're broke.
00:12:44.100 It's our security team that protects the entire neighborhood.
00:12:49.060 If we stop, they'll need to spend money.
00:12:52.540 Money they don't have, or at least haven't been willing to spend.
00:12:56.280 So, yeah, you like our jets?
00:13:01.940 You like our protection?
00:13:03.720 You like the world order?
00:13:05.320 Yeah, you're going to have to pay for some of it because we're done.
00:13:09.060 And the world is feeling the shift.
00:13:12.180 And the ones who are really against it were the ones that were designing a new global community,
00:13:17.620 not a local community.
00:13:19.920 The tariffs, the economic pressure, it's not just about money.
00:13:26.500 It's about leverage.
00:13:28.540 For the first time in generations, we're forcing other nations to stand on their own two feet.
00:13:35.080 We're telling them, look, we have standards.
00:13:38.300 We have a border, and you cannot allow China to come in, make all that fentanyl right under
00:13:44.260 your nose, and then ship it across our border with drug cartels.
00:13:47.340 And if you can't control them, we're going to push you first, 25% tariff.
00:13:53.100 And if you can't control them, then we're going to take care of those drug cartels ourself
00:13:57.460 because they're killing people here in America.
00:14:00.180 And Canada, I'm sorry, it's not about you.
00:14:02.760 We're good friends.
00:14:03.800 We are.
00:14:04.320 But you have problems as well.
00:14:06.960 You need to look at Canada first.
00:14:09.160 We've all built our economies on the illusion that we could have it all without paying the
00:14:15.640 price.
00:14:16.300 BRICS is building an alternative to the U.S. dollar as a global reserve currency, which
00:14:21.180 is not a conspiracy theory.
00:14:22.720 It's happening.
00:14:23.880 China, Russia, India, Brazil, South Africa, they're betting against us.
00:14:28.500 And Canada is beginning to say they'll join Panama and others to stand against us too.
00:14:33.440 Fine.
00:14:34.600 Bet on America's best days are behind us.
00:14:38.040 But no, they're not.
00:14:40.440 They're hedging their future against the collapse of the dollar.
00:14:43.560 That's fine.
00:14:44.400 If they're right, if the dollar loses its status as the world reserve currency, then our standard
00:14:49.700 of living will collapse almost overnight.
00:14:52.100 But it's going to anyway if we don't act boldly now.
00:15:00.740 Here's the thing.
00:15:01.820 It's not just about economics.
00:15:03.320 It's also about character.
00:15:04.480 We've been living in a fantasy too long, believing economic magic tricks can print wealth out
00:15:10.000 of thin air, or we could borrow it forever without any consequence.
00:15:14.960 That's not how reality works.
00:15:17.540 Reality has rules.
00:15:19.560 And if you break them, you pay the price.
00:15:21.840 And we're not the only ones that broke all those rules.
00:15:25.120 Every country in the West did.
00:15:27.560 We're just the first now under Donald Trump to say, okay, we're out of that game.
00:15:31.800 Cuts are coming.
00:15:33.960 Deep cuts.
00:15:35.440 Cuts that will make people scream.
00:15:37.140 Cuts to programs that you think are sacred.
00:15:39.540 Cuts to programs that I think are sacred.
00:15:42.100 Because if everything is sacred, then nothing is sacred.
00:15:46.660 We've treated government spending like an all-you-can-eat buffet, but the bill is now due.
00:15:51.960 And guess what?
00:15:52.500 There's no such thing as a free lunch.
00:15:54.000 And in fact, every item we ate had a very high price.
00:15:59.800 It's easy to say, cut the waste.
00:16:01.960 But the truth is, the waste isn't enough.
00:16:04.720 Even if you eliminated every dollar of fraud, waste, and abuse, it wouldn't fix the problem.
00:16:09.500 Because the problem is us.
00:16:11.520 It's our expectations.
00:16:13.260 Our unwillingness to make sacrifices.
00:16:15.900 Our unwillingness to do it ourselves and force others to do it themselves.
00:16:20.860 Every generation before us has faced hard times, wars, depression, pandemics.
00:16:27.960 They rose to the occasion.
00:16:31.340 The history books are just wondering, which direction am I going to write this in?
00:16:36.040 Will we stand up?
00:16:39.820 Because a lot of tough things are coming.
00:16:43.020 A lot of tough things.
00:16:45.600 But here's the hope.
00:16:47.260 We still choose how this story ends.
00:16:49.280 We face the truth now while we still have some options.
00:16:53.680 We can tighten our belts, make the cuts, rebuild our economy on solid ground.
00:16:58.780 It's going to be painful, painful here, and painful for other countries.
00:17:02.720 But pain's not the enemy.
00:17:05.620 Complacency is.
00:17:08.180 You know, I worry about these tariffs as well.
00:17:11.100 But Donald Trump is not a lawyer.
00:17:14.500 I mean, all of our presidents usually come from law.
00:17:17.080 He's not a lawyer.
00:17:19.040 He's not a politician.
00:17:21.100 He's a businessman.
00:17:22.300 So he knows how the economy works.
00:17:24.580 He's the best negotiator I've ever seen.
00:17:27.880 And over the last eight years, he has earned at least my trust and respect.
00:17:34.600 I don't follow him blindly, nor should you.
00:17:38.080 I worry about the effects of tariffs.
00:17:40.140 But I think I see what he's doing and why he's doing it.
00:17:43.260 And it may be the last chance we have if we do not let others see us blink.
00:17:49.720 This isn't about politics.
00:17:51.500 This is about survival.
00:17:54.500 The world as we've known it since World War II is over.
00:17:57.920 And that's not a bad thing.
00:17:58.980 It's an opportunity.
00:17:59.720 It's an opportunity to rebuild something better, stronger, something real.
00:18:05.000 The question is, are we brave enough to face it?
00:18:09.880 Or will we believe the truth when we hear it?
00:18:14.840 Are you living with pain?
00:18:16.700 If so, how bad is it?
00:18:17.960 How frequent is it?
00:18:18.940 It is the sort of thing that just only annoys you, or does it interfere with the way you live your life?
00:18:24.100 You have to make decisions based on whether or not it's going to flare up.
00:18:27.760 Here are a few follow-up questions.
00:18:29.460 How long are you going to put up with it?
00:18:31.640 What have you tried to get rid of it?
00:18:33.000 Have you tried everything?
00:18:33.920 Because that's what I thought.
00:18:34.800 I tried everything.
00:18:36.100 My wife said, no, you haven't.
00:18:36.940 I've tried this.
00:18:38.240 It's not going to work.
00:18:39.180 It's a daily supplement.
00:18:40.980 Helps your body fight inflammation.
00:18:42.600 I know that trick.
00:18:43.680 That doesn't work.
00:18:44.540 I've been taking ibuprofen my whole life.
00:18:46.200 It doesn't work.
00:18:47.340 This does, strangely.
00:18:49.080 I don't know why.
00:18:49.940 I think it's because of the ingredients.
00:18:52.620 It actually works with your body to help fight inflammation, which is the cause of most of our disease.
00:18:58.960 And most of our pain.
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00:19:14.800 Now, back to the podcast.
00:19:17.240 This is the best of the Glenn Beck Program.
00:19:22.080 Let me tell you about what happened this weekend with Doge.
00:19:25.960 This is something that was tucked beneath the political squabbles and the Grammy night celebrity nonsense.
00:19:32.880 It is a story far more important than any of our daily distractions, and it makes me oh so very happy.
00:19:41.920 And you'll understand why in a minute.
00:19:43.300 But this story pulls the curtain back on who really holds the reins of power in our country.
00:19:51.220 I want to connect a few dots with you here in the next 40 minutes or so.
00:19:56.520 We're going to talk about USAID.
00:19:58.620 We're going to talk about Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency.
00:20:06.840 Doge and the Trump team are battling it out with USAID.
00:20:13.980 Okay?
00:20:14.980 We cannot let Elon Musk see our books.
00:20:17.760 We are not giving him.
00:20:19.180 Really?
00:20:20.160 You run an aid program.
00:20:23.600 What's so top secret that you can't let him see it?
00:20:27.980 This is about control.
00:20:30.840 Control over the flow of information, over government secrecy.
00:20:35.220 And, yes, control over your tax dollars.
00:20:38.880 So, here's the story in a nutshell.
00:20:41.340 In case you didn't know, USAID, the U.S. Agency for the International Development,
00:20:49.020 had its director of security, Jonathan Voorhees, and his deputy, Brian McGill, placed on administrative leave.
00:20:58.180 Why?
00:20:58.540 Because they refused to grant access to security systems and systems containing sensitive personnel files,
00:21:06.780 security clearance information, even classified materials to employees of Doge.
00:21:14.320 When Voorhees and McGill said, no, you're not allowed to see any of this,
00:21:19.940 that's when the Doge team threatened to call in the U.S. Marshals.
00:21:25.860 The U.S. Marshals over a bureaucratic disagreement?
00:21:29.600 No.
00:21:30.840 Remember, this is about something much, much bigger.
00:21:33.600 It's about who controls the machinery of the government when it comes to foreign influence,
00:21:39.600 covert operations, and the shadow games our government is playing overseas.
00:21:44.620 So, let's start with USAID.
00:21:48.180 On paper, it sounds great, right?
00:21:50.980 The U.S. Agency for International Development.
00:21:53.680 They're the folks who help develop countries, build schools, and fight diseases, and support democracy.
00:22:00.860 First of all, I don't want to be in that business as a government.
00:22:05.040 But if you've been paying attention, history will tell you something else.
00:22:09.920 It's well known that USAID has been much more than an aid operation since its inception in 1961.
00:22:20.120 By the way, can you tell me anything that happened, you know, with the government
00:22:23.720 and overseas things that was good that happened in the 50s and 60s?
00:22:29.880 Maybe the Peace Corps, maybe the Peace Corps, but I doubt it.
00:22:35.580 USAID is a covert CIA operation.
00:22:39.920 They do covert black ops all around the world, and their money just comes in, and it just,
00:22:46.840 oh, no, this is aid.
00:22:48.280 Black hole.
00:22:50.260 Now, this is not a conspiracy theory.
00:22:53.020 This is historic fact.
00:22:55.420 In the Cold War, USAID funded cultural organizations and student groups and agricultural projects.
00:23:03.300 They were covers for intelligence gathering, and they have been accused of everything from influencing elections in foreign countries
00:23:12.740 to helping overthrow governments that didn't align with our interests.
00:23:17.940 Do you want any country doing that?
00:23:19.780 No, we have a big problem with other countries influencing our elections.
00:23:24.160 How dare they?
00:23:27.400 Uh-huh.
00:23:29.140 Black ops.
00:23:30.340 Do you remember the color revolutions in Europe?
00:23:33.980 Yeah.
00:23:35.420 Yeah.
00:23:36.360 Now, don't get me wrong.
00:23:37.500 I'm not saying that every employee at USAID is a covert operative.
00:23:41.840 Most, I'm sure, are good, decent people trying to do their jobs.
00:23:44.760 But the agency has always had a dual identity, part humanitarian, part shadowy extension of U.S. foreign policy through the CIA.
00:23:56.420 And that's really the part that I think is interesting here.
00:23:59.480 Because every nation knows that this is a CIA front, except the American people.
00:24:06.140 We don't know that, apparently.
00:24:07.940 We just, no, no, we're good.
00:24:09.340 We're, you know, it has billions of dollars in black covert money flowing through it.
00:24:16.720 We just don't know it because those with oversight can't see the records.
00:24:21.960 President team has just been denied access.
00:24:25.080 Wait a minute.
00:24:25.860 Who works for who?
00:24:26.880 This is an aid thing.
00:24:28.520 What do you have that is so very top secret?
00:24:33.100 So here comes Doge.
00:24:34.880 The Department of Government Efficiency.
00:24:37.720 Sounds pretty harmless.
00:24:39.640 Yeah.
00:24:40.020 Like a bunch of accountants trying to balance the budget.
00:24:42.700 That's all we're trying to do.
00:24:44.460 But those who are running black ops know that Doge has two agendas.
00:24:50.200 And the president has made it very clear.
00:24:52.840 Yes, cut the waste.
00:24:55.120 Downsize the government.
00:24:56.860 But it also has another very specific mission.
00:25:01.720 Except this isn't a black op.
00:25:04.460 Again, this mission is right out in the open.
00:25:07.360 Where all mission should be.
00:25:10.600 Their mission is not only to cut the budget, but to break up the entrenched bureaucracies that have been running Washington like their own personal fiefdoms.
00:25:20.500 Trump's goal was to drain the swamp.
00:25:23.740 And Doge is supposed to be one of the tools that is headed by Elon Musk to drain that swamp.
00:25:30.480 Now, I personally like it for a couple of reasons.
00:25:35.440 Elon Musk is one of the world's greatest minds.
00:25:38.760 I mean, when he goes into his own companies, he sits with every employee for about five minutes and just says, what are you working on this week?
00:25:46.400 And if they don't have something that, you know, he feels is like really moving the company forward, you're not necessary.
00:25:55.200 You're fired.
00:25:56.060 He has a knack for cutting waste and making companies more efficient and also coming up with some really good products.
00:26:04.180 He's a disruptor.
00:26:06.580 He doesn't do things like everybody else.
00:26:08.520 He doesn't think like everybody else.
00:26:10.560 That's his strength.
00:26:12.440 He disrupts industries.
00:26:14.100 He challenges the norms.
00:26:15.780 And he's been on a very public mission to expose and challenge what he sees as government overreach, whether it's with Twitter or X or even the critiques of regulatory agencies.
00:26:27.160 Now, he can come in and he can look at these things and go, wait a minute.
00:26:31.120 This doesn't seem to be exactly, you know, what you're supposed to be doing.
00:26:36.480 This is different.
00:26:37.780 This isn't about posting memes and calling out the woke mind virus.
00:26:41.680 This is about accessing the very heart of the government's covert machinery.
00:26:48.100 That's what's happening with USAID because it's not about aid programs.
00:26:52.980 It's all about data.
00:26:54.980 It's all about networks.
00:26:57.120 It's all about the hidden influence that the U.S. experts, you know, flex all around the world, including perhaps inside the United States against our own people.
00:27:10.320 But we don't know.
00:27:11.440 And now for the first time in decades, somebody from the outside of traditional power structures are saying, huh, what is it you guys do here?
00:27:22.460 And guess what?
00:27:24.220 The machine doesn't like it.
00:27:26.620 The people who've been running that machine also don't like it.
00:27:31.020 I want you to remember who was in charge of USAID.
00:27:34.840 Does anybody remember?
00:27:36.840 Anybody?
00:27:38.680 Bueller?
00:27:39.240 Anybody?
00:27:41.800 Samantha Power.
00:27:43.800 Now, Samantha Power, she's the wife of the Harvard professor, Obama advisor, and author of the really super important book called Nudge.
00:27:55.540 How to get people to do what you want them to do without them knowing.
00:28:01.460 Nudge.
00:28:02.000 So, the wife of that guy, who I'm sure has nothing to do with nudging or doing anything like that, even though she was with the Obama administration forever, she doesn't know anything about that.
00:28:20.000 This is why John Voorhees and Brian McGill push back.
00:28:24.640 That's why they're risking their careers to say, no, you can't come in here because they weren't just protecting the files.
00:28:32.240 They were protecting the status quo.
00:28:34.740 They're protecting a system that is operated in the shadows for decades with little to no accountability to the American people.
00:28:42.000 And here's where it gets even more fascinating.
00:28:44.520 The employees at USAID and across the federal bureaucracy aren't just fighting to protect sensitive information.
00:28:52.780 They are fighting to protect their power.
00:28:56.040 He's getting into the roots now.
00:29:00.140 He's opening up to it.
00:29:01.360 You know how Donald Trump is kind of like a human hand grenade?
00:29:05.160 I've said this to his face.
00:29:06.960 You know, I think you're kind of like a human hand grenade.
00:29:09.320 What do you mean?
00:29:11.100 Well, I mean, you're the greatest human hand grenade I've ever seen.
00:29:13.840 Don't get me wrong.
00:29:14.560 You just kind of throw yourself into things, and then a wall comes down, and as the dust is settling, everybody goes, wait a minute, what's on the other side of that wall?
00:29:23.780 Well, that's what's happening, except this time they're not just lobbing grenades in.
00:29:30.040 They know where it is.
00:29:31.780 Over the years, we've created this massive administrative state, which is a fourth branch of government that nobody votes for.
00:29:40.020 Wholly unconstitutional.
00:29:42.620 No one really controls it.
00:29:45.080 You notice that the people on Capitol Hill, they're afraid of the intelligence agencies.
00:29:51.960 Hmm, so who's really boss then?
00:29:57.260 They operate with a level of secrecy that would make our founding fathers roll in their graves.
00:30:03.160 This administrative state has been the gatekeeper of information, deciding who gets to know what, both here, at home, and abroad.
00:30:12.800 Does the president even know?
00:30:14.120 So when Trump and Musk come knocking, knocking, knocking at the door, trying to peek behind the curtain, the reaction is swift and fierce, because if they succeed, they'll manage to pull USAID's operations and put it right under direct control of the State Department.
00:30:35.820 Or even worse, in the public eye, they'll be held accountable for things.
00:30:41.640 We can't have that.
00:30:43.060 It will expose decades of covert actions, questionable alliances, the dark side of U.S. foreign policy that has been hidden under the guise of aid.
00:30:55.020 It's why the rest of the world hates us.
00:31:00.340 Think about some of the crazy things we've done in the name of foreign aid.
00:31:03.380 We've funneled money to warlords in Afghanistan.
00:31:06.320 We gave money to the Taliban, money to Gaza to prop up Hamas.
00:31:10.620 We've run guns to the Syrian group ISIS, propped up dictators in Latin America, even funded opposition groups in countries where we wanted regime change all under the banner of freedom and democracy.
00:31:23.880 Again, this is why everybody hates the American government.
00:31:30.120 Her people see our influence as good and benevolent.
00:31:34.500 And sometimes I think we are.
00:31:36.440 Other times, America is anything but.
00:31:39.880 So in exchange for our tax dollars, we've asked countries to change their laws, to accept abortion in places where the people are morally outraged.
00:31:49.280 We promote transgenderism in their schools.
00:31:52.440 We we tell them that this is the enlightened way to go.
00:31:57.100 Otherwise, they lose their aid.
00:31:59.180 We force them to open their markets to multinational corporations that sometimes are don't have their best interest at heart.
00:32:06.300 And we conduct military operations on their soil.
00:32:09.760 You will do it our way.
00:32:11.440 And yet you don't know anything about it.
00:32:13.600 Most Americans have no idea because it's all wrapped up in the nice, shiny package of humanitarian assistance.
00:32:22.260 So here's what happens if Doge succeeds.
00:32:25.380 What happens if Musk and Trump manage to pry open the lid to this operation?
00:32:30.060 Well, for once, the bureaucrats lose control of one of their many hiding places.
00:32:37.920 The intelligence community loses one of its more useful tools.
00:32:43.720 And the American people might finally get to see just how much of their hard earned money has been used not to build schools or feed the hungry,
00:32:51.100 but to manipulate foreign governments and maintain our empire of influence.
00:32:56.940 And here's the kicker.
00:32:59.760 This isn't about just the past.
00:33:01.480 It is about the future, because if Musk and Trump can break through this wall, it sets a precedent.
00:33:06.720 It says no part of the government is beyond scrutiny of our elected officials.
00:33:12.040 And that terrifies people who've been running the show.
00:33:16.140 So what do we take away?
00:33:17.960 One, pay attention.
00:33:21.200 Stories like these are not bureaucratic squabbles.
00:33:24.260 This is the battle front.
00:33:26.700 This is the battle line right there that will decide who actually runs the country.
00:33:33.960 We're going to see more on this, and the intelligence agencies are not going to like it.
00:33:38.620 So, one thing I would take away from this is don't take any news story at face value for a while.
00:33:45.760 There are many hiding places, and those who receive and use dark money for black ops are going to fight back.
00:33:52.560 Second, ask questions.
00:33:55.140 Continue to ask questions.
00:33:57.340 Why does USAID have classified systems that other government officials can't access?
00:34:02.860 Why is there so much resistance in an aid organization to transparency?
00:34:07.220 And third, remember the people that are screaming the loudest about protecting democracy are often the ones most afraid of the people actually seeing how the sausage gets made.
00:34:18.500 So this isn't about USAID, Doge, or even Trump and Musk.
00:34:23.000 It's about whether you have the right to know what our government is doing with your money.
00:34:29.180 Stay curious, America.
00:34:33.680 We will get to the bottom of this, but we have to be willing to go through the tough times.
00:34:41.000 Remain determined and vigilant.
00:34:43.680 Frank McCourt, best known as the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has placed a bid in to buy TikTok through a group that he started called Project Liberty.
00:35:02.440 Project Liberty is, I think, a really good mission.
00:35:08.980 They are trying to make sure that the data that everybody collects on us is owned by each of us rather than by the tech giants.
00:35:18.980 And he wants to start this with TikTok.
00:35:22.140 Welcome to the program.
00:35:23.760 How are you, Frank?
00:35:25.580 I'm well, Glenn.
00:35:26.640 How are you doing today?
00:35:27.660 I'm good.
00:35:28.500 I'm good.
00:35:29.020 So tell me first, I guess we start with Project Liberty.
00:35:32.640 Explain what you're trying to do with that.
00:35:36.460 Yeah.
00:35:37.140 So we have, you know, this awesome Internet technology, which we all are dependent on now.
00:35:45.840 It's no longer a nice to have, right?
00:35:47.600 It's a must have.
00:35:48.460 And it's evolved into a place that I believe and those of us involved in Project Liberty believe is very bad for American citizens and for America at large.
00:36:04.780 And the reason I say that is that everything about us now is captured and, you know, scraped from us and aggregated in, you know, centralized places and including China in one instance.
00:36:26.080 And all of this information about us essentially creates a virtual version of us that should be owned by each of us, right?
00:36:37.420 Because when you have all of this information and all this knowledge extracted and single centralized points know everything about us and can manipulate us and so on and so forth, that's antithetical to democratic principles, right?
00:36:55.100 Where individuals have agency and own and control themselves.
00:36:58.040 So we started this project five years ago, December of 19, to build an alternative tech stack, which would allow individuals to own themselves, to own their personhood in the digital age, to own their data and to permission its use and to get value for it, quite frankly, because it turns out it's extremely valuable.
00:37:18.280 So that's what Project Liberty is about.
00:37:19.820 The TikTok bid is intended to really accelerate the effort.
00:37:27.220 We've built the tech stack.
00:37:28.520 It's up and operating.
00:37:29.580 There's a couple million people using it now, but a couple million people is not an alternative internet.
00:37:34.540 We need a couple hundred million people.
00:37:36.320 So I tell you, I have been concerned about this and really, especially when you look at the power that is being consolidated with just a few individuals and a few companies, the only thing that we have is our own information.
00:37:53.480 That's where our power and money comes from, is from our information.
00:37:57.840 And they've just taken it all from.
00:37:59.440 We've given it to them, but it is absolutely time.
00:38:02.420 We take it back.
00:38:04.280 Is that even possible, Frank, to do that?
00:38:07.520 Yeah.
00:38:07.900 Yeah.
00:38:08.500 Yeah.
00:38:08.840 Absolutely possible.
00:38:10.000 And that's why I committed a half a billion dollars to this project to actually build the technology to prove that it's possible.
00:38:17.060 And that's up and running.
00:38:18.180 As I said, we have a couple million people using it now and several apps built on it, but we need much more than that.
00:38:24.740 You know, Glenn, you hit the nail on the head.
00:38:26.680 I mean, look, if I was the postmaster general and I said to you and your listeners, I have an idea.
00:38:33.340 I have a deal for everyone.
00:38:34.580 You can send your mail from now on for free.
00:38:36.600 No stamps.
00:38:37.820 You know, send it for free.
00:38:39.220 You might say, well, okay, what's the deal?
00:38:41.900 All right.
00:38:42.620 Well, in exchange, I'm going to put a camera and listening device in every room of your house, in your car, in your workplace, and I'm going to surveil you 24 hours a day.
00:38:51.700 You'd say, wait a second.
00:38:52.620 That's super creepy.
00:38:53.440 And I say, well, but it's for free.
00:38:56.260 No more stamps.
00:38:57.420 Oh, one other thing I have to tell you.
00:38:59.000 I'm going to open your mail.
00:39:00.580 I'm going to read it.
00:39:01.740 And everything I learned, you know, not just where you shop or what food you like to eat or this or that, but your thoughts, including your most intimate ones, your feelings, including your most intimate ones, they're now mine.
00:39:15.440 Okay?
00:39:16.200 So you would say, wait a second.
00:39:17.320 This is creepy and very unfair.
00:39:19.580 Oh, one other thing.
00:39:20.520 I'm going to read your 14-year-old daughter's diary when I learned she's concerned about her weight.
00:39:25.080 I'm going to push stuff towards her to make her feel worse.
00:39:28.360 Then I'm going to push stuff towards her to have her buy things because I've made her feel worse.
00:39:32.840 I'm going to profit from that.
00:39:34.360 Oh, and while I'm at it, I'm going to teach her, show her how to cut herself, hurt herself, harm herself because I've made her feel so bad about herself.
00:39:41.860 So now you'd say, wait a second, creepy, unfair, and downright harmful, and that's the Internet we have.
00:39:48.720 It's time to take back ownership of ourselves in the digital age.
00:39:53.900 We've given up our citizenship.
00:39:55.580 We've given up our agency.
00:39:57.100 And, you know, it's just let's fix it.
00:40:00.420 This is just technology, and we can fix it from the ground up.
00:40:05.800 And that's what Project Liberty is all about, and I'm a – go ahead.
00:40:10.060 I have to tell you, Frank, that I don't know why we don't care more about this.
00:40:14.960 I guess people just don't see the problem.
00:40:17.600 And as I see it, it is truly the loss of the most important thing, and that is free will.
00:40:25.120 We're to a point to where it knows us better than we know ourselves, and we can so easily be manipulated because it knows us better than we know ourselves.
00:40:36.540 And we won't – we're entering a time where we won't know if we voted for somebody because we actually felt that way or that was planted in us or we bought this product because we were steered that direction.
00:40:50.480 I mean, it is truly the loss of free will.
00:40:53.140 Again, nail being hit in the head.
00:40:58.680 We talk far, far too much about the loss of free speech and far too little about the loss of free will.
00:41:04.620 This is highly manipulative technology.
00:41:08.820 The TikTok issue has brought this to the fore.
00:41:12.580 It's grave concerns about having the information on 170 million Americans in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party and even graver concerns that the Chinese Communist Party would have the ability now to manipulate 170 million Americans.
00:41:31.120 Is it a little crazy, though, Frank, that we are sitting here – we're only concerned because it's the Chinese?
00:41:39.480 We think if anybody else is doing it, I guess it's fine.
00:41:42.180 If Apple's doing it, if Google's doing it, it's okay.
00:41:45.240 This is exactly right.
00:41:47.000 This is why this TikTok legislation, I think, is kind of – it's the so-called tip of the iceberg.
00:41:54.220 It's bringing the whole architecture, the whole architecture of how the Internet works to the fore.
00:42:00.920 People like yourself, and thank you for doing it, are bringing these issues forward so people understand.
00:42:08.720 And believe me, I appreciate the difference of our information going to Beijing versus going to Silicon Valley.
00:42:17.560 Yes.
00:42:17.880 But quite frankly, I don't want my information in either place.
00:42:20.680 I want to own it.
00:42:21.640 I want to own my information.
00:42:23.140 I want a permission at use, and I want to benefit from it if it's going to make –
00:42:26.360 Exactly right.
00:42:27.420 Create a lot of economic activity in that.
00:42:30.280 Exactly right.
00:42:31.020 So, Frank, tell me about the bid that you put – you've already placed a bid on TikTok, right?
00:42:36.340 Yes.
00:42:37.920 And how is this being received?
00:42:41.440 How does this – I mean, I haven't tried to buy TikTok, so I don't have any idea how that even works.
00:42:49.120 How is it going, I guess?
00:42:51.100 Do you know if you're in the running?
00:42:53.940 Yeah, well, definitely in the running.
00:42:55.280 We don't know if – well, let's take a step backwards.
00:43:00.220 What's going on here, right?
00:43:01.760 So, back in the spring of last year, legislation was passed, a great piece of legislation passed by a strong bipartisan majority in Congress to force ByteDance, the parent company of U.S. TikTok,
00:43:17.780 to either shut it down in the U.S. or sell the U.S. assets, the U.S. platform.
00:43:27.340 And so that was legislation that gave ByteDance 270 days to sort that out with one 90-day extension available to them.
00:43:40.540 So, we put in our bid within that 270 days, and I think we're the only ones to put in a certifiable bid, a bid where we as a buyer can move forward and not only have the finances in place,
00:43:58.440 but meet, most importantly, the national security criteria, which was a disentanglement of the Chinese technology from the U.S. assets being sold.
00:44:10.900 Because you already have built the platform.
00:44:13.740 That's exactly right.
00:44:14.780 And had we not been building this platform, we would not be a bidder, because we just coincidentally can solve for this set of national security issues.
00:44:24.200 And so, we saw TikTok as a wonderful opportunity that fell in our laps to say, wait a second, we'll buy TikTok, solve the national security issues,
00:44:36.780 move the user base and the data over to this clean, made-in-America stack, give people ownership and control of their data,
00:44:43.940 and we've solved a bunch of issues because we've also spun up an alternative to the current Internet so people would have a choice.
00:44:54.240 You and I would have a choice.
00:44:55.440 Do we go on the Internet where we're surveilled 24-7 and we give up everything about us for free,
00:45:01.660 or do we go on a different Internet and we permission the use of our data and we're in charge of ourselves,
00:45:07.680 we own ourselves, and we get value?
00:45:09.440 To me, I believe, you know, people will flock to this new Internet because they'll have all the benefits that you currently have,
00:45:19.140 ease of use and be able to order things and have them delivered to your house and be entertained and communicate with people,
00:45:26.140 but you'll be doing it from a position of power and where the power will be in the individual's hands,
00:45:32.360 not in a centralized platform's hands.
00:45:35.060 This is, by the way, when I wrote the book Our Biggest Fight, I used the American Project as my framing device
00:45:40.780 because it's so ironic that 250 years ago we were doing the same thing,
00:45:45.780 which was taking rights from a single centralized power, a monarch, and saying,
00:45:51.560 no, no, no, we're citizens born with these rights, right?
00:45:54.400 It became inalienable rights, and we want to be citizens, not subjects.
00:45:58.260 Why in the world would we allow ourselves to lose our citizenship in the digital age just to get free apps?
00:46:06.680 It's nuts.
00:46:08.980 I mean, every word you say gets me excited because I've been waiting for somebody to do this,
00:46:14.320 but for some reason I think, yeah, but what's the other shoe that's going to fall?
00:46:17.980 I mean, what are you facing?
00:46:21.140 What are the giants that maybe you're facing that would stand in the way of this?
00:46:25.440 Well, I think the incumbents are, you know, the ones who are benefiting from our data
00:46:32.540 and have, you know, built this, you know, soul-sucking, data-sucking machinery
00:46:39.480 are the ones that are going to resist the change because they're profiting mightily.
00:46:47.220 And look, I'm a capitalist.
00:46:48.380 My family's been building infrastructure for 131 years.
00:46:51.160 I'm all for people making money, and, you know, I love the America that my family helped build,
00:46:58.640 literally build.
00:47:00.160 But I don't like seeing money be made at the expense of American citizens.
00:47:05.260 Right.
00:47:05.740 As you say, we're losing our free will and our ability to get along with each other.
00:47:11.020 I mean, we don't even have an information ecosystem right now where we can tell fact from fiction, right?
00:47:15.560 We just are in this never-never land where if you destroy trust and faith in your fellow, you know,
00:47:25.620 American, your fellow human being, then we've lost it all.
00:47:31.420 I mean, America is built on a belief in the worth, number one, the worth and dignity of every human being
00:47:38.720 and the fact that they're born equal and the ability of human beings being in a better position
00:47:44.880 than centralized, you know, government, some monarchy or some centralized government
00:47:50.120 to make decisions for us, right?
00:47:51.480 That's why we started self-governance, right?
00:47:54.200 Because it's the power of the individual.
00:47:57.620 That's where the agency should be.
00:47:59.820 And for it to matter, we have to respect it in other people.
00:48:03.020 That's the so-called social contract.
00:48:04.780 And then give people power and we can govern ourselves.
00:48:08.740 And we're rapidly losing that ability to self-govern and to have agency because of how this technology
00:48:18.220 works in a highly centralized way.
00:48:20.840 I would have to believe that Elon Musk would understand this and be a supporter.
00:48:27.740 And I would imagine Donald Trump would be a supporter.
00:48:30.560 Do you have the connections?
00:48:32.160 Are you working with the administration on this?
00:48:35.780 Yeah, we have Kevin O'Leary called me.
00:48:40.620 He's the Shark Tank guy.
00:48:42.380 And he said, look, I talked to all the potential bidders.
00:48:47.040 You're the only one that really has a solution to the technology.
00:48:50.580 And I want to join your bid.
00:48:51.740 And I said, come on in.
00:48:53.540 This is the people's bid for TikTok.
00:48:56.620 This is bigger than TikTok, right?
00:48:58.960 It's changing how the internet works.
00:49:00.680 And Kevin has a great relationship with millions and millions of small businesses in America
00:49:06.280 because he's been doing Shark Tank now for 17 years.
00:49:09.160 And I said, come on in.
00:49:10.080 We want small businesses.
00:49:11.320 We want everybody involved in this.
00:49:13.560 And I mentioned Kevin because he's been kind of hanging out at Mar-a-Lago and making sure
00:49:19.960 the president knows exactly what we're doing.
00:49:22.700 And I've talked to a number of people in his administration about what we're doing.
00:49:26.560 There's no secrets here, Glenn.
00:49:28.360 We want to be totally transparent where we believe this is, I call the book our biggest fight for a reason, right?
00:49:35.980 We believe this is the issue of our day, to reclaim what's ours, to reclaim our data.
00:49:43.040 It is our personhood.
00:49:45.100 When your listeners hear the word data, it's kind of like, eh, who cares about data, right?
00:49:49.400 It just is.
00:49:49.920 It's one of those terms that, what does it mean?
00:49:52.140 Think of every time you hear the word data, I want you and your listeners to think of personhood,
00:49:59.020 your person, your virtual you.
00:50:01.300 It is you.
00:50:02.300 Why would, in the world, would we let anyone else own us?
00:50:07.000 It's just, I can't emphasize this enough.
00:50:08.800 Let's reclaim what's ours and then restore trust and integrity in the internet.
00:50:15.980 And then let's go build a more powerful version with generative AI.
00:50:20.060 But I'm very concerned about taking a broken internet that exploits people and making it more powerful
00:50:27.760 until we fix the core infrastructure.
00:50:30.000 Once we fix the core infrastructure, so the individuals benefit, then let's make it more powerful
00:50:35.720 and better for people and let people benefit from it financially as well.
00:50:39.760 I think we could have a beautiful future without so much concern and anxiety and skepticism about
00:50:46.800 the technology if we fix the core infrastructure.
00:50:49.420 So, Frank, is there anything the average person can do to help this along?
00:50:53.480 Yeah, absolutely.
00:50:56.360 I mean, I think we all need to get engaged in this because, you know, look, I'll do what I can,
00:51:04.840 but no single person can win this fight.
00:51:09.280 This is going to take an army of people insisting on a better internet.
00:51:12.880 And I would say, I would start by asking people to go to projectliberty.io or to thepeoplesbid.com
00:51:21.440 and learn about what we're doing.
00:51:23.560 And there's plenty of ways there to be easy to engage and people will be happy to respond
00:51:29.980 to questions and engage you in the project in ways that you think you can be, your listeners
00:51:34.040 think they can be helpful.
00:51:35.380 We need you.
00:51:36.420 Frank, thank you so much.
00:51:37.820 I appreciate it.
00:51:38.560 We're going to be looking into it, projectliberty.io or thepeoplesbid.com.