The Glenn Beck Program - May 10, 2021


Best of The Program | Guests: Dave Isay & Spencer Coursen | 5⧸10⧸21


Episode Stats

Length

43 minutes

Words per Minute

172.48119

Word Count

7,472

Sentence Count

531

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Welcome to the podcast. Today, we go into the economy. What is going on with it? Why did we
00:00:05.140 have such a disappointing jobs report? Is it because the government is shoveling money at
00:00:10.500 people who would otherwise be back at work? We get into that today. Spencer Corson joins us. He's
00:00:16.300 a Glenn's former head of security and also has a new book out called The Safety Trap,
00:00:20.840 a security expert's secrets for staying safe in a dangerous world. He comes in and talks to us
00:00:25.100 about all the threats that are going on right now. What is wrong about the advice you're getting
00:00:30.260 from all the quote-unquote authorities and how to keep yourself safe. We get into that today and we
00:00:35.380 get into the new woke world we all live in, including an update on what's going on at Disney,
00:00:42.260 which is incredible. We'll get into that today. Also, that's going to be our focus on
00:00:46.300 Stude Does America tonight. You can get that podcast right here in your podcast app. Make
00:00:50.380 sure to click subscribe, rate, and review that podcast, this podcast, and any other podcast
00:00:55.300 you like because they tell us it helps us. I have no idea if it's actually true or not. I mean,
00:00:59.480 I don't know if rating and reviewing actually helps us. Subscribing certainly does and listening
00:01:03.980 does as well. We really appreciate it. Here's the podcast.
00:01:13.540 You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program.
00:01:20.380 This is the Glenn Beck program. I want to introduce a friend of the program and a friend
00:01:26.140 of mine, Dave Isay. He is the founder of StoryCorps. StoryCorps is this really cool thing that started
00:01:33.040 years ago collecting stories of Americans and then they are kept at the National Archives so we are
00:01:40.800 able to preserve the voices of today. And there's some amazing moments that happen. He has been
00:01:47.640 he's been working on not only StoryCorps, but he has also been working on one small step, which is
00:01:57.900 bringing people of different ideologies together and letting them find their way to each other. And
00:02:03.480 it's an amazing healing kind of thing that's going on. We were supposed to have him on a Friday
00:02:08.680 because of the buildup to Mother's Day, but I thought, you know, we can still use some good news.
00:02:13.040 So Dave, I say welcome to the program. How are you? Glenn, I'm doing great. How are you doing?
00:02:17.600 Thanks for having me on. I'm good. I'm good. So how was your Mother's Day, first of all?
00:02:25.540 It was great. Thanks. Yeah. No, my we my mom is thankfully still alive and we celebrated with her
00:02:33.240 and with my my wife and my kids. So we had it. We had a great day. And how about you?
00:02:38.160 Good. I know a year ago we were talking about your your son being very, very sick and, you know,
00:02:47.720 grandma saying, you know, giving kind of some hope there. Yeah. Everybody's healthy.
00:02:54.700 Everybody's fine. Yeah. My kid had a long haul case of COVID. He was one of the earliest
00:02:59.960 people diagnosed, but he he's fine now. Thanks for asking. He's doing good.
00:03:06.180 OK, so we went out here in Texas. Everything is so different around the country. We went out
00:03:12.100 yesterday and nobody was wearing a mask and it was almost back to normal. I know.
00:03:17.920 I think it's Wednesday of this week that New York opens up and still people are, you know,
00:03:23.080 a little bit in a panic about it. We're handling this really differently all across the country.
00:03:29.960 Yeah, absolutely.
00:03:33.380 So, Dave, why don't you share with us the mom's Q&A? Set this up for us, will you?
00:03:41.920 Sure. So we'll share a couple of stories, Glenn. And, you know, again, it's always great to be on.
00:03:47.440 And I appreciate how deeply you believe in StoryCorps and One Small Step. And as you said,
00:03:53.900 you know, StoryCorps is families coming together, everyday people to talk about their lives.
00:03:58.660 And one small step is a new project that we've developed partly in partnership with you
00:04:03.380 that deals with the issue of the toxic polarization in this country. But we're going to listen to a
00:04:09.740 standard StoryCorps story. And, you know, it's OK to stretch out, like you said, Mother's Day for
00:04:14.880 one more day. Yeah, I think we're going to start with this is this is an interview between a mom
00:04:20.900 and her and her son. He actually brought her to a StoryCorps booth. We have these booths all across
00:04:27.120 the country. And he was 12 years old at the time. His name is Josh Litman. And he has Asperger's
00:04:33.620 syndrome, which is, you know, everybody knows at this point, a form of autism where where people
00:04:39.640 can come across as eccentric and often develop obsessions. You know, a lot of times in New York
00:04:45.380 City, a lot of kids who have Asperger's develop obsessions with the subways, for instance.
00:04:51.480 In Josh's case, it's animals. And he came to StoryCorps with his own questions. Usually people
00:04:57.880 use the kind of standard StoryCorps questions to ask. He came with his own questions to talk to his
00:05:05.200 mom. And you'll notice actually an interesting thing. He was born in England and he moved to
00:05:10.620 the United States when he was one, but he still has a British accent, which is one of the things
00:05:15.540 that kids, kids with Asperger's, yeah, often hold on to accents. So let's listen to Josh Litman,
00:05:23.720 again, who has an obsession with animals, interviewing his mom, Sarah at StoryCorps.
00:05:30.600 From a scale of one to 10, do you think your life would be different without animals?
00:05:34.840 I think it would be an eight without animals, because they add so much pleasure to life.
00:05:41.160 How else do you think your life would be different without them?
00:05:43.480 I could do without things like cockroaches and snakes.
00:05:46.420 Well, I'm okay with snakes as long as they're not venomous or it can constrict you or anything.
00:05:50.480 Yeah, I'm not a big snake person.
00:05:52.060 But cockroach is just the insect we love to hate.
00:05:54.640 Yeah, it really is.
00:05:56.380 Have you ever felt like life is hopeless?
00:05:59.100 Um, when I was a teenager, I was very depressed. And I think that can be quite common with teenagers
00:06:05.660 who think a lot, you know, and are perceptive.
00:06:08.300 Am I like that?
00:06:09.080 You are very much like that.
00:06:10.660 Do you have any mortal enemies?
00:06:13.160 I would say my worst enemy is sometimes myself, but I don't think I have any mortal enemies.
00:06:19.640 Have you ever lied to me?
00:06:21.340 Hmm, I probably have, but I try not to lie to you, even though sometimes the questions you
00:06:26.020 ask make me uncomfortable.
00:06:27.040 Like when we go on our walks, some of the questions I might ask.
00:06:30.620 Yeah, but you know what? I feel it's really special that you and I can have those kind
00:06:34.540 of talks, even if sometimes I feel myself blushing a little bit.
00:06:37.820 Have you ever thought you couldn't cope with having a child?
00:06:41.460 I remember when you were a baby, you had really bad colic, so you would just cry and cry.
00:06:46.180 What's colic?
00:06:47.240 It's when you get this stomachache and all you do is scream for like four hours a night.
00:06:51.360 Even louder than Amy does?
00:06:53.400 You were pretty loud, but Amy's was more high-pitched.
00:06:56.320 I think it feels like everyone seems to like Amy more, like she's like the perfect little
00:07:01.740 angel.
00:07:02.860 Well, I can understand why you think that people like Amy more, and I'm not saying it's because
00:07:08.200 of your Asperger's syndrome, but being friendly comes easily to Amy, whereas I think for you
00:07:13.760 it's more difficult.
00:07:14.980 But the people who take the time to get to know you love you so much.
00:07:18.900 Like Ben, or Eric, or Carlos?
00:07:21.280 Yeah, and...
00:07:22.160 Like, I have better quality friends, but less quantity.
00:07:26.160 I wouldn't judge the quality, but I think...
00:07:28.320 I mean, like, first thing is, like, Amy loved Claudia, then she hated Claudia, she loved
00:07:32.240 Claudia, then she hated Claudia.
00:07:33.620 Part of that's a girl thing, honey.
00:07:35.160 The important thing for you is that you have a few very good friends, and really that's
00:07:39.840 what you need in life.
00:07:41.280 Did I turn out to be the son you wanted when I was born?
00:07:45.400 Like, did I meet your expectations?
00:07:47.720 Oh my God.
00:07:48.360 You've exceeded my expectations, sweetie.
00:07:51.120 Because, you know, sure you have these fantasies of what your child's going to be like, but
00:07:56.140 you have made me grow so much as a parent, because you think...
00:08:00.360 Well, I was the one who made you a parent.
00:08:01.960 You were the one who made me a parent, that's a good point.
00:08:04.240 But also, because you think differently from, you know, what they tell you in the parenting
00:08:09.620 books, I really had to learn to think out of the box with you, and it's made me much
00:08:15.340 more creative as a parent and as a person, and I'll always thank you for that.
00:08:19.880 And that helped when Amy was born.
00:08:20.900 And that helped when Amy was born, but you were just so incredibly special to me, and
00:08:26.960 I'm so lucky to have you as my son.
00:08:28.720 And that is such an amazing, frank conversation that you just don't...
00:08:35.560 It's weird.
00:08:37.180 You're listening to a very personal conversation with a very tough kid.
00:08:43.500 Yeah.
00:08:43.880 Yeah, it's some tough questions.
00:08:46.000 Great.
00:08:47.360 On real life, you know, and again, I mean, we've talked about this before, but what I like
00:08:52.060 to think StoryCorps does is just shake us on the shoulder and remind us what's important,
00:08:55.640 because we're stuck in so much nonsense, Glenn, and we've talked about this before.
00:09:00.060 I just want...
00:09:00.540 She told me a story that Sarah had a column in a newspaper in Connecticut on education,
00:09:05.520 and she's very liberal.
00:09:08.220 And after that story aired, someone wrote her a note and said, you know, I've read your
00:09:12.120 column for years, and I haven't agreed with a single word you've written.
00:09:15.540 But after hearing this, I realized that we agree on all of the most important things in
00:09:20.640 life, you know, and that's really what One's False Step, this effort under StoryCorps that
00:09:26.320 you and I are working on together, is just trying to remind us about, you know, this...
00:09:31.260 I know it's Monday morning, and like, who wants to jump right back into the mystery of
00:09:37.540 where we are in the country?
00:09:39.140 Right.
00:09:39.880 You know, more than half of Americans say the greatest threat to this country comes from
00:09:45.160 our fellow citizens.
00:09:46.020 You know, we've gone from disagreeing with one another to hating one another.
00:09:49.780 We can't...
00:09:50.140 We can't...
00:09:50.800 You know, we can't remember why we like each other or why we live in the same country anymore.
00:09:54.780 You know, I have to disagree.
00:09:56.140 I don't think it comes from...
00:09:57.180 I don't think it comes from our fellow citizens.
00:09:59.380 I think it comes from us.
00:10:02.160 You know?
00:10:02.700 It is...
00:10:03.640 It's not...
00:10:04.320 We have to stop thinking about the greatest threat coming from our fellow citizens and
00:10:09.060 start thinking about coming from us.
00:10:11.100 We are all one.
00:10:12.480 And one way or another, no matter which side you're on, we're...
00:10:16.720 In many ways, we're doing the same things to each other.
00:10:19.760 We're demonizing one another and not pausing.
00:10:25.000 I mean, I think COVID helped me and my family out a great deal.
00:10:29.240 We learned so much about us as a family.
00:10:31.380 We are a much stronger family than we were a year ago.
00:10:33.900 So, and I don't know if you know this about me, Dave, but I'm a painter, and I have been
00:10:39.900 painting these different heroes of our past, and one of them is Lou Gehrig, and I call
00:10:49.840 it Lucky with an asterisk, because the actual name of the title of the painting is Grateful.
00:10:57.720 Because as I'm painting these people, I really, I listen to their words.
00:11:03.160 If anything was recorded, I try to get to know them.
00:11:06.620 And as I was painting Lou Gehrig, I thought, here's a guy who, as he's, he knows it's a
00:11:13.680 death sentence, he's going to be dead in two years, and he gets up to the microphone, he
00:11:17.860 says, I feel like the luckiest man in the world.
00:11:20.640 That's gratitude for what you have instead of focusing on what you don't have.
00:11:25.040 And we've lost that entirely.
00:11:27.700 Yep.
00:11:28.600 Yep.
00:11:29.020 It's, it's, and, and, you know, things are not going in the right direction.
00:11:33.760 You know, I've been, I've done StoryCorps for all these years, and, you know, it's families
00:11:38.300 talking to each other, and it's incredibly successful.
00:11:41.200 But I'm obsessed with this, with One Small Step, with this Across the Divide piece, because,
00:11:46.100 and I know, you know, you and I have had a lot of on, you know, face-to-face, and also
00:11:51.020 kind of behind-the-scenes communication.
00:11:52.640 I know you're worried about this as well.
00:11:55.040 That, you know, this, this is, this, this kind of intractable conflict, the high conflict
00:11:59.800 that we're seeing in the country is an existential threat.
00:12:03.860 And, you know, it's easy, again, on the Monday morning after Mother's Day, I don't want to
00:12:08.020 think about it.
00:12:08.840 You don't want to think about it.
00:12:10.220 But it's there, and we have to deal with it.
00:12:12.440 And, you know, I was, the crazy thing about it is your audience, you and your audience,
00:12:18.440 I mean, you could single-handedly, your audience could, could, you know, set us on the road
00:12:24.960 to fixing this problem.
00:12:26.100 It's a massive audience.
00:12:27.300 I, I really believe that, you know, and, and we just, we have got to take the first
00:12:33.320 step towards, you know, recognizing that the people we disagree with, you know, that we
00:12:38.300 have to, you know, not treat them with contempt, but just see them as human beings.
00:12:45.500 Arguing is not a problem.
00:12:46.780 It's when we start to see each other as less than human, and it's easy to do that.
00:12:52.060 So the StoryCorps, what we're doing with StoryCorps with, with one small step is putting people
00:12:56.520 across the divides together just to talk to each other, just like Sarah Littman would
00:13:01.480 talk to the guy who read her column about their lives, just to remind us, you know, it's
00:13:06.240 not everything.
00:13:06.880 It's just one small step just to remind us that, God, we share so much more in common
00:13:11.920 than divides us when you get down to it.
00:13:14.540 How can people get involved?
00:13:15.500 What can they do?
00:13:17.240 So, so we have, if you go to takeonesmallstep.org, and again, I hope everybody listening will
00:13:24.580 do this, takeonesmallstep.org, and you sign up for newsletter, and you can also sign up
00:13:31.540 to be a part of One Small Step, where we will partner you with someone across the political
00:13:37.580 divides.
00:13:38.160 You take a quick, you take, you, you fill out a quick survey there, you know, there's
00:13:43.420 no, it's completely safe, everything is locked down, and there's no risk whatsoever, and
00:13:52.000 we put you for 50 minutes to have a conversation with someone different than you.
00:13:55.560 And again, like, look, this is just, it is just one small step away from this abyss, but
00:14:02.120 the only thing we know for sure is that if we don't start dealing with this problem of
00:14:06.260 hating each other, things are just going to get worse.
00:14:09.300 So you go to the website, takeonesmallstep.org, sign up, fill out a questionnaire, and as
00:14:15.320 soon as we can, we'll match you with someone across the divides, and you have that conversation.
00:14:20.080 And more than that, just talk to people around you, post it on Facebook, let people know,
00:14:27.000 you know, the idea of social norming.
00:14:28.380 If people can see that, like, what's normal is to treat each other with respect, not to
00:14:33.780 treat each other with contempt, that kind of norming can spread like a virus, like wildfire,
00:14:40.800 a good virus, you know, and remind us that this is not okay.
00:14:45.800 And, you know, like you said about Lou Gehrig, that we can focus on who we are at our best.
00:14:52.440 You know, we live in a country now that is unforgiving, that none of us are, all of us
00:14:59.840 are the worst things we've ever done, and doesn't, doesn't, you know, if we can't, you
00:15:07.680 know, see the best in others, if we can't recognize the best in others, we're just in
00:15:12.540 deep, deep trouble.
00:15:14.240 I just did a podcast with Jordan Peterson last Thursday, and I was re-listening to it again
00:15:19.480 today, and most of that conversation is about that.
00:15:24.280 I mean, he's deeply, deeply concerned about what we're going through as well as you and
00:15:28.980 I are.
00:15:29.760 Thank you so much, Dave.
00:15:30.640 I appreciate it.
00:15:33.640 Takeonesmallstep.org is the address.
00:15:36.720 Dave, we'll talk again soon.
00:15:37.640 Thank you.
00:15:39.500 This is the best of the Glenn Beck Program.
00:15:49.480 Axios reported last week, a job report for the ages.
00:15:56.360 April could see more than 2 million jobs added.
00:16:00.140 Reuters, U.S. economy likely created nearly a million jobs in April.
00:16:05.580 CNBC, April jobs expected to top 1 million as consumers boost the economy.
00:16:11.060 MarketWatch, a million new jobs?
00:16:13.380 That's how many Wall Streeters think the U.S. created in April.
00:16:17.300 Barron's, get ready for a blockbuster jobs report of 1 million or more.
00:16:23.860 New York Times, jobs report is expected to show a big gain.
00:16:28.120 Live updates.
00:16:30.060 Yeah.
00:16:32.420 Yeah.
00:16:33.660 That didn't happen.
00:16:36.080 In fact, we didn't get job growth.
00:16:45.640 We actually lost some jobs.
00:16:46.900 And so that's, um, that's, that's, that's, we were well under expectations.
00:16:51.620 There was still some growth, Glenn, but it was just, they just missed it by, you know,
00:16:55.880 four or five times.
00:16:56.800 That's all.
00:16:57.480 I mean, it was, he's sure.
00:16:58.800 That's not right.
00:16:59.620 Is that a big deal?
00:17:00.900 I mean, what, what, it was a few hundred thousand jobs among friends.
00:17:07.260 It was, it was, uh, unemployment rate increased in April.
00:17:11.720 Uh, it, it grew by a hundred thousand people.
00:17:14.820 Uh, well.
00:17:15.740 It grew.
00:17:16.200 It was 200.
00:17:17.040 I thought they were expecting about a million new jobs and they got 225,000, uh, new jobs.
00:17:22.940 Contrary to the bullish expectations, the unemployment rate, uh, actually ticked up a tenth of a point
00:17:28.260 to 6.1% in April.
00:17:31.480 The economy did add 266,000 jobs, far fewer than the, uh, the 770 revised number added in March
00:17:40.920 and the 536 added in February.
00:17:43.860 Uh, this, uh, this jobs report actually, uh, is a job report of the ages.
00:17:49.360 You know what this is, is that, um, you know, I was going to say it was, uh, you know, a misfire,
00:17:58.140 but this president wants us to look at this differently.
00:18:01.720 Here's the audio of Joe Biden talking about the jobs report.
00:18:05.960 This month's job numbers show we're on the right track.
00:18:08.760 Shows that we stop, stop, stop, stop.
00:18:12.800 Stu, would you say that this jobs report shows that we're on the right track?
00:18:18.560 Well, the, the track has, as you mentioned was what, uh, increasing for, it was January,
00:18:24.100 February, March, all increased.
00:18:25.620 And then we had a major drop off in April.
00:18:29.020 So would you consider that?
00:18:31.320 I would not, I would, I would not consider that on the right track.
00:18:35.220 We should also point out that, um, that all of the job, uh, gains were in the hospitality,
00:18:42.580 um, areas, which again, you know, look, it's good to see.
00:18:46.960 We like to see that the restaurants are coming back a little bit and, and hospitality's popping
00:18:51.200 back.
00:18:51.480 That's good.
00:18:52.380 Yeah, that's good.
00:18:53.220 But I mean, that doesn't, that doesn't make things that we can sell to other people.
00:18:58.220 Yeah.
00:18:58.680 I look, the service industry is an important part of our economy, no doubt.
00:19:01.560 But, you know, the fact that that, you know, restaurants are opening up because restrictions
00:19:06.800 are being lifted in certain areas, but then we have really reactive of policies from,
00:19:12.380 yeah, and then we have minus, minus jobs in all of the other areas outside of hospitality
00:19:19.040 where we're actually losing jobs.
00:19:20.840 That's frightening.
00:19:21.620 And then you add on to the fact that we're in an era where we're spending multiple trillions
00:19:26.840 of dollars to prop this economy up.
00:19:30.160 Yeah.
00:19:30.560 We haven't spent enough yet.
00:19:32.380 You'll, you'll, you'll see.
00:19:33.020 We haven't spent enough, but I want you to listen.
00:19:35.180 So first of all, we're on the right track, according to this president, uh, we're on the
00:19:39.300 right track and there's even more this month's job numbers show.
00:19:43.220 We're on the right track.
00:19:44.760 We still have a long way to go.
00:19:47.080 As I said, my laser focus is on growing the nation's economy and creating jobs.
00:19:53.080 My laser focus is on vaccinating our nation and we're making continued progress.
00:19:59.440 My laser focus is on one more thing, making sure working people in this country, hardworking
00:20:05.860 people are no longer left out in the cold.
00:20:08.480 They're going to get a share of the benefits of a rising economy.
00:20:12.120 It's been a long time since that happened.
00:20:15.180 I call my plan.
00:20:16.320 Like last president.
00:20:17.640 The blue collar blueprint for America.
00:20:20.760 That's exactly what it is.
00:20:23.060 So let's not let up.
00:20:24.860 We're still digging away out of a very deep hole we were put in.
00:20:29.340 No one should underestimate how tough this battle is.
00:20:33.140 We still have a job due here in Washington.
00:20:35.360 All right.
00:20:36.380 So, Stu, what was his laser focus again?
00:20:39.700 Did he have three lasers or only one laser?
00:20:42.540 I don't know.
00:20:43.380 He had laser focus, I know, on COVID and vaccinations.
00:20:48.520 Yeah, yeah.
00:20:49.000 But also his laser focus is on equity.
00:20:52.720 And equity, obviously.
00:20:53.660 So we got that.
00:20:54.900 We got that.
00:20:55.240 Not equality.
00:20:56.320 Yeah.
00:20:57.000 I don't know if he's a cyclops, so he only has one eye.
00:21:01.220 But if so, his laser focus should move towards the economy.
00:21:06.000 Because without the economy, we really don't have anything.
00:21:09.540 And, you know, there's some simple things he could do.
00:21:11.880 Like, hey, cut the extra $300 from unemployment that people are using as an excuse to not go back to work.
00:21:22.160 I mean, that's just, I know, it's crazy.
00:21:26.880 We can call it an excuse all we want, but people are making a pragmatic cost-benefit analysis on whether it's worth going somewhere for 40 hours a week to make less money.
00:21:36.840 I can't blame them for saying that's a bad return on investment.
00:21:41.680 No.
00:21:42.400 No.
00:21:42.800 I mean, we're being encouraged to stay home.
00:21:46.060 And, you know, they know exactly what they're doing.
00:21:48.320 The Chamber of Commerce just came out and said, can you cut that?
00:21:52.160 Because after the jobs report, I think it's pretty clear that's not the way to go.
00:21:59.140 Yeah, two states now are going to abandon it already.
00:22:02.760 And I think it's going to continue to pass, especially in red states around the country.
00:22:06.840 Yeah.
00:22:07.540 Well, red states lost fewer jobs.
00:22:10.520 Red states are recovering faster and will continue to lead the way and then be blamed for everything.
00:22:17.360 The other thing is that he missed on his laser focus was the cyber attack of the gasoline pipeline.
00:22:26.480 Kind of a big deal, you know, seeing that it is, what was it, 50% of the East's gasoline and jet fuel?
00:22:36.840 Just, it was just, you know, somewhere between 40 and 60%.
00:22:41.300 So it's not, it's not even worth mentioning.
00:22:44.560 But they say if they don't have this solved by Tuesday, then it's going to really skyrocket prices.
00:22:52.080 But only in half of the country.
00:22:55.040 And fortunately, it's the most populated half of the country.
00:23:00.220 You take up from the Louisiana, Texas border.
00:23:04.480 And if you're looking at the map and you go right.
00:23:10.180 Yeah.
00:23:10.700 You might have some problems with some oil and gas prices.
00:23:15.320 Maybe, you know, because there's going to be a shortage.
00:23:18.440 But don't worry.
00:23:19.020 It's not like the driving season starts in a couple of weeks, you know.
00:23:22.800 Just drive half as far.
00:23:24.220 If it's 50% of the gas, just drive half as far.
00:23:27.440 These are, they're easy solutions that we can, common sense solutions.
00:23:30.180 I don't know why people don't listen to you more often, Sue, because that is really, really, really true.
00:23:35.920 Here's the thing, Glenn, and you walk me through this because you're the historian around here.
00:23:40.120 You have all these artifacts.
00:23:41.220 You get this whole museum right across the walkway here.
00:23:44.720 And my impression of the job of president of the United States was you needed to focus on multiple things at once.
00:23:53.120 I didn't know.
00:23:53.700 No, not anymore.
00:23:54.240 You came in and kind of laser focused on one thing and let everything else go to crap.
00:23:57.860 I didn't know that was the thing.
00:23:59.600 No, it's, you can't laser focus on just one thing.
00:24:03.000 That's the way it used to be.
00:24:04.660 But now it's, you know, you need a nap at three o'clock.
00:24:08.760 Take a nap, you know, after dinner, which is at two.
00:24:12.380 So to have some dinner, go to sleep, wake up maybe 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning.
00:24:17.960 Do you remember how many times they said that Donald Trump is going to bed early?
00:24:23.200 Oh, yeah.
00:24:23.900 All he does is watch TV and then he goes to bed early.
00:24:25.880 Yeah.
00:24:26.240 Yeah.
00:24:26.580 He goes to bed.
00:24:27.680 This guy, I think, I think at least Trump was watching the news.
00:24:31.940 I think Biden maybe at two o'clock in the afternoon is watching Matlock or murder.
00:24:36.880 She wrote and then going to bed.
00:24:39.400 You know what I mean?
00:24:40.380 I have a 16 year old pug that his entire day is just sleeping, waking up, eating, going
00:24:49.520 to the bathroom, going back to sleep.
00:24:51.100 He's only up for, I think, legit an hour a day.
00:24:54.660 That's it.
00:24:55.300 If you combine all the times he's actually up with his eyes open, you're at about an hour
00:25:00.860 a day.
00:25:01.460 And I think he's awake more than Joe Biden is.
00:25:04.900 Well, let me ask you this.
00:25:05.860 Let me ask you this.
00:25:06.560 Let's pretend your dog was president of the United States.
00:25:10.940 Okay.
00:25:11.580 And you're the chief of staff.
00:25:14.100 And I find out that Russia, that Russian hackers for the second time in just a couple of months
00:25:23.100 have now given us a cyber attack where they cut, quote, the jugular of our oil and gas
00:25:33.120 supply to the East Coast.
00:25:34.800 And it happens Friday.
00:25:38.500 And we knew about the, you know, the, the, the, the hack in on Thursday because they took
00:25:45.900 so much data.
00:25:47.900 And now they're holding this pipeline hostage for ransom.
00:25:52.220 And I come over to your house and I say, is president, is president miles available?
00:25:57.220 I've got some really, they've just cut the jugular of the oil pipeline.
00:26:02.820 Well, and I think we need to meet.
00:26:04.600 Here's the thing with miles is he's mostly president.
00:26:08.460 Yes.
00:26:08.820 President miles.
00:26:09.820 He's mostly blind and basically completely deaf.
00:26:15.420 So if you try to wake him up, he's always completely stunned.
00:26:22.660 Like he's terrified.
00:26:24.220 Whoa.
00:26:25.060 Like if he's awake and he's facing away from you, he never hears you coming.
00:26:28.520 So he always is, you know, scared and stunned and jolted every time.
00:26:34.880 So a lot of times I don't, I try not to wake him up or try not to, because I don't want
00:26:39.620 to scare him.
00:26:40.440 This is the cutting of the jugular of gas for the entire East Coast.
00:26:47.220 But you don't want to jolt Joe Biden awake.
00:26:50.080 You don't want to scare him.
00:26:51.500 You don't want to.
00:26:51.900 So maybe wait a little while to tell him about this incredible international incident that's
00:26:57.080 ongoing.
00:26:58.420 You know, wait a few days.
00:26:59.080 So you would give the, you would say, wait until he's awake the next day?
00:27:03.440 Wait until he's awake and you're in front of him.
00:27:05.440 Don't walk from behind him because then he'll be scared.
00:27:08.180 But if you kind of are already in front of him walking toward him, he'll see kind of
00:27:11.820 your shadow coming and then it'll be okay.
00:27:14.480 Okay.
00:27:14.760 So you would give, if your dog Miles was the president, you would give the same advice
00:27:23.320 that apparently was given to, you know, colonial, the colonial oil pipeline people or, or the
00:27:29.940 NSA or anybody who should have seen this one coming.
00:27:32.640 They knew about it on Friday.
00:27:36.120 They didn't brief the president until Saturday.
00:27:40.560 It's just a day.
00:27:41.960 I mean, what could happen?
00:27:43.380 You know, a day is a day.
00:27:44.780 Like if the missiles are in the air, you just say, we'll let him know if one's coming here,
00:27:49.760 maybe.
00:27:50.280 But what are we going to do about it anyway?
00:27:51.980 Look, Orlando used to be Orlando.
00:27:54.040 It's no longer Orlando.
00:27:55.300 He'll, he'll have to reschedule a vacation.
00:27:57.120 But I mean, that's not urgent.
00:28:00.940 It is, it is insane.
00:28:03.780 It's just insane.
00:28:04.980 And every country that was afraid of us just recently, they're now, they're like, Hey,
00:28:13.380 I don't know.
00:28:14.080 They're negotiating with Iran.
00:28:16.120 Let's set them on fire.
00:28:17.820 Let's collapse their economy.
00:28:19.640 Let's, let's go ahead and, uh, and just hack into all of their financial stuff and their
00:28:25.840 military stuff and their energy stuff.
00:28:28.080 We can shut them down within a week and they're not going to do anything.
00:28:33.340 Uh, maybe, maybe we have a problem with our stance in the world.
00:28:37.860 Maybe just a little bit.
00:28:40.080 Seeing that Hunter Biden keeps losing his dog tags at his Chinese secretary's apartment.
00:28:46.860 You mean his doggy chain necklace?
00:28:48.660 Yeah, yeah.
00:28:50.320 It might be for miles.
00:28:51.360 He might have been getting something for president.
00:28:53.160 I'm not sure.
00:28:55.220 This is the best of the Glenn Beck program.
00:29:01.180 Well, I never thought the day would come when I would welcome Spencer Corson to the radio
00:29:09.740 program.
00:29:10.980 Uh, Spencer is, if you've ever been, if you've ever been to any of our shows, especially,
00:29:17.460 you know, gosh, it has a long, how long has it been?
00:29:20.540 Maybe 10 years ago.
00:29:22.080 Uh, you would see Spencer, uh, Spencer was the, uh, chief of my detail for security in
00:29:30.680 the golden era of death threats.
00:29:32.800 And it was a, it was a special, special time.
00:29:36.500 Spencer, welcome to the program.
00:29:37.880 Mr.
00:29:38.100 Beck.
00:29:38.300 Great to see you, sir.
00:29:39.640 Yeah.
00:29:40.180 Um, so you, you started your own security group course and security group.
00:29:46.140 Uh, and, uh, you're a threat management expert.
00:29:49.140 Now, uh, I can't be more pleased for your success.
00:29:52.980 You, you were, let me, let me just say this and see if you know, is see if you can respond.
00:30:01.440 Mr.
00:30:02.080 Spencer, do you have a six?
00:30:06.960 Remember the response?
00:30:08.880 Yes.
00:30:09.640 And it was no Cheyenne.
00:30:12.680 I don't have a six.
00:30:14.140 Go fish.
00:30:15.800 Uh, I thought you were going to say when we were all sitting around the table and I would
00:30:18.800 just be like, boom, winning every time a card got thrown down.
00:30:23.480 And that became the, uh, the mantra of the weekend, which I almost got fired for.
00:30:27.560 Uh, yes, I remember that.
00:30:30.260 I do remember that.
00:30:31.520 No, uh, you were with us and the family and our kids.
00:30:35.400 You don't even know this up at our ranch.
00:30:37.540 We have, you know, we measure everybody and the kids wanted me to put my height there
00:30:43.520 and mom's height and everything on the doorframe.
00:30:46.340 You are about a foot higher because the kids said, I remember Mr.
00:30:52.240 Spencer being so big and so tall.
00:30:54.900 And I'm like, he was shorter than me.
00:30:57.080 They're like, no, he wasn't dad.
00:30:58.980 No, he wasn't.
00:31:00.120 So you are up on our, our doorframe.
00:31:02.500 Anyway, you've, you've written a book called the safety trap and I wanted to have you on
00:31:06.540 because I think it's really important, uh, that people understand, I mean, Spencer, we
00:31:12.940 have had, uh, in incredible time, you know, that we still have great security.
00:31:16.580 We have had, uh, we've had a home invasion.
00:31:20.220 We have had a, um, it attack on us.
00:31:24.840 We've had all kinds of stuff, uh, happen to us and you know, us, we are really prepared
00:31:31.340 and really secure, but I think that goes to what you're talking about called the safety
00:31:36.320 trap.
00:31:36.740 Well, I, I, and I can't agree with you more.
00:31:38.860 I mean, as, as seriously as you take your security, I, I, you know, I take my own security
00:31:45.460 very seriously and I had an attempted home invasion in my house on Monday.
00:31:50.580 Really?
00:31:51.120 One o'clock in the morning.
00:31:52.160 It's a terrible idea.
00:31:53.140 You don't invade Spencer's house.
00:31:54.700 It was wrong house.
00:31:55.380 Yeah.
00:31:55.520 I know, I know, went to bed around midnight, one 10 AM.
00:32:02.280 Uh, I have a service dog just goes from zero to hero.
00:32:06.100 And I look over and I see that my motion lights are turned on outside.
00:32:10.380 My alert notifications on my security system are going into overdrive.
00:32:14.880 Ronan is just like begging me to let him through the door.
00:32:18.460 I checked the security feed.
00:32:19.760 I see that there's a bad guy trying to get in through my back fence.
00:32:23.760 Um, I let Ronan out the back.
00:32:25.300 I grabbed the shotgun and go out the front and I was like five seconds too slow.
00:32:30.580 And, and the guy got a lot, but, uh, made a report.
00:32:33.880 They wound up catching the guy about a half a mile down the road.
00:32:36.600 Cause he was trying to bring into other houses in the street too.
00:32:39.280 Yeah.
00:32:39.540 So the next morning, of course, all the neighbors start talking and he had attempted to get
00:32:43.420 into the apartment complex, which is to the left of me, hit my house, hit the house
00:32:48.300 next to me, hit their, their neighbor's house.
00:32:51.000 And we all just, you know, I got immediately on the phone right after I cleared the, cleared
00:32:55.440 the property.
00:32:55.900 It was like five, 10 gray shorts, black shirt, tan cap, red backpack.
00:33:00.740 And he had obviously known what we, what security, like I always talk about how you want to just
00:33:07.200 like, you know, present yourself as having a strong protective posture, you know, to sort
00:33:12.020 of make that a deterrent factor, which is the first level of, of, of deterrence.
00:33:15.980 And some people take that as just putting the sign in their yard with nothing else.
00:33:21.900 And the problem with that is that 85% of home invasions is because the guy can just walk
00:33:26.220 through the front door cause it's unlocked.
00:33:28.200 And on the security cameras, you see the brazenness of the, he see, he knows that I have the lights
00:33:32.220 and he knows, so he puts the, like his arm up to cover his face, but has no problem just
00:33:36.820 trying the front door to see if he can just walk right in.
00:33:39.800 Wow.
00:33:40.940 Just, you know, drug seeking behavior was looking for, to raid a medicine.
00:33:45.980 And that's, you know, that's the thing.
00:33:48.060 You have to be really careful because people who come to, you know, during the day are typically
00:33:51.680 coming for your stuff, but people who come at night, good chance they're coming for you.
00:33:56.980 So you really need to be of the mindset that you're willing to participate in your own protection.
00:34:02.200 That's the one thing that I learned from you and others is that robbers don't want to meet
00:34:08.100 you just as much as you don't want to meet them.
00:34:10.420 They come when the house is empty and they don't do it at night.
00:34:13.300 Like you see in the movies, generally speaking, they do it.
00:34:15.920 During the day, somebody comes to your house at night, they got a problem.
00:34:21.020 You know, they're either a drug person that's desperate or they do want to harm you or they're,
00:34:26.280 they're doing something more than stealing your stuff.
00:34:29.160 Generally speaking.
00:34:30.320 Right.
00:34:30.480 Of course, there's always exceptions to every rule, but yeah, more often than not.
00:34:33.340 And especially when they don't come to the front door, which I think this guy was trying
00:34:36.800 to do is by coming in through the back is if you hear, if your neighbors hear one loud
00:34:41.920 crash, they're probably gonna go, oh, well, that was strange.
00:34:44.320 But if they hear a second loud crash, then they may investigate.
00:34:48.020 But if your front door is open or if it's a weak door that they can just get in with
00:34:52.280 one quick kick or, you know, just one break of a window.
00:34:55.880 You know, you cannot expect your neighbors to be willing to protect you any more than you
00:35:00.520 are overly willing to protect your neighbors.
00:35:02.580 Yes, we all have a neighborly responsibility to look out for one another, but we no longer
00:35:08.860 live in a world where we can simply hope that nothing will happen and then solely rely on
00:35:14.080 the first responders to save us once something does.
00:35:17.740 That is something that came actually out of the Carter administration.
00:35:21.040 He's the one that started calling police and fire first responders.
00:35:23.840 We never thought of it that way.
00:35:25.080 Up until Carter, we all believed we were the first responders.
00:35:28.780 And that change alone has changed our society.
00:35:35.100 So talk to me about the paradox of the safety trap.
00:35:39.040 So the safety trap is a turn of phrase that I came up with a few years ago to explain to
00:35:46.820 my clients the false sense of security that tends to hide behind our own outlook when our
00:35:55.580 fear has been abated, but risk remains.
00:35:58.780 So if we take a school shooting, for example, tragic event happens, there's this rush that
00:36:06.000 we have to do something.
00:36:07.100 The politicians, you know, say we're going to, we're going to ban guns and, you know,
00:36:11.680 public safety officials say we need to do something about mental health, but then, you
00:36:15.720 know, nothing really happens.
00:36:17.260 The news cycle moves on.
00:36:18.780 The fear has abated, but the risk is still there.
00:36:21.580 We have done absolutely nothing to, you know, maybe we'll do some things that will help to
00:36:26.160 mitigate that risk once it has been realized, but we don't do anything.
00:36:31.220 We don't put any kind of like preventative countermeasures in place to prevent that bad
00:36:36.740 thing from happening.
00:36:37.740 And that is the very essence of the safety trap.
00:36:40.920 We are sometimes the most at danger when we feel the most safe, because when we have just
00:36:48.500 a little bit of fear or when we're a little bit hesitant or we're a little bit aware, we
00:36:52.060 have our guard up, we're looking around, we're present, we're very much in the moment, but
00:36:56.500 then, you know, things, things go on, nothing else happens.
00:37:00.480 And we have this, this, this swinging of the pendulum between hyper placency and, and hyper
00:37:06.460 complacency and vigilance.
00:37:08.400 And everyday safety is really about finding that happy middle, a healthy sense of skepticism,
00:37:13.960 a moderate dose of vigilance, very simple strategy.
00:37:16.920 You know, I have a story that probably very few can relate to, but I tell it for a reason
00:37:24.540 because you don't appreciate the skills that you actually have, these warning signals, these
00:37:31.420 things in you that you, you will see without, without recognizing that you're not consciously
00:37:39.720 looking or listening for things.
00:37:41.660 Because you just notice things and that gives you that sense of, I should be a little hesitant.
00:37:48.500 When you were the head of my detail, I had gotten so used to, and I think we may have
00:37:53.860 talked about this.
00:37:54.560 I got so used to always 24 seven having protection with me.
00:38:00.440 And usually it was more than one guy in the bad times.
00:38:03.760 It was a lot of people.
00:38:05.300 And, uh, and so I just knew that I was safe no matter where I was and, or at least I felt
00:38:12.100 that way.
00:38:12.540 And I lost those skills.
00:38:15.960 And I remember distinctly, maybe 10 years ago, the first time I went out again, just
00:38:21.960 by myself, just to go to the store, Spencer, I was so freaked out because I didn't have that
00:38:29.560 natural ability anymore.
00:38:30.920 I mean, it came back, but it was so foreign to me.
00:38:34.480 I was paranoid about everything.
00:38:37.060 It's, it's this weird balance of still sensing the danger, but not living in fear.
00:38:44.540 Does that make sense?
00:38:45.540 No, it absolutely does make sense.
00:38:47.120 And I think this is a very similar frame.
00:38:50.720 And I, and I use a couple, I cite a couple examples in the book.
00:38:53.300 One of the way I structured the book was I identified these like 16 quote unquote safety
00:38:59.540 traps that all of my clients throughout the years kept falling into, whether that be complacency,
00:39:05.820 whether that be avoidance, whether that be false equivalents.
00:39:08.700 And what it really always comes down to is everything in our normal everyday life.
00:39:15.180 Like most of us are never going to experience a terror attack or be in an active shooter situation
00:39:19.900 or, or experience a home invasion or, or any other like horrific incident.
00:39:24.600 But that doesn't mean that the risks aren't real.
00:39:28.580 The, you know, one of the things my global experience has, has always shown me is that
00:39:33.800 there are always pre-incident indicators.
00:39:36.780 There are always warning signs that come before the bad thing happens.
00:39:42.020 And staying safe is about training ourselves to see them.
00:39:46.100 When we drive our cars, we are looking for the person who's flying up behind us.
00:39:51.980 We're looking for the person who's erratically changing lanes.
00:39:54.980 We're looking for the person that may be, you know, in, in leadership, they always talk
00:39:59.320 about like anticipating the needs of others.
00:40:01.500 Safety is about anticipating the idiocy of others.
00:40:04.360 Is this person going to like, and if we could just like apply those same, um, safety defense
00:40:13.600 strategies that we employ when we're driving to our everyday life, we would have that ability
00:40:19.920 to notice, Hey, you know, this person, even when I was on your security detail and we had
00:40:25.740 all of the advanced teams and the overwatch and the counter surveillance and everything,
00:40:29.740 you would still very often come up to me and be like, something just doesn't feel right
00:40:34.000 about this route.
00:40:35.260 And all of that, and we would absolutely take that into our, into our route planning or our
00:40:41.680 threat matrix or whatever, because you not negotiating against your own survival instincts
00:40:47.540 allowed us to keep you safe.
00:40:50.640 Yeah.
00:40:51.440 Um, Spencer, I thank you for all of the years of service that you gave my family, uh, and
00:40:57.420 kept us safe in some really terribly frightening situations at times.
00:41:02.540 So the, the, the two things, Spencer, I want to talk to you about is why is it in the book?
00:41:09.760 You, you answer the question, why is it so many emergency response plans do more harm than
00:41:14.960 good?
00:41:15.560 And why is run, hide, fight such a bad idea?
00:41:18.800 Those are both things that we're told we have to pay attention to.
00:41:22.160 And you're saying, nah, bad ideas, horrible ideas.
00:41:26.220 Okay.
00:41:26.660 So on the evacuation protocols, why you don't want to go where everyone else is going.
00:41:34.080 Okay.
00:41:34.840 Let's say that, um, one of the reasons, okay, let's just accept the premise that everyone
00:41:40.740 who calls in a bomb threat is, there's no bomb because to get the components for that
00:41:46.240 bomb, to build it, to construct it, to then breach security, to get it in place, to do,
00:41:50.260 why are you going to sabotage your success?
00:41:52.080 But what you do have readily available is where is that evacuation zone?
00:41:58.820 Yeah.
00:41:59.280 Right.
00:41:59.620 And that's typically outside of the security zone.
00:42:02.640 So I can put it and I can go on, I can put in hashtag fire drill or hashtag a bomb threat.
00:42:09.200 And I can see on social media where everyone's gathering points are.
00:42:12.420 I can very easily put an explosive device there.
00:42:15.620 Now, if there is a real, I'm sorry, go ahead.
00:42:18.260 No, I was just, I was just going to say this.
00:42:21.100 I think they did this in Beslan.
00:42:23.120 If you remember that.
00:42:24.520 There's a movie called, uh, the kingdom where they, they put a, a small, uh, diversionary
00:42:29.820 explosive device inside a building to get everyone to the evacuation point.
00:42:34.140 And then that's where the real, the real bomb goes off because schools, buildings, office
00:42:38.760 places are all these like interconnected compartmentalized pockets of protection.
00:42:43.320 And then you give all of those up to, you know, to all move to one centralized, collective,
00:42:51.200 well, we're all going to go to the parking lot.
00:42:52.660 We're all going to go to the bleachers.
00:42:54.040 Hard idea.
00:42:54.960 If there's ever a fire drill or an evacuation drone, or even if it's just a rehearsal, go
00:43:00.880 anywhere else than where they're telling you to go.
00:43:03.440 Go to Starbucks, go home.
00:43:06.180 If the, if the crisis is so severe that they had to stop what they were doing and get everyone
00:43:10.680 out, they have bigger problems than getting you back in, go just participate in your own
00:43:16.960 protection, be disagreeable and go away.