The Glenn Beck Program - Best of The Program ｜ Guests： Rep. Mullin, Bill O'Reilly, & Dave Isay ｜ 9⧸10⧸21

00:00:00.000 Hey, welcome to the program. Just a quick update on the Nazarene Fund. We're in critical time

00:00:07.300 period right now, and we could sure use your prayers. We need prayer coverage on the ground,

00:00:12.240 on all the people involved, and for a couple of miracles to happen this weekend. And hopefully

00:00:19.200 I'll have more to tell you on Monday, but please pray. This podcast today is a little bit of,

00:00:26.700 well, I think it's all a reflection of September 11th. Where we are today is because of September

00:00:34.220 11th. And I remember September 11th, 2001. And if I would have looked 20 years in the future,

00:00:41.200 I wouldn't have believed this was our nation. But here we are. We talk a little bit about the

00:00:47.320 president and his new power through OSHA to regulate all things, his dismissal and getting rid of

00:00:56.680 quote, getting them out of the way, our governors, so he can rule. Also, we have stories you've never

00:01:04.820 heard from the World Trade Center, but taking places you never even thought about, at least I

00:01:10.180 hadn't. And Bill O'Reilly with the news of the day, all on today's podcast.

00:01:13.840 You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:01:29.060 There's people over there in God, we trust on the money. Why are we having God? We trust. I know.

00:01:33.480 I think it's a little outdated. I think it's a little dusty. I'm thinking you're not the boss of me.

00:01:39.160 What do you think? As our new national motto, you're not the boss of me.

00:01:44.640 Because that's exactly what the government is trying to do. They're trying to tell us exactly

00:01:50.100 what to do. And they're trying to teach people a lesson. You don't have the authority. You don't

00:01:55.600 have the power to make a difference. And I'm here to tell you, yes, you do. I think actually we should

00:02:05.240 adopt the slogan, the old Barack Obama. Yes, we can. Yes, we can. You can't. You can't control

00:02:12.420 your own body. Yes, we can. You can't control your own state. Yes, we can. You can't go into

00:02:18.480 Afghanistan and save people we left behind. Yes, we can. There's a congressman that has been trying

00:02:26.880 hard to get over to Afghanistan and save people. Last week, he was reported missing and very

00:02:36.160 irresponsible, according to the State Department. Then he popped back up on the radar. And I'm going

00:02:41.380 to have him tell the story. Congressman Mark Wayne Mullen is joining us now. He is the congressman

00:02:48.680 from Oklahoma. Hello, sir. How are you? Hey, Glenn. How you doing? I got to say, it's a pleasure

00:02:56.420 to be on your show. I've listened to you for years. In fact, I met you a long time ago when

00:03:02.460 you came into Tulsa to do an event for KFAQ. Oh, my gosh. Wow. Wow. Well, thank you.

00:03:08.800 And thank you. It's an honor to have you on the show. I'd love for you to tell the audience

00:03:16.520 exactly what you did and how difficult it was for a U.S. congressman to go into Afghanistan

00:03:25.800 and try to save people. Well, first of all, I just want to make it very clear. I went in

00:03:30.920 as a citizen, not as a congressman. I wanted to make that. I went on a blue passport or so

00:03:35.720 to say on a blue passport. Now, you need to have a passport to get in Afghanistan right 0.99

00:03:39.000 now. But in a State Department literally fought us every way. And every time I hear the

00:03:44.080 president, I hear Secretary Lincoln, I hear General Milley or General McKenzie go out there

00:03:48.560 and talk about every American that wanted out, could have got out, and how they were negotiating

00:03:53.600 with the Taliban, which when did we as a nation negotiate with a terrorist organization, saying

00:03:59.260 that they negotiated self-passage. All that is a flat-out lie. Even when they go out there

00:04:05.060 and said that they helped four Americans, Miriam and her three kids, get out of Afghanistan,

00:04:10.580 that's a flat-out lie. It was my team and I and really my team that I was blessed to be able to

00:04:15.620 work with because I'm the little man on the totem pole that worked tirelessly for three weeks to get

00:04:20.500 her out. And not one time did the State Department help us. In fact, at one time they told us that they

00:04:24.820 weren't going to assist me in any way. And so it's a bold-faced lie when they're saying this stuff,

00:04:36.020 and they have to be held accountable. But what's amazing to me, Glenn, is how many Americans,

00:04:41.220 true Americans, veterans and non-veterans, and private individuals and companies and

00:04:49.300 non-profit organizations, including yourself, that have stepped up in a big way. And I want to thank

00:04:54.980 you because we know you're out there and you're helping. We know that you have put finances behind

00:05:00.260 this because we're a small group that's over there working still. And we know who's over there

00:05:06.020 helping. And I just want to thank you for what you're doing because you're making a big difference

00:05:09.620 too. I mean, you're really poning up and helping in huge ways. And we've been trying to help you

00:05:13.540 in the backside too, trying to get some of those flights out of Messrs. I know.

00:05:17.060 And in fact, we have guys out there that's working on it. And I don't know if you know this,

00:05:21.300 but I offered the State Department on one of your planes, we offered the State Department. I spoke to

00:05:26.660 him myself. I said, listen, if you're concerned about the manifest sheet, let me use one. And

00:05:31.620 I'll put only AMSETs and SIVs. I'll give you a complete manifest sheet. I'll tell you everybody

00:05:37.140 that's on it. I'll give you a copy of their paperwork, a copy of their passport. We will

00:05:40.980 put people on it and we will fly back with them and make sure the flight is secure. And they still

00:05:46.100 wouldn't give us clearance to leave. And it's disheartening on how that happened.

00:05:49.620 Uh, I will tell you, um, last week, I don't know if you've heard this Congressman,

00:05:52.900 but, uh, last week, the State Department openly laughed and mocked us. They laughed at us and

00:05:59.300 mocked us. Uh, are you familiar with the story of where they said that, yeah, we needed, we needed

00:06:05.460 a different kind of paperwork. We said, where, where do you get that paperwork? And they said,

00:06:08.900 the embassy, and we said, there is no embassy. And they laughed, laughed at us and said, well,

00:06:14.420 you're just going to have to work on that. Then I guess what, you know what they told me,

00:06:19.380 they said, we don't control the airspace over Afghanistan anymore. Oh my gosh. Oh, okay. Well,

00:06:24.420 then, then, then, then we don't need your permission to leave. Is that what you're telling

00:06:28.260 me? Uh, no, because you have to enter our airspace. Well, how do we get to that point? We can't help

00:06:34.020 you on that. And it's absolutely absurd. I mean, why is this administration fighting us so hard

00:06:39.300 to do a job that they failed to do? So why is it? Why are they, why are they doing this?

00:06:45.060 Other than just the fact of trying to squash the story and make it go away. I, I can't understand

00:06:50.020 it. There are several reasons. And I, I, I, I'm not sure what's right, but squash the story to make

00:06:57.780 it go away. Teach Americans. Don't you dare step out of line. You cannot go around us. If we say we

00:07:05.220 can't do it, you're not doing it. Uh, which is unbelievable to me. Um, the other, I mean, then you

00:07:12.580 get down to things like, I don't know, they're evil. I mean, the, some of the stuff that's going

00:07:17.580 on is when you're mocking people who are trying to save American lives, as well as the lives of

00:07:25.940 women who have been promised to be brides of the Taliban and you are mocking them.

00:07:33.740 Doesn't that kind of fall into the category of evil?

00:07:38.940 I, I, I, I, I will be real quick to say it has to be because who, who could do this? You know,

00:07:44.780 we got, we got, we have, we've got four Americans out the team that I've been blessed to work with.

00:07:49.280 We're the only ones that's actually got the Americans out so far. And we had to take her 0.99

00:07:53.000 over 300 miles and her three kids across the land through Afghanistan, which isn't easy to do

00:07:58.000 to finally get her out. And three o'clock in the morning on labor day, I'm on the phone with her

00:08:02.540 while the Taliban has threatened to kill her, to kill her. If she came, if she tried to approach

00:08:06.640 again, we have guys on the other side of the bridge negotiating with the Taliban. And I hate to say

00:08:11.280 it, but trying to, trying to get her released, trying to convince them that they're American

00:08:14.500 citizens and they should release them. And the state department said that they did that, which

00:08:18.420 they didn't. But here's another thing right now, as we speak, we have 23, the team that I'm working

00:08:22.680 with, we have 23 AMSETs, American citizens and safe houses. And you know, a safe house in that area

00:08:27.420 is only safe until the first time we use it. Getting supplies is nearly impossible. We can't get

00:08:32.400 any type of medication. I've got a young girl right now. I've got a mom and two, and two young

00:08:36.160 ladies, two young girls that one of the young girls has severe infections in her legs. The 0.80

00:08:42.200 state department knows this because we, she was in Kabul and we were trying to get the state

00:08:46.500 department to help us get her through the gate because for severe medical need. And they couldn't 0.96

00:08:50.980 help us. We've had to now transport her to another country. And I'll tell you where she's at.

00:08:54.800 She's in Caduce. Um, and we have her up in a safe house and she can't move anymore. So we're

00:09:00.180 trying to negotiate a helo that can go in and get her. So we, we've developed a HLZ to land,

00:09:05.780 but we're honestly, it's expensive and, and we're, we're, we're, we're short on resources.

00:09:12.020 All right. You're not anymore. You hang on after and we'll get you the resources.

00:09:19.480 Hello. You're going to make me emotional, Glenn. I've literally taken this personal

00:09:25.540 and, uh, that touches me. Thank you. Uh, but, but we've got to get her out. I mean, 0.94

00:09:32.420 she may have already lost her legs and we can't get the state department to help us. And so when

00:09:36.440 you say evil, how, how can you not, because they know we've sent pictures of her legs because they

00:09:43.320 asked us, we sent pictures of her, of, of, of her passport. They know who she is. And their,

00:09:49.940 their, their argument is, is they can't help because her mom has a legal green card.

00:09:54.480 She's legal. She's legal to be inside the United States, but she doesn't have a passport because

00:09:58.820 she's only got her green card and they're saying they can't help, but both their daughters have

00:10:01.920 passports. Um, and I'm like, so you're saying that we got to leave from, we got, we get, we can take

00:10:06.940 out the girl, but we can't take out the mom. And they said, no, we can't say that. Well, so how,

00:10:10.640 what are we supposed to do here? And they couldn't give us an answer. It, and this kind of stuff has

00:10:15.140 been so disheartening. We, we, we have fought them literally every step of the way. I know,

00:10:21.480 Glenn. And it is, and it's, it shouldn't be this way. They shouldn't be doing this. Even

00:10:26.420 the story that they leaked about us by saying that they, I was lost in Afghanistan. I was never

00:10:30.520 lost in Afghanistan. I know exactly where we were at the whole time. Oh, they were making you, 1.00

00:10:34.540 we were, we were watching you. And when you went dark, I knew why you went dark, but the state

00:10:41.000 department started leaking things that you were irresponsible and you're lost and probably dead.

00:10:46.400 And this is what happens. And you're like, are you rooting for the man to die?

00:10:53.340 Yeah. I mean, what, what ended up happening to me is that I had to immediately get away

00:10:57.060 because all of a sudden my face gets plastered all over international news and no one knew who I was.

00:11:02.380 I've never been a showboat member of Congress. I'm not, I don't do that. I don't, I'm passionate

00:11:06.820 about what I do, but I'm not, I'm not out there trying to grab headlines.

00:11:10.840 Representative from Oklahoma, Congressman Mark Wayne Mullen, who just got back from Afghanistan,

00:11:20.800 helped save American citizens, still trying to help save American citizens. So they made you,

00:11:27.260 I saw this, I saw this line from you. You said, I was, it wasn't just me trying to be a cowboy.

00:11:34.200 And I would just ask you to reconsider that. I think you were the ultimate cowboy. And I mean that

00:11:39.960 in a good way. I trust cowboys. Cowboys know what honor and integrity is. Their word is their bond.

00:11:46.860 They don't leave, they don't leave an animal behind, let alone one of the, you know, a person

00:11:53.160 behind. They do the right thing. And that is the, the embodiment of the American spirit. And so

00:12:01.340 I think you were a cowboy and I mean it in the best of ways.

00:12:06.760 Well, I, I, I appreciate that Glenn, but listen, I was working with some just great Americans. I mean,

00:12:11.900 these are veterans. These are tier one operators. These guys, when they're not doing what they're

00:12:16.880 doing right now, what their, what their real job is, which they volunteer their time for is to go

00:12:21.080 get, um, young men and young women out of sex trafficking that had been kidnapped, um,

00:12:26.540 or sold into to the rings. And they do it all over the, all over the world. And that's what

00:12:30.960 it's called the Sentinel foundation. And that's what they do. Uh, and they are, they're non-political.

00:12:36.340 They don't get involved in it, but I was blessed enough to build a, to work with them. And so,

00:12:40.060 uh, I, all, I couldn't, you know, I was, all I was trying to do is be an asset to these,

00:12:44.780 these professionals. It's what they do. And the idea that I was able to work with them,

00:12:49.440 I'm blessed, but they are the, you know, people want to say a Rambo, these guys are,

00:12:53.240 they, they, they embody that, that personality. And there's great people.

00:12:57.180 I, I, I will tell you, I've never seen senators and congressmen as powerless as they are in the

00:13:04.860 government. The, the state department's not afraid of packs of senators and congressmen working

00:13:10.760 together. No, I, I truly believe the reason why they had, they released that ridiculous story and

00:13:17.560 even said that I was lost in Afghanistan, which wasn't true was because they wanted to get a

00:13:22.880 headline. They wanted to put the pressure on me and make me leave because they knew what was going

00:13:27.480 to happen. They, they, they are absolutely trying, but that's what a socialist country is, right?

00:13:32.000 The socialist country isn't about for the people, by the people. It's not, it's not about the people

00:13:36.200 that are actually elected. It's about the top few. And that's what this administration has taken.

00:13:41.440 And I would have never thought we would be to where we're at, but you know, a socialist country,

00:13:45.780 they go in and they start promising people everything. They start taking care of all their needs.

00:13:50.460 And what they end up doing is they create a, a, a lazy nation. And then a lazy nation

00:13:54.980 becomes dependent on the federal government, the federal government, they become dependent on the

00:14:00.120 federal government. And then they don't care about the elected officials. It's just the ones that are

00:14:04.200 up top. That's literally signing the checks. And when, and they, and they strip away the power of the

00:14:10.200 people and they take it and they centralize it. And which is exactly what this administration is

00:14:15.340 openly trying to do. I mean, they, they are embracing socialism and, and they, they will use

00:14:20.760 anything possible, including the sold out media. Uh, that is not you, but the sold out, you know,

00:14:27.000 the media, corporate media, just do whatever they want to and put out their message. I will MSVNBC

00:14:32.560 shouldn't even be on the air.

00:14:33.860 I will tell you, well, they have a right to free, free speech. Um, the, what's, what's crazy to me

00:14:38.940 is, um, Joe Biden being so bold yesterday saying he will get those governors like Greg Abbott, uh,

00:14:48.220 out of the people's way on his new, uh, vaccine mandate. You have quite a job ahead of you to hold

00:14:56.720 the hold tight to the constitution. And we have to, even them threatening, um, employees that have

00:15:05.500 over a hundred employees. Well, my wife and I, we've been blessed and we have, we have, you know,

00:15:09.740 well over a hundred employees, uh, and, and my employees don't want to be, I mean, the employees

00:15:14.020 that want to be vaccinated, get vaccinated. I don't say don't, but you can't force us to do that. If

00:15:19.500 you don't want it, you shouldn't have to do it, but that's what the government is saying. We're going

00:15:22.420 to force you to do it anyways. Yeah. Um, Congressman, thank you so much. Hang on the phone. I just want

00:15:27.180 to make sure that we have each other's information, uh, so we can help you in any way we can, uh,

00:15:32.780 representative Mark Wayne Mullen, the Congressman from Oklahoma on his efforts in Afghanistan.

00:15:42.860 You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:15:53.840 Bill, I want to ask you one more question about, uh, the vaccine mandates as it relates to Afghanistan.

00:15:59.480 Um, you said earlier that, um, this is clearly just him trying to distract people. Um, however,

00:16:08.500 I see everything that is going on. And, and again, I, I watch the news differently than most people,

00:16:14.460 but I see things that are going on and the way, uh, Afghanistan went and everything that they do 0.98

00:16:22.220 seems so minuscule there. We're worried about the kids in the school with the mask. It seems almost

00:16:32.080 like a farce to me. Will this work for Biden? Um, his approval numbers will come up next week a little

00:16:43.120 bit. Um, because it's a, he, his base wants as much COVID restriction as possible. So the, the

00:16:56.200 progressive movement, very liberal people, they love this. I don't really know why, but they love it.

00:17:02.860 And so the independence that they poll who are liberal will probably seek, you know, see him

00:17:12.120 better than they did over Afghanistan. So I expect he'll bump up a little bit on it.

00:17:17.220 You don't think people are going to see, I'm going to get your governor out of the way.

00:17:22.220 Well, the conservatives will, and the Republicans will, and the, and the traditional leaning

00:17:28.100 independence. They'll all, what about all those people that said that Donald Trump was acting

00:17:32.980 like a dictator and we don't need a dictator. What about all those people? Yeah, but we don't need 0.81

00:17:38.100 a Trump dictator, but we'd love to have a progressive dictator. All right. Look, wait,

00:17:44.020 one more, one more point. This is important. If you look at the whole world, all right, which I do

00:17:49.960 because that's my job. All right. There has never been a socialist country that has not been run

00:17:57.700 in a fairly totalitarian way. Sure. Never. And in order to get that in America, which is

00:18:05.980 the end game for the progressives, they want socialism. You have to have a strong central

00:18:12.740 government in DC that obliterates states rights. And that is the overarching. All right, Bill,

00:18:21.420 let me switch to Afghanistan. Um, I've never seen, uh, our government openly, openly standing on the wrong

00:18:34.480 side of the lives of American citizens. Uh, like they are now the state department has crossed the

00:18:43.240 Rubicon into, uh, I don't even know what, um, there are many, many Americans that are still trapped

00:18:52.620 there. And the state department by all accounts, I have not seen anyone that is a private, uh, group

00:19:01.480 that is trying to get these people out. There's no nonprofits, NGOs, not a single one that I have seen

00:19:07.460 says anything other than this white house and the state department are obstructing us every step of

00:19:15.780 the way. And I believe that, I mean, you're in that, you know, that, uh, the Nazarene fund is in

00:19:23.460 that. I believe it. Um, and I can only guess at why. And that is they don't want to be embarrassed

00:19:31.880 by these people now coming out because they couldn't get them out. Right? So if Biden can't

00:19:39.600 get the Americans out, but Glenn Beck can, what does that do? That makes Biden look pretty weak,

00:19:45.080 right? So that's what you're seeing. So you think this is all about pride or always that way.

00:19:54.200 That's the way our federal government works in most states as well. It's all about CYA.

00:19:59.200 So Biden made a terrible decision about extricating us forces from Afghanistan. There's no question

00:20:05.980 about that. You know, uh, nine 11 anniversary tomorrow. And I, I'm doing a lot of interviews

00:20:10.400 and, um, uh, the question is, are we safer now? And I say, yeah, tomorrow we're safer than we were

00:20:18.420 20 years ago because the USA was successful in eradicating Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and booting

00:20:25.680 the Taliban out. So we had some control over that terror Haven. And then of course we got bin Laden 0.99

00:20:31.120 and then Al Qaeda collapsed. So yeah, right now we're safer than we were the day before nine 11, 0.71

00:20:37.680 20 years ago, but in six months when ISIS has, uh, will reconstitute inside Afghanistan? So will 0.98

00:20:46.340 Al Qaeda training camps will be set up. Recruiting camps will be set up. All of that's going to happen. 0.98

00:20:51.420 Are we going to be a safe six months from now? And the answer is no. I mean,

00:20:56.040 is Anthony Blinken going to protect you? How about general Milley? You want those guys out front?

00:21:03.640 How about Joe Biden, the commander in chief? Oh, we'll do it over the horizon. You know,

00:21:10.040 Mr. Biden, with all due respect to the office, you went over the horizon decades ago.

00:21:15.340 You can't even see the horizon anymore.

00:21:20.560 The Afghan journalists that were beaten for covering a women's protest. Uh, there are pictures

00:21:27.160 of these guys. I don't know if you've seen them, but there I have it's almost, I mean, you,

00:21:34.360 you could barely look at these guys, the, the bruises and the blood, um, they could barely walk.

00:21:41.920 They were kicked to the ground, their heads smashed against concrete, repeatedly beaten with

00:21:47.420 bludgeons. Uh, and this is the, this is the group that the, do you think the white house ever believed

00:21:56.240 that the Taliban was going to be possibly different than we all knew they were?

00:22:03.100 No, I don't think Biden has any idea who the Taliban is. And by the way, the Taliban called

00:22:10.260 Putin, uh, to get his opinion on how they should handle a journalist. Um, those journalists were

00:22:16.780 lucky they weren't beheaded and they will be by the way. They said that they, the one, they said

00:22:21.320 the Taliban said it again. Yeah. If they do it again, then it's beheading. This was just a

00:22:27.080 warning. I mean, people don't understand or don't care. And, and the latter is, is Joe Biden. You

00:22:34.620 know, if you're gay in Afghanistan and they catch you being gay or whatever, they're going to throw

00:22:40.800 you off a roof. He's dead. Um, if you steal, you're going to lose your hand, you get your hand cut

00:22:49.120 off. Uh, if you're a woman and you look sideways, God help you. And I mean that literally. So of 1.00

00:22:58.100 course, Biden and, and all the Intel services in the Pentagon and the state department, of

00:23:04.020 course they knew that. What do you think? These guys went to sensitivity camp, woke camp in Napa

00:23:10.040 Valley, California. The Taliban just kind of went over there. Oh yeah. Now we see where we're

00:23:15.040 woke and these guys are savages and there always will be. So are you saying that the, the people

00:23:24.600 that actually, you know, the thing I like about, uh, David Horowitz, um, is that he was a radical

00:23:32.160 in the sixties and changed, um, because he saw what his policies, what he was screaming about

00:23:40.420 led to the deaths of all of the people, you know, uh, in the, in, in the far East after

00:23:48.360 we pulled out. And he saw that and he realized you people don't actually care about anybody.

00:23:54.140 Do you, do you, do you think that there are any women that are looking at this and saying,

00:24:01.660 wait a minute, I thought you guys believed in something or is it?

00:24:05.840 No, I don't. I mean, I'm generalizing now. I'm sure there are, uh, I'm sure there are

00:24:11.020 times up women and whatever else they're doing, but no, I, I, I really believe that people who

00:24:19.260 allow ideology to consume them. And this is on all spectrums. They lose sight of what's real

00:24:29.920 of what actually is happening because they're lost in their ideology, trying to justify everything

00:24:35.660 they do. And so you don't hear women's groups in America saying, Oh, the Afghan women. Have you

00:24:43.160 heard that? Have you heard code pink? I don't know. No, no. I mean, none of them. Yeah. Uh,

00:24:49.780 where's Alyssa Milano? I mean, I don't even know who that is, by the way. Is that a real person? 0.99

00:24:55.520 Alyssa Milano. I just see the name. Was she in my mother, the car? What show was she in? I don't know.

00:25:03.280 Uh, Bill, let me, uh, wrap it up with this 20 years ago, tomorrow, nine 11, your reflection on

00:25:11.500 this. Well, I ran a clip of my report, um, on Fox news last night on the no spin news,

00:25:18.660 and I wouldn't change a word of it, uh, that I, what I reported on 20 years ago, um, people could

00:25:25.380 see what I did. Um, you know, my town on long Island, uh, dozens dead. Uh, my children grew up

00:25:33.480 with their children. If you lose a loved one, a friend to violent crime, and that's what this is,

00:25:42.380 of course, violent murder that never ever goes away. That pain is there with you your whole life.

00:25:49.460 And I think that's a central theme of our remembrance. And obviously we can't ever let

00:25:58.000 that happen again here in America. And obviously the progressive left is bringing us back to a time

00:26:04.660 where it could happen again. Bill O'Reilly from billoreilly.com. Make sure you join and see his

00:26:11.340 no spin news every day at billoreilly.com. Thanks Bill. You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck

00:26:19.220 program. Dave, I see is a, uh, a friend of the program and, uh, the guy who started story core

00:26:41.020 how long ago, Dave, did you do this? Hey Glenn, um, story core started 17 years ago, 17 years ago.

00:26:49.400 And, um, and a lot of conservatives aren't aware of story core because they're generally have been

00:26:55.660 carried on NPR. Uh, but it's not a liberal conservative kind of thing. It's American stories

00:27:02.080 and they're all being preserved by the national archives and they are fantastic. And we wanted

00:27:07.420 to concentrate on nine 11 and your archives must be incredible on nine 11.

00:27:15.700 We do have a lot of stories on nine 11 Glenn, and you're right about conservatives not knowing about

00:27:20.840 story core, but thanks to you, that's starting to change, uh, which is really important to us.

00:27:25.840 Cause as you said, you know, we, we hope to grow into kind of a national treasure collecting the

00:27:31.460 wisdom of who we are as, as Americans. Um, yeah, we've had a bunch of special initiatives,

00:27:36.080 but it doesn't through the years that story core. And our first one was with a nine 11 Memorial

00:27:41.140 and museum. And we are working with them to record a story to honor every one of the life lives lost

00:27:47.940 on September 11th. Um, so we have lots and lots and lots and lots of, of, of stories collected. Um,

00:27:55.560 uh, you know, just honoring the, the, the, it's, they're not so much about what happened on the day

00:28:00.640 of September 11th, but finding out who that person was, who was lost on that, on that, um,

00:28:06.180 terrible day. So I want to end with the ticket counter guy. Um, tell me what else you brought

00:28:11.820 to the table today. Tell me the first story you want to share. Sure. So, um, we were, I'm going to,

00:28:16.780 I'm going to play this is, these are tough stories, just a warning to your audience, especially the

00:28:22.300 first one. Um, this first story was recorded by a retired, uh, FDNY fire department captain named

00:28:29.980 John Vigiano. He had two sons, John, who was a police officer and Joe, a firefighter, like his dad.

00:28:36.500 Um, they were both killed on the attacks on the world trade center on September 11th, 2001.

00:28:41.720 John came to story core with his wife, Jan, to remember to the two sons that he lost on that day.

00:28:47.040 Here it is. There were a couple of days each year, you were allowed to take your children to work

00:28:52.300 and Joe loved it. That was his birthday present that he would spend the night in the firehouse.

00:28:58.040 We'd have a cake and the guys I work with, they would take a milk container and they'd cut out

00:29:03.560 the facsimile of a building and they'd put it on the top of the cake and then they would light it up

00:29:08.580 and they would tell Joe to put it out and he would throw a pot of water on it. The birthday cake was a

00:29:13.820 little soggy, but this is what he wanted. Joe started dating a young lady whose father was a

00:29:19.460 police officer and he come home one day and he says, I'm taking the police test. I says, Joe,

00:29:24.820 you're only 17 years old. He says, no big deal. On the other side of the room, my son, John,

00:29:31.820 wanted to be the next Donald Trump. He was going to make a million dollars and take care of his mother

00:29:36.260 and father. But in 1984, I came down with throat cancer. He noticed then how my unit took care of

00:29:44.680 us and he says, I'm going to become a fireman. I says, you're kidding me. Firemen don't make

00:29:49.580 millions of dollars. How am I going to live like a king? But I was very happy, very proud. My father

00:29:56.820 had been on the fire department and he was the first one to be issued badge number 3436 and they reissued

00:30:04.980 it to my son, John. So the badge was only used by two. Both the boys would call me when they were

00:30:12.860 working. John would always call around 3.34 o'clock and that particular night, September 10th,

00:30:21.260 we spoke for a few minutes and I says, I love you. And he says, I love you. Joe called me in the

00:30:31.020 morning and told me to turn on the television that a plane just hit the trade center. He says,

00:30:36.900 I'm heading south on West Street. This is a big one. And I just says, be careful. I love you. He said,

00:30:42.820 I love you too. That was it. We had the boys for John for 36 years, Joe for 34 years,

00:30:50.400 ironically. Badge number 3436. I don't have any could've, should've, or would'ves. I wouldn't have

00:30:59.900 changed anything. There's not many people that the last words they said to their son or daughter

00:31:06.880 was, I love you. And the last words they heard was, I love you. So that makes me sleep at night.

00:31:15.860 It is, uh, it's so unnatural to die before your children. Um, but to lose two of them,

00:31:30.920 the same tragedy on the same day is in, in different roles is, is just, um, I can't imagine

00:31:39.780 the pain. Uh, there was a, there was a story that you guys did at the ticket counter that we want to

00:31:46.800 play and set this up. Cause you know, as I listened to this before you came on, I, I've never even

00:31:54.100 thought of this guy and what he's been walking around with is unbelievable. Um, and I'd like to hear

00:32:07.200 an update on him. If you have one after we listened to the story, can you set this up?

00:32:12.300 Sure. Uh, and I will say, you know, you and I talk about story core, you know, collecting the

00:32:17.340 wisdom of humanity and on that John and Joe piece, you know, when you hear him say the importance of

00:32:21.980 saying, I love you to the people who matter to you, you know, as those of us who are dads and moms,

00:32:27.480 you know, when you hear a story like that, you're never not going to say, I love you as the last thing

00:32:31.860 you say to your kids ever again, you know, cause it, it just reminds you what's important. Yeah.

00:32:36.420 This is, so this is, this is a story that, um, that's, that takes place, um, on September 12th.

00:32:43.740 Um, it's a guy named Vaughn Alex, who, um, very well may be a listener to this show. Um, who was,

00:32:49.860 who was working, um, the ticket counter at Dulles airport. He checked in two men who arrived late.

00:32:55.520 He followed all the security protocols. Um, and the next day he learned that they were two of the

00:33:01.340 five hijackers who diverted American airlines flight 77 to crash into the Pentagon, killing 59 passengers

00:33:08.700 and crew and 125 people at the Pentagon. So this is Vaughn Alex coming to story core, um, to talk

00:33:15.600 about, um, about that day. Listen, I didn't know what I had done. It wasn't until the next day,

00:33:23.500 September 12th, that I started finding out what happened. I came to work and people wouldn't look

00:33:30.280 at me in the eye and they handed me the manifest for the flight. I just stared at it for a second.

00:33:39.140 And then I looked up, I go, I did it, didn't I? I checked in a family. It was a retiree and his wife.

00:33:49.260 I had time to talk to them. There was a student group and I checked in a lot of those kids and

00:33:56.480 parents, teachers. And, uh, they were gone. They were just all gone.

00:34:06.340 Once it became known, people didn't talk to me. And I, I had this wild kind of thing in my mind

00:34:17.340 that everything that happened on September 11th was my fault personally, that I could have changed

00:34:24.800 it. I, I felt there was no place for me in the world. There were all these support groups

00:34:33.760 and I didn't belong there because how do I sit in a room with people that are,

00:34:40.200 that are mourning and crying and they're like, you know, what's your role in this whole thing?

00:34:44.760 Well, I checked in a couple of the hijackers and made sure they got on the flight.

00:34:50.120 I might go weeks or months and everything would be just going along fine. And then

00:34:54.800 there'd be something that would trigger it. I was checking in somebody and what she said was,

00:35:03.620 my husband got killed on September 11th. And what I heard was, you killed my husband on September 11th.

00:35:13.000 Uh, you know, you don't really move past it. It's still always there in some form,

00:35:21.720 but now, you know, I'm able to talk about it. I mean, I feel like in, in some ways I've,

00:35:31.500 I really have come out of a shadow and I'm, I'm back in the light now.

00:35:37.180 Um, that's Vaughn Alex. Um, and if you Vaughn, if you happen to be listening to us, I, it would be an

00:35:46.140 honor to talk to you. Um, uh, please reach out. We're going to try to reach out and, and see if

00:35:51.780 we can get ahold of him. Um, you know, I, I don't think I've ever, I don't think I can recall a story

00:36:01.120 that is as big and profound as this, um, where I didn't even think of the people at the, at the

00:36:12.420 counter checking in maybe in the, maybe around that time. I, I might've in a passing thought

00:36:20.440 thought, wow, how would it be if you were, but I never really thought how alone those people were

00:36:26.320 in their grief. I mean, what are there three? Yeah, that is, that is a very small support group.

00:36:34.620 Yeah. Well, I mean, it's a, that's when you have a, you know, part of, part of what goes on with a

00:36:42.300 tragedy that's as big as this is that we can't conceive all of the, you know, ripples that come

00:36:47.920 off of a tragedy like that. You know, there's a woman who came to, uh, StoryCorps who was the last

00:36:54.920 person on the last elevator down from the world trade center. The door was closing and she saw a

00:36:59.400 friend and she said, hold that door. And he put his hand in the door and the door opened and she walked

00:37:04.140 in and that was it. One second later, she would have, you know, she would have been dead. She 0.97

00:37:07.760 actually came in with the guy who opened the door for her. So there's so many stories like that. And,

00:37:12.880 you know, part of, part of what we try and do it's so it's, it's hard for, you know, there's the saying

00:37:18.200 that, you know, uh, uh, uh, that, that, uh, one death is a tragedy, a thousand deaths is, uh, you know,

00:37:25.500 is, uh, is, uh, is, uh, is, uh, statistic. Um, and what we try and do with StoryCorps is, is remind people,

00:37:32.240 you know, the, the sanctity of, of every single life and of every single story.

00:37:36.820 Dave, I, I, I can't thank you enough for what you're doing. I mean, it, it is,

00:37:42.080 you know, when, when societies begin to separate themselves and they no longer see themselves as

00:37:50.220 one, um, those societies are, are headed towards really bad things. And we've so demonized one

00:37:59.680 another and we have isolated ourselves, even though we have connections like we've never had

00:38:05.480 in the history of all mankind. Um, and we don't know each other and, um, keeping our humanity

00:38:13.040 is going to mean the difference between the horrors of what we know man can do, uh, and the great

00:38:25.440 things that we know man can do. And I think you're playing a big role in that.

00:38:30.080 Well, you, you are too. You know, we, what we, what we usually talk about when I come on

00:38:34.100 is, uh, one small step, which is this new effort of StoryCorps. You know, we've had 750,000 people

00:38:40.620 who love each other come to StoryCorps. And with one small step, we're putting strangers across the

00:38:45.160 political divide together. And, and your show has become the number one, number one referrer for

00:38:50.080 conservatives in the country. Um, so this is where it starts. And, you know, I've spent a lot of time

00:38:54.640 thinking about September 12th. I was in New York and, you know, this has been talked about a lot,

00:38:59.460 but it was a different world for a couple of days. Um, and we're not in that world anymore.

00:39:05.060 You know, is this a country we're going to leave for our kids where we see our neighbors as our most

00:39:09.140 dangerous enemies who, you know, John Vigiano, did he vote for Trump? Did he vote for Biden? I don't

00:39:15.380 know. Don't care. Does it matter? No, don't care. So I hope, I hope that people will continue.

00:39:21.260 We have thousands of people on our waiting list now, thanks to you. Um, we're going to get through

00:39:25.540 all of them. We're ramping up. Um, the idea is to have a conversation with someone who, um, is on the

00:39:31.440 opposite side of the political divides, not about your politics, but just about who you are as human

00:39:36.200 beings so that we can begin to see each other again. Mother Teresa said, we've forgotten that

00:39:40.500 we belong to each other. Um, and we can, we, you know, either, either we keep going down the path

00:39:47.500 we're going. Um, and if that, if that happens, the only thing we know for sure is it's not going to

00:39:52.520 end well. Um, and there is another path and I hope that your listeners will help us, um, you know,

00:39:58.880 lead the country down that other path where it can be like September 12th, where you can begin to see

00:40:03.280 each other again. And we can, you know, be the greatest country that we can possibly be.

00:40:08.580 How do people reach out to you?

00:40:10.760 Take one small step.org, um, come sign up, be a part of this, get to know, uh, through a conversation

00:40:17.820 over, um, a secure, uh, portal that goes to the library of Congress, get to know someone on the,

00:40:24.040 on the opposite side of the political divides. Um, everybody who's done this has had a good

00:40:28.540 experience. It always ends with people asking for the phone numbers of the people that they talked

00:40:33.240 to. In fact, I have to say the last time it was on, we played a story of a mother and her son,

00:40:38.680 the kid had Asperger's syndrome. And afterwards, um, she is a newspaper columnist and someone from

00:40:45.140 your show reached out and said, I don't believe, uh, I don't, I don't agree with anything you say

00:40:49.600 in politics, but we agree on the most important things in life, which is about how to raise a family

00:40:54.540 and how to raise our children. I want to do one small step recording with you.

00:40:57.860 So hopefully next time I come on, they'll let me know.

00:41:00.020 Oh, that'll be great. That'll be great. Dave, thank you so much. Take one small step.org.

00:41:06.600 Thank you. God bless.

The Glenn Beck Program - September 10, 2021

Best of The Program ｜ Guests： Rep. Mullin, Bill O'Reilly, & Dave Isay ｜ 9⧸10⧸21

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