The Glenn Beck Program - Best of The Program ｜ Guests： Sen. Mike Lee & Nicole Solas ｜ 8⧸2⧸21

00:00:00.000 Welcome to the podcast. Today, we talk about the Olympics and some of the fun stuff going on with that wonderful patriotism being viewed by all of America as you watch the Olympic Games.

00:00:13.240 We also talk about the troubles of DaBaby. I know you're a huge DaBaby fan, as Glenn and I are as well.

00:00:21.200 We have an update on Glenn's art show, which I tried to keep as short as possible because it apparently went well.

00:00:25.800 We have Ronald Pastrito on as well to talk about the similarities between the Woodrow Wilson administration and the Joe Biden administration.

00:00:37.500 And Senator Mike Lee joins us to tell us why we're spending $1.2 trillion with the sign-on of Republicans.

00:00:43.820 We get into all that today on the program. Don't forget to subscribe at blazetv.com slash Glenn. Promo code is Glenn.

00:00:49.860 And take a minute to click subscribe on this podcast as well as Stu Does America.

00:00:53.780 We'd love when you subscribe over there as well. Rate and review the podcast.

00:00:57.040 Five stars is the appropriate number of stars. Quick review. You know, it's great. Whatever. That'll work. Here's the podcast.

00:01:12.360 You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program.

00:01:16.360 Mr. Pat Gray joins us from Pat Gray Unleashed.

00:01:23.320 Yeah, so how'd the weekend in Park City go with the art show?

00:01:27.040 With the art show, yeah.

00:01:28.040 I heard it was pretty good.

00:01:29.360 Yeah, I mean, honestly, just for the audience, we really do need to get to the news of the day today.

00:01:34.700 There's a lot going on, Pat.

00:01:36.260 He is.

00:01:36.820 I mean, I was listening to your show today.

00:01:38.360 What a great show, Pat Gray Unleashed.

00:01:40.060 It's available on Blaze TV.

00:01:41.480 Right.

00:01:41.600 What in particular did you like?

00:01:44.120 Where do people download that?

00:01:46.200 Pretty much anywhere.

00:01:47.720 Anywhere.

00:01:48.260 Wow.

00:01:48.340 It's really interesting.

00:01:49.460 What I was wondering was how many paintings Glenn.

00:01:51.840 Friday, he said people would come in and spit on the paintings.

00:01:56.300 Literally?

00:01:56.920 Really?

00:01:57.240 I don't think I said that.

00:01:58.300 I know you did.

00:01:59.900 That was inaccurate?

00:02:01.300 Inaccurate.

00:02:01.800 Nobody spit on any painting?

00:02:03.760 No.

00:02:04.360 And he said, like, no one would show up.

00:02:06.180 I may have said people should spit on the paintings.

00:02:08.380 I don't know, but I said that they would.

00:02:11.600 And it was all he could talk about last week.

00:02:14.140 That's all he could talk about.

00:02:15.060 Now, strangely, he doesn't want to hear.

00:02:16.380 I'm sorry if the news is more important than your little art show from the weekend, Glenn.

00:02:22.420 I'm sorry.

00:02:23.100 You know, our country right now is on the edge.

00:02:28.420 Yeah.

00:02:28.700 And you want to talk about your paintings?

00:02:30.540 Right.

00:02:31.120 Well, yeah.

00:02:31.340 I don't know.

00:02:32.120 I mean, is it a big deal to talk about it for just real quick?

00:02:34.900 He's wasting much more time.

00:02:36.700 Oh, inflation, terrorism, pandemic.

00:02:41.800 Let's spend some time on you drawing.

00:02:44.540 Okay.

00:02:45.620 Your heightened level of glorified coloring book.

00:02:49.780 Yeah.

00:02:50.080 All of my proceeds going to Mercury One.

00:02:54.900 Wait, for what?

00:02:55.580 I don't.

00:02:56.480 What?

00:02:56.720 For what?

00:02:57.160 Like, what are they?

00:02:57.740 Is there any important issue that maybe we should talk about? 0.92

00:03:00.960 Like, I don't know, the global sex slavery, maybe the murdering of Christians around the 1.00

00:03:07.860 globe, but maybe we could spend some time on that instead of your stupid paintings. 0.99

00:03:11.140 Anyway, anyway, I don't have the final number, but it's about $250,000 raised this weekend. 0.99

00:03:17.640 Really?

00:03:18.220 Just Saturday.

00:03:20.180 That's fantastic.

00:03:20.680 Before that.

00:03:21.020 Yeah, it was a wild success.

00:03:23.580 I think we have a generous audience to put that sort of money into this cause at the

00:03:29.880 expense of also taking home your painting.

00:03:33.120 I mean, what an incredible honor.

00:03:36.040 It was very, it was, and it was wonderful.

00:03:38.480 It was, it was packed all day.

00:03:41.300 Saturday?

00:03:41.760 Yeah, Saturday.

00:03:42.540 And was taking, you know, people about 30 to 50 at a time through the gallery and, you

00:03:50.420 know, talking, telling the stories behind each of the paintings.

00:03:52.520 And it was just great.

00:03:53.580 So many people came from, drove a long way, you know, didn't, and didn't even buy anything,

00:03:57.360 which I was totally fine with.

00:03:58.940 Um, and it, it was, it was great.

00:04:02.040 And we should, I've had a lot of questions from the people who have purchased your paintings.

00:04:05.760 And the answer is yes.

00:04:07.140 You just have to put it up when Glenn comes over.

00:04:09.400 You don't have to have it up all the time, right?

00:04:11.760 Just put it up.

00:04:12.860 If Glenn's coming over your house, put up the painting.

00:04:16.040 Be, be kind.

00:04:17.140 All right.

00:04:17.600 So Pat, did you, uh, uh, did you watch the Olympics at all?

00:04:21.780 I have watched about two minutes of coverage.

00:04:24.440 Really?

00:04:24.940 Maybe.

00:04:25.480 Yeah.

00:04:25.820 Yeah.

00:04:26.040 I haven't watched a darn second of it.

00:04:28.760 I do know that the women's soccer team lost. 0.52

00:04:31.280 Oh no.

00:04:32.020 Yeah.

00:04:32.260 To Canada.

00:04:33.020 Oh gosh.

00:04:33.680 Gosh.

00:04:34.120 Yeah.

00:04:34.280 Dang it.

00:04:34.600 I was torn apart by that.

00:04:37.240 Torn apart.

00:04:38.240 They seem like such a lovely group.

00:04:39.660 Don't they?

00:04:40.140 Don't they though?

00:04:40.720 They do.

00:04:41.220 So patriotic and, and wonderful and loving and, uh, dedicated to their sport.

00:04:46.740 They do.

00:04:47.100 Wonderful.

00:04:47.820 I hope they got equal pay for that loss.

00:04:49.540 I actually, I, I would have liked them to have won.

00:04:52.460 I would not have.

00:04:53.320 They're from the U S I there.

00:04:54.660 Oh, I really, I'm past that.

00:04:56.220 Are you really?

00:04:56.740 Yeah.

00:04:56.960 I'm past that.

00:04:57.840 I've always been past it with soccer because soccer.

00:05:00.600 I want them to lose because the more U S soccer teams win, the more I have to watch highlights

00:05:06.400 on ESPN or wherever I'm watching sports.

00:05:09.440 They treat it like it's a real sport.

00:05:11.280 Well, then you should be against Ted Lasso.

00:05:14.740 Ted Lasso is doing that.

00:05:15.940 Yeah.

00:05:16.180 Yeah.

00:05:16.420 Yeah.

00:05:16.500 Yeah.

00:05:16.740 He's normalizing, normalizing soccer.

00:05:18.960 Yeah.

00:05:19.060 He's normalizing soccer.

00:05:20.360 You're right.

00:05:20.620 I need to have a, I need a new stance in my life.

00:05:23.520 Anti Ted Lasso.

00:05:24.700 It's like the right thing.

00:05:25.520 Yeah, it does.

00:05:26.280 Don't normalize soccer.

00:05:27.740 Don't, don't do it.

00:05:28.980 Um, did you see the, uh, what was her name that, uh, uh, Oh, you mean the beautiful trans, 1.00

00:05:35.020 uh, woman, the Victoria's secret woman.

00:05:37.300 Yeah.

00:05:37.520 She's so beautiful.

00:05:38.300 She's lovely.

00:05:39.000 She's lovely.

00:05:39.960 She's a Victoria. 0.75

00:05:41.180 Wait a minute.

00:05:41.900 Hold it.

00:05:43.360 Or are we talking about the same woman?

00:05:45.060 Well, if she's not.

00:05:45.780 The shot putter, the shot putter.

00:05:47.320 Oh, the shot putter.

00:05:48.300 Yeah. 0.82

00:05:48.480 That's not the trans person. 1.00

00:05:49.980 Oh, okay.

00:05:50.620 The weightlifter is the trans person.

00:05:52.700 Okay.

00:05:53.460 What is, what is she winning?

00:05:54.760 No, she crashed out. 0.99

00:05:56.020 Oh, darn it. 0.98

00:05:56.660 Stunning development though, that, uh, trans weightlifter would excel, uh, to get to the 1.00

00:06:01.860 Olympics.

00:06:02.160 It seems like such a, what is all the sports?

00:06:04.340 It seems like it was expected to medal.

00:06:06.200 Uh, and so, so who would go figure that the person who used to be a man, uh, might have

00:06:12.460 a leg up in that competition.

00:06:14.140 And again, no reason to change my stance of, I'm glad to see the U S lose, um, because

00:06:21.840 when they win, that's when you see, uh, people like, uh, Raven Saunders.

00:06:27.800 Um, uh, she was sporting a neon green and purple buzz cut and she made an X sign with 1.00

00:06:34.840 her risks, uh, with her wrists up at the podium.

00:06:37.900 She just crossed her arms and made her, and she said, uh, later, cause everybody said, what 1.00

00:06:43.240 the hell does that even mean?

00:06:44.720 And she said, I'm glad you asked.

00:06:46.960 It's the intersection of where all people who are oppressed meet.

00:06:50.980 Hmm.

00:06:51.980 That is right at her wrists, right?

00:06:54.260 Right.

00:06:54.380 Weird.

00:06:55.000 They stand on her wrist.

00:06:56.160 That seems like too many people for one set of wrists.

00:06:59.200 And then, and then after she decided to twerk, uh, and it was sexy. 0.63

00:07:07.900 That's it.

00:07:08.760 I can imagine.

00:07:09.960 I wanted to meet on her wrists after that. 0.51

00:07:12.580 I did.

00:07:12.980 I was like, I think I was oppressed by that.

00:07:15.120 Uh, I don't know how to go on.

00:07:17.360 Um, she said, um, I just wanted to be me, not to apologize, to show younger people that

00:07:23.900 no matter how many boxes they try to fit you in, you can be all you can and you can accept

00:07:29.460 it.

00:07:29.840 People tried to tell me not to do tattoos and piercings and all that, but look at me now.

00:07:34.840 Look at her now.

00:07:35.580 I'm popping.

00:07:36.820 I'm popping.

00:07:38.400 Uh, she said she, uh, you know, she's been, she's had a lot of things weighing on her for

00:07:43.440 22 years and she was finally able to process it.

00:07:47.360 And, uh, she was finally able to separate Raven from the Hulk, which was really, um,

00:07:55.060 okay.

00:07:55.460 Wow.

00:07:55.760 Good.

00:07:56.220 That's so good.

00:07:57.280 That is so Raven.

00:07:58.280 Yeah.

00:07:58.520 It's exactly the type of behavior you'd expect.

00:08:00.700 Right.

00:08:01.160 Yeah.

00:08:01.360 She's a delight.

00:08:02.380 She's a delight.

00:08:03.260 You know, I have to tell you, Simone Biles and, you know, I, I'm not going to tear her

00:08:07.280 apart because she's gone through a lot, et cetera, et cetera.

00:08:09.700 But, you know, as I was, I was doing these, uh, these tours about the painting, one of

00:08:14.580 the paintings that I did was, uh, Jesse Owens and I painted him.

00:08:18.580 So you're, his eyes would follow you in the room.

00:08:23.000 And I have him at the, the, uh, starting line at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

00:08:28.780 And don't talk to me about, you know, Oh, I've got so many things I'm oppressed.

00:08:35.800 He was oppressed.

00:08:38.300 He was oppressed.

00:08:39.760 He was living in America at a time where he had to use a separate water fountain if he

00:08:46.540 wanted to drink.

00:08:47.300 So half of the population in the United States loved him.

00:08:51.960 The other half didn't love him when, when Hitler, uh, uh, invited him, uh, and the U S 0.79

00:08:59.660 to come over for the Berlin Olympics, half of the black community said, you can't do it.

00:09:05.780 You can't, you can't go because you can't support the Hitler government and you can't support 0.94

00:09:10.620 the United States government.

00:09:11.920 The other half said, you have to go, you have to go because you have to show them. 0.95

00:09:18.620 Black man is humid or human over in Germany because he says you're subhuman.

00:09:24.940 So you have to go FDR didn't want to meet with Jesse Owens. 0.96

00:09:29.520 Didn't want to support Jesse Owens, Hitler. 0.98

00:09:32.200 He's in the stadium with Hitler staring at him.

00:09:37.060 You want to talk about pressure? 1.00

00:09:39.420 Shut up. 1.00

00:09:40.240 Talk to Jesse Owens. 0.99

00:09:42.220 And what did he do?

00:09:43.520 He won the gold.

00:09:44.980 And then he stood there proudly as the national anthem played and he came back.

00:09:50.940 That's why he's a hero.

00:09:52.600 He twerked afterward though.

00:09:54.220 He did.

00:09:54.400 Of course he twerked.

00:09:55.900 He had to twerk.

00:09:56.720 There was twerking.

00:09:57.300 Wouldn't have been any good if he didn't twerk.

00:09:59.120 Yeah, yeah, of course there was good.

00:10:00.920 Let me tell you, let me tell you the same, the same story with Jesse Owens.

00:10:05.600 Do you know why he won the gold?

00:10:07.800 Because he was faster.

00:10:08.540 Fastest time.

00:10:09.260 Yeah.

00:10:10.240 Crossed the finish line before the others.

00:10:12.940 Yeah.

00:10:13.600 Yeah.

00:10:14.140 So that's what happens when you turn your mics off and turn your headphones on.

00:10:17.420 You're not allowed to listen anymore.

00:10:18.760 Let me just share this with you.

00:10:20.040 Okay.

00:10:21.260 Here's the reason why I won in the long jump is because the guy who he was competing against

00:10:26.940 will notice that Jesse Owens was jumping too soon.

00:10:31.240 And he kind of sneaks over to Jesse's side and he's standing there and he says, hey, listen,

00:10:40.660 you're jumping too soon.

00:10:42.980 And Jesse said, what are you talking about?

00:10:45.280 He's like, don't look at me.

00:10:47.120 Hitler's looking at me. 0.85

00:10:48.120 Don't look at me.

00:10:49.860 You're jumping too soon.

00:10:51.040 So I'm going to saunter over to the pit and I'm just going to drop my towel where you should jump. 1.00

00:10:59.580 And so he does.

00:11:01.640 And this is a German competitor, I believe, wasn't it?

00:11:05.200 Oh, yeah.

00:11:05.620 Yeah.

00:11:05.820 Oh, yeah.

00:11:06.220 Yeah.

00:11:06.480 And he puts his towel down right where Jesse Owens should jump.

00:11:10.980 Jesse Owens jumps and wins the gold.

00:11:13.340 It didn't take long for that guy to be sent to the Russian front.

00:11:19.840 That guy was sent to the Russian front because he lost to Jesse Owens and he helped Jesse Owens.

00:11:25.960 Jesse Owens and he became friends.

00:11:28.680 He was sent to the Russian front and the last thing he said to Jesse Owens was, please, one

00:11:33.740 thing I ask, please tell my children when this madness is all over, I was not one of them.

00:11:43.340 So don't tell me about your oppression, Hulk Raven. 0.96

00:11:50.260 Don't tell me about your oppression.

00:11:52.160 Well, there was that 10-2 thing they had to deal with.

00:11:54.620 Well, yeah.

00:11:55.200 And she was told not to pierce, you know, and I'm sure that there's a lot of people who are

00:12:00.260 oppressed that were really sad to hear that that kind of oppression was going on on her. 1.00

00:12:05.040 People don't look at this anymore, but the Nazis were very anti-piercing.

00:12:08.600 That was one of the things that people don't even discuss.

00:12:11.040 They don't even discuss.

00:12:11.800 What is that horrid?

00:12:12.700 He was that horrid?

00:12:14.100 Yeah.

00:12:14.380 He rose to power based on the non-piercing theory.

00:12:16.980 Sure.

00:12:17.340 Yeah, he did.

00:12:19.220 Gosh.

00:12:20.440 Oh, we're such crybabies.

00:12:23.120 Thank you, Pat.

00:12:23.900 Pat Gray Unleashed, wherever you get your podcasts.

00:12:29.800 The best of the Glenn Beck Program.

00:12:31.660 This is the Glenn Beck Program.

00:12:44.020 Nicole Solas is a stay-at-home mom in South Kingstown, Rhode Island. 0.58

00:12:49.080 She enrolled her five-year-old daughter in kindergarten in the South Kingstown school district and then said, you know, I want some information because she had heard that the teachers were starting to teach critical race theory.

00:13:03.580 And so she said, I need some information from the school.

00:13:08.780 Now, it's perfectly legal for her to request.

00:13:13.180 In fact, they have it on their own website.

00:13:15.100 If you want information, blah, blah, blah, you do it.

00:13:17.780 Well, she requested the information.

00:13:20.160 Then she figured, I should probably pull my daughter out of school after they threatened to sue her because of her public record request about critical race theory and gender theory, which the district told her to submit. 1.00

00:13:36.280 She's now being represented by the Goldwater Institute, and she is on the phone with us now.

00:13:41.200 Hi, Nicole.

00:13:41.720 How are you?

00:13:43.200 Hi, Glenn.

00:13:43.760 I'm good.

00:13:44.220 Thanks so much for having me.

00:13:45.300 So not only did they threaten to sue you, they told you you had to pay $74,000 to find out if the school district is teaching CRT.

00:13:56.820 Right.

00:13:57.220 And this isn't the first time that they have given me these very high estimates to get public information, which, frankly, we already pay for with our taxes.

00:14:05.920 First, they had given me a $9,000 fee to get information.

00:14:09.360 When I first started submitting my public records request, other information was $2,000, $3,000.

00:14:15.420 The Goldwater Institute resubmitted a public records request on my behalf with much more specific terms that were more likely to turn up information, and that was now $74,000.

00:14:25.140 Which is insane, because this is public information, and it shouldn't be a government secret.

00:14:32.820 It's information that, really, the public has a right to access, and a public records request is just the way to get that information.

00:14:39.840 In my town, 80% of the budget goes to the school, and it costs $27,000 for a student to educate.

00:14:47.660 Wow.

00:14:47.960 And now I have to pay $74,000 to know how they're being educated.

00:14:52.900 It just seems like this is not the way it's supposed to work.

00:14:55.100 So you asked for lesson plans and course materials used or assigned at any school within South Kingston School Department in the 2021 school year

00:15:04.940 that include any of the following terms, 1619 Project, Zinn Education Project or Howard Zinn, Equitable Math, Gender Theory, White Privilege or Whiteness, Systematic Racism, CRT or Critical Race Theory,

00:15:19.380 Ibram Kendi or Kendi, Robin D'Angelo or just D'Angelo, they said that they could do that, but it would take them eight hours to retrieve.

00:15:34.440 Yeah, I think it was a lot more hours.

00:15:36.680 I think it was like 693 hours or something like that, and they have, under the statute, they can charge $15 an hour to compile and retrieve all this information.

00:15:49.380 But it still has to be a reasonable fee.

00:15:51.940 And when you're asking for lesson materials and instructional materials, that shouldn't have to be requested under the APRA, the Access to Public Records Act.

00:16:02.000 These are not just public documents.

00:16:04.060 These are lesson materials.

00:16:05.640 They, at any point, can just email this to me of their own volition.

00:16:09.820 They can just respond to my questions that I asked in an email without having to charge me money, because this is really just a conversation about what our kids are learning.

00:16:19.380 So, they're the ones that constrain me to this public record request process, and I believe they're doing that to evade my questions and not answer them.

00:16:31.000 Now, what did you hear?

00:16:32.260 The teachers were incorporating all this stuff in?

00:16:35.720 Well, the principal from the elementary school where my daughter would go, I've since pulled her out and placed her in private school, said that they integrate values of gender identity in every grade.

00:16:47.620 And she said that they have a certain line of thinking about history that they teach children in every grade.

00:16:53.760 And she told me this after I said, do you teach anything with anti-racism?

00:16:57.280 And as we all know, anti-racism really just means racism or critical race theory.

00:17:01.380 It's all the same thing.

00:17:02.780 So, the principal told me that they do, in fact, teach these values.

00:17:07.680 And when I asked, well, how exactly do you do it in every grade?

00:17:11.360 They said that they have these common practices that they use.

00:17:14.300 And when I asked, well, you know, when did this common practice start?

00:17:17.880 It was all non-answers.

00:17:19.680 Either I don't know or let me get back to you.

00:17:21.760 And then, finally, it was submit a public records request.

00:17:24.460 So, I know they're absolutely doing it.

00:17:26.320 And I have tons of evidence that I've uncovered through these public records requests and with my own research, showing that the school district believes that all white people are racist.

00:17:35.460 I just found a document saying that, and that part of their goal is to have implicit bias trainings with students and teachers, and they're 100% committed to this, but they're not telling me exactly how.

00:17:49.880 And so, I want them to be completely transparent so that people can decide if they want to enroll their kids in this district or opt out of certain lesson plans.

00:17:57.800 And we can finally engage in a robust public debate about the values of, you know, critical race theory or anti-racism or whatever you want to call it.

00:18:07.100 I tell you, you can file for a Freedom of Information Act, and you don't have to pay for it.

00:18:13.020 I mean, it's, again, on our time, on our dime.

00:18:16.940 And you ask for all records of communications, including email communication to or from any South Kingston School Department official, principal, teacher, teaching assistant, counselor, or any other person from January 1, 2020, to the date of this request, which includes any of the following terms.

00:18:34.420 1619 Project, Zen Education, Howard Zen, Equitable Math, Gender Theory, blah, blah, blah, all of these things.

00:18:40.680 That is public record.

00:18:42.720 I know that here in Texas, when we finally did get the Freedom of Information Act from a school district called Southlake, it showed that they were mocking the parents and saying, we're just going to do it anyway.

00:18:57.360 And one of them said, let's keep this information away from the parents.

00:19:03.400 And two of the people went to jail over it.

00:19:06.720 And nobody had to pay for that information because it came from a government source.

00:19:12.720 Yeah, so the Freedom of Information Act is different from the Access to Public Records Act, which is a Rhode Island statute.

00:19:20.440 And that Rhode Island statute carves out this $15 an hour fee that a public entity can charge you for.

00:19:27.340 They can also charge you $0.15 for hard copy.

00:19:30.320 But you're right that this information should not have to cost taxpayers money.

00:19:36.100 They're already paying for the information just, you know, by having the public entity do their job.

00:19:40.720 So I think that that's going to be a point of contention, that it's not reasonable to have the $74,000 fee.

00:19:49.780 And it's certainly not equitable for all of this talk that schools have about equity and everyone having equal access.

00:19:56.500 I don't know how you justify that kind of fee just to know what your kid is learning, because it sounds like they're saying that only the extremely wealthy are privy to information about what their kids are learning.

00:20:05.760 So what did the Goldwater people say, and what are you doing about this now?

00:20:12.420 Right now, we're determining what our next step is.

00:20:15.960 We're still talking about that, and I'm sure we'll make a decision soon on whether we want to go to court or if we want to take some other legal action.

00:20:26.580 How is the community responding to you and the people in the school?

00:20:32.500 Are they with you or against you, or is it split?

00:20:36.560 I only have overwhelming support.

00:20:39.180 I have parents and even teachers emailing me and thanking me for putting myself out there.

00:20:44.720 I also get lots of tips from parents about what is being taught in school here, and it's sometimes hard to get verification.

00:20:55.680 So if they say, oh, my kid had to do something with Black Lives Matter in class, and I'm telling you, I'm hoping you can do something with it.

00:21:02.420 But they're scared to actually tell me the name of the class, the name of the teacher, the actual assignment, because they don't want to be retaliated against it the way that I was retaliated against.

00:21:11.240 But, you know, you can't just go out there and say something's happening and have, you know, no proof.

00:21:15.580 So people are still scared, but they are extremely supportive.

00:21:21.980 Well, stay brave.

00:21:24.600 This will only get harder.

00:21:26.320 If people like you don't stand up now, it's only going to get harder, and you most likely won't win in the future if we don't stand up now.

00:21:34.860 I wish you all the best of luck.

00:21:36.620 Is there anything that our audience can do to help you?

00:21:40.980 I just want to reiterate what you said, that more parents need to start standing up to their school boards and just to remember that school boards are made up of ordinary people.

00:21:50.460 They live next door to us.

00:21:51.760 They're our family members and our friends.

00:21:53.240 These people are not working behind the Iron Curtain of the Kremlin yet.

00:21:57.960 So we need to stand up to them now and let them know that we're not going to tolerate this indoctrination of kids in our school.

00:22:04.880 Were you ever, I mean, are you an activist?

00:22:07.520 Would you ever see yourself doing stuff like this?

00:22:10.080 No, I've never been politically involved.

00:22:13.520 This only happened because I enrolled my daughter in school, and then they publicly threatened to sue me.

00:22:17.360 So I had to respond publicly because they were trying to destroy my reputation publicly.

00:22:22.400 They are getting so bold.

00:22:24.880 So bold.

00:22:25.780 Yeah.

00:22:26.280 Thank you so much.

00:22:27.160 I appreciate it.

00:22:28.240 God bless.

00:22:28.900 Thank you so much.

00:22:29.700 You bet.

00:22:32.320 This is the best of the Glenn Beck Program.

00:22:38.040 I'll tell you who wasn't at my art show this weekend was Mike Lee.

00:22:41.760 Oh, jeez.

00:22:42.760 I mean, he's got this infrastructure, government spending bill.

00:22:46.320 He couldn't put a little padding in there for the art?

00:22:49.120 Yeah, put a padding in for a private jet flight to your art show, and they're back.

00:22:52.440 That's all.

00:22:52.780 Yeah, and maybe a couple of paintings along with them.

00:22:54.940 But, oh, no, I'm too serious.

00:22:57.140 I've got work to do.

00:22:58.960 People don't want us spending money.

00:23:02.600 Mike?

00:23:03.440 Glenn, you're leaving out the real reason I didn't come, Glenn, which is that I'm still offended that you didn't include any of my art.

00:23:10.260 I mean, I know stick figures get a bad rap in American art culture these days, but they're pretty good when they come from me.

00:23:16.340 Yeah, no, that's good stuff, Mike.

00:23:18.160 Mike Lee, the senator from Utah, you were up late last night working on this bipartisan government spending bill.

00:23:27.640 How many of you guys voted against this thing?

00:23:30.100 There were about 40 of us who voted against it, maybe 35 who voted against it at the earlier stages.

00:23:41.200 Here's the weird thing, though, Glenn.

00:23:42.480 We voted on this a couple times last week.

00:23:44.720 The bill didn't yet exist at the time.

00:23:47.980 The bill didn't exist until last night, late last night.

00:23:53.080 I finally received it as I was sitting on the Senate floor with a bunch of my colleagues who were getting ready to give speeches in favor of it, and all of a sudden I got it electronically.

00:24:03.620 It's 2,702 pages long.

00:24:06.100 Yeah, well, that's an easy read.

00:24:07.540 It's kind of strange that they voted to proceed to it without knowing what it was first.

00:24:11.660 Well, let me ask you this.

00:24:13.160 Isn't this kind of just like, weren't really last week just saying, hey, how much do you want to spend?

00:24:19.640 We'll fill it in later.

00:24:20.920 How much do you want to spend?

00:24:22.180 Isn't that what it is?

00:24:24.100 Yeah, that's kind of what they were doing, deciding overall threshold amounts and deciding, you know, in general terms what the agreement would consist of.

00:24:34.020 But normally that's not how we vote on actual pieces of legislation.

00:24:39.060 But in any event, we've got it now.

00:24:40.560 It's 2,702 pages long.

00:24:43.280 How much is it spending on this one?

00:24:45.920 It spends $1.2 trillion.

00:24:47.940 Oh, love that.

00:24:48.560 And of that $1.2 trillion, 550 of it is new federal spending above and beyond what we were expected to spend this year.

00:24:59.320 Which strikes me as curious, given that it's a terrible time to be spending more money at a time when, due to deliberate, reckless overspending by the federal government, poor middle class Americans are finding that everything they purchase is more expensive.

00:25:14.140 From chicken breast to gasoline, to cars, to housing, everything is more expensive because we're spending too much money in Washington.

00:25:24.560 Oh, my gosh.

00:25:25.240 Stu, how can we listen to this old-timey guy?

00:25:28.240 Blah, blah, blah, inflation.

00:25:29.620 Don't you know that inflation is not a problem?

00:25:33.700 It's not going to be a problem.

00:25:35.600 Because they're digitizing.

00:25:37.900 They're not actually printing.

00:25:40.460 They're digitizing, Mike.

00:25:41.820 And that is totally different.

00:25:44.480 It's transitory.

00:25:45.380 And that, of course, makes those dollars spend very differently and inflation-proof, doesn't it?

00:25:50.480 Yeah, it sure does.

00:25:51.440 You know, you brought up, when you were on the floor of the Senate, I watched some of the highlights, and you made a great point about inflation.

00:26:00.180 You were like, even just the act of spending all of this money, when you're talking about infrastructure, will drive the cost of the things that are already expensive up, because now the private sector has to compete with the government.

00:26:16.700 That's exactly right.

00:26:17.820 So everything that goes into these projects, from cement to the aggregate materials you use to make concrete, to steel, to labor, and everything else, all those things are more expensive right now.

00:26:32.300 And so, look, I'm not a fan of stimulus-style spending.

00:26:37.220 But even to those who might be, they might be able to make a slightly less bad case for this in a time when demand for these products is low and industries are shutting down.

00:26:48.720 I still wouldn't like to see government doing that, but whatever.

00:26:51.980 You can make a case for it in that circumstance, not one that I agree with.

00:26:55.900 But you can't make a good case for doing it right now, where everything is inflated, where every federal dollar we put into this is going to go less far because it's a federal dollar and it comes with lots of strings attached, and it will go even less far because of the fact that all of these things were in short supply and can be procured only at a premium.

00:27:14.880 We will get less from this as a result of the fact that it's federal and as a result of the fact that we're doing it right now.

00:27:20.200 So why are they saying this is a good deal?

00:27:22.580 Why are the Republicans even thinking we have to do any of this stuff?

00:27:28.160 Well, look, I'm always reluctant to speak for those who are not present.

00:27:33.160 I'm not a good spokesman for them because I disagree fundamentally with what they're doing.

00:27:38.080 I suspect if one of them were on the phone with us, they'd say, okay, well, first of all, we need infrastructure.

00:27:43.200 Secondly, if we do this, then what the Democrats do on their bill, the bill that they intend to pass with a simple majority, either later this week or later this month, they will spend less than they would otherwise spend if we didn't do this.

00:27:59.560 Now, if we were in court and someone testified to that effect, I'd stand up and say, objection assumes facts not in evidence.

00:28:08.500 I don't know how they can possibly know that they will spend less if we pass this bill.

00:28:13.580 And in any event, that doesn't mean we don't have to put our names on something that we think is bad and harmful to the American people if we don't agree with it.

00:28:22.720 Look, Glenn, there are sort of three different groups of people in America, one of which will benefit from this bill, one of which might not notice much of a difference, and the others will be hurt by it.

00:28:35.220 The first group, consisting of those who might benefit from it, tend to be wealthy, well-connected individuals and business interests in this country who might actually get rich off of it.

00:28:44.800 The next group, consisting of well-off Americans who have enough money that they won't notice a big hit to their lifestyle.

00:28:54.500 But almost everyone else, the vast, overwhelming majority of Americans, fits into the third category.

00:29:00.280 People who have limited paychecks, in many cases, living paycheck to paycheck, every dollar will buy less as a result of spending like this one.

00:29:10.860 Those people will be hurt.

00:29:11.920 So in some ways, we're exchanging one thing for another.

00:29:17.300 In some ways, we're taking money away from poor middle-class Americans and giving it to the wealthy and well-connected.

00:29:22.960 I can't justify that.

00:29:24.340 This is the opposite of Robin Hood.

00:29:26.120 This is the opposite of Robin Hood.

00:29:27.600 The opposite of Robin Hood.

00:29:28.340 Exactly.

00:29:29.260 Senator Lee, there's some argument that passing something bipartisan gives Senator Manchin, Senator Sinema,

00:29:38.040 some talking point to go back to Democrats and say, we shouldn't drop the filibuster. 0.99

00:29:44.820 Do you think there's anything to that at all?

00:29:48.200 Yeah.

00:29:48.420 Look, I don't want them to drop the filibuster.

00:29:50.640 They shouldn't drop the filibuster.

00:29:52.680 We have no guarantee that if we didn't do this, they would drop the filibuster.

00:29:59.020 Or that by doing this, they won't.

00:30:01.980 No guarantee whatsoever.

00:30:04.180 What we have to vote on is the legislation before us.

00:30:07.120 Now, the legislation before us, 2,702 pages long, which we received late last night,

00:30:13.440 has been hammered out over a period of four months by 10 very smart, very hardworking senators.

00:30:21.240 Senators with whom I happen to disagree on this issue, but they worked hard on it.

00:30:25.420 They've had four months to come up with 2,702 pages.

00:30:29.800 It is beyond folly to suggest that the entire Senate should now get up to speed on that

00:30:36.800 and be expected to process it, amend it, vote on it, and pass it within a period of a few days.

00:30:44.660 We need, arguably, at least as much time as they did.

00:30:48.160 At a minimum, we need at least a few weeks to work on this.

00:30:51.360 We have no business spending this amount of money and passing this size of a bill

00:30:56.520 that we saw for the first time last night within a few days.

00:30:59.900 And remember, it was Barack Obama who said he was going to have the transparency

00:31:05.300 that had never happened before, and he would post every bill for at least a couple of weeks

00:31:10.620 before it was ever voted on.

00:31:12.480 They never did that.

00:31:13.880 Nobody ever has an intention of doing this.

00:31:16.360 And all of these things are banged out, and really, a lot in the House is just put together

00:31:24.640 by the heads of the party, and then everybody else is just told, vote for it.

00:31:31.600 Yes.

00:31:32.340 No, that's exactly right.

00:31:33.520 And it reflects one of the sad biases that you see in this place.

00:31:38.500 You know, senators get praise when they pass big spending bills.

00:31:43.300 They get criticized when they vote against them.

00:31:46.500 They assume that passing legislation is a good thing in the abstract.

00:31:50.880 I'm reminded of something that Calvin Coolidge once said.

00:31:54.700 He said, as a lawmaker, it's important to both pass good bills and stop bad ones.

00:31:59.900 They're both important, but as between the two, it's the second that's more important.

00:32:03.600 It's more important to stop the bad bills, because a good bill that doesn't pass today

00:32:07.180 can always be passed later.

00:32:08.400 A bad bill, once it passes, is nearly impossible to unwind.

00:32:12.960 You can't ever get rid of it.

00:32:14.960 And that's why we've got to focus on this.

00:32:16.920 Look, a handful of senators will get praised if this thing passes.

00:32:21.860 But that praise and that adulation, that political notoriety for a few days, will have

00:32:28.120 long-term consequences for America's poor and middle class.

00:32:31.780 And that concerns me greatly.

00:32:33.840 Can you tell us what infrastructure even means now, Mike?

00:32:36.680 Well, look, it means a lot of things.

00:32:41.200 In this bill, they're talking about all sorts of things, from highways, bridges, roads.

00:32:50.080 Hang on just a second.

00:32:51.320 We have every time there's a big bill.

00:32:54.460 It's an infrastructure bill.

00:32:56.380 When and how much was it going to take to actually fix the roads and the bridges, the

00:33:01.780 federal roads and bridges?

00:33:03.220 Because I'm tired of hearing about infrastructure fixing the roads and bridges, because nobody

00:33:07.780 ever shows us any progress on that and says, OK, we're a lot closer.

00:33:12.400 It's just an endless infrastructure bill.

00:33:15.520 Fix the roads and bridges.

00:33:17.540 Right.

00:33:18.260 And look, you can always identify things that have been fixed.

00:33:22.460 And that's why things like this can be very tempting, because people can point to good

00:33:26.900 things that will happen to good people and good communities that are well-deserving of

00:33:31.700 improvements.

00:33:33.320 The question I raise is, does it have to be this much?

00:33:36.000 Does it have to be right now?

00:33:37.280 And does it have to be through this government?

00:33:39.560 I'm still going through this bill because it takes a while to do it.

00:33:43.380 It doesn't read like a fast-paced novel.

00:33:45.300 But Glenn, I will be shocked if there isn't a whole lot of infrastructure in here that isn't

00:33:53.540 federal in nature, that is not or should not be federal.

00:33:58.820 Now, if it's part of an interstate highway, then perhaps it should be federal or some other

00:34:05.720 project with an appropriate federal nexus that's close, maybe so.

00:34:10.600 So I'm willing to bet that a large portion of this is going to go to surface streets that

00:34:17.800 start and stop in the same state and things that are otherwise not necessarily appropriate

00:34:23.120 for the federal government.

00:34:24.100 And that's not just an esoteric problem.

00:34:26.220 It creates real financial problems.

00:34:28.220 Correct.

00:34:28.320 The minute you add a dollar of federal spending to an infrastructure project, in many states

00:34:33.180 like mine, it can add 30 percent, sometimes more, to the cost of the project because you

00:34:37.680 have to comply with this Byzantine labyrinth of federal regulations and mandates.

00:34:42.280 And so you're buying less with more money when you make it federal.

00:34:46.320 We shouldn't do that.

00:34:47.200 There is also a $3.5 trillion human infrastructure bill coming our way.

00:34:56.080 Yes.

00:34:56.980 Yes.

00:34:57.700 That is a bill that the Senate Democrats are working on, that they believe that they can

00:35:03.700 pass with a mere 51 votes.

00:35:07.120 And I'm calling it the inflation bomb because that would truly be it.

00:35:11.840 They've learned over time that bills can be more palatable if you call them something

00:35:17.560 most Americans understand and resonate with.

00:35:20.240 It's a Patriot Act.

00:35:21.660 Yeah.

00:35:22.260 If you call it about the troops or about national security generally, or if you talk about

00:35:27.800 infrastructure, perhaps they'll accept it more easily.

00:35:32.040 But this inflation bomb that they want to pass with a simple majority is a whole lot of stuff

00:35:38.940 that has nothing to do with infrastructure.

00:35:41.320 It's just big government spending.

00:35:43.120 And to put that in perspective, $3.5 trillion, many of us expect it will be more like $4 or

00:35:48.340 $5 trillion, by the way.

00:35:50.540 That's roughly on par with what we spend in a particular year out of the entire federal

00:35:58.560 government in a non-COVID year.

00:36:00.900 So if they expect that we can roughly double that amount and have no consequences, they're 0.76

00:36:08.160 crazy.

00:36:08.960 They're just not looking at the facts.

00:36:10.660 Look, 37% of all U.S. dollars that have ever come into existence have been printed in the

00:36:17.020 last 18 months.

00:36:18.180 You don't do that without making a whole lot of poor middle-class Americans poorer.

00:36:22.700 Hey, one last thing I'd like to ask you, because I know that they're working on airports here,

00:36:26.980 but the Green New Deal would like to get rid of all airplanes, you know, by 2030.

00:36:33.040 Why would we be building new airports if we have to dramatically cut our air travel?

00:36:39.840 I'd just like you to ask somebody there and see if you can find an answer.

00:36:43.100 Mike Lee, thank you so much for being on with us, and thank you for standing and fighting the good fight.

00:36:48.680 I certainly appreciate it.

00:36:50.940 It's Senator Mike Lee from Utah on the latest infrastructure bill that they put together

00:36:55.900 in the Senate.

00:36:57.260 Na, na, na, na, na.

00:36:59.060 You

The Glenn Beck Program - August 02, 2021

Best of The Program ｜ Guests： Sen. Mike Lee & Nicole Solas ｜ 8⧸2⧸21

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