The Glenn Beck Program - Best of the Program ｜ Guests： Sara Gonzales & Jonathan Skrmetti ｜ 12⧸6⧸24

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00:00:30.000 The Attorney General of Tennessee joins us, Jonathan Scrametti.

00:00:33.120 He is the guy who is taking on gender-affirming care.

00:00:37.200 We get his thoughts after the argument at the Supreme Court this week.

00:00:41.080 Sarah Gonzalez joins us to talk about the news that Dade Phelan has now decided he's not going to run for the Texas Speaker of the House.

00:00:50.480 This is earth-shattering news, and she'll explain why on the podcast.

00:00:55.880 Also, what happens when we're trying to discuss something serious like abortion and Buddy the Elf shows up in the middle?

00:01:04.760 All on today's Best Up Podcast.

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00:02:19.720 You're listening to The Best of the Glenn Beck Program.

00:02:27.260 So there's some big news here in Texas.

00:02:31.900 The Texas House could have a new speaker as soon as this weekend.

00:02:35.940 Now, this is big because the Texas House Republicans have a speaker that, for some reason, has done every time.

00:02:48.160 He comes in and he's like, you know what?

00:02:50.540 Yes, we won, but let's be fair.

00:02:53.520 Let's give the Democrats half of the power. 0.84

00:02:58.040 What?

00:02:58.600 He is absolutely against school choice.

00:03:02.120 He is, I mean, he was the guy who tried to bring down Ken Paxton.

00:03:06.980 He's the guy who was drunk on the floor.

00:03:10.220 Allegedly.

00:03:12.180 I think I could.

00:03:13.600 Your Honor, may I be sworn in as an expert witness on-

00:03:17.840 Yes, you do know something about this topic, don't you?

00:03:19.640 He was drunk on the floor, and for some reason now, he's decided, yeah, I'm not going to be here.

00:03:32.140 Me run?

00:03:33.300 What?

00:03:34.240 I have no idea.

00:03:35.680 Somebody who has been on this from the get-go is Sarah Gonzalez from Blaze TV.

00:03:41.860 Sarah, what happened?

00:03:44.320 This story just broke.

00:03:45.900 Do you know?

00:03:46.660 Yeah, well, I mean, what happened was Dave Phelan finally realized that he was not going

00:03:52.500 to have the votes to maintain his speakership simply because of what you just referenced.

00:03:57.160 He ran the whole impeachment sham against Ken Paxton.

00:04:01.820 You know, a lot of people think that Donald Trump is like the OG of having, you know, this

00:04:06.900 weaponized lawfare against him, and Ken Paxton has been dealing with it here in the state

00:04:11.020 of Texas for nearly a decade.

00:04:12.920 So he was behind that.

00:04:14.840 You know, he barely won.

00:04:16.840 He barely hung on to his seat by like something like 300 votes over there in the Beaumont area.

00:04:22.680 So, I mean, you're looking at a guy who is seeing the wrath of the Texas grassroots activists.

00:04:28.000 They have come out in force against this guy.

00:04:31.340 And now you're seeing all of these, even if they're rhinos, we have a lot of work to do 1.00

00:04:36.340 in the Texas House.

00:04:37.080 We have a lot of rhinos remaining, Glenn.

00:04:39.160 But the problem with them is it's riding on the wall.

00:04:42.060 Hang on.

00:04:42.380 Let me explain this to, you know, if you live, you probably know this in like Oklahoma or places

00:04:48.800 where it's very, very red.

00:04:50.600 People who are Democrats, they're like, I can't, there's no way I can win as a Democrat.

00:04:57.420 So I'll say I'm a Republican when they're Democrats.

00:05:01.820 And so they become these awful, awful rhinos.

00:05:05.840 And people who don't know will just go, well, you're a Republican.

00:05:09.880 That's great for me.

00:05:11.120 And that's the real problem.

00:05:13.560 Texas is red, but it's not as red as its population is because we've been voting in rhinos because 1.00

00:05:22.540 that's a Republican.

00:05:24.780 Exactly right.

00:05:25.900 Exactly right.

00:05:26.600 And so the problem for all of these rhinos is that Texas grassroots activists have had

00:05:30.440 enough.

00:05:31.120 There was a bloodbath at the polls.

00:05:33.200 We have something like 25 new incoming freshmen House representatives.

00:05:37.520 They're shaking up the system.

00:05:38.940 These are elected by Texas conservative grassroots.

00:05:42.740 I mean, they are as conservative as it gets.

00:05:44.740 We're going to pass school choice.

00:05:46.040 We've got the votes for that.

00:05:47.460 And so we're seeing the makeup of this legislature changing.

00:05:50.920 And Dave Phelan simply did not have the votes from all of these incoming freshmen.

00:05:55.340 These actual true conservatives said we're not voting for Dave.

00:05:58.400 We want to change.

00:05:59.340 The people elected us to come in and change things.

00:06:02.680 And we're going to do it.

00:06:03.840 And so Dave Phelan finally had to decide to step down.

00:06:06.800 Now, I will say, Glenn, the fight is not over.

00:06:08.940 Because we have Dave Jr., Dustin Burroughs, here in the state of Texas, is filing to enter

00:06:15.820 the speakership race.

00:06:16.900 And he's the same thing.

00:06:18.700 I mean, they're friends and they are in cahoots.

00:06:22.640 He would be the mouthpiece for Dave.

00:06:23.960 Yes.

00:06:24.260 He would be the mouthpiece for Dave if he won it.

00:06:27.620 My hope is that the grassroots activists will still continue to let their voices be heard,

00:06:32.420 put pressure on their representatives to say, you do not vote for Dustin Burroughs.

00:06:36.580 We don't want that.

00:06:38.040 And there is, of course, David Cook would be the grassroots activist choice for the

00:06:43.380 speakership here in the state of Texas.

00:06:44.540 So what would it mean if we did get David Cook in?

00:06:47.880 Well, what it would mean is that we would have someone who would not put Democrats in key

00:06:52.740 committee chairs.

00:06:53.760 I mean, that is the most significant, one of the most significant things.

00:06:57.920 Have you ever heard of that, Stu, Sarah, in any other state?

00:07:02.660 Have you ever heard of a Republican putting Democrats in key positions, leading key committees?

00:07:13.620 I don't think so.

00:07:14.700 No.

00:07:15.120 I've never heard of it.

00:07:16.560 No.

00:07:17.080 I mean, it's the most backwards thing.

00:07:19.020 Imagine the people elected, the people decided we want a red legislature.

00:07:23.900 And all you do is you turn over the keys to the car to the Democrats to drive it.

00:07:29.100 I mean, you're talking about key committees like the calendars committee.

00:07:32.480 You know, they decide what comes up on the floor to debate.

00:07:35.960 I mean, these are really, really key committees.

00:07:37.780 And he's handing the keys over to the Democrats.

00:07:40.320 So that won't happen with David Cook.

00:07:43.460 You know, David Cook will be driving the bus into a more conservative place.

00:07:48.280 So I do think, you know, is he, would he be my choice if I had the makeup of every single

00:07:54.420 Texas legislator there?

00:07:56.540 Probably not.

00:07:57.820 But the grassroots have said, this is the guy that we can get through.

00:08:02.320 This is the guy who can win the votes.

00:08:04.600 And this is the guy who is going to take us.

00:08:06.920 He has been put on notice that he is to govern in a more conservative way.

00:08:12.040 So, I mean, look, I'll take the win.

00:08:15.280 Getting Gade off of this, having him withdraw.

00:08:17.820 It's absolutely huge for us.

00:08:19.720 Huge, huge.

00:08:21.040 Because we will have school choice now.

00:08:23.840 Yes.

00:08:24.600 Yeah.

00:08:25.520 Texas has been trying to do this for a long, long time.

00:08:29.380 They've been trying to do it.

00:08:30.520 And it is because of this, this speaker of the House who is just in the pocket of somebody,

00:08:37.840 probably the teachers unions, and just will not let it come to a vote and stomps it down

00:08:44.120 every single time.

00:08:45.080 Sarah, did you say, I think you say that we do have the votes, you think, for it now?

00:08:50.100 Yes.

00:08:50.460 Everything that I'm hearing indicates that we do have the votes for it now.

00:08:53.100 Because even people who were a no last go around, they saw what happened at the polls.

00:08:58.700 They saw all of their friends.

00:09:00.480 They saw all of Dave's lackeys get decimated over the topic of school choice.

00:09:04.760 If you had Governor Abbott out there, you know, endorsing people in the primaries solely based

00:09:10.300 off of their school choice vote.

00:09:12.200 So, I mean, it was just that they saw what happened at the polls.

00:09:15.060 They want to hang on to power.

00:09:16.680 If it scares them enough and they're still rhinos at heart, but they're scared enough 0.97

00:09:20.560 that they're going to vote our way, you know what?

00:09:22.260 I'll take the vote.

00:09:22.920 Because it's embarrassing that we still don't have school choice in this state.

00:09:26.780 So what do you know about, let me change subjects here.

00:09:29.020 What do you know about our gold-backed currency that we're working on?

00:09:34.720 So I don't get into that topic very much, but I do know that they are working on it.

00:09:39.880 It is something that they have said that they do want to take up in the session.

00:09:44.800 Yeah, we should get Dave, what is his name, Kevin Freeman on.

00:09:48.780 Because I think this is something that he has been pushing for a long time.

00:09:52.420 And I read his book about it, and I think he's right.

00:09:54.960 I think he's absolutely right.

00:09:56.620 And it would, you know, every state needs to strengthen itself.

00:10:03.640 You know, the idea of let's close the Department of Education doesn't mean we don't care about education.

00:10:10.060 It means we want the money that our states have to stay in the state, and we want control.

00:10:17.640 We don't want to send a dollar and get 30 cents back in education and then be told exactly what we have to do.

00:10:25.640 It's ridiculous.

00:10:27.540 We have to strengthen our states.

00:10:30.040 And when it comes to the dollar, I mean, I'll never forget, sitting in Rick Perry's office, probably 2010, and Germany had just asked for their gold from the Federal Reserve.

00:10:46.280 And the Federal Reserve was like, well, it might take us five years to get it to you.

00:10:49.900 I'm like, what?

00:10:51.500 And I talked to Rick, and he said, I'm very concerned.

00:10:53.980 And I said, where's our gold?

00:10:55.200 And he said, Federal Reserve.

00:10:56.780 And he said, I just asked for it back.

00:10:59.000 And we got it back.

00:11:00.680 So now we have Texas has its gold in the state.

00:11:06.000 And they're now talking about doing what Utah has done and have some sort of gold-backed currency that is good for trade.

00:11:14.440 And I think that's really smart, really smart.

00:11:18.760 Sarah, thank you so much.

00:11:20.200 Appreciate it.

00:11:21.340 Thank you.

00:11:22.020 Yeah.

00:11:22.500 Big news coming out of Texas.

00:11:24.480 Yeah.

00:11:24.660 And Sarah has worked really hard on that issue.

00:11:27.600 She is.

00:11:28.700 She's a pit bull. 1.00

00:11:29.920 Oh, yeah.

00:11:30.520 She gets her teeth.

00:11:31.560 Don't get in the way.

00:11:32.500 Don't get in the way.

00:11:33.940 She's coming.

00:11:34.920 Yeah.

00:11:35.260 Yeah.

00:11:35.620 She's done so much for, I mean, not just this issue, but so many other issues, particularly the stuff like the transing issues and such.

00:11:46.520 She's worked so hard on this.

00:11:48.320 She's out all the time on the weekends.

00:11:51.680 She is an activist.

00:11:53.720 She's an activist. 0.55

00:11:54.780 Let me play one thing, I guess, speaking of her.

00:11:59.080 This is so insane.

00:12:00.320 This is how insane the transgender thing is getting. 1.00

00:12:06.740 Let's see.

00:12:07.520 Let's play cut 10 here.

00:12:09.940 Trans child worried.

00:12:11.520 What concerns have you had about speaking out?

00:12:13.880 That I'm going to be, like, murdered.

00:12:16.500 Like, one day I'm going to be walking down the street and somebody's going to come up and, like, shoot me or something.

00:12:24.840 That's a really scary thing to be worrying about at 10 years old.

00:12:28.400 Yeah, where would you get an idea like that?

00:12:29.680 Yeah, that should not be a worry.

00:12:32.920 Yeah, you know, it's interesting.

00:12:35.540 I would agree.

00:12:36.540 Yeah.

00:12:36.800 You know, we talk about bipartisanship.

00:12:38.560 Here's some bipartisanship for you.

00:12:39.880 I agree.

00:12:40.480 She shouldn't be worried about that.

00:12:41.860 Stop telling your child they're going to be murdered on the street.

00:12:46.380 Can you imagine that?

00:12:46.900 Where would they get that idea from?

00:12:48.480 Their parents.

00:12:49.100 It's either their parents or, like, TikTok that you've left them with over the past, you know, every day for eight hours.

00:12:54.680 Or school.

00:12:55.060 Yeah, I mean, like.

00:12:55.880 You know, some activist.

00:12:57.480 Some crazy person.

00:12:58.600 But, again, at school would be one of those two explanations as well from one of their friends.

00:13:02.660 Yeah.

00:13:03.140 You know, it's the same.

00:13:04.880 This very similar thing goes on with climate.

00:13:08.100 The same thing.

00:13:09.320 These activist parents that are insane terrify their children that they're all going to die from climate change.

00:13:15.960 That is just like.

00:13:16.720 That is borderline child abuse to put that in your kid's head like that.

00:13:22.160 I have to tell you.

00:13:22.860 I tell my kids, you know.

00:13:24.320 My kids, they live with me.

00:13:26.340 I mean, that's practically child abuse.

00:13:28.140 You know what I mean?

00:13:29.100 It's just like.

00:13:29.980 Yeah.

00:13:30.280 Oh, God.

00:13:30.720 The world's coming to an end.

00:13:31.940 Terrible.

00:13:32.140 You know.

00:13:33.360 But, like, there are real worries.

00:13:35.340 And I think, especially when they're at that age, I do everything I can to shield my kids from those worries.

00:13:42.500 He has shielded them from all of the stuff, you know, and I have brought it to them now that they're 18, et cetera, et cetera.

00:13:51.220 I do talk to them about, hey, these are the real concerns.

00:13:55.060 These are the things you probably shouldn't have to worry about.

00:13:58.680 But these things you should watch.

00:14:00.460 As an adult now, you need to watch these things.

00:14:03.440 You don't tell a 10-year-old child you're going to be shot in the street because of who you think you are at 10.

00:14:11.860 Yeah.

00:14:12.740 I mean, I think back to March 2020 where all of a sudden, like, NBA games are just getting canceled with 20,000 people in the stadium.

00:14:25.320 You know, Donald Trump is out there.

00:14:27.120 And we're in that 15-day, 30-day to slow the spread.

00:14:30.180 All that stuff.

00:14:30.680 We still don't know where this is going.

00:14:32.380 And there's moments in that where you're like, even if this is wrong and, you know, it's not as serious of a pandemic, like, what's the government going to do?

00:14:43.260 What happens to our economy?

00:14:44.660 Can we reboot this?

00:14:45.600 Will life ever get back to normal?

00:14:47.280 Those are real questions that you asked.

00:14:49.200 We forget about a lot of them now.

00:14:50.660 But there are moments where you're like, what the hell is going to happen here?

00:14:52.720 And I remember thinking to myself, all I can do is try to make my kid's life not feel that way.

00:15:00.560 Right?

00:15:00.800 All I can do is I hope when they get older, they will look back at this period and remember, hey, remember when we did all that cool stuff with mom and dad when we were home for all that time?

00:15:11.300 Like, that's how I want them to remember it.

00:15:13.840 That's not how these parents operate at all.

00:15:15.900 No, they're terrifying their children.

00:15:18.580 They're ruining their childhood.

00:15:19.720 2016, who was it from ABC or it was Stephanopoulos, I think, who said his children were sleeping in their bed, crying themselves to sleep every night because of Donald Trump.

00:15:32.040 Are you out of your mind?

00:15:33.640 Why?

00:15:33.900 That's you.

00:15:34.640 That's you.

00:15:35.380 That's not them.

00:15:36.100 That's you.

00:15:38.200 Half the world is poised to use a goldback currency.

00:15:41.760 The BRICS nation, moving toward it in an effort to unseat the U.S. dollar as the world's reserve currency.

00:15:48.060 If we hadn't have won this election, I think they would have done it.

00:15:52.320 I think, honestly, I think they're going to try.

00:15:55.920 Texas is standing up and saying, yeah, you know what? 0.62

00:15:59.140 If you tube the U.S. dollar, Texas will stand.

00:16:02.080 They're doing the Texas-backed gold-backed currency.

00:16:05.300 More and more people and institutions are rediscovering that gold is one of the most stable things you can anchor your currency to.

00:16:13.920 We're not.

00:16:15.060 Momentum for higher prices, strong.

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00:16:50.540 Now, back to the podcast.

00:16:52.540 This is the best of the Glenn Beck Program, and we really want to thank you for listening.

00:16:56.200 The name of the album is Home for Christmas by Cheyenne Grace.

00:17:03.580 You can pick it up now.

00:17:04.740 You will love it.

00:17:05.940 And I can't—I'm sorry I'm talking about this.

00:17:09.720 I am such a proud father.

00:17:11.620 It is so amazing to see.

00:17:14.060 My daughter, I got home yesterday, and she said,

00:17:16.980 Dad, I just got an email.

00:17:19.520 I don't even know how to answer these questions.

00:17:22.320 You know, she just turned 18, and I said,

00:17:24.560 What?

00:17:25.040 And she said,

00:17:26.700 Billboard Magazine called me and wanted to know about the orchestra and everything else.

00:17:31.800 And I said,

00:17:33.840 Do you know—I was 30 before—I mean,

00:17:36.980 you don't get your name even in Billboard Magazine,

00:17:39.900 and she's making the chart of Billboard.

00:17:42.880 And it's just—it's exciting as a dad,

00:17:45.220 and I can't thank you enough for listening to it and buying it.

00:17:49.080 And it's great.

00:17:49.860 Yeah.

00:17:50.160 Too.

00:17:50.460 It's not just being nice to you.

00:17:52.640 It's really enjoyable.

00:17:53.860 It makes me smile every time I hear it.

00:17:55.100 Yeah.

00:17:55.400 It is.

00:17:56.100 I'm so proud.

00:17:56.880 I was so afraid it wouldn't be good, and we couldn't release it,

00:17:59.740 because I would—I said to her,

00:18:00.960 I said,

00:18:01.320 If it is not—if it's not high quality,

00:18:05.280 something that we would, as a family,

00:18:07.660 not knowing you,

00:18:09.420 listen to over and over again,

00:18:11.080 I will not be that dad who's like,

00:18:15.400 look at—you know,

00:18:16.580 that Simon Cowell would go,

00:18:18.800 Who the hell has been telling you you have talent?

00:18:22.520 Yeah, you don't want that moment.

00:18:23.700 No, you don't want that moment.

00:18:24.220 I will tell you, that's definitely not the case.

00:18:25.820 I went into my daughter's room last night,

00:18:28.180 as she was putting her down, you know, to go to bed,

00:18:30.260 and she was just listening to it.

00:18:31.800 Again?

00:18:32.120 Again.

00:18:32.540 She loves it.

00:18:33.100 This is all she listens to now.

00:18:34.360 Wow.

00:18:34.880 Which is very, very cool.

00:18:36.320 The other part, too, is that we saw her perform live,

00:18:38.860 her first live performance the other night.

00:18:41.080 And you—it was just—it was fun for, number one,

00:18:45.000 just to watch Glenn insides just churn.

00:18:48.160 Like, Glenn—the stress on Glenn is like 10 times what it was on Cheyenne.

00:18:52.080 Because I was so—because I've been 18.

00:18:54.600 Totally.

00:18:54.820 You know what I mean?

00:18:55.240 I was 18, and this was the very first time she ever did anything on stage.

00:19:00.140 And I was more nervous than she—you know,

00:19:02.100 she'd come up and she'd be like,

00:19:03.400 Dad, I'm nervous.

00:19:04.000 I'm like, you're going to be great inside.

00:19:05.640 I'm like, run for your life!

00:19:08.020 But my point there was to say that, like, she—look, you can do a lot of stuff in a studio.

00:19:15.500 I mean, you can.

00:19:16.420 You can make anybody—you can almost make you or me sound good in a studio.

00:19:21.220 But she's on a mic on a little stage outdoors with, you know, I don't know, 100 people there.

00:19:26.520 And she sounded just like—just like the CD.

00:19:30.940 She sounded incredible.

00:19:31.760 Yeah.

00:19:32.100 There's a—she's really talented.

00:19:33.440 There's a guy that most people don't know.

00:19:34.760 His name is Roger Love.

00:19:36.080 And he is on the premiere payroll.

00:19:39.100 He was for Rush and I.

00:19:41.020 Because if Rush would lose his voice or I would lose my voice,

00:19:44.920 we would call him—he's a—he's one of the best vocal coaches in the world.

00:19:48.740 And, I mean, he did—he does it for Elton John and Lady Gaga and everybody.

00:19:54.120 Sure.

00:19:54.440 Beyonce.

00:19:55.780 And—

00:19:56.060 You've known him for years.

00:19:56.760 I've known him for years.

00:19:57.580 He's a great guy.

00:19:58.640 And I said to him, hey, Roger, this is like three years ago.

00:20:03.920 I think my daughter might have talent.

00:20:06.120 And I know you don't really do a lot of, you know, vocal lessons.

00:20:11.420 Would you—and he's like, for you?

00:20:12.800 And I said, yes, if that's a positive.

00:20:18.000 No, if it's not.

00:20:20.240 And he said, no, what are you looking for?

00:20:22.360 And I said, my daughter.

00:20:24.500 And he said, Glenn, let me listen to her.

00:20:26.260 If she has talent, I'll take her.

00:20:28.320 And so he's been working with her.

00:20:31.060 And it's—I mean, she's good.

00:20:34.220 She's good.

00:20:34.520 She is.

00:20:34.940 I'm a proud daddy.

00:20:36.840 Anyway, I'm sorry for that.

00:20:39.180 Christmas is almost over.

00:20:40.520 I'll stop talking about her soon.

00:20:42.800 Let's see here.

00:20:44.800 We were talking about coming together for the holidays and being able to have conversations.

00:20:51.700 And I think this conversation with Anna Kasparian yesterday, who is on the Young Turks, I mean, she asked me, she said, would you be willing to come on the Young Turks?

00:21:03.580 And I said, probably not.

00:21:05.680 And she said, why?

00:21:07.780 And I said, well, I would if it was just one-on-one with you, but I've had so many bad experiences with others that I did not ambush you.

00:21:22.600 When she walked into the studio, I got up to greet her, and I grabbed her hand, and I said, welcome to my home.

00:21:31.460 And she said, thank you.

00:21:33.520 And I said, I never invite anyone in my home to ambush them.

00:21:39.680 Please feel relaxed just to have a conversation.

00:21:42.220 I'm going to ask you challenging questions, but I am not looking to get you.

00:21:47.760 And that has been your policy, and you've stuck to it since the beginning of time.

00:21:50.980 Yeah.

00:21:51.160 And so it gave us this moment, you know, where she was really, she would stop and ask me, she asked me about, you know, about war and Ukraine and abortion.

00:22:03.080 We had a great conversation on abortion.

00:22:06.080 Sounds like a joyful time.

00:22:08.380 Good old Glenbeck Christmas party right there.

00:22:12.300 We had a great conversation about abortion.

00:22:13.780 Our Christmas party was happening tonight.

00:22:15.120 You know what else is red?

00:22:18.040 Blood.

00:22:18.880 Let's talk about abortion. 0.95

00:22:21.160 Merry Christmas, everybody.

00:22:22.680 No, but, you know, because she was talking about, you know, transgenderism, and it got to women's rights, and she was shocked.

00:22:34.260 It shows how much we don't know about each other.

00:22:37.700 Yeah, you see the worst of everybody online, and in clips, and everything.

00:22:41.100 Let me ask you a question.

00:22:45.100 Oh, boy.

00:22:46.140 I don't know exactly how I feel about it yet, but I am a little concerned about.

00:22:51.440 Yes.

00:22:52.180 I think I'll bet you, I'll tell you what I'm thinking after you say it, but I bet you we have the same concern.

00:23:00.180 My concern, may I just say, please just come in.

00:23:06.220 I'm not going to stress it.

00:23:10.680 This is just something that, you know, if you are a Blaze TV subscriber, you'll enjoy.

00:23:15.000 Anyway, your concern.

00:23:17.640 My concern is, this is going to be very difficult to do now.

00:23:20.640 Let's just.

00:23:23.760 Okay, go ahead.

00:23:25.000 Okay, so the concern is that we are working now with many disaffected members of the left.

00:23:37.160 Do not eat the candle.

00:23:38.560 I'm sorry.

00:23:39.480 All right.

00:23:39.720 With many disaffected members of the left who have kind of said, hey, this is a little

00:23:45.500 bit crazy, like what's going on right now is insane.

00:23:48.040 Yeah.

00:23:49.420 Even though we don't agree on a lot, it's good that we talk.

00:23:52.060 And you've done this forever.

00:23:53.160 You've done interviews like this forever.

00:23:55.360 Right.

00:23:56.080 Where you will, you know, have conversations with people across the aisle and just, you

00:24:03.140 know, get different understandings.

00:24:04.740 That's not abnormal for you.

00:24:07.120 As far as the movement goes, right?

00:24:09.940 Conservative movement.

00:24:10.980 Yes.

00:24:11.540 There's a lot of embracing of people who previously were not really welcome in conservative policy

00:24:19.940 making and now are.

00:24:21.480 Like I was watching this Elon Musk thing develop and everyone was like, hey, there's a Democrat

00:24:25.760 joining the Doge Committee.

00:24:27.580 Right.

00:24:28.160 Great.

00:24:29.020 Great.

00:24:29.580 Is it?

00:24:30.360 Yeah.

00:24:31.160 Is it though?

00:24:31.960 Because I'm a little concerned, not only that it's just a Democrat, but also that a

00:24:36.060 congressman.

00:24:36.900 Right.

00:24:37.260 Is now in this process before it's really even starting.

00:24:41.820 And like my guess is the Democratic congressman at the end of the day might be a good guy or

00:24:46.920 whatever.

00:24:47.460 I'm concerned he might get a little bit in the way.

00:24:49.720 So, so of like a, I'm sorry, buddy, the elf is in the studio and it is.

00:24:55.500 Smiley face.

00:24:56.220 It's so disgusting.

00:24:56.960 I gave you a smiley face.

00:24:57.480 So it is.

00:24:57.980 Look at that.

00:24:58.600 Yeah.

00:24:58.720 Thank you.

00:24:59.100 Thank you, buddy.

00:24:59.760 Flynn, I drew a butterfly.

00:25:00.940 Yeah.

00:25:01.140 I drew a butterfly.

00:25:01.760 That's great.

00:25:02.340 Thank you very much.

00:25:03.400 I appreciate it.

00:25:03.880 Very nice butterfly.

00:25:04.240 So anyway, now I can't concentrate.

00:25:08.560 I had to go through the whole question.

00:25:10.240 You let him dance around and eat tissues and lick candles.

00:25:15.100 And now when you get to answer, you're going to.

00:25:16.660 Santa.

00:25:17.700 Santa.

00:25:18.440 I know him.

00:25:19.940 I'm not Santa.

00:25:20.960 Get out of here.

00:25:21.480 You're giving us a bad name at the North Pole.

00:25:23.860 You no longer look like Santa.

00:25:25.020 You look great.

00:25:25.740 Oh, see, look at that.

00:25:27.440 Thank you, buddy.

00:25:28.180 I love you.

00:25:28.680 I love you.

00:25:29.020 Buddy the elf.

00:25:29.900 Thank you.

00:25:31.220 Thanks, buddy.

00:25:31.920 All right.

00:25:32.340 He's great.

00:25:32.980 This is unbelievable, though.

00:25:34.280 I have to go through this entire long rant while this is going on.

00:25:37.540 Right.

00:25:38.600 What's the website, buddy?

00:25:39.980 Where do people go for you?

00:25:42.820 What is it again?

00:25:45.060 Theelf.net.

00:25:46.620 Theelf.net.

00:25:47.420 Or you can follow me on social media because we have a lot of fun there and you can follow

00:25:50.360 my adventures.

00:25:51.360 I'm at The Elf Live on most socials.

00:25:53.480 The Elf Live.

00:25:54.000 The Elf Live.

00:25:55.040 Thank you, buddy.

00:25:55.920 I love you.

00:25:56.940 I love you, too.

00:25:57.860 Merry Christmas, everybody.

00:25:58.840 Bye.

00:25:59.200 What's your favorite color?

00:26:00.260 Thank you.

00:26:00.780 I love red and green.

00:26:02.320 They're the most Christmassy.

00:26:03.440 Okay.

00:26:03.720 That's true.

00:26:04.460 Okay.

00:26:04.740 Thank you.

00:26:05.480 Okay.

00:26:06.080 So I don't even know if my point made sense.

00:26:07.880 Yeah.

00:26:08.060 Okay.

00:26:08.360 So, yes.

00:26:08.800 So I am of the same concern because I think that there are those.

00:26:14.740 I think the Democratic Party is going to recalibrate and want to do the same thing that they already

00:26:22.560 have done, but they'll just change the language and they'll try to appear like they're one of

00:26:28.820 you.

00:26:29.640 You know what I mean?

00:26:30.220 That's what Republicans do that all the time. 0.99

00:26:32.240 Oh, I'm with you.

00:26:33.200 And then they get in and they're not with you.

00:26:35.700 So I am concerned about that.

00:26:38.260 However, that's a different concern than I think what we're talking.

00:26:43.780 Oh, okay.

00:26:44.980 I'm sorry.

00:26:45.640 Buddy was distracted.

00:26:46.940 No, no, no.

00:26:47.880 What I just said, I think in the Buddy context here was the point you answered.

00:26:53.240 And so I think that that's concern number one.

00:26:56.120 I think structurally as this goes on, it's good to bring new people into your fold, right?

00:27:02.460 That's what you want to do as a party, as a movement.

00:27:04.720 You want to get people who used to vote against you to vote for you, right?

00:27:08.640 Like you want that to happen.

00:27:09.520 So you have to have that happen, but you have to make sure you stay to your principles

00:27:13.680 and you have to worry.

00:27:14.900 Like I really worry with like the Doge thing that like the motivations of some of a Democrat

00:27:21.280 hopping on this committee is not the same as my motivation.

00:27:25.360 I agree.

00:27:25.760 Right?

00:27:25.920 Like they're not really going to be cost cutters.

00:27:28.500 Like I don't see that.

00:27:29.480 See that there might be a little bit they can agree on.

00:27:31.540 That's great.

00:27:32.600 When it comes to the, like you had a conversation with Anna Kasparian about abortion.

00:27:39.180 You mentioned this and you had a really, I think, interesting exchange and you found,

00:27:44.140 I think, some common ground, even though you don't agree on the issue overall, which is,

00:27:50.260 and this is something we've discussed many times, at the end of the day, legislation can

00:27:53.880 be part of it, but you have to get to a place where you're winning hearts and minds.

00:27:57.180 So you know, I don't happen to have this clip.

00:27:59.240 She came at me and because she was saying something and I'm like, huh, sounds like the

00:28:03.680 10th Amendment.

00:28:04.840 And she said, well, it is, it's states' rights.

00:28:07.920 And she said, but let me ask you, Mr. States' rights.

00:28:10.680 Yeah, yeah.

00:28:11.960 Would you support a blanket ban on abortion?

00:28:14.580 Now, the answer is, I believe it's murder.

00:28:18.660 So yes, murder is illegal.

00:28:20.980 You think that should be illegal in all the states, Glenn?

00:28:23.220 Wow.

00:28:23.740 What a radical position.

00:28:25.040 But wait, wait, wait.

00:28:25.600 No, I know, I know.

00:28:26.400 So it is murder.

00:28:27.780 So murder is, I said, but you cannot legislate that now because no one, half the country doesn't

00:28:36.020 believe it's murder.

00:28:37.040 Well, you wouldn't get it through.

00:28:38.020 Right.

00:28:38.300 You wouldn't get it through.

00:28:39.200 That doesn't answer whether you support it or not.

00:28:41.240 But it doesn't stop it.

00:28:43.260 I said, you know, I have a new understanding of abortion where it's always been about the 0.77

00:28:48.680 children.

00:28:49.880 And it is about the children, but it is also about the mothers.

00:28:55.040 And what they're saying is, hey, moms, go have an abortion and shout your abortion. 1.00

00:29:01.940 80% of the women who have abortions regret it within 12 years or 12 months.

00:29:08.080 And they begin to have real behavioral and psychological issues with it.

00:29:11.820 This is not a happy thing for women. 1.00

00:29:15.040 If you care truly about women and women's health, we have to then look at the woman and 1.00

00:29:21.500 say, what is causing her to do it? 0.99

00:29:25.140 And there's two things.

00:29:26.140 One, they're believing the lie that it's not a baby.

00:29:30.200 It is.

00:29:31.300 Because that's why ultrasounds are being fought by Planned Parenthood. 1.00

00:29:35.600 They don't want any ultrasound because you see it.

00:29:38.420 You see the heartbeat and everything else.

00:29:40.120 And you're like, that's a baby.

00:29:41.360 Right.

00:29:41.720 Okay.

00:29:43.020 The second thing is, once they get past this, we talk about this with pre-born.

00:29:47.280 That's why I like them so much, is they feel trapped.

00:29:52.020 I can't tell you how many nurses I have talked to.

00:29:54.660 And they've said, the boyfriend or the father or the mother even, the mom of the girl will 0.50

00:30:02.640 come in and go, she can't have this. 1.00

00:30:05.180 There's no support.

00:30:06.680 There's nothing, yada, yada, yada.

00:30:08.780 And the girl is like, I have no other choice.

00:30:12.040 So if we begin to look at the actual issue, not the political issue, the actual issue,

00:30:22.940 what is causing these women? 1.00

00:30:25.080 Those who have abortion as a form of birth control, I think that should, you know, absolutely. 1.00

00:30:31.340 That you can regulate.

00:30:32.680 No, you're not having six, eight, ten abortions for birth control.

00:30:36.260 Sorry.

00:30:36.900 Do you have to, what do you get, a punch card?

00:30:38.760 Yeah, you're 10th one free.

00:30:40.420 But that's not the vast majority of women. 1.00

00:30:45.120 Very minority.

00:30:45.960 Right.

00:30:46.280 And so let's fix that problem and change people's hearts on that.

00:30:51.060 Because no legislation is going to stop.

00:30:54.880 It's like drugs.

00:30:56.660 No legislation is going to stop the drug guns.

00:31:00.940 You can take all the guns off the streets.

00:31:04.240 It's not going to stop murder.

00:31:07.300 They'll go to knives.

00:31:09.140 Let's start looking at actual solutions and the actual problem and what would work.

00:31:17.360 Yeah, and I agree, like the long-term eternal solution to this, right, is similar to what I think has happened with slavery, right?

00:31:26.920 Slavery, if you overturned amendments and made slavery legal and someone tried to come out and pass a bill to say, hey, African-Americans should now go back to the fields, it wouldn't even come close to passing.

00:31:40.680 Everyone who supported it would be thrown out immediately.

00:31:43.620 It would be, we would reject it easily as a society.

00:31:48.860 I want that to, that is the long-term solution.

00:31:52.280 However, I just don't want to avoid the fact that like, I want a constitutional amendment to ban it right away.

00:31:57.880 I agree.

00:31:58.460 We can't abandon those things.

00:32:00.120 Even with slavery, we still buy all of our products made by slaves in China. 0.99

00:32:04.760 You're streaming the best of the Glenn Beck program, and you can find full episodes wherever you download podcasts.

00:32:12.000 Mr. Attorney General, Jonathan, how are you, sir?

00:32:15.780 Great, great.

00:32:16.880 Thanks for having me on.

00:32:18.000 So, I listened to the case, and I don't know how your head didn't explode with some of the questions that were coming from some of those on the left, Sotomayor for one.

00:32:29.940 But, overall, how did you feel it went?

00:32:38.020 I think we did a great job of getting our points across.

00:32:41.320 I thought the court, I mean, it went on for two and a half hours or so.

00:32:44.880 The court has a lot of questions.

00:32:46.940 They're clearly thinking hard about this.

00:32:49.420 It's going to be a long time before we get our opinion.

00:32:52.060 But I think we did everything we could to win this case.

00:32:54.600 I feel really good about our part of it.

00:32:56.780 Now it's up to the justices.

00:32:57.980 You know, there was a—well, first of all, tell me exactly what the case was.

00:33:05.020 What does it actually cover, and what will it do if it's decided in favor of Tennessee?

00:33:13.200 So we have a law in Tennessee, our General Assembly, passed a law that prohibits giving juveniles puberty blockers, hormone treatments, or surgery for the purpose of gender transition.

00:33:25.240 Surgery was not at issue in this case.

00:33:27.960 So this is just about whether the Constitution prevents the state from banning puberty blockers or hormone treatments for the purpose of gender transition.

00:33:37.680 So if we win, our law will remain in effect, and kids won't be able to be subject to that in Tennessee.

00:33:44.580 Potentially, depending on how we win, it could mean that all laws dealing with gender identity are reviewed under a rational basis standard, which gives the people's elected representatives a lot more latitude as to how they regulate.

00:34:01.180 You know, when you were discussing this, and it was Justice Sotomayor said, every medication has, you know, side effects.

00:34:13.620 Even aspirin has side effects.

00:34:15.540 I don't know how you took that question seriously, but you answered it very well.

00:34:23.180 Explain to the average person why this is so different than anything else that is prescribed for kids.

00:34:35.140 Every systematic analysis of the evidence shows little to no benefit for kids from these treatments for gender dysphoria.

00:34:44.040 Meanwhile, the risks are enormous.

00:34:46.800 They face losing fertility for the rest of their lives, never being able to have children.

00:34:51.460 They risk losing their sexual function for the rest of their lives.

00:34:54.960 Kids don't know what they're giving up.

00:34:56.780 They risk tumors and blood clots and cognitive disorders and bone density disorders, all sorts of serious lifelong medical complications.

00:35:06.100 And meanwhile, the evidence is this doesn't help them.

00:35:09.280 You're talking about very severe physical interventions for psychological problems with no evidence that it's helping them with the psychological problems.

00:35:21.080 And so we're looking at a situation where kids are really at risk, where there's not a good medical reason for putting them at risk, and where there are these people saying the Constitution prohibits the state from protecting kids, even where the evidence is so powerfully in opposition to allowing this to happen going forward.

00:35:40.820 I think it was Justice Souter who asked the opposite side, you said that the science backs this up.

00:35:50.880 Well, now we have all this new science that is coming out.

00:35:54.040 Do you want to withdraw that statement?

00:35:57.060 What has happened since you started this process to the evidence that's coming out from everywhere now?

00:36:05.940 So there was a lot of evidence beforehand, but the CAST review in England is a large-scale, long-term study by an extremely respected pediatrician that looked really hard at these issues.

00:36:20.640 It's controversial around the world.

00:36:22.780 You know, England is not a red state.

00:36:24.340 It is not Tennessee.

00:36:26.020 They were making these procedures widely available to kids for a while.

00:36:30.100 And they looked at the evidence, and they determined that they should not be doing that, that the evidence showed this was hurting kids, they should severely restrict access, and they did.

00:36:40.200 And the CAST report gets into it very thoroughly.

00:36:42.420 It was discussed with a lot of specificity by the court.

00:36:46.380 You know, it shows there's no reduction in suicide, which is one of the things that we constantly hear.

00:36:51.480 You know, if you don't let kids do this, they're going to kill themselves.

00:36:54.260 We don't want kids to kill themselves.

00:36:55.820 But the evidence is doing these life-altering interventions doesn't make a difference.

00:37:02.440 You know, it just looked at a lot of evidence from a lot of kids, and it showed what we already knew, which is that there is no benefit to justify these radical interventions.

00:37:13.160 So what does this mean if it comes out the way we hope it does?

00:37:19.840 Does this have any effect on bathrooms and sports or anything else?

00:37:29.460 It really depends on what the court does.

00:37:32.100 I mean, there's a way that we could win that's narrower, that only deals with kids' transitions, or there's a way we could win that's broader.

00:37:40.280 If the court says that gender identity issues do not rise to the level of intermediate scrutiny under the Constitution,

00:37:47.600 in which case a lot of the litigation we're facing about bathrooms and school sports and all the other things people have sued over would be pretty easy to resolve.

00:37:57.060 So it's a very broad ruling.

00:37:58.740 Did you see any indication that any of the judges were leaning that way?

00:38:03.460 Were there any questions that gave you any indication that that was possible or probable?

00:38:12.860 There were indications that the justices are thinking about it.

00:38:16.980 There were questions about sports that came up.

00:38:19.100 But I don't know whether that means they're thinking about issuing a broad opinion or they're just concerned about the potential effects.

00:38:27.560 And they want to think through exactly how this is going to play out.

00:38:31.840 Because there's no constitutional law from the Supreme Court on gender identity stuff. 0.77

00:38:36.380 We have one case about a very narrow, very specifically worded statute.

00:38:40.720 And the lower courts have been all over the place.

00:38:43.320 They need guidance.

00:38:44.240 They need clarity on this issue.

00:38:45.580 You know, you can't go into a tattoo parlor if you're young without parental permission.

00:38:54.180 You can't buy a gun at 12 or 16.

00:38:57.700 You can't get married.

00:38:59.840 There's all these laws because we know you're not mentally prepared to make those kinds of decisions.

00:39:06.720 How does that logic not work for this issue?

00:39:15.580 You know, there's this argument that it's sex discrimination and therefore the Constitution provides a heightened level of scrutiny.

00:39:24.200 But, I mean, we've done this forever.

00:39:26.780 The law treats people differently based on their age.

00:39:29.160 Kids can't consent to things that will have lifelong consequences, whether it's entering a contract or smoking a cigarette.

00:39:35.940 But the consequences for these procedures are so much more profound.

00:39:41.360 And we think we have a strong argument that the state should be able to regulate this, particularly given the evidence that it makes no difference, that it does not help.

00:39:52.280 And it increases the risk of all these different horrible outcomes for the kids.

00:39:56.980 The other side just seems, quite honestly, and I don't mean to slam people, but they seem unhinged.

00:40:05.400 I want you to listen.

00:40:06.220 This is a mom who was standing outside of the Supreme Court building while you were arguing the case.

00:40:11.940 Listen to what she said about her child.

00:40:14.480 Cut for her. 0.99

00:40:14.880 What motivated you to come out here today?

00:40:16.960 We're supporting our child, Violet, and her access to the medical care that she needs.

00:40:26.440 Yeah, we're here for her rights and her ability to be who she is. 0.97

00:40:31.740 And she's not going to let anybody silence her, and we're not going to stand in her way.

00:40:35.840 In what age do you think most trans kids determine that they're trans?

00:40:39.980 Violet told us when she was one and a half.

00:40:45.900 She's been telling us since she could speak.

00:40:49.420 So she knew since birth.

00:40:54.640 18 months?

00:40:56.980 18 months she knew?

00:41:01.180 I have a three-year-old last week.

00:41:05.140 She told me she was a pirate. 0.95

00:41:06.360 Right.

00:41:06.860 That is a true story, by the way.

00:41:14.940 I mean, gender dysphoria is a real thing, and it is really hard for kids to deal with it.

00:41:19.600 But we have seen an explosion in these cases that sure looks like something very weird is going on.

00:41:25.820 And I don't see how it doesn't come out eventually that there is massive overdiagnosis.

00:41:31.740 In England, a doctor's high, a 4,000% increase in the number of girls seeking hormone treatments.

00:41:38.720 And, you know, the evidence is very, very strong that the large, large majority of kids who have any sort of gender identity confusion grow out of it unless they're put on medications.

00:41:50.660 For most kids, this is a passing thing.

00:41:53.120 It doesn't mean it's not hard for them.

00:41:54.600 And adolescence is really hard, and I have to think gender confusion makes it that much harder.

00:41:59.380 But most of them are going to grow out of it.

00:42:01.420 And for all of them, the evidence of a benefit is minimal at best.

00:42:06.260 Well, we'll be praying for the Supreme Court, and I thank you so much for you filing suit and trying to get this corrected.

00:42:18.000 It's truly madness.

00:42:19.700 I don't care what you do as an adult.

00:42:23.760 I mean, I actually do, but it's not my business if you're an adult.

00:42:26.780 But if you can't decide things like smoking, drinking, you know, be responsible enough with a gun, you certainly should not be able to do things to your body that are permanent and game-changing.

00:42:45.100 It's insanity.

00:42:46.540 It's insanity.

00:42:47.460 We've got to stop.

00:42:48.540 Jonathan, thank you so much.

00:42:50.260 It's an honor to be on the show.

00:42:52.000 Thanks for having me, and Merry Christmas.

00:42:53.380 Merry Christmas.

00:42:53.900 Jonathan Scermetti, he is the Tennessee Attorney General who argued just, what, the day before yesterday at the Supreme Court to protect children from gender procedures.

00:43:04.720 And we should, by the way, take what he said seriously.

00:43:08.040 If his three-year-old is about to plunder passing ships, we should report that to maritime authorities.

00:43:15.440 Don't forget the pillaging and the raping.

00:43:18.300 Yes, immediately.

00:43:20.200 We must take it seriously.

00:43:22.980 If we can save one pillage, pillaget, we can save one person from being pillaged, we need to act now.

00:43:38.900 Isn't it worth it?

00:43:40.240 Isn't it worth it?

00:43:41.100 It's just as insane.

00:43:43.000 It really is.

00:43:43.540 It sounds like a joke.

00:43:44.780 No.

00:43:44.960 It is exactly the argument they're making in front of the Supreme Court.

00:43:48.080 How many of our kids have said, I want to be an astronaut, I want to be, you know, I want to be whatever.

00:43:54.600 And then later in life, they're like, yeah, I said what?

00:43:59.260 No.

00:44:00.240 I mean, it's so insane.

00:44:03.240 But I think we just voted for a cure.

00:44:06.580 So let's see how that goes.

00:44:08.080 Na, na, na, na, na.

The Glenn Beck Program - December 06, 2024

Best of the Program ｜ Guests： Sara Gonzales & Jonathan Skrmetti ｜ 12⧸6⧸24

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