The Glenn Beck Program - Best of The Program ｜ Guests： Bruce Feiler & Maximo Alvarez ｜ 7⧸17⧸20

00:00:00.460 Welcome to the podcast. Today, Glenn has a couple of ideas about how society could go from here.

00:00:08.800 They're not necessarily all positive, which is going to surprise you, I know.

00:00:13.840 But he gives these three scenarios, lays them out.

00:00:17.640 They're pretty interesting, and, you know, there's a lot here.

00:00:20.540 So you need to dive into that one.

00:00:22.600 It's pretty interesting and hopefully won't ruin your weekend entirely.

00:00:26.100 Bruce Feiler joins us. You know, there's been a lot of times here that we've had difficult situations to deal with over the past few months.

00:00:35.420 He's got a great book about changing the way we look at those negative events.

00:00:40.660 It's called Life is in the Transitions, Mastering Change at Any Age.

00:00:46.020 It's a pretty helpful thing to see and hear about right now.

00:00:50.560 And Maximo Alvarez is a guy who's a Cuban immigrant and is warning that, look, we've seen this before.

00:00:58.120 We do not want to go down this road.

00:01:00.160 He's in America now. He was just seen, he was just with the president.

00:01:04.280 And he is trying to outline and warn what's coming up.

00:01:09.440 And we get into a little bit of white fragility talk.

00:01:12.440 Are we fragile as white people? 0.98

00:01:16.140 If you happen to be a white person, you might be incredibly fragile. 0.99

00:01:20.900 We'll tell you how fragile you are. 0.96

00:01:22.800 I'm going to do that on Stew Does America tonight.

00:01:24.720 Stew Does White Fragility.

00:01:26.520 You can always get that on YouTube just by searching for Stew, and I'll be the first channel there.

00:01:30.780 Also, you can get it on blazetv.com slash Glenn.

00:01:34.580 Use the promo code SAVETHEFAMILY.

00:01:36.300 You'll save 20 bucks off.

00:01:37.480 You can also get Glenn's special show today for subscribers only.

00:01:40.920 That's going to be great as well as he kind of looks into the 1984 vision of America

00:01:47.860 that you really want to avoid if it's at all possible.

00:01:51.640 And don't forget to subscribe and rate this podcast and Stew Does America as well.

00:01:54.940 All available for free wherever you get your podcasts.

00:01:57.500 Five stars, the appropriate amount of stars.

00:01:59.820 Here's the podcast.

00:02:06.960 You're listening to

00:02:08.200 The Best of the Glenn Beck Program

00:02:10.960 So yesterday, by the way, welcome to my good friend Pat Gray,

00:02:18.620 who has always been one of my trusted counselors,

00:02:23.060 and as is Stew Brigier.

00:02:25.480 His real name is Steve, but nobody calls him that because he didn't speak up.

00:02:32.160 You see what happens when you don't speak up?

00:02:34.540 Yeah, this happens to you.

00:02:35.860 Me.

00:02:36.420 I happen.

00:02:38.300 Yeah.

00:02:38.880 You turn into Stew.

00:02:40.900 All right.

00:02:43.160 So as I see this, there are three options on how this ends.

00:02:49.520 One.

00:02:50.780 Because I've game, I have war game this.

00:02:52.760 You guys know this.

00:02:53.460 I have war game this for almost 20 years now.

00:02:56.520 And, you know, I've said we're going to miss the exits.

00:02:59.320 We're going to miss the exits.

00:03:00.580 And then there you are bridges out.

00:03:02.720 And it kind of feels that way.

00:03:04.120 But there is one more exit.

00:03:05.920 There is one more exit.

00:03:07.300 And here it is.

00:03:07.780 That we find a group of Americans that are so Martin Luther King-ish 0.98

00:03:19.060 that they just, they're willing to stand peacefully through anything. 0.80

00:03:25.960 I mean, take a crowbar to the head.

00:03:28.900 And they're willing to, we can get them all together.

00:03:32.040 And we can find a couple of leaders like a Martin Luther King or a Gandhi.

00:03:37.700 And we can all rally around these people and put together a well-coordinated

00:03:44.540 and well-financed movement.

00:03:49.040 You know, because Martin Luther King was also very well-financed.

00:03:52.180 And then we can, you know, we can stand against Black Lives Matter, 1.00

00:03:59.400 which is this just ragtag band of people that currently have $1.6 billion at their disposal.

00:04:09.920 So we can do that.

00:04:12.640 And we can march right into the gates of hell.

00:04:15.460 And everybody, the press, will be there.

00:04:18.180 And they will be witness to good versus evil.

00:04:22.460 And it will be on the screen side by side.

00:04:24.640 And people will go, I like those people more than those people.

00:04:28.260 And that's the way to change things.

00:04:32.540 And that we all of a sudden stop being the people that Americans have seemed to turn into.

00:04:41.240 And we actually start taking our God and our covenant seriously. 0.98

00:04:45.460 And we kind of go back to not being the whore of the earth. 0.90

00:04:50.320 I'm just going to speak up here and say that one sounds hard. 0.94

00:04:54.260 It sounds like a lot of work.

00:04:56.380 Yeah.

00:04:56.820 That one sounds hard.

00:04:58.680 I don't think that one's going to happen.

00:05:01.140 It would be good, though, wouldn't it?

00:05:02.380 That would be great.

00:05:02.960 Like, if we were the people of the 1960s, you know, where we still had churches

00:05:07.600 and, you know, people were speaking up at the pulpit.

00:05:10.320 And, you know, we had the Constitution in, you know, in common and a love for our country in common.

00:05:16.180 That one could have happened.

00:05:17.720 That one would be nice.

00:05:18.880 And I still think we try that one.

00:05:20.880 I don't think it's going to happen.

00:05:22.220 But I still think we try that one.

00:05:23.760 Now, the other one is we just kind of keep doing what we're doing.

00:05:30.440 And then the Marxist and the deep state take over and and we lose the country, you know, probably in the next four years.

00:05:43.560 And America, as we know, it is is over.

00:05:47.680 And then the singularity comes and we're already slaves.

00:05:51.820 But some people get little chips and so they become super, super powerful and super, super smart.

00:05:59.900 And there's no way to compete with them.

00:06:02.460 So our children and our grandchildren are forever slaves to a really dark system.

00:06:09.400 Now, I think that's a possibility, too.

00:06:13.440 Right.

00:06:14.400 That's a bad one.

00:06:15.600 You know, we become worse than the Nazis because of our technology and we just and all freedom on the end.

00:06:26.060 And America just becomes this dark, dark place.

00:06:29.660 And all man's freedom is lost and possibly forever.

00:06:33.820 That's it, though.

00:06:34.920 That's there's nothing worse than that.

00:06:36.820 That could happen.

00:06:39.600 No, I think that's OK.

00:06:41.160 I mean, you give me some time, but I think that's I think that's the dark end of the scenarios.

00:06:47.580 OK, don't you think so?

00:06:49.060 Yeah.

00:06:49.240 So I have the title of the first one as big group of MLKs randomly emerge.

00:06:55.380 And then the second one slaves.

00:06:57.680 Well, we have to find them.

00:06:59.020 Right.

00:06:59.220 Well, yeah, sure.

00:07:00.120 And then slaves to a Nazi system, but darker as the second possibility. 0.87

00:07:05.340 Right.

00:07:05.960 OK.

00:07:06.280 All right.

00:07:06.700 Now, let me ask you, let me ask you, which one do you think has a better chance out of those scenarios of happening?

00:07:16.120 Well, I thought there was a third scenario.

00:07:17.640 So let's there is.

00:07:19.640 But I'm just saying out of those two scenarios, which one is number two, number two, no doubt in my mind.

00:07:28.300 Right.

00:07:29.340 Right.

00:07:29.880 It's just no doubt in my mind.

00:07:31.800 I mean, it would be really nice, but this thing is so well coordinated and so frickin evil and so well financed that there's no way out.

00:07:41.940 You know, I hate to be a pessimist and I'm not.

00:07:44.660 I actually believe in the first one.

00:07:46.620 No, I actually I want to do the first one.

00:07:50.400 But I think we all somewhere inside.

00:07:52.460 We all go.

00:07:52.960 Yeah.

00:07:53.260 That number two scenario.

00:07:55.380 That could happen.

00:07:56.340 You know, if I would have said this to you, if I would have said this to you six years ago, I wouldn't have said it because it wouldn't have seemed possible.

00:08:05.600 Right.

00:08:06.300 Six years ago, I said, and we turn into a dark Nazi state. 0.93

00:08:09.660 I think we all go.

00:08:10.860 That's not going to happen today.

00:08:13.640 I think everybody within the sound of my voice, even if they say that's not going to happen, they're like, but.

00:08:20.120 There's maybe a possibility.

00:08:21.960 Well, yeah, because a lot of it has already happened.

00:08:25.960 You could transform the rest of it by this afternoon.

00:08:30.220 Right.

00:08:32.040 It's only going to get faster from here.

00:08:34.500 Right.

00:08:34.940 Yes.

00:08:35.480 I think we're all clear.

00:08:36.760 OK.

00:08:37.540 All right.

00:08:37.880 Now, I thought of this third scenario yesterday and I thought, wait a minute.

00:08:46.180 Hold it just a second.

00:08:47.700 Second, this one, I think, has a better chance of working and happening.

00:08:55.240 So let me play out the third scenario here.

00:08:58.180 This is going to be fun.

00:08:59.560 Yeah.

00:08:59.760 No, this is no.

00:09:00.660 This is a good one.

00:09:01.400 This is a good one.

00:09:01.960 And I think there's a real chance this one happens.

00:09:04.700 At least this is the one that we should hope for.

00:09:07.040 You know, we should be working towards, I think.

00:09:09.900 So here's the scenario.

00:09:11.480 We all start working on the Martin Luther King thing, but someplace inside of us, we

00:09:17.380 all know that ain't going to happen, but we actually try to do it.

00:09:22.480 And in the course of doing that, a small number of us really change, you know, a small number.

00:09:28.860 It's not going to be a lot of people because, you know, Christians and all of that nonsense 1.00

00:09:34.120 is going to be just more and more laughed at as the time goes on. 0.97

00:09:39.160 So it's not going to be Christians and all of that nonsense. 1.00

00:09:42.280 Did you feel clear to clarify that one a little bit?

00:09:44.140 Yeah, it's all going to be.

00:09:45.340 Yeah.

00:09:45.740 No, it's all going to be, you know, deemed hooey soon by scientists and those in the know.

00:09:50.980 And so there is so it's not going to be popular and it's not necessarily going to be fun, but

00:09:57.000 we'll change and it'll be really good.

00:09:59.220 It'll be really good.

00:10:00.020 And then the, you know, the country is overthrown by the, you know, dark forces of Marxism and

00:10:08.600 death and evil, and we lose the country as we know it by, let's say, 2024.

00:10:14.180 OK, and then there's like seven years of tribulation.

00:10:20.300 But then Jesus comes.

00:10:23.520 OK.

00:10:25.360 All right.

00:10:26.840 OK.

00:10:27.720 All right.

00:10:28.200 So then Jesus comes and everything is great again. 0.75

00:10:31.280 And when you look at it that way, you're like, you're like, wait a minute.

00:10:35.520 Seven years and then the just the next four and then those really crappy seven years.

00:10:41.500 I can do that.

00:10:42.800 That's not so bad.

00:10:44.140 You know what I mean?

00:10:44.800 It's going to be really crappy. 0.62

00:10:46.180 And the dark Nazi stuff is going to happen to the United States. 0.88

00:10:50.520 But then Jesus comes.

00:10:52.820 Now, here's the beauty of this.

00:10:56.000 Because just a few of us are willing to look at this and go, huh.

00:11:02.640 That's a possibility.

00:11:04.640 Or even those who are like, I don't think that's going to happen, but.

00:11:08.940 But I'd rather hope for that than just the gulag with the Borg, you know, in an SS uniform, because here's the thing. 0.97

00:11:22.200 If we actually start to look at it that way, then even if Jesus doesn't come, we're the happy ones in the concentration camp or the gulag.

00:11:32.980 And I think that's a win.

00:11:36.200 So your optimistic scenario is essentially we have the nice room of the concentration camp. 0.92

00:11:41.800 Oh, no, we have the worst room in the concentration camp, but we're happy.

00:11:46.300 I didn't.

00:11:47.140 We're happy.

00:11:48.180 I shouldn't have overstated the positivity.

00:11:50.320 Because if we just endure it for seven years, we know that the second coming of Jesus will be here and then everything's fine.

00:11:56.620 Yeah, but let's say you're one of those who are like, but will you, well, wait a minute.

00:12:02.920 Let's just say that you're one of those are like, oh, I'm not.

00:12:06.520 I don't think I want to put all my eggs in the Jesus is coming back basket.

00:12:11.020 Okay.

00:12:11.420 Because they've been doing that for a long time.

00:12:14.760 That's good in this scenario, because.

00:12:17.720 Because if the second scenario is what really is going to happen, again, we've changed and we're happy in the gulag.

00:12:30.320 Okay.

00:12:31.180 All right.

00:12:31.400 So to summarize here, if I could, we have scenario one, which is a big group of MLKs are discovered in an archaeological dig of some sort.

00:12:42.100 Yes.

00:12:42.860 Yes.

00:12:44.040 Freezers.

00:12:44.620 Maybe Walt Disney.

00:12:45.580 Maybe we defrost him.

00:12:47.020 Okay.

00:12:47.400 Maybe he's the guy.

00:12:48.320 I don't know.

00:12:49.240 Number two, we're slaves to a Nazi system, but darker, possibly run by animated skeletons.

00:12:54.980 I asked out of that last part because it just seemed like it worked.

00:12:58.780 Because I, well, animated would not be accurate, but audio animatronic, maybe.

00:13:02.760 Yes.

00:13:03.100 Well, I'm thinking they're meaning not animated as in drawn, but just alive and moving around there.

00:13:08.360 This is not, they're not like.

00:13:09.740 Well, that's a little supernatural for me.

00:13:11.960 I'd rather stick to science.

00:13:13.260 Again, we're figuring this out together.

00:13:14.400 So.

00:13:14.800 And then three is robot skeletons.

00:13:17.880 Yeah.

00:13:18.020 Okay.

00:13:18.360 Robot skeletons.

00:13:19.340 And three is Jesus shows up in like 15 years, but the Nazi stuff still happens anyway. 0.76

00:13:25.900 So your optimistic scenario is just the Nazi stuff happens anyway. 0.95

00:13:31.460 I mean, the first one's, I guess, the most optimistic, but you've pretty much ruled that out.

00:13:34.720 But Jesus comes.

00:13:35.220 But Jesus comes.

00:13:35.940 So we just have to be, show some endurance, essentially.

00:13:39.760 Show some, buck up, man.

00:13:41.520 Pull yourself up by the bootstraps.

00:13:43.520 Just be good to each other.

00:13:44.680 Live, you know, hey, treat others like you want to be treated.

00:13:47.400 You know, that kind of stuff.

00:13:48.480 We could do that for seven years.

00:13:49.680 We could fake our way through that.

00:13:51.400 And then Jesus comes.

00:13:52.620 But if he doesn't come because we faked it, we actually start to live that way.

00:13:59.340 And when he doesn't show up, sure, some of us are disappointed.

00:14:03.100 Others are like, no, but let's sing a song, you know, on the way to the gallows.

00:14:06.980 And we're like, yeah, that would be really cool.

00:14:09.040 And we're happy about it.

00:14:10.620 You know, I saw the same segment on Fox and Friends this morning.

00:14:14.080 Where they went through the three.

00:14:16.460 Is somebody on to this theory already?

00:14:18.260 Already.

00:14:19.000 Oh, man.

00:14:19.740 So you're a little late.

00:14:21.520 Brian Kilmeade was all over this one this morning.

00:14:24.980 So was CNN.

00:14:26.240 Really?

00:14:26.900 Yeah, same thing.

00:14:28.340 Did they do the skeletons, though?

00:14:30.200 Let me tell you something.

00:14:31.380 All of it.

00:14:32.300 Let me tell you something.

00:14:33.440 I think they're all going to be.

00:14:34.680 We're just early on this.

00:14:35.980 I think they're all going to be talking about this.

00:14:39.040 Soon.

00:14:42.360 This is the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:14:53.980 Your book is Life is in the Transitions.

00:14:57.580 And this is something I've talked about for a long time.

00:15:01.040 We all have pivot points.

00:15:02.880 And it's when we choose to reach up and pick ourselves back up, at usually the worst point in our life, the world changes.

00:15:15.840 And for the better.

00:15:16.820 Well, I have to say, Glenn, you were in my mind a lot as I was working on this project, because not only have you had a lot of pivot points and transitions in your life,

00:15:27.520 but you've also been incredibly open as a public figure in talking about them and sort of helping to model the idea that the old kind of fantasy linear life that we were told where you'd have, you know, low-level job, mid-level job, high-level job, right?

00:15:42.640 You would date, and you'd get married.

00:15:44.060 Right.

00:15:44.600 You go to the, like, that that's gone.

00:15:46.660 And so, you know, you mentioned when we met, and you were exactly right, it was more than probably a dozen years ago at this point.

00:15:54.460 I mean, I was working on America's Profit at that time, and, you know, I was having a kind of linear uphill life, and then I just got walloped by life, right?

00:16:03.400 I had the cancer.

00:16:04.840 I almost went bankrupt.

00:16:06.660 And as you know, my book, Life is in the Transitions that we're talking about now, begins with my dad, who has Parkinson's, never depressed a minute in his life in Savannah, Georgia, tries to take his own life, actually multiple times in the course of a month.

00:16:19.900 And so I start this kind of storytelling project with my dad, where I send him a question every Monday morning about his life.

00:16:27.000 Like, tell me about the house you grew up with, the toys, the, you know, how'd you become an Eagle Scout?

00:16:31.120 How did you join the Navy?

00:16:32.080 How did you meet Mom?

00:16:32.920 And this man who'd never written anything longer than a memo backs into writing an autobiography.

00:16:38.420 And I got incredibly interested, like, how we have to rewrite and rethink our life story.

00:16:43.980 And when I started talking about this, everybody had a story.

00:16:47.040 And I thought, you know what, there's not really a book out there that captures how we get through these life quakes, I call them.

00:16:53.480 These kind of massive changes that sort of descend upon us.

00:16:56.360 So I did what I do.

00:16:58.120 I went on this journey, crisscrossed the country.

00:17:00.640 I got hundreds of life stories of Americans, all 50 states, like every state in this country, people who lost homes, lost limbs, changed careers.

00:17:09.700 I have military veterans who lost limbs in the Middle East.

00:17:13.240 I have, you know, alcoholics who got sober, people who got out of bad marriage, incredible stories of recovery and redemption.

00:17:20.880 And I then spent a year, like, with a team of 12 people, like, looking through, trying to find a toolkit to help all of us as we have to manage these life quakes.

00:17:30.160 And then, oh, my gosh, lo and behold, this book comes out at a moment when the entire planet is going through a life quake at the same time, which is why this book out this week has just sort of exploded out of the gates.

00:17:42.700 It's interesting, Bruce, because I've been sad.

00:17:47.700 In fact, I just said it last hour.

00:17:49.180 We can look at what's happening to us right now and take it in a negative way and be angry and let it destroy us and say that it has destroyed us.

00:18:01.380 Or we can say it's going to put my feet on a different path, and I don't know what it is yet, but it's going to be good and search for the meaning out of out of suffering and everything else.

00:18:14.860 And when we honestly do that with an optimistic spirit and a trusting spirit, it changes everything, everything.

00:18:25.900 Well, I love your idea that we're going into the weekend and we need a bit of positivity.

00:18:29.980 And so here's what I discovered is that the life quake itself, like the massive change that comes over us, it can be positive.

00:18:37.760 Having children is often a life quake.

00:18:40.080 Starting a new venture is a life quake.

00:18:42.020 I have a story in my book about a truck driver who became a male nurse.

00:18:47.100 Like people can make these changes and they are positive, constructive, or they can be negative, right?

00:18:51.480 You can have a diagnosis, you can lose your job, you can lose a loved one.

00:18:54.840 But the transition that comes out of the life quake, that must be voluntary.

00:18:59.560 Like you have to lean in to decide to go through the roadmap I'm going to lay out for you and take the steps to turn that situation, that negativity, into positivity.

00:19:10.800 That's a choice.

00:19:12.280 And in some ways, that's where we can start right now.

00:19:14.280 You have to choose to go through the transition.

00:19:16.060 What is it that you're – everybody lay awake last night or woke up this morning and was wondering, do I have a job?

00:19:23.600 You know, if I have a job, is it the right job?

00:19:25.740 Do I need to quit my job to take care of my children or my grandchildren?

00:19:29.320 You know, am I doing something meaningful?

00:19:31.020 Do I have a medical problem?

00:19:32.080 We all have these.

00:19:33.460 Everybody listening to us.

00:19:34.900 The question is, do you want to make the choice to go into the transition and get yourself to a better place?

00:19:42.560 So this is also – I mean, it's deeply personal, but it is the answer to almost all of the strife that we're feeling right now.

00:19:51.980 Not just in COVID, not just in the struggle, but also in the apparent non-forgiveness of sins of the past.

00:20:01.980 If you choose to take the things that have happened in your life and choose to look – look at Nelson Mandela – and choose and say, okay, those things happened.

00:20:16.860 Now what do I do?

00:20:18.420 Because I can't change everybody else.

00:20:19.920 What do I do?

00:20:21.480 It is so freeing and so empowering.

00:20:26.640 And it's the message that I think much of America is missing right now.

00:20:30.500 Well, this is why I think – and I wrote it in the Wall Street Journal this week and in the New York Times today,

00:20:36.780 and it's the reason this book is sitting in the top 20 of Amazon right now – is because learning to master life transitions turns out to be the most urgent life skill people have right now, people need right now.

00:20:48.420 And we haven't really talked about transitions.

00:20:50.420 It's not really been in favor.

00:20:52.100 The last kind of big book on this was 50 years ago.

00:20:55.520 And I've sort of been discovering that we have many – life comes out of them much faster now.

00:21:00.320 I mean, the good news is we have freedom.

00:21:01.700 We can live where we want to live and believe what we want to believe, right, and be in the relationship we want to be in and have the job we want to have.

00:21:07.860 But that's a greater burden on us to kind of make that choice.

00:21:11.440 And so what happens is when you go into the life transition, right, you feel one of two things, either like chaotic and out of control, like I've got to do this, I've got to do that, or you feel stuck.

00:21:19.420 But I know what you definitely feel, which is I'm the only one going through this.

00:21:24.060 But when you sit, as I did two, three, four times across from people – you know, I have an army sergeant who had his face blown off in the Taliban on the brink of suicide, who's turned to poetry and painting and built himself anew.

00:21:41.080 I have a CIA agent who lost his marriage.

00:21:44.220 I have a two-time cancer survivor who climbed Mount Everest.

00:21:47.640 I have incredible stories of people with addiction who overcame one, one I'm going to tell you in a minute.

00:21:53.080 But when you get into this, it turns out there's kind of a structure.

00:21:56.820 Like they involve different phases.

00:21:58.420 They're saying goodbye, what I call the long goodbye.

00:22:00.680 You say goodbye to the old you.

00:22:02.280 Then there's this messy middle.

00:22:03.640 Think of the scriptural stories where you have to kind of go into the wilderness, where you shed certain habits and create new ones.

00:22:09.280 And then you finally build this new you, and then you have to kind of unveil that to the world.

00:22:14.880 So there are actually steps you can take.

00:22:17.640 And as you know, the second half of Life is in the Transitions has this toolkit for things that you can do.

00:22:22.920 And my wife – I'm chuckling when you were – you know, your question because my wife was like, don't tell me what you think, Bruce.

00:22:30.060 You know, bring me what other people are doing.

00:22:32.720 And that's what this book is.

00:22:33.860 You're going to find people just like you who've been through this.

00:22:36.580 And you're going to find things that they did that will help you almost exactly where you are right now.

00:22:43.440 One of the most amazing things in my journey is – and the most clear example of it was – or maybe it was just the first example of it – was I was just asking the bigger questions of life.

00:22:58.300 And I read – I began to read Plato for my own search, not because somebody assigned it to me.

00:23:06.020 And I realized, I've been asking these questions from the beginning of time.

00:23:12.120 And you're not alone.

00:23:13.800 These problems and crosses and solutions have been experienced since the beginning of mankind.

00:23:24.740 And when we can get out of ourselves and look to others currently and to others who have accomplished something in the past, life just becomes so much easier and so much more pleasant because you start to notice the people around you who are kind of in the same place.

00:23:44.880 And you start talking, you're like, right?

00:23:46.500 I thought it was just me, right?

00:23:49.200 And it's really healthy.

00:23:52.240 All right.

00:23:52.420 We're going to continue with Bruce Feiler here in just a second.

00:23:54.760 The name of the book is Life is in the Transitions.

00:23:58.140 It's available everywhere.

00:23:59.980 Transitions Mastering Change at Any Age.

00:24:03.620 Bruce Feiler is his name.

00:24:08.640 This is the best of the Glenn Beck Program.

00:24:14.880 Maximo Alvarez, president of the Sunshine Gasoline Distributors.

00:24:19.720 He's a Cuban immigrant, and he has been speaking out, and I thought you needed to hear his voice.

00:24:26.740 He's a Cuban immigrant that is warning now that the American dream is under threat. 1.00

00:24:31.240 He came here to America when he was 13, and he saw the revolution in Cuba.

00:24:37.340 Maximo, welcome to the program.

00:24:40.180 Thank you, Glenn.

00:24:41.140 It's an honor.

00:24:43.800 I've always admired your way of thinking.

00:24:47.260 I admire you for being one of the few people in the press who really tell our country what is going on as objectively as possible,

00:24:58.940 because everybody's afraid to tell the truth, I guess. 0.97

00:25:03.620 In the name of being politically correct, everybody's become literally a hypocrite.

00:25:08.860 Maximo, I'm so glad to have you on, because one of the things, I've always had a big fan base of immigrants,

00:25:22.600 especially the immigrants that come from communist countries in the Eastern Bloc or Cuba.

00:25:29.540 And I think they have the most important voice, and it's not being highlighted.

00:25:33.860 And I've got to believe that even though you were young, you remember enough of what was happening over in Cuba that it must be a little terrifying for people who came here and have seen communism and Marxism and how it overthrows countries.

00:25:53.740 It must be a frightening deja vu.

00:25:57.360 Glenn, it really goes further than that.

00:26:01.240 I happen to have learned from mom and dad who had to migrate from Spain to Cuba at the turn of the century, running away from communism.

00:26:13.860 So I knew firsthand how difficult and how painful it was for families who were being destroyed for no reason, families who had nothing to do with politics, families who had nothing to do with government.

00:26:30.720 It was just hardworking families.

00:26:32.600 So I grew up in that environment, and then soon enough, by the time I'm 11 years old, the same thing happens in Cuba.

00:26:46.360 And I remember my dad trying to convince my mom while listening to Castro's words while he was up in the mountains.

00:26:57.980 He used to broadcast radio at night, you know, shortwave radio.

00:27:03.660 And I remember my dad, and I mentioned this when the president was here, my dad used to tell my mother how he thought that that SOB was a communist.

00:27:14.160 And my mother used to even argue with him and said, how can you say that?

00:27:21.020 You know, he was raised by the Jesuits.

00:27:24.380 He's a Roman Catholic, his entire family.

00:27:28.140 As a matter of fact, the very Catholic church helped save his life.

00:27:34.060 The very Catholic church pretty much helped finance his revolution.

00:27:37.980 And then I happened to be part of a Catholic church.

00:27:45.100 My education was all Catholic.

00:27:47.660 And then all of a sudden, my school was taking over.

00:27:50.600 And all of a sudden, the Marist brothers were hiding because they were being persecuted.

00:27:56.520 So they had to go and hide in embassies or leave the country because their life was threatened.

00:28:03.300 And this is the very people that helped the Castro regime take over.

00:28:10.320 And you know what is really sad?

00:28:13.660 The media.

00:28:15.820 Fidel Castro never took over Batista's regime.

00:28:19.740 Batista left.

00:28:20.680 Batista left December 31st, 1958, at midnight after he celebrated New Year's Eve.

00:28:26.700 And he left because he lost control of the country.

00:28:30.240 And guess what?

00:28:33.760 Guess who actually was one of the biggest factors that Batista left?

00:28:40.200 The media.

00:28:41.520 They were destroying Batista.

00:28:44.740 And then a few months later, what happened to the media?

00:28:49.800 What happened to El Diario de la Marina, El Diario del Mundo?

00:28:53.640 This is the equivalent of the New York Times and the Washington Post.

00:28:57.880 What happened to CMQ?

00:28:59.260 That's the equivalent of CNN.

00:29:01.680 There's no free press.

00:29:03.720 And what is amazing is these people in the press do not understand that they will be the first ones out of here.

00:29:08.380 But when they find out what they did, it's too late.

00:29:13.640 Way too late.

00:29:14.380 So I had the chance to speak in the panel when President Trump was here and just told me to tell you a story.

00:29:24.920 And I'm humbled to tell you it's amazing how my little story has impacted so many people.

00:29:32.160 Because I'm telling you, Glenn, my story is just one of many, many, many, many, many millions of people running away from communism, looking for the land of the free.

00:29:43.740 And it's amazing.

00:29:44.740 And it's amazing.

00:29:45.620 It's amazing that we don't appreciate that.

00:29:49.020 And I remember, and I said it in my speech, and I'll tell you, and this is something that will resonate with me until I die.

00:29:58.220 How my father came from Spain to Cuba at the age of 18, never to go back, work his ass off.

00:30:08.520 And when he's about to enjoy the food of his labor, he saw my brother graduate.

00:30:13.220 He had to get a consent to him because he was in that age that he was going to be indoctrinated.

00:30:18.540 And soon after that, he had to send me out because they had taken over the schools.

00:30:28.560 And I remember when he finally gets over here and he tells us, this is a man of a sixth grade education.

00:30:35.180 This is not a philosopher.

00:30:36.120 He didn't go to Harvard.

00:30:37.040 He didn't go to Yale.

00:30:37.740 But a very wise man who used to tell us how lucky he was because he was able to go from Spain to Cuba and to Cuba to America.

00:30:50.980 And he said, don't lose this place because you're not going to be as lucky.

00:30:56.860 So this is what I'm trying to warn.

00:30:58.640 And I'm amazed that that little story, which is only one of many millions of stories, has been so positive, has gone viral.

00:31:08.000 And I'm humbled to know that I'm pretty sure it has helped quite a few people understand what the reality is.

00:31:17.560 So, Maxwell, first of all, thank you for sharing that, especially about your dad.

00:31:22.100 That's got to be a painful memory.

00:31:24.900 Glenn, this is the same old story.

00:31:52.640 It doesn't change.

00:31:54.900 We need to explain to people that the communist philosophy is based on the fact that the ends justify the means.

00:32:05.560 The ends justify the means.

00:32:08.480 On our side, we have the Judeo-Christian values.

00:32:15.420 We cannot steal.

00:32:16.800 We cannot lie.

00:32:17.640 We cannot kill.

00:32:19.420 We've got to own our mom and dad.

00:32:20.700 We've got to own our God.

00:32:22.100 We've got to respect people.

00:32:23.400 And on top of that, we have to forgive our enemy.

00:32:29.780 Now, on the other side, they will do whatever is necessary to accomplish their objective.

00:32:35.700 If they have to tell you they're Catholics or they have to tell you they belong to a certain religion, they will. 1.00

00:32:42.860 If they have to kill you, they will. 0.99

00:32:45.640 They have. 0.98

00:32:46.320 Just look at history.

00:32:48.860 Just look at history.

00:32:48.900 Look at exactly what happened in Cuba.

00:32:51.400 No one would have ever imagined that Fidel Castro was a communist.

00:32:55.760 No one.

00:32:56.600 If you look at the, just go on the library, any of the books, any of the history books, where they have these pictures coming down from the mountains, every rebel, everyone had a rosary hanging from their necks.

00:33:11.060 And he always claimed that he was, as I said, católico apostólico y romano, that's Roman Catholic.

00:33:22.560 He was educated by the Jesuits.

00:33:24.620 And it was not until two years after he had taken all the power that he declares that he's a Marxist.

00:33:32.420 And if you look at, and if you have read the book by Saul Alinsky, if you see what is happening, that's exactly what is happening in every of this country.

00:33:46.220 That's what's happening in our backyard today.

00:33:48.540 That's what happened in Cuba.

00:33:51.320 That's what happened in Venezuela.

00:33:52.900 That's what happened in Nicaragua.

00:33:56.220 Make sure that everybody...

00:33:57.840 So what is...

00:33:58.260 Go ahead.

00:34:00.940 Go ahead.

00:34:01.300 What is everybody...

00:34:02.720 What are the Cuban refugees?

00:34:05.980 What are the Cuban families feeling?

00:34:09.620 And how can they help?

00:34:11.520 Is there any movement in those families to come together and to form a block and speak out?

00:34:19.340 Because I think they could be a real powerful force.

00:34:23.280 Here's the problem, Glenn.

00:34:25.860 I don't know.

00:34:27.400 I'm not an expert in the matter.

00:34:29.040 Because I don't have the numbers or the statistics.

00:34:31.300 But if you look at the wave of Cubans who come over right after Castro takeover, we came here with a shirt we wearing on our back. 0.99

00:34:42.960 As a matter of fact, I'm an original member of the Peter Pan group.

00:34:47.380 Those are the kids who came without parents.

00:34:49.500 Over 14,000 of us.

00:34:51.960 If you look at...

00:34:53.460 And I know this for a fact.

00:34:55.240 As a group of 14,000, we have done very, very well.

00:34:58.220 But what happened is, after that, you go through the years.

00:35:05.860 Fidel Castro has more people infiltrated in our community than you can even imagine.

00:35:12.320 Fidel Castro has a very, very big, sophisticated intelligence machine.

00:35:17.920 Those people killing young people in Venezuela are not Venezuelan students.

00:35:23.500 They're Cubans. 0.60

00:35:24.640 Those people killing Nicaraguans, where their students were demonstrated, they were not Nicaraguans. 0.92

00:35:29.420 They were Cubans. 0.50

00:35:31.120 Because Fidel Castro exported terrorism the minute that he took over Cuba.

00:35:37.920 I remember the word terrorism wasn't used.

00:35:39.800 It used to be guerra de guerrillas.

00:35:42.060 That was guerrilla warfare, which one person can create enough fear that will destroy the economy.

00:35:50.480 That means, for example, you cannot go to a theater.

00:35:54.380 You cannot go to a restaurant.

00:35:56.280 Because all of a sudden, a bomb will explode.

00:35:59.280 And it gets so far out of hand that people are afraid to go out.

00:36:04.600 The government says, you're not protected after 6 o'clock in the evening, so better stay home.

00:36:10.160 And what happens to our economy?

00:36:12.540 Capitalism and fear are not synonyms.

00:36:17.040 You cannot be a capitalistic economy with fear.

00:36:21.900 With fear.

00:36:22.540 And this is what is, that's why it's called terrorism.

00:36:25.260 Look what is happening today.

00:36:27.660 And our own governors, mayors, this is amazing.

00:36:34.060 I see the guy in New York painting the street.

00:36:36.500 And all they do is use people to create dissension, to create hatred.

00:36:44.980 And that's what they do.

00:36:48.100 And that mayor happens to be a guy who loves Castro's Cuba.

00:37:01.860 I've got to run, but I want to ask you one more question.

00:37:05.180 Do you worry about a boycott from the left like they did to the Goya Foods CEO for his support of Trump?

00:37:11.000 Glenn, let me tell you, I've been here now since 1961.

00:37:20.620 I have done a lot better than I expected to do.

00:37:24.900 If I die or I lose everything for this country, I will be a part of the country.

00:37:28.300 So, no, I have no fear.

00:37:33.660 And I'm telling you what they have done to Goya is the best thing because I'm telling you Goya is now going to double their business because they have provided them with great free publicity.

00:37:46.920 Because Goya Foods is a very great product.

00:37:51.720 The owners of that company have been very, very generous for many, many years.

00:37:57.740 And people who know that will help them and endorse them much more than ever before.

00:38:04.260 So, no.

00:38:04.980 Maximo Alvarez, don't ever give up yourself.

00:38:09.980 Thank you so much.

00:38:11.240 I'm sorry to cut this off, but I've got a network break.

00:38:15.200 But, Maximo, thank you.

00:38:17.240 He's the president of Sunshine Gasoline Distributors.

00:38:20.480 His website is sunshinegasoline.com.

00:38:23.800 And I appreciate the perspective coming from you and what you said with the president the other day.

The Glenn Beck Program - July 17, 2020

Best of The Program ｜ Guests： Bruce Feiler & Maximo Alvarez ｜ 7⧸17⧸20

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