The Glenn Beck Program - Best of the Program ｜ Guests： Douglas MacKinnon, Stephen Kent & Lauren Chen ｜ 12⧸17⧸19

00:00:00.000 So the impeachment goes to the House tomorrow.

00:00:04.240 The committee has had its last hearing on that.

00:00:08.380 And so now they're going to vote supposedly tomorrow.

00:00:12.120 They're going to start debating, so it might take a day or so.

00:00:15.420 But they're supposed to vote tomorrow, and then it'll go to the Senate.

00:00:18.940 McConnell told Chuck Schumer and told the rest of the country that they're not going to call any witnesses.

00:00:27.380 So none of the information that we have talked about is going to come out.

00:00:31.480 I disagree with that, but I understand the political calculation.

00:00:36.020 Also, we're going to give you a little more information on Hunter Biden and why Hunter felt it was okay to do this.

00:00:43.640 You will not believe the latest excuse.

00:00:47.320 Maxine Water, she's got a new conspiracy theory. 1.00

00:00:50.920 Also, Douglas McKinnon said he's afraid that maybe Trump is being set up by the Republicans, the ones who claim to be loyal who aren't.

00:01:03.160 Also, CNN, a reporter from CNN back in the 90s, has finally apologized to Richard Jewell.

00:01:10.340 It's a fascinating apology letter that I think everyone should hear, especially those in CNN, because are they doing the same thing over again now with Donald Trump?

00:01:22.640 We talk porn wars with Lauren Chen, Star Wars with Stephen Kent, all on today's podcast.

00:01:29.240 You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:01:44.140 Could we just go through just a little bit of Maxine Waters, because she brought up a very good point last night.

00:01:51.520 Really?

00:01:51.740 Yeah, on CNN.

00:01:52.880 We play the Maxine Waters on CNN from last night.

00:01:56.460 Because I believe, even though I don't have the facts to prove it, I believe that Putin wanted to lift the sanctions.

00:02:05.140 He's always wanted to lift these sanctions that were placed on him because of his interfering with and incursion into Crimea.

00:02:13.900 And so I believe that they wanted to elect President Trump.

00:02:18.080 And Trump, I believe, agreed, I will always believe this, that he agreed that if he got elected, he would lift those sanctions.

00:02:26.520 He would like to do it.

00:02:27.740 He's not been able to do it.

00:02:30.360 You know, you notice there's no interruption at all from the CNN anchor.

00:02:35.120 Like, wait, you started this with you don't have any evidence of this.

00:02:40.280 Is that important?

00:02:41.480 This is called a conspiracy theory.

00:02:44.020 This is a conspiracy theory.

00:02:45.500 And they are constantly saying, conspiracy theory from the left, or from the right, conspiracy theory from the right.

00:02:53.220 All of the theories about Russia, everything, we now know.

00:02:57.000 If you watched last night's TV show, it's insane.

00:03:00.680 When I broke down what the IG actually said and showed you the origins of the Russia investigation,

00:03:10.220 it's all based on a democratic conspiracy theory.

00:03:16.080 All of it.

00:03:17.080 There was no reason to start this investigation.

00:03:20.740 It was all based on people like Maxine Waters going, I have no evidence of this, but I know this is what happened.

00:03:27.260 It's amazing they let that go.

00:03:28.780 And one of the things, the standard operating procedure now with cable news networks,

00:03:33.020 is to use the phrase without evidence when it comes to things that Donald Trump says.

00:03:37.880 So let's say, Donald Trump, without evidence, said that the media is opposed to him, or whatever it is.

00:03:43.280 And they just throw it out there like it's just this thing that he basically made up,

00:03:48.180 rather than the fact that he didn't maybe go through and list all the evidence,

00:03:51.200 but don't we all kind of see that the media is kind of against him?

00:03:55.560 Right.

00:03:55.640 And so the only ones who can't see that, the media, and I think they do see it, by the way.

00:04:00.280 They just don't like to say it.

00:04:02.240 But, you know, that is a, that's something they point out all the time against Donald Trump.

00:04:07.160 But Maxine Waters can come in and tell you that she has no evidence.

00:04:11.000 I have absolutely no evidence of this whatsoever.

00:04:16.400 But I will always believe Stu is a mass murderer.

00:04:20.440 It was on this program yesterday, and he still has not answered.

00:04:25.320 And it is not proven to be untrue yet.

00:04:28.620 I kind of want it to, I like the little dangerous, mysterious vibe, so I'm going to stick with it.

00:04:32.620 People like the serial killers.

00:04:34.060 They get all sorts of letters in jail.

00:04:35.860 Oh, I know.

00:04:36.000 The women love them. 1.00

00:04:37.100 You'll get a series.

00:04:38.340 Oh, yeah.

00:04:38.580 You'll be famous.

00:04:39.500 I'll get the Netflix true crime series.

00:04:41.360 I've got all sorts of stuff.

00:04:42.660 I can make appearances.

00:04:43.740 It'll be huge, huge.

00:04:45.120 I'm more, you know, because I'm fascinated at the explanations of these things.

00:04:49.660 Because we've brought up a lot of evidence about, for example, Hunter Biden and all the things that happened with him in Ukraine.

00:04:57.760 And we're told that that's a conspiracy theory when we bring up evidence.

00:05:01.860 But when we bring up the evidence, there are actually wire transfer records of money going to offshore accounts for Hunter Biden.

00:05:13.800 There's actual records of that.

00:05:16.660 Nah, don't worry about it.

00:05:17.800 Yeah, this story from The New Yorker, which made some news yesterday, largely because of one quote from Rudy Giuliani, who said when he wanted to get the investigations of Burisma going in Ukraine, the former ambassador, Yovanovich, was in the way.

00:05:35.380 And the quote was something like, we needed to get her out of the way or we couldn't get these investigations done.

00:05:39.580 And so that has been spun in the media as if Giuliani was saying, well, she was a truth teller and we wanted to lie.

00:05:47.980 And so she was in the way.

00:05:49.360 So we had to remove her. 0.97

00:05:50.500 I love that.

00:05:51.220 And it's like, that's not what he was saying.

00:05:52.540 He was saying she was blocking.

00:05:54.440 She was blocking the travel visas for the people that Giuliani was trying to interview.

00:06:00.320 And she was blocking them.

00:06:01.780 And we have evidence that she was blocking them.

00:06:03.620 It's admitted.

00:06:04.080 They admit it.

00:06:04.900 I mean, you know, she says, well, you know, well, we didn't think that they were they should be here.

00:06:08.600 They were involved in what we thought was corruption and they should we shouldn't invite them to the United States.

00:06:13.100 I mean, you know, OK, but that was Giuliani's point.

00:06:17.860 And she perjured herself because she said they never did that.

00:06:21.920 They never blocked anybody from coming in.

00:06:24.100 And it says here, at least in the New Yorker article now, they seem to be admitting it, which is no surprise.

00:06:28.960 But listen, there's two pieces of explanation for these controversies from them, which I found to be fascinating, one of which.

00:06:37.640 And I've watched your specials.

00:06:39.460 I've never heard before.

00:06:41.040 I have uncovered new information, new information that you didn't have in your specials.

00:06:45.760 I don't know if this is worth.

00:06:46.920 Do you have evidence or did you get this from Maxine Water?

00:06:49.840 No, it's not.

00:06:50.520 It's better evidence than that.

00:06:51.560 It's coming direct from the source.

00:06:52.660 OK.

00:06:52.900 OK, so first of all, you have to understand that this is their explanation for the issues that went around with Hunter Biden.

00:07:00.440 Why? Why was this even allowed by Joe Biden?

00:07:03.500 Now, this part, you may have heard before, but I found it fascinating to hear it crystallized in this way.

00:07:08.660 A hunter who has long struggled with severe drug and alcohol problems had almost no expertise in the region or in energy.

00:07:15.740 And many U.S. and Ukrainian officials suspected that the co-founder of Burisma had put Hunter on the board in the hope of protecting himself from prosecution.

00:07:25.060 Again, this is their defense.

00:07:27.740 This is their theory.

00:07:29.700 They're way out on a limb here.

00:07:32.660 Some White House and State Department officials disapproved of Hunter's role at Burisma.

00:07:37.120 No, no, no.

00:07:38.260 They never said anything about it.

00:07:40.440 Nobody ever brought anything up.

00:07:42.280 And even there was not even a hint of impropriety.

00:07:44.640 Right.

00:07:45.020 I know it's so weird.

00:07:46.320 They were concerned about the appearance of a conflict of interest.

00:07:48.900 The appearance of the appearance, which is a violation.

00:07:53.120 The only violation really is the appearance.

00:07:56.780 Right.

00:07:56.920 The government ethics code specifically says you cannot allow yourself to be entered into a situation in which the appearance of corruption is possible, especially when dealing with things overseas.

00:08:08.120 But they mostly avoided discussing the matter with Joe Biden.

00:08:11.360 The vice president had a think about this.

00:08:14.660 This is a guy who wants to run the free world, Joe Biden.

00:08:17.020 Yeah.

00:08:17.160 The vice president had an unwritten don't ask, don't tell policy when it came to his family members' business decisions.

00:08:24.140 Now, that is not, that is completely unacceptable from a president of the United States.

00:08:31.140 I might have some problems.

00:08:32.080 I might have to say it's pretty unacceptable, honestly, from any father in the United States.

00:08:37.420 Yeah, right.

00:08:37.980 You know, Michael, I'm just saying, you and Fredo go out, do whatever you want.

00:08:46.000 No ask, no tell.

00:08:48.000 Right.

00:08:48.320 All right.

00:08:48.820 I'm not going to ask you anything about it.

00:08:50.580 That's what mob families do. 1.00

00:08:53.720 Right.

00:08:54.320 That's not what normal families do. 0.64

00:08:56.380 Normal families sit down and go, wait a minute, wait a minute, you're doing what?

00:09:00.540 No, don't, don't, don't do that.

00:09:02.040 Remember, Biden's supposed to be the guy rooting out corruption all over the world.

00:09:05.980 Right.

00:09:06.260 But he won't even ask, let alone, you know, if he gets asked and gets lied to and maybe he was manipulated and it was a mistake, he's specifically not asking because he doesn't want to know, right?

00:09:16.620 Like if your kid comes home and they're, you know, they're, they've been gone for three days and they come home and they got white powder all over their face.

00:09:23.960 Don't ask.

00:09:24.680 Don't ask.

00:09:25.420 You might want to wash your face.

00:09:27.360 I don't know what's going on there. 0.99

00:09:28.600 And especially when you are the vice president of the United States and your son is a drug addict. 0.98

00:09:34.820 Yeah.

00:09:35.040 I'm not saying this in a disparaging way.

00:09:37.600 I'm just stating the truth. 0.99

00:09:39.420 He is an out of control drug addict who is going to destroy himself and the whole family. 1.00

00:09:47.780 You don't ask him about his business. 1.00

00:09:50.920 Look, we all have, we all have our issues.

00:09:53.580 Hunter seems to have more of them than most.

00:09:56.120 And certainly with his history and his problems with addiction is completely incapable of drawing these lines successfully.

00:10:06.540 That is not something that Hunter Biden is able to do.

00:10:09.460 Clearly the man, you know, look at what's just happened in Arkansas where he is, his dad is in the middle of a presidential campaign and now has a new grandchild from a stripper who, who was impregnated while he was dating the widow of his other son.

00:10:28.160 His other brother.

00:10:29.200 Yeah.

00:10:29.380 His brother of Joe Biden's other son.

00:10:32.200 Yeah.

00:10:32.320 This is not someone who's capable of making these decisions in a reliable way.

00:10:36.060 And to implement a don't ask, don't tell policy for him is completely irresponsible, not by Hunter Biden, because we know that's irresponsible, but by Joe Biden.

00:10:46.240 Yeah.

00:10:46.460 I mean, their defense is he's completely irresponsible.

00:10:49.800 If you can have any sympathy, you can have sympathy in some ways for Hunter.

00:10:53.480 He's got a massive problem and he's massive problem, you know, and he doesn't seem to be successfully dealing with it.

00:11:00.120 Right.

00:11:00.860 And a lot of people can't successfully deal with it.

00:11:03.140 You know, so you get into this, this world.

00:11:05.540 It's a, I'm sure it's impossible with the inertia of drugs and such to get out of it.

00:11:10.100 And, and you feel bad for him.

00:11:13.300 However, when you're the president, you're going to be the president of the United States.

00:11:16.060 You're the vice president of the United States.

00:11:17.320 And your defense as to why you didn't see this coming was you didn't ask about it because you thought, because, because no one wanted to have a situation in which he had to have the truth.

00:11:28.480 He actually physically avoided intentionally the truth.

00:11:33.320 Do you know why?

00:11:34.360 It's because it's not his money.

00:11:36.160 Listen, hear me out.

00:11:37.440 Imagine that it's Joe Biden industries instead of the United States of America.

00:11:41.940 Yeah.

00:11:42.080 Okay.

00:11:42.380 And he's the border on the board of directors of Joe Biden industries.

00:11:46.340 He's very high up.

00:11:47.800 It's got his name on it.

00:11:48.880 Sure.

00:11:49.200 And he's responsible.

00:11:50.640 And Joe Biden industries goes out of business.

00:11:53.940 If they find out that there's any monkey business going on.

00:11:57.780 So he appoints his son to be, let's say the chief business development guy.

00:12:05.040 And he's just making deals, but some of the deals he makes for him and other deals he makes for the company.

00:12:12.240 Do you think the CEO, the chairman of the board or Joe Biden wouldn't say to his son, wait a minute, wait a minute.

00:12:22.100 What is that deal over there?

00:12:23.740 Oh, that's mine, dad.

00:12:25.220 Yeah.

00:12:25.600 But that deal looks like you're playing it against the company.

00:12:29.320 So I got to know what that deal is.

00:12:32.380 Because, son, we're all out of business.

00:12:35.280 Yeah, you're right.

00:12:36.000 He would do that if it was his money.

00:12:38.460 If they were running a bakery.

00:12:39.760 Yes.

00:12:40.140 He would ask every question.

00:12:41.360 But it's not his money.

00:12:42.580 It's our money.

00:12:44.240 It's our money and our reputation.

00:12:47.360 So there's nothing for him to lose.

00:12:49.900 He doesn't lose anything.

00:12:50.960 And he is so arrogant because look at what they're getting away with.

00:12:55.520 They have the cover of the press.

00:12:57.620 They're on the right side of history.

00:13:00.540 So they think they can get away with anything.

00:13:03.720 I mean, how Hillary Clinton can go travel the country right now and say, oh, you know what? 1.00

00:13:09.740 In this country, no one is above the law.

00:13:13.280 Oh, my gosh.

00:13:15.120 I think I'm going to hemorrhage from my eyes.

00:13:17.680 I could bleed to death in half a minute just from the blood shooting out of my eyes after hearing that.

00:13:23.460 Now, this is just their explanation for this.

00:13:26.660 However, it's not the new breaking information.

00:13:28.400 Oh, it's not?

00:13:29.080 No.

00:13:29.300 This is not why Hunter took the role.

00:13:31.380 Okay.

00:13:32.500 There's more.

00:13:33.220 Oh, there's a big one.

00:13:34.260 Okay.

00:13:34.720 All right.

00:13:35.100 Hang on just a second.

00:13:38.400 The best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:13:46.820 Hey, it's Glenn.

00:13:47.680 And you're listening to the Glenn Beck program.

00:13:49.460 If you like what you're hearing on this show, make sure you check out Pat Gray Unleashed.

00:13:54.320 It's available wherever you download your favorite podcasts.

00:13:57.900 Hunter Biden.

00:13:58.780 Hunter Biden.

00:13:59.360 He's about to.

00:13:59.960 He gets this offer from Burisma.

00:14:01.260 Yes.

00:14:01.380 This very shady gas company.

00:14:03.400 Yes.

00:14:03.880 Over in Ukraine.

00:14:04.960 And he has no experience with gas.

00:14:07.300 No experience with the language.

00:14:08.500 Doesn't know the country.

00:14:09.100 Doesn't speak the language.

00:14:09.680 Right.

00:14:10.020 His dad happens to be vice president of the United States.

00:14:12.720 And doing gas.

00:14:14.840 Investigations.

00:14:15.320 Yeah.

00:14:15.880 And, and granting money to gas companies.

00:14:19.300 Now that if you're Hunter Biden.

00:14:20.840 Uh-huh.

00:14:21.480 Kendall Roy from succession.

00:14:22.700 You might have a moment.

00:14:25.100 A moment.

00:14:26.260 Yeah.

00:14:26.640 Of hesitation there.

00:14:27.880 Right.

00:14:28.160 Because you're thinking, why?

00:14:30.020 Why do they want me to do this job?

00:14:31.880 And they're going to pay me all this money?

00:14:33.300 This seems a little suspicious.

00:14:35.760 It seems a little out of the blue.

00:14:37.720 Exactly.

00:14:38.320 But hey, dad.

00:14:39.720 When I was all coked up last night.

00:14:41.640 Right.

00:14:41.920 I was thinking, I could do that.

00:14:42.940 I could do that.

00:14:43.400 I could do that.

00:14:43.840 I'm a gas.

00:14:44.360 I could learn the language.

00:14:45.840 I mean, who would pass on me?

00:14:48.600 Right.

00:14:49.020 Right.

00:14:49.320 So maybe you get, but maybe you have a moment of suspicion.

00:14:53.220 Right.

00:14:53.420 And you're worried maybe about your dad's political future.

00:14:57.360 Sure.

00:14:57.440 And his reputation.

00:14:58.220 Right.

00:14:58.560 Sure.

00:14:59.320 Now, he goes through a little of this hesitation as he's making this decision.

00:15:03.160 Do I take this job with Burisma?

00:15:05.060 And, you know, he gets the back and forth about, oh, we're serious about transparency

00:15:09.460 and all the stuff you'd expect to get from a new employer.

00:15:12.300 But he's still skeptical because he's, I mean, you'd be skeptical of the situation.

00:15:17.480 But then it happens.

00:15:19.400 You start doing your own research.

00:15:21.600 Right.

00:15:21.920 Okay.

00:15:22.440 You start looking into this.

00:15:23.320 Yeah.

00:15:23.540 Yeah.

00:15:23.660 And this is a quote from the New Yorker article.

00:15:26.380 All right.

00:15:26.660 Hunter felt reassured on a more personal level.

00:15:31.120 After doing some of his own research, he read that the co-founder of Burisma had championed

00:15:37.780 efforts to ensure that bears held in captivity in Ukraine were treated more humanely, opposing

00:15:47.540 They are trying to make the case that Hunter Biden took the job at Burisma because he was worried about bears in captivity, that they were being held in open pits.

00:16:07.460 And this guy at Burisma was like, no more bears in pits.

00:16:11.820 Come on board, Hunter.

00:16:15.340 You know, I thought I might be in bed with a bad guy, but then I found out he's against bears in pits.

00:16:22.000 I'm against bears in pits.

00:16:24.560 We came together.

00:16:26.080 It was on my match.com profile.

00:16:28.180 No bears in pits.

00:16:29.240 It was the one thing I had been praying and praying and praying.

00:16:33.680 How do I know what's true?

00:16:36.520 How do I know who I can trust?

00:16:38.780 No bears in pits.

00:16:41.600 And then I thought to myself, that doesn't make any sense.

00:16:44.740 But when I started doing my research, I saw he doesn't want bears in pits.

00:16:49.160 It was meant to be.

00:16:50.800 It certainly wasn't the $80,000 a month.

00:16:54.200 It was we didn't want bears to be left in pits.

00:16:57.900 We wanted them roaming free and probably murdering Ukrainians all over the country. 1.00

00:17:01.940 So let me ask you this. 0.87

00:17:02.900 What the hell does it have to do with him?

00:17:04.820 I don't know.

00:17:05.720 I don't know.

00:17:06.760 I don't speak the language.

00:17:08.040 I'm not qualified for the job.

00:17:09.940 This just might be a scam.

00:17:12.420 No, they love me.

00:17:13.960 I mean, the way it's presented is legitimately like, well, you know what?

00:17:17.320 It sounded bad, but then he seemed nice because of the bear thing.

00:17:20.060 So I took the job.

00:17:21.820 He said, what do you want? 0.99

00:17:23.440 Vladimir Putin pets leopards.

00:17:29.380 I mean, I've never been to Ukraine, but like, I'm not going to walk by.

00:17:34.060 There's going to be big pits of bears everywhere. 0.69

00:17:36.360 Like, what the hell?

00:17:37.180 I tell you, this is the worst.

00:17:39.740 Ukraine, after what the Democrats have done to them, will have a tourist rating of zero.

00:17:46.620 No one will want to go.

00:17:47.820 It's just nuclear waste, corruption, and bears in pits.

00:17:54.400 Oh, man.

00:17:55.660 I mean, you thought they got far down the list of bizarre explanations.

00:18:00.440 And then they're like, oh.

00:18:04.060 This is the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:18:06.600 Hey, it's Glenn.

00:18:18.520 And if you like what you hear on the program, you should check out Pat Gray Unleashed.

00:18:22.880 His podcast is available wherever you download your favorite podcast.

00:18:26.360 Hi, it's Glenn.

00:18:27.820 If you're a subscriber to the podcast, can you do us a favor and rate us on iTunes?

00:18:32.340 If you're not a subscriber, become one today and listen on your own time.

00:18:36.440 You can subscribe on iTunes.

00:18:38.040 Thanks.

00:18:38.460 Are you going to Star Wars this weekend?

00:18:40.220 I am going Thursday night.

00:18:42.880 Are you really?

00:18:43.400 Yes.

00:18:43.880 I haven't gotten my tickets yet.

00:18:45.160 I bought them a long time ago.

00:18:46.300 For some reason, I bought them like the day they came out.

00:18:48.560 So I'm very excited about it.

00:18:49.600 And again, I think, you know, I don't quite agree with Pat's analysis of the series.

00:18:54.500 Like, I don't think they've all been bad since the first couple.

00:18:57.400 I think there's been some good ones.

00:18:58.720 There's been some good ones.

00:18:59.860 But it is.

00:19:00.620 Everybody's doing a power ranking.

00:19:01.940 We should do our power ranking at some point.

00:19:03.820 Yeah.

00:19:04.060 We have time to do it now?

00:19:05.440 Yeah, we've got a couple minutes.

00:19:07.220 Two minutes.

00:19:08.160 So if you look at all of them and you include the old ones and the new ones.

00:19:12.520 And the spinoffs.

00:19:13.700 And the spinoffs.

00:19:14.600 There's ten movies total.

00:19:15.760 Number one.

00:19:16.500 Number one.

00:19:16.960 Tell me where you disagree.

00:19:17.820 Number one, New Hope.

00:19:18.680 I go number one, Empire Strikes Back.

00:19:22.880 Number two.

00:19:23.620 I might, you know what?

00:19:24.520 I might switch that.

00:19:25.760 Yeah.

00:19:25.880 Because I was number two was Empire Strikes Back.

00:19:28.020 And I had New Hope number two.

00:19:29.420 Most people are going to be there.

00:19:30.540 Yeah.

00:19:30.840 I think I'm with you on that one.

00:19:33.200 Number three, Return of the Jedi.

00:19:35.580 I do disagree with this one.

00:19:37.580 With most people.

00:19:38.780 Okay.

00:19:40.100 Where do you put Return of the Jedi?

00:19:42.740 Way down?

00:19:43.360 I put it.

00:19:45.480 What do you have as number three?

00:19:47.120 Force Awakens.

00:19:47.900 Force, which I know a lot of people don't like, but I like that one.

00:19:50.220 No, I have that as number four.

00:19:51.660 Fourth Awakens.

00:19:52.460 Then number five, Rogue One.

00:19:54.000 I had that four.

00:19:54.900 So we're not far off here.

00:19:55.960 Number six is Solo.

00:19:58.020 Wait, are you on number five?

00:19:59.400 Number five is Rogue One.

00:20:00.660 Rogue One, okay.

00:20:01.300 Okay, number six is Solo.

00:20:02.820 I had that at eight.

00:20:04.100 Number seven is The Last Jedi.

00:20:06.760 See, I had that one, like, I was going back and forth between last and second to last.

00:20:11.900 I did not like that.

00:20:12.700 Oh, no, no, no, no.

00:20:13.680 I'm at seven.

00:20:14.700 Number eight is Attack of the Clones.

00:20:16.760 Number nine, because Jar Jar Binks is still in it.

00:20:19.560 Number nine is Revenge of the Sith.

00:20:21.700 And number ten is Phantom Menace.

00:20:23.440 I mean, those first three have to be, they have to be last.

00:20:29.220 Yeah, I probably, I guess I probably put Phantom Menace last.

00:20:32.660 Though I, Last Jedi, when I watch it, I watched it recently again, and it was like, no, I'm

00:20:38.300 like, this isn't that bad except for a couple of really bad moments.

00:20:42.380 But I just, it just feels like not even a Star Wars movie.

00:20:45.020 But you just have to remember, that's number seven.

00:20:47.220 I mean, it's just barely beating out Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and Phantom

00:20:52.980 Menace.

00:20:54.100 I mean, there comes a point where it's like, yeah, it's all kind of trash after this. 0.97

00:20:58.020 Yeah, yeah.

00:20:58.940 They're about 50-50, I think, on, like, movies I actually liked.

00:21:02.620 Which is not a great ratio for, like, the biggest franchise of all time.

00:21:06.120 No.

00:21:06.480 And one you're so loyal to that it opens up and you're like, of course I have opening day

00:21:11.240 tickets.

00:21:14.220 The best of the Glenn Beck Program.

00:21:17.220 Hey, it's Glenn, and you're listening to the Glenn Beck Program.

00:21:25.600 If you like what you're hearing on this show, make sure you check out Pat Gray Unleashed.

00:21:30.180 It's available wherever you download your favorite podcasts.

00:21:33.960 Douglas McKinnon rode on the Hill this weekend.

00:21:37.980 Is a potential trap being set by seemingly loyal Republican senators?

00:21:43.020 I don't even know what loyal Republican senators mean anymore.

00:21:50.280 Douglas McKinnon joins us now.

00:21:51.960 Hello, Doug.

00:21:52.400 How are you?

00:21:53.740 Glenn, thanks for having me back on.

00:21:55.220 I really appreciate it.

00:21:56.240 Yeah, no, not a problem.

00:21:57.360 I'm fascinated by this.

00:21:59.340 Tell me the theory here.

00:22:00.620 Well, the theory is, I think, as we had talked about in the past, I had to hire on him to

00:22:07.260 work for President Reagan in the White House, as well as Bush one.

00:22:11.160 And I think this White House, as good as they are, and I'm a supporter of the president, I

00:22:16.420 think Trump is the best president since President Reagan.

00:22:19.740 That said, I do believe the president and the West Wing are putting way too much faith

00:22:26.040 in the Senate.

00:22:27.060 And it's one of these things where I talked to two, one senior staffer and a former senior

00:22:31.980 staffer up on the Hill who told me that there were a number of meetings going on behind

00:22:37.440 closed doors between a number of Republican senators, you know, and the fear is that with

00:22:44.680 the weight of history, and as you and I understand very, very well, even most, as you just said,

00:22:52.160 you know, what's a loyal Republican senator, right?

00:22:54.140 Because the vast majority of these Republican senators, either privately or publicly, can't

00:22:59.740 stand President Trump for a lot of reasons.

00:23:01.880 The main reason being, Glenn, they can't control him.

00:23:05.100 They've never been able to control him.

00:23:06.920 They can't predict what he's going to do.

00:23:10.200 And so because of that, does it make more sense for them to have someone who's part of

00:23:14.860 the club become president and someone who's part of the club, who's a good guy, by the

00:23:19.420 way, but his vice president, Mike Pence, but Mike Pence is part of the club.

00:23:23.580 And again, how easy would it be for just, you only need 20 of the 53 Republican senators

00:23:29.900 to say, wait a minute, I think here's our historic opportunity to remove a president

00:23:34.700 and none of us like.

00:23:35.560 And again, the conventional wisdom is the president is going to get acquitted in the

00:23:40.420 Senate trial.

00:23:41.200 It's going to be a slam dunk.

00:23:43.040 But my whole point is, and the point of these two stoppers that I was speaking with was,

00:23:47.480 let's not assume that.

00:23:49.100 And as I said in the piece, too, one of President Reagan's favorite lines was, okay, let's trust

00:23:54.000 but verify here.

00:23:54.980 So how do you verify?

00:23:57.720 Because I mean, I go back and forth, Douglas, on this.

00:24:00.220 I look at what really happened and what really went on with the Democrats in Ukraine and this

00:24:09.300 whole thing with the press, it must be exposed.

00:24:13.080 With that being said, I don't, I'm not sure it will be exposed because I think people like

00:24:19.260 possibly Lindsey Graham, you know, what's his name, Turtle Face in the Senate.

00:24:29.260 Yeah, McConnell, thank you.

00:24:31.240 I think these guys are, wouldn't, they don't want things exposed either.

00:24:39.000 They want to continue to play in the club.

00:24:41.020 And they probably are dirty along the same lines as what the Democrats have looked like

00:24:48.880 they've been up to. 0.98

00:24:50.340 And Donald Trump is a hand grenade. 0.96

00:24:52.820 And he went off and he exposed a lot of this dirt.

00:24:57.220 And I'm not sure that there are people on both sides that want this to stop.

00:25:05.260 Well, I agree with you in that sense, too.

00:25:09.240 What I always tell people that are fresh to the United States who don't understand the 1.00

00:25:12.900 system, I said, amazingly, if you watch the movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which

00:25:17.780 was made 80 years ago, and you look at the Taylor machine and what's going on as he's

00:25:22.060 controlling various members of the Senate, basically nothing has changed since the time

00:25:26.700 that movie aired 80 years ago.

00:25:28.820 And that's one of the things where Trump is coming in and he is the disruptor.

00:25:32.400 What Nikki Haley, Governor Haley said, you know, one of the reasons so many people dislike

00:25:36.280 him is he is a disruptor that can't be controlled.

00:25:39.640 And so to your point, it's one of these things where who can you in fact trust?

00:25:44.240 And my point and the point of these stoppers is, well, don't trust anybody because ultimately

00:25:49.740 there's a historic opportunity here for 20 Republican senators to change history, to

00:25:56.480 invalidate the votes of 63 million Americans who voted for President Trump.

00:26:01.860 And to join with basically Glenn, the deep state and create this unofficial coup and remove

00:26:09.460 a legitimately and constitutionally elected president of the United States, it really is

00:26:13.420 chilling.

00:26:13.740 OK, so why do you think that this has a chance of happening?

00:26:18.160 Because when they were talking about articles of impeachment, look at the numbers with the

00:26:25.140 people.

00:26:25.660 The people are not for it.

00:26:27.360 You know, the Democrats are even having defectors.

00:26:30.040 When they started this, they said, you know, we think we could probably get, you know, 10

00:26:33.900 or 20 Republicans on board.

00:26:35.960 They couldn't even get all Democrats on board for this.

00:26:40.700 Well, I mean, and that's the thing, and that's the conventional wisdom, right?

00:26:43.560 And again, the conventional wisdom says 99.9 percent chance.

00:26:47.760 You know, the Senate's going to quit.

00:26:49.220 Everyone's going to be happy.

00:26:50.200 And I do suspect that may be the case.

00:26:53.060 But the whole point here is, I think the Trump White House is going into this with eyes sort

00:26:59.440 of, if not fully closed, somewhat squinted in terms of what's going on in the Senate,

00:27:03.800 what conversations are taking place.

00:27:05.980 You know, who can we double check with?

00:27:08.140 And what can we be doing that we're not doing right now to protect ourselves and to protect

00:27:12.860 this president?

00:27:13.500 And I'm a little bit surprised that there's at least no conversation emanating from the

00:27:18.580 west wing of the White House that publicly puts these guys on notice.

00:27:23.360 You know, I think that would be a smart strategy.

00:27:26.340 So, Douglas, what are the things you're watching for?

00:27:28.460 As a political consultant, what are the things that you're watching to see if this tide is

00:27:32.920 going in or out?

00:27:34.800 Well, I think one of the things that people should be paying attention to are what conversations

00:27:39.620 are taking place.

00:27:41.100 Are any conversations, you know, and this is where you have to have sort of insiders that

00:27:45.260 are leaking some of this information and saying, are there conversations taking place between

00:27:50.080 certain senators in the west wing?

00:27:52.600 Are there certain conversations taking place between certain staff members and the vice

00:27:57.660 president's office?

00:27:58.620 I mean, there's a lot of different things that are happening beneath the scenes.

00:28:02.500 And it's one of these things where this is such a unique opportunity.

00:28:06.140 And as we know, you know, before, you know, President Clinton was never going to get impeached.

00:28:10.760 President Nixon resigned before he could go through this.

00:28:13.500 But it's a totally different dynamic, Glenn, with Donald Trump, because he is a one man

00:28:18.800 band.

00:28:19.860 Washington, D.C. has never seen anyone like him in its history.

00:28:23.560 He basically got elected by himself.

00:28:26.120 And so for all those reasons, and to your point about this club being even whether it's Lindsey

00:28:31.480 Graham or Mitch McConnell or others, he is a disruptor that they would, if it was a perfect

00:28:37.800 world, as we both know, Glenn, if they could just flip a switch and make him disappear, they

00:28:42.260 would do it tomorrow.

00:28:43.960 Yeah, they would.

00:28:45.720 All right.

00:28:46.380 Let me switch subjects with you, because I know you have a new book, and I didn't even,

00:28:51.040 you know, you're not on to talk about it, but I wanted to talk about it.

00:28:54.920 You have a new book out, The North Pole Project, In Search of the True Meaning of Christmas.

00:28:59.620 Can you tell me about it?

00:29:01.340 Sure.

00:29:01.840 Yeah.

00:29:01.960 It's just people tend to be walking away from Christmas left and right, and people tend

00:29:05.740 to be forgetting about just the Christmas spirit and what does it mean.

00:29:09.120 And so the story is basically about a multi-billionaire who lost his way in life.

00:29:15.340 He ended up getting, you know, the trophy wipes and all these things, and he's got $54 billion,

00:29:19.840 and all of a sudden he's 50 years old, and he's totally lost in life.

00:29:23.580 And he's sitting in his 35-room mansion by himself one day, contemplating doing the worst

00:29:29.760 when he gets a call from his minister brother in Texas who says, what is wrong with you,

00:29:34.540 Christian? 0.80

00:29:34.800 You have to try to save yourself.

00:29:36.340 And this 50-year-old billionaire, when he was a child with his brother living on an

00:29:41.660 army base, he used to collect money to give presents to the other poor children on the

00:29:46.740 army base.

00:29:47.400 And his minister brother says, Christian, become that person again.

00:29:51.140 Become Santa Claus all over again.

00:29:52.980 And so this billionaire literally decides to recreate the North Pole and Santa's workshop

00:29:59.260 on the North Pole.

00:30:00.460 And not only does he do that, Glenn, but he recruits people from all over the world as

00:30:05.840 his quote-unquote elves, who they themselves are going through some of the worst that life

00:30:10.540 has to offer.

00:30:11.780 And they are sort of healed by joining this project.

00:30:16.000 And together, these people change the lives for the better of over 500,000 orphans around

00:30:21.640 the world.

00:30:22.040 So is this a story that can be read with your kids, but is kind of like Harry Potter, can

00:30:28.760 be read by an adult and enjoyed, but also little older kids too?

00:30:34.140 100%.

00:30:34.580 It's one of these things where people, we're getting emails now from people that are exactly

00:30:38.440 doing that every night.

00:30:39.780 They're reading one chapter with their families out loud because it really is sort of reinvigorating

00:30:46.400 the Christmas spirit in all of them.

00:30:47.940 And that's what makes me the proudest.

00:30:49.580 And for me, I didn't take a dime for this book, by the way, Glenn, and everything goes

00:30:52.940 to charity.

00:30:53.620 That's great.

00:30:54.360 Douglas McKinnon, thank you so much.

00:30:55.780 I appreciate it.

00:30:56.260 The name of the book is The North Pole Project.

00:30:58.780 And his article, which I think is possibly right on the mark, is a trap being set for Trump

00:31:06.100 in the Senate trial, is available at the Hill.

00:31:08.580 Thanks so much, Douglas McKinnon.

00:31:13.200 This is the best of the Glenn Beck Program.

00:31:17.940 Like listening to this podcast?

00:31:27.900 If you're not a subscriber, become one now on iTunes.

00:31:31.200 And while you're there, do us a favor and rate the show.

00:31:33.900 All right, Stephen Kent is here.

00:31:36.560 He is with Young Voices and the host of Beltway Bantha's podcast, which is a fun podcast.

00:31:43.720 And this week, the new Star Wars.

00:31:46.980 Do we have a bit of the clip for the new Star Wars?

00:31:51.400 This is the new Star Wars.

00:31:53.540 It comes out Thursday.

00:31:54.700 Stu has his tickets.

00:31:56.300 Pat has his tickets.

00:31:57.700 I don't have my tickets.

00:32:00.260 But it opens up.

00:32:02.360 And this is the last.

00:32:05.520 The Rise of Skywalker.

00:32:07.760 Listen.

00:32:07.980 It's an instinct.

00:32:18.660 A feeling.

00:32:22.220 The Force brought us together.

00:32:28.120 We're not alone.

00:32:29.260 Good people will fight if we lead them.

00:32:37.500 People keep telling me they know me.

00:32:41.480 No one does.

00:32:45.800 But I do.

00:32:46.580 How long have I waited.

00:32:58.220 And now...

00:33:01.020 You're coming together.

00:33:08.820 Is your undoing.

00:33:11.620 What are you doing there, 3PO?

00:33:19.520 Taking one last look, sir.

00:33:23.660 At my friends.

00:33:27.260 Oh, how sweet.

00:33:30.520 I'm just getting so and so...

00:33:32.200 I'm getting really dark on all the cute little things that George Lucas started.

00:33:37.100 I just... 0.99

00:33:37.620 I want them all to die. 0.99

00:33:38.500 I'm for Baby Yoda, but all the rest of the stuff that George Lucas did, I just want to die. 0.99

00:33:45.740 Let's go to Stephen, who's with us now.

00:33:48.960 Stephen Kent.

00:33:50.000 Hey, Stephen.

00:33:51.460 Glenn, good morning.

00:33:52.640 Do you have any insight on what's going to happen?

00:33:57.200 They're bringing Rey and Kylo together to create balance.

00:34:02.240 Is this going to be a preachy movie?

00:34:06.220 What's happening?

00:34:07.040 Well, Star Wars is always at its best when it's a little bit preachy.

00:34:11.020 I mean, it's never not had a message since it began.

00:34:14.280 But again, like, what to expect?

00:34:16.020 The movies supposedly ended in 1983, and then they ended again in 2015.

00:34:21.500 And now here we are.

00:34:22.640 They're ending supposedly again in 2019.

00:34:25.720 We've been talking about this, you and I, since 2016.

00:34:28.500 I got to say, my anxiety is pretty high, and my expectations are just kind of all over the place.

00:34:33.220 So, do you think, who's directing this?

00:34:37.660 This is J.J. Abrams again, who took over The Force Awakens when it was rebooted.

00:34:42.140 He did a good job.

00:34:43.160 He did.

00:34:43.680 He made people feel comfortable with this being a reboot of Star Wars or a continuation of that story.

00:34:49.120 I think it's a nice, safe pick that they did, and it's going to round it all down nicely.

00:34:53.580 All right.

00:34:53.800 So, this is not one of them that went through, like, three directors, right?

00:34:57.740 J.J. Abrams has been on this the whole time.

00:35:00.540 It was originally slated to be given to Colin Trevorrow, who directed the Jurassic Park sequels.

00:35:06.600 And it was taken away from him for reasons that are kind of unclear, but they've just written that off to creative differences, which means that he couldn't play ball with all the high-budget expectations that came with that studio.

00:35:21.100 And this is Disney-owned, right?

00:35:25.360 Oh, yeah.

00:35:25.880 Oh, yeah.

00:35:26.260 This is Disney.

00:35:27.180 They're going to take us across the finish line here and try to make this all make sense, not just these three movies, but all nine of them.

00:35:34.700 And you were asking about what to expect from this movie.

00:35:37.600 I think the only thing that we have to go off of is the voice of Emperor Palpatine that shows up in these trailers.

00:35:44.060 If you think about Star Wars in continuity, the only thing that stretches from episodes one all the way to nine is Senator, then Chancellor, then Emperor Palpatine, and the actor Ian McDiarmid.

00:35:56.600 So, he's coming back for this final movie, and the big question is going to be, how the heck does that happen?

00:36:01.920 Because he was blown to pieces in Return of the Jedi.

00:36:04.940 Oh, I hope they do another thing where he floats through space like Leia, because that really worked well, I thought.

00:36:09.840 Steven, is that the worst thing you've ever seen?

00:36:12.600 They had the actress dies.

00:36:14.740 They have a way for her to die, and they bring her back?

00:36:20.140 Yeah, but would you have wanted Leia to die but just sucked into a vortex in space?

00:36:24.500 Yes, yes, yes, yes, I would have.

00:36:27.280 In fact, there's a vortex, and I have several characters with a vortex with their name on it.

00:36:33.240 Yeah, yeah, that was an odd choice, and I personally kind of fell out of my seat at that, and I just always look away when that scene comes around in The Last Jedi, because it's a little too much cheese.

00:36:43.660 Okay, so they're mixing the two, the dark force and the light, they're finding balance?

00:36:52.080 Is that what we think this is going to be, where they're like, you know, not everything is bad?

00:36:56.820 Well, when I first came onto The Blaze and talked to Pat and Stu in 2016 about The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, that's where I was at, that they were going to find a balance between the light side and the dark side and kind of do away with this holy war between the Jedi and the Sith.

00:37:12.660 And then that came around to The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson basically snubbed that idea entirely and kept the status quo going.

00:37:19.820 I think all indicators are still pointing towards a complete disruption of the Jedi-Sith conflict and the light and dark paradigm, and I think that's going to be pretty healthy for Star Wars going forward, if we can sort of balance out the moral imperative of having a clear light and dark and good and evil.

00:37:36.540 That's the mix that they have to get right here.

00:37:39.080 So who is the Skywalker that's rising?

00:37:42.700 My opinion of this is that the Skywalker is the Force user.

00:37:46.700 So that the Skywalker is going to be sort of melded into a title for people who choose to walk in the ways of the Force, study the old ways, study the history, Luke Skywalker, Anakin, all those great heroes.

00:37:59.180 I think they're going to do away with these sort of religious titles that come with the Jedi and the Sith, and they're going to be just a new class of warriors, like samurais, Skywalkers.

00:38:08.820 That's my personal theory.

00:38:10.280 The easier answer might just be that it's Kylo Ren, because he's the only Skywalker currently living.

00:38:14.620 He's currently fallen, and he could still stand back up and rise back to his family's legacy.

00:38:21.260 Tell me that you were not blown out of your shoes, shocked, when you heard that Disney did not make any Baby Yodas available for Christmas.

00:38:35.900 That was pretty stunning.

00:38:37.880 It was really, really stunning.

00:38:39.320 But, you know, it kind of cuts against a couple different narratives about Disney.

00:38:43.820 Are they either after the money and chasing every single dollar they can get, or are they meticulous and protective of the brand?

00:38:50.720 It kind of threw a little bit of a wrench in everybody's opinions about Disney with that.

00:38:55.780 I think that they have a new mouse.

00:38:57.740 With Baby Yoda, that thing is so cute.

00:39:00.620 It's making me watch the Mandalorian and actually continuing to give it a chance, even though the last few episodes have been like, okay, come on, let's pick it up here.

00:39:11.080 What's the story?

00:39:13.580 Yeah, we're all united and stand with Baby Yoda.

00:39:16.640 It's been something our own household has enjoyed.

00:39:18.800 And it's pretty remarkable to see that actually happen pretty organically, where this sort of cute creature is put into Star Wars to make everybody, you know, kind of be able to enjoy a kid-friendly series that is otherwise pretty violent.

00:39:31.100 And it's being received incredibly well.

00:39:34.740 I mean, I don't think it is.

00:39:36.560 It shows that George Lucas, the George Lucas impact or influence is gone because this is the character that he always tried to find, and they have now found it.

00:39:48.600 Yeah, I suppose that is true.

00:39:51.800 I know the first bungle of cute creatures was with the Ewoks and Return of the Jedi. 1.00

00:39:56.800 And they were horrible.

00:39:57.200 Yeah, when you think about the first early divisions in fandom, fandom was always quite united around Star Wars 4 and 5, that being The Empire Strikes Back.

00:40:06.760 The first big rift was Return of the Jedi and sort of the cute nature of the Ewoks and some of the narrative choices of that film.

00:40:14.780 And we've been reliving that horror show of incredibly divisive Star Wars movies ever since.

00:40:20.180 I have a couple of theories about that myself.

00:40:21.940 Do you think maybe this is where the divide in America started?

00:40:27.960 The divide in America started on Endor.

00:40:30.780 Yeah, and on Endor.

00:40:34.660 Are you going to the conference this weekend for Turning Point?

00:40:41.700 I am not, no.

00:40:42.640 Oh, okay.

00:40:43.520 Well, I was hoping to see you there, but I guess not.

00:40:47.120 I'm sure you'll do a bang-up job.

00:40:49.160 Oh, I'm sure I will.

00:40:50.680 I'm sure I will.

00:40:51.320 What's your, do you have a, have you done this thing that everyone is doing with ranking them in the, you know, all 10 movies in order of preference?

00:40:59.000 Yeah, you know, I feel like I've done it every two years.

00:41:01.100 And at this point, I'm like tired of throwing it up there.

00:41:03.800 But Return of the Jedi has always been my number one since we actually just discussed that.

00:41:08.200 And then Revenge of the Sith, Sith Episode 3 as my number two.

00:41:13.060 Those are both incorrect, just to let you know.

00:41:15.260 Yeah.

00:41:15.400 I've never, I've never heard a correct answer when it comes to Star Wars.

00:41:20.680 And, you know, that's just kind of the fun generational nature of this saga.

00:41:24.740 Every group and cohort of generations have their own preferences when it comes to these movies because it is their Star Wars.

00:41:32.060 And that's kind of why we're all tearing each other's heads off perpetually with these movies.

00:41:36.340 It's a little bit beautiful.

00:41:38.260 It's also a little bit maddening.

00:41:39.660 So how do millennials stand on the first three?

00:41:43.880 Yeah, yeah.

00:41:44.600 Episode 1, 2, and 3?

00:41:45.680 Yeah.

00:41:46.680 Do they feel the same way?

00:41:50.120 Yeah.

00:41:50.540 Elder millennials kind of fall in with Gen X with a lot of skepticism about the prequels and heavy critique.

00:41:56.140 What I've seen in the past couple of years has been an incredible, not revisionist history, but sort of a fighting back by millennials about enjoying the first three Star Wars movies because they were kids when they watched it.

00:42:09.600 They didn't really have those blinders on about what is cheesy and what is bad acting.

00:42:14.560 They just watched it, and it was Star Wars, and it was cool.

00:42:17.600 So I've actually seen a huge swing back in favor of the prequels and a lot of people readdressing those movies with a little bit more favorable light.

00:42:25.360 And that's what's so funny because apparently George Lucas destroyed everyone's childhoods with those movies.

00:42:31.140 Oh, I mean, Greta Thunberg is talking to George Lucas when she said, you stole my childhood.

00:42:40.580 You stole everything from me.

00:42:43.280 She's talking specifically about Phantom Menace.

00:42:46.740 That's what she's talking about.

00:42:47.800 How dare you.

00:42:49.000 Stephen Kent, thank you so much.

00:42:50.220 We'll talk to you again.

00:42:50.820 Stephen Kent, spokesperson, Young Voices, and a host of Beltway Bantha's podcast.

00:43:02.020 The best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:43:16.860 Welcome to the Glenn Beck program.

00:43:18.700 We have Lauren Chen, the host of Pseudo Intellectual, the podcast.

00:43:24.780 And you're, Lauren, you're a Canadian.

00:43:27.800 Welcome to Texas.

00:43:28.760 It's the real America. 0.56

00:43:31.020 It's colder than I thought it would be here, though.

00:43:33.140 Frankly, I'm a little bit disappointed.

00:43:34.720 I was hoping for some more.

00:43:35.980 Well, Dallas is different.

00:43:37.180 Dallas is, you know, this is, I guess, the high elevations of Texas.

00:43:42.300 So it's a little bit colder.

00:43:45.240 And tomorrow it could be 90.

00:43:48.320 I'm leaving tomorrow.

00:43:49.560 That would make sense.

00:43:50.020 So it probably will be 90.

00:43:52.560 So first of all, tell me about the podcast, how the health is, you know, the numbers, et cetera, et cetera.

00:43:59.760 Because of YouTube.

00:44:01.360 I know a lot of your stuff is on YouTube.

00:44:03.520 You're a member of the Blaze TV.

00:44:05.660 So you're part of our podcast family.

00:44:08.060 But how are you affected by the purge and everything that's going on with Google and YouTube?

00:44:14.520 So for the purge, there was this, I think, last week, just this new set of rules and policies regarding harassment that was released.

00:44:21.940 So far, as far as I know, they don't always tell you about these things.

00:44:25.320 But we haven't had any videos taken down, which the same can't be said for other creators.

00:44:29.740 But we've been okay for that so far.

00:44:31.540 But for us, the biggest thing with YouTube and Google has just been this ongoing challenge of trying to get our videos out there.

00:44:38.860 Previously with YouTube, if you kind of tagged your videos properly, if people were interested, if engagement was good, YouTube's system would recommend you to potential viewers.

00:44:49.100 They watch, they subscribe.

00:44:50.940 Your podcast grows like that.

00:44:52.380 Or if you kind of can jump on a bandwagon topic that everyone's talking about, trending news, you can kind of grow your audience like that.

00:44:59.920 Not anymore.

00:45:00.680 That is not how that happens anymore, especially if you're in news commentary, especially if you're in conservative news commentary.

00:45:07.380 So what we've been finding is that really the only way we're still able to be growing, which we are, thank goodness, is through our audience sharing our videos.

00:45:15.020 People don't understand how important that is, to share, and not just like, but share.

00:45:23.080 Right.

00:45:23.600 Because if you don't share, the algorithms are not, they're not doing anything for me or for Lauren or anybody really that is conservative.

00:45:32.540 It's, they're not sharing.

00:45:34.060 I look at like Instagram.

00:45:35.500 Instagram, I'm found always by zero numbers outside of my subscribers.

00:45:42.860 Yeah.

00:45:43.220 And it doesn't even make it all to the subscribers.

00:45:45.520 Exactly.

00:45:46.180 No, and YouTube, I don't know if this is politically motivated or just their system is not good, but subscribers will actually get unsubscribed from your videos.

00:45:54.100 My own mother has been unsubscribed from my channel several times, so it's frustrating.

00:45:58.040 And she's telling you that she didn't do it?

00:46:00.020 Yeah, of course.

00:46:00.780 I'm hoping she didn't.

00:46:02.740 But it's very, very frustrating.

00:46:04.340 That's why some of our videos will actually tell people, please share our videos, go to Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, wherever you can, just to, you know, or email it to people even.

00:46:12.800 We have, we can see where our traffic is coming from.

00:46:15.620 For some videos, more people find us from being emailed the video from their friends than YouTube's actual system.

00:46:20.980 Likewise.

00:46:21.720 Likewise. 0.98

00:46:22.340 It's ridiculous. 0.95

00:46:22.760 Which is really bad. 0.64

00:46:23.780 But there are some conservatives that, you know, want to force YouTube or Google or whatever, control them, give, you know, give the government some oversight to it.

00:46:37.600 We're now having conservatives talk about porn and that porn should be regulated by the government, which is incomprehensible to me as a conservative.

00:46:50.440 Well, this is, this is the debate that's been blowing up on social media.

00:46:55.020 I remember, I think it was last week, I just log on to Twitter, check my feed, and everyone's talking about porn.

00:47:00.640 I'm like, well, okay, what's, I've clearly missed something.

00:47:02.800 Something.

00:47:03.260 So how this conversation started off was Matt Walsh, who's with the Daily Wire, wrote an article talking about how there's, I guess, renewed interest trying to do something about children having access to pornography.

00:47:16.000 Because I think there have been studies out the average age that a child first sees hardcore porn is, I think, 11 or something like 11 years old.

00:47:23.900 And it's really shocking.

00:47:25.120 We're not just talking about maybe the 70s era centerfold where it was just nudity. 0.91

00:47:30.260 This is porn, real hard porn.

00:47:32.860 My son found, saw his first porn, I think, when he was eight. 0.98

00:47:38.820 Wow. 0.91

00:47:39.440 And it really screwed him up.

00:47:42.120 Just like searching on the internet randomly.

00:47:43.780 Yeah, he was on, somebody had handed him his phone or something, and randomly this porn thing came up.

00:47:50.760 And he went to the babysitter because he didn't know what to do with mom and dad.

00:47:57.940 And he went to the babysitter, and he was so upset and crying and just like, I don't know what this was.

00:48:04.560 No, and that's not an exception.

00:48:07.440 This is very, very common, and you don't even need to be looking at it.

00:48:10.220 With things like pop-ups, you could just be on what you think is a regular site, and then you get an ad for something that's not so regular.

00:48:16.120 So with that in mind, I think everyone agrees children should not, that's not acceptable.

00:48:22.240 They shouldn't be exposed to that.

00:48:24.320 So people like Matt Walsh, who is somewhat more, you know, of the, I guess, let's get it done.

00:48:31.080 Yeah, I didn't want to say that.

00:48:32.100 But yeah, your words, not mine.

00:48:33.760 So he's for just like, let's get rid of this.

00:48:35.680 This is not doing any good for anybody.

00:48:37.600 And his position was he wanted to ban it completely, right?

00:48:40.120 Yeah.

00:48:40.700 That's insane.

00:48:41.460 He says he wants to ban it completely, but if you read his article, he kind of first started with, if there's a way that children can't do it, that's good.

00:48:49.540 But he doesn't think it's possible.

00:48:50.680 He doesn't think it's possible.

00:48:51.440 There are other writers who have said, well, hang on, let's, and I'm kind of in the, I don't want to ban it, not because I think it's good, you should be looking at it.

00:48:58.900 But it's like, okay, if you're an adult, and you're, that's your decision to make.

00:49:04.280 But when it comes to children, I do think we need to start having a conversation about what to do with this.

00:49:10.460 In the UK, they've, before, I guess they're a bit ahead of us, they were having conversations about, do we need government involvement in this?

00:49:17.900 They ended up having, coming to a system where internet service providers actually have like a filter that's on the default where you can still opt out of.

00:49:25.920 Um, I, I'm not sure exactly how that works, but it's sort of, um, it's an extra safeguard that's by the internet service providers, not, not parliament to protect or just to make sure people don't accidentally see things that they don't want to be.

00:49:41.140 And that's a smart guy.

00:49:42.240 That's one of the things I really like about this debate as far as, uh, you know, kind of in the conservative media is that there's actually really smart people on both sides that, that, uh, that I, you know, I, that there's like an interesting divide there.

00:49:54.680 Like so many with these issues, like you're talking about, well, do you, do you reform impeachment or against impeachment?

00:49:59.300 And like, you know, 99% of conservatives are against it.

00:50:03.080 And, you know, all the left, like that, that debate is somewhat boring to me.

00:50:06.260 Like, this is an interesting one because there's people that I find to be very interesting on a lot of different topics that go the opposite way.

00:50:12.240 I mean, uh, for me on this, I think, I think Ben Shapiro, uh, kind of broke it down and kind of, are you a rights-based conservative or a common good conservative?

00:50:21.880 And I thought that was an interesting way of thinking about it.

00:50:24.440 There's a lot of common good conservatives, and common good is no different than a progressive or a socialist.

00:50:31.860 It's always common good.

00:50:33.820 Well, I mean, there's definitely differences, I would say.

00:50:35.780 Well, no, no, but as far as you're just banning things or saying you know better than everyone else,

00:50:43.120 and so you'll control things from a top-down government.

00:50:47.740 That's a progressive mindset.

00:50:50.000 Makes me nervous, for sure.

00:50:51.220 Yeah, you don't do that.

00:50:52.400 But there are a lot of conservatives like Matt Walsh and even Michael Knowles, again, with the Daily Wire,

00:50:56.760 who are saying we're not libertarians.

00:50:59.280 We are conservatives if we're – they don't have a problem with it.

00:51:03.220 But what I'm interested in this discussion for is the aspect of children.

00:51:07.520 Like I said, if you're an adult, you do you.

00:51:10.840 I would want to have a conversation with you if you were my friend or family member about the healthiness of that,

00:51:15.940 but you should have the right to.

00:51:16.980 But when it comes to children, I think, you know, we don't allow children to go buy tobacco products.

00:51:22.900 We don't allow children to go buy alcohol.

00:51:24.480 We don't allow children to buy firearms, right?

00:51:27.380 It is strange when it comes to children.

00:51:29.540 There's like this almost – we're not okay with talking about it.

00:51:33.380 It's just we've taken for granted that this is what is going to happen.

00:51:36.420 Children will access this.

00:51:37.600 And it's like, well, hang on.

00:51:39.240 Can we at least maybe discuss this?

00:51:41.320 Is there something parents need to be doing more?

00:51:43.520 Should we be – should this be a tech-based conversation?

00:51:46.300 I just want us to be addressing this more because before we started looking into it, I had no idea.

00:51:52.200 Maybe this is because I'm, you know, a little bit older than some of the kids who are coming into this now.

00:51:57.200 I was from the dial-up generation.

00:51:58.740 Internet was not a given, Renna.

00:52:00.220 It was kind of like, do you need to call someone today because I would like to send an email sort of thing.

00:52:05.000 It's very different now.

00:52:06.260 There are studies that have been done that show that the – I think it's the younger you are when you're first exposed to pornography, the more likely you are to slide into actual like deviant, upset things like bestiality and things like that.

00:52:19.380 So people have called this a public health crisis.

00:52:21.600 And for a lot of people who are maybe struggling with addiction, I don't think that's – I don't think that's an exaggeration.

00:52:27.760 There is no doubt studies have been done on the brain to show that, A, when you're a kid, you are not able to handle this.

00:52:38.080 B, when you're an adult, pornography has the same properties as heroin does.

00:52:45.580 It actually chemically affects your brain the same way heroin does.

00:52:49.860 It becomes addictive and destructive.

00:52:52.000 Now, not everybody, but, you know, for a good number of people, it does.

00:52:57.760 That doesn't mean that, you know, heroin we do ban, but alcohol, look how destructive that is in people's lives.

00:53:06.080 But that's my choice to drink and destroy my life or not.

00:53:10.100 When it comes to kids, there are technological ways, if we were serious, that we could give people the opt-out to make sure that doesn't happen.

00:53:19.700 It's clearly something we can do.

00:53:22.140 When it comes to conservative, I'm a conservative, but I'm a constitutionalist, and I don't take kindly to the limiting of any kind of speech, especially that kind of speech, which I abhor.

00:53:37.020 Well, that's actually its own conversation, because within the porn debate, there's also people asking, is porn even free speech, right?

00:53:44.780 Does that count as freedom of expression the same way something like an unpopular opinion might count as freedom of expression?

00:53:51.700 A lot of people will say, of course, porn is free speech.

00:53:54.440 But when you think about it, you know, you can go on the street corner and say whatever type of political views you want, no matter how controversial.

00:54:02.180 You can't go on the street corner and play any kind of video you want.

00:54:06.760 Sure.

00:54:07.520 Even with how our society functions, there is clearly we are putting porn in a different category.

00:54:13.700 And then some people say, well, what about sexual art?

00:54:17.080 How does that fit into free speech?

00:54:18.400 And it's like, this is a conversation where I don't have all the answers.

00:54:20.900 I don't even know myself.

00:54:22.040 Where do we draw that line?

00:54:22.940 Because there are obscenity laws that have been ruled constitutional, and I don't know where that line is.

00:54:27.380 Right.

00:54:27.540 But that is if it is out in public.

00:54:30.260 And that's why solve this by giving people a way to keep that away from unsuspecting people.

00:54:37.680 You have to choose and go into it.

00:54:40.820 No tricks, you know, and you can opt out.

00:54:44.000 There's no other form of speech where there's a public versus private definition, right?

00:54:48.620 Because I have leftists tell me that all the time.

00:54:51.260 Well, I didn't consent to hear your hate speech.

00:54:53.160 And I'm like, whatever, it's freedom of expression.

00:54:54.940 You don't need to consent to hear me.

00:54:56.660 But I do agree with you when it comes to something like pornography, there should be two-way consent involved for viewing.

00:55:01.000 But again, this is an area where that we are treating porn different than other forms of speech.

00:55:05.580 So I'm not saying people shouldn't be able to do it, but I think we do need to realize we've already put it in this other category.

00:55:12.680 And that disturbs me.

00:55:15.200 I'm more hypervigilant on it because I don't want any biting around the edges of any kind of speech or silencing of anything in this society now.

00:55:30.260 Because every step we take with an excuse, it gets easier and easier to say, well, this is damaging, too, to hear Lauren Chen talk about these things, which were clearly not right.

00:55:42.540 But that's harming children.

00:55:45.260 And I just, I'm sorry, but I believe in the slippery slope.

00:55:49.060 Lauren, thank you so much.

00:55:49.940 That's Lauren Chen.

00:55:50.800 You can find her, Pseudo Intellectual Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts.

00:55:55.460 You can follow her also on Twitter at TheLaurenChen and also on BlazeTV.com.

00:56:02.200 Thank you, Lauren.

00:56:02.740 The Blaze Radio Network.

00:56:07.420 On demand.

The Glenn Beck Program - December 17, 2019

Best of the Program ｜ Guests： Douglas MacKinnon, Stephen Kent & Lauren Chen ｜ 12⧸17⧸19

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