The Glenn Beck Program

Best of the Program | Guest: Bill Cloud | 6/12/26

49 min
Jun 12, 2026about 1 month ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Glenn Beck discusses societal decline through the lens of John Calhoun's 1960s mouse utopia experiments, arguing that comfort without struggle leads to spiritual death. He also examines Alexander Dugan's dangerous ideology linking Russia, Iran, and apocalyptic theology, and analyzes Steven Spielberg's 'Disclosure' film as a case study in predictive programming and media manipulation.

Insights
  • Comfort and ease without struggle paradoxically destroy societies and individuals by removing purpose, meaning, and the conditions necessary for human flourishing
  • Authoritarian ideologies exploit end-times theology to justify geopolitical alliances; Christian communities vulnerable to misinterpretation of scripture when lacking direct biblical literacy
  • Entertainment media functions as a tool for narrative pre-loading and cultivation of public perception; government-entertainment partnerships shape cultural expectations around major events
  • Fear-based media consumption creates psychological dependency and acceptance of authoritarian control; understanding 'who profits from fear' is essential to resisting manipulation
  • Generational decline in birth rates and social cohesion correlates with removal of adversity and purpose, suggesting intentional comfort may be destabilizing rather than beneficial
Trends
Rise of apocalyptic theology in geopolitical analysis; end-times beliefs now mainstream (39% of Americans, 63% of evangelicals) influencing foreign policy perspectivesCoordinated disclosure narratives around UFOs/non-human biologics as potential distraction from currency, governance, and power structure realignmentsRatchet effect of crisis-driven government expansion; permanent power consolidation masked by temporary emergency measuresDeclining birth rates in developed nations correlating with removal of struggle and purpose; demographic collapse as unintended consequence of comfort cultureEntertainment-government liaison partnerships formalizing narrative control; predictive programming as documented policy rather than conspiracy theoryCultivation theory effects: heavy media consumption (8+ hours daily) creating mean-world syndrome and psychological openness to authoritarian solutionsGenerational shift in male engagement; young men either becoming violent or apathetic when traditional roles and struggles are removedDigital currency and BRICS alternatives challenging dollar dominance; global financial realignment creating instability and control opportunitiesReligious communities vulnerable to geopolitical ideology when scriptural literacy declines; theology-as-opinion replacing direct biblical studyAlgorithmic media curation intentionally feeding fear narratives to prime populations for acceptance of systemic changes
Topics
John Calhoun's Universe 25 Mouse Utopia ExperimentsComfort Culture and Spiritual DeathAlexander Dugan's Eurasianism and Apocalyptic IdeologyRussia-Iran Geopolitical AllianceKetikon Theology and Misinterpretation of ScriptureGog and Magog Prophecy in Modern ContextEnd-Times Beliefs and Mainstream AcceptancePredictive Programming in EntertainmentGovernment-Entertainment Liaison OfficesCultivation Theory and Media ConsumptionMean World Syndrome and Fear-Based ControlSteven Spielberg's Disclosure Film AnalysisDEF CON Alert Levels and Nuclear ReadinessRatchet Effect of Crisis-Driven Government ExpansionDigital Currency and Global Financial Realignment
Companies
National Institute of Mental Health
Employer of John Calhoun, who conducted the Universe 25 mouse utopia experiments in 1968
Department of Defense
Operates official entertainment liaison office that shapes Hollywood narratives in exchange for access to military as...
CIA
Collaborates with entertainment industry through liaison office to influence public perception via film and television
Brookings Institution
Delivered 1960 report to NASA warning government about societal destabilization risks of confirming extraterrestrial ...
University of Pennsylvania
Institution where George Gerbner developed cultivation theory research on media consumption and reality perception
People
Bill Cloud
Guest discussing Alexander Dugan's misinterpretation of Ketikon theology and Russia-Iran apocalyptic ideology
Glenn Beck
Host analyzing societal decline, mouse utopia experiments, and media manipulation through Spielberg's Disclosure film
John Calhoun
Conducted Universe 25 mouse utopia experiments (1968) demonstrating how comfort without struggle leads to societal co...
Alexander Dugan
Russian ideologue promoting Eurasianism, Russia-Iran alliance, and apocalyptic theology; allegedly influences Putin
Steven Spielberg
Director of Disclosure film analyzed as case study in predictive programming and narrative cultivation
Candace Owens
Visited Russia and promoted pro-Russia narrative; Beck disagrees with her characterization of Russia as defender of f...
Alan Watt
Popularized predictive programming theory explaining how entertainment pre-loads public with ideas before reality events
George Gerbner
Developed cultivation theory showing heavy media consumption cultivates fear-based worldview and acceptance of control
Robert Higgs
Theorist of ratchet effect explaining how crises permanently expand government power without reversal
Ronald Reagan
Mused at 1987 UN speech about unity through extraterrestrial threat; cited as example of alien fear as control mechanism
Paul the Apostle
Wrote about Ketikon (the restrainer) in Thessalonians; theology misinterpreted by Dugan to justify Russia-Iran alliance
John Thune
Subject of satirical song 'Thune, The Ballless Rhino' criticizing his political ineffectiveness
Quotes
"You can either let life crush you or you can allow it to motivate you and go, you know, no, no, no, no, I'm getting back up again. I'm not staying down."
Glenn BeckEarly segment
"The mice didn't die because they ran out of something. They died because they had everything. Every problem was solved. Every need was met. Every stressor lovingly removed."
Glenn BeckMouse utopia analysis
"Comfort is not the same thing as flourishing. A life with nothing left to overcome is not a paradise. It is a slow and beautiful surrender eventually to death."
Glenn BeckMouse utopia conclusion
"A lot of Christians just really don't know what the scripture says, quite honestly. A lot of people don't take the time to study it. A lot of people regurgitate theology."
Bill CloudKetikon discussion
"The only door any power human or otherwise needs is fear. A person grounded in true faith, history, principles, cannot be stampeded by flashing lights or headlines."
Glenn BeckDisclosure film analysis
Full Transcript
There's a lot on today's Best of podcast. You should hear the whole show if you have time, because I talk about the greatest American generation and why I believe Generation Alpha is the rebirth of that generation. And I got the facts to back it up. Also, I saw Disclosure Day yesterday. So if you're going into the weekend, you're thinking about watching it. There's some things that you should watch for. It's really good. You should go see it. But there's some things that I point out that you really need to watch for, because I think it's an important movie It's at least a fun movie to have a conversation about. Let's put it down. Also, Bill Cloud joins us on today's Best of, and he's talking about Alexander Dugan, Russia, Iran, which, by the way, it's Friday, which means, hey, we're going to have a deal by the end of the week. Well, I'll talk about that Monday, maybe. We know it's Friday when we say that there's a deal with Iran. But he talks about the deal between Russia and Iran and why it is so dangerous and the possibility that we're living in in days. And also rats. Well, actually mice. There were 25 studies done on mice back in the 50s and 60s. And it tells us everything we need to know about what's wrong with our society, what is happening to all of us. Wait until you hear this. I found this study up and started reading about it. I'm like, oh my gosh. That's worth knowing. Why didn't anybody share this with us? It is so important, all on today's podcast. Father's Day is coming up, it's right around the corner, and every year we all go through exactly the same exercise. We try to find a gift for Dad, even though most Dads spend their whole lives, you know, insisting, they don't need anything. The best gifts aren't usually the flashiest ones. They're the things that a man reaches for time and time again over and over. The things have become part of his daily life because they're well-made, they're comfortable, and they're built to last. That's why I think American Giant makes so much sense for Father's Day. They make premium hoodies, they make great t-shirts, sweatshirts, everyday essentials made right here in the United States. Their cotton is grown here. Their clothes are cut and sewn here, and the people making them are American workers who still believe in doing the job the right way. The result is clothing that feels great the first time that you put it on, and it keeps feeling great years later. Buy American. This Father's Day, it's americand-giant.com slash glen. American-giant.com slash glen. Use my name, get 20% off your first purchase, American-giant.com slash glen. Hello America. You know we've been fighting every single day. We push back against the lies, the censorship, the nonsense of the mainstream media that they're trying to feed you. We work tirelessly to bring you the unfiltered truth because you deserve it. But to keep this fight going, we need you. Right now, would you take a moment and rate and review the Glenn Beck podcast? Give us five stars and lead a comment because every single review helps us break through Big Tech's algorithm to reach more Americans who need to hear the truth. This isn't a podcast, this is a movement, and you're part of it, a big part of it. So if you believe in what we're doing, you want more people to wake up, help us push this podcast to the top. Rate, review, share. Together, we'll make a difference. And thanks for standing with us. Now let's get to work. You're listening to The Best of the Glenn Beck Program. So I want to talk to you about the problem with our society and the opportunity for our society. You know, what is the one thing you hate the most about what's happening in our society? I despise the fact that everybody is a whiner. Everybody's like, oh, it's so hard. I'm never going to make a mistake. I'm not going to make a mistake. I'm not going to make a mistake. I'm not going to make a mistake. It's so hard. I'm never going to make it. And I know I sound like the old guy. Get off my lawn. I know I get it. But hear me out for a second. Every trouble that I've ever had in my life, every trouble, everything that my father, I mean, he was so wise, my father, you know, taught me, you sit around and whine about it, or you make the adjustments you need to make, and then find a way to learn from that and grow from that and use that. Okay? I think that's the secret of life. You can either let life crush you or you can allow it to motivate you and go, you know, no, no, no, no, I'm getting back up again. I'm not staying down. Nobody, nobody can put their thumb and keep me down. And when you have that, it's really hard, especially when you're young, but once you start doing it, once you really start, you have to do it smartly. You can't just be a bully about it. But once you really figure this out, everything can change, everything can change. And I wanna show you why this hardship that everybody's going through is good. It doesn't mean, look, I remember I was absolutely flat broke. I was divorced. I was a recovering alcoholic, barely holding on. Nobody wanted to work with me. You know, you name it, I had screwed it up in my life, okay? And I would never want to go back to those days. However, in retrospect, that's the biggest growth I ever had. That those days are what changed me and made me into the man I am today. Without those days, I don't know who I'd be, but I wouldn't be sitting here with you. So let me prove this out with science, okay? 1968, a scientist comes out and he's decided he's going to make utopia. Not for people, but for mice and rats, okay? His name was John Calhoun. He worked at the National Institute of Mental Health and he wanted to answer the question that I think should interest all of us. What happens with a society when every problem is removed, when everything becomes easy? IG, I can't imagine why that's relevant today in America. Everybody has it so easy and we're all complaining, oh, it's so hard, oh my gosh, go somewhere else in the world and look. Okay, sorry, just became the old man yelling at the sky again. So he builds this paradise. It's a mouse world, unlimited food, water that never runs out, no predators, no disease, perfect temperature, endless nesting material, every danger, every want, every stressor that a mouse has ever faced in the history of mice, completely gone. The only thing he gives them besides protection was each other and time. Now he called his last experiment, universe 25, and the number matters because it was the 25th time he had built one of these little gardens of Eden's for mice and rats, okay? And it ended the same way. First 24 already told him where the story goes, but he thought, I'm gonna try it one more time. He drops in eight mice, four males, four females, and at first it's mouse heaven, okay? They breed, the population doubled about every 55 days, and he called this the strive period. It was heaven and it was working exactly as designed, but by day 300 or 315, something like that, there were more than 600 mice thriving in a space that he had built to hold nearly 4,000, so they have plenty of room to spare. They have absolutely everything. It is mouse heaven. That's the peak. Something starts to go horribly wrong. Growth slows for no physical reason. There is, they can't figure it out all of a sudden, and in every, all 25 experiments, exactly the same thing. Okay, this is the thing that none of the researchers counted on. There was no territory to defend, there's no predator to escape, there's no scarcity to overcome, there's no role left for a mouse to fill, and a creature with no role, no struggle, no purpose, starts to come apart. The males who had nothing to fight for either turned violent or vanished into apathy. Let me ask you something. What's happening in our society right now? The males, the young males that have nothing to fight for, they either are turning violent or apathetic. Then you have the moms, the mothers stop mothering. They abandoned their young, they began attacking their young, they forgot about their children. The whole intricate social order that made a mouse, a mouse completely dissolved in 25 identical experiments, 25 times it happens at the same time. Then came the most haunting part of the experiment, I think, there's a new kind of mouse that appears. This mouse didn't fight, they didn't court, they didn't mate, they didn't compete, they wouldn't engage with others at all. They ate, they slept, they groomed themselves endlessly, perfectly, I mean, their coats were sleek and flawless, they were unscarred because they'd never been in a single struggle before, and they started paying attention to what they looked like and grooming themselves. By every outward measure, they were the healthiest, best looking mice in the universe. Calhoun in the experiment, after 25 times of this happening, called them the beautiful ones. He called them the beautiful ones, but as he also noted, they were already dead inside. They were alive, they were fed, they were immaculate, and utterly and completely empty inside. So what happens? Population, this thing is built, I think it's said for 4,000, population peaks at 2,200, barely half of what the space could hold, and then the population begins to decline. May I ask what's happening with our birth rate? What is happening with our population? On day 600, in a world still overflowing with food, the last baby is born. Day 600, after that, nothing, not one more mouse, not ever. And on day 920, the last of the mice dies in paradise. And universe 25 becomes the 25th tomb. And in that tomb, the bowls are still full, the water is still flowing, there's plenty of stuff to make a home for yourself. Calhoun in the experiments, as it starts to fall apart, he pulls out some of the beautiful ones, and he puts them in a fresh, clean world with normal mice to see if they could come back. They couldn't. They had forgotten how to be mice. There was never any recovery of any of the mice. When he wrote the paper, and he's writing about paradise, he didn't title the paper, Paradise. He titled it, Death Squared. And the reason why he titled that is because there are two deaths. The first death that comes first, can you guess? Death of the spirit. The death of the body comes later. It just makes the death of the spirit official. I'm tired of people not being honest. I'm tired of people playing games. I'm tired of people trying to win. I'm tired of people trying to position them, whatever. So let me be honest with you the way I want people to be honest with me, because the internet has turned us into something we aren't. Ease is not something we should want. Scientists argue about what this mouse utopia really proved. It wasn't overcrowding. The place was half empty when the rot set in. Mice are not men. You can't draw a straight clean line from a rodent pin to a human civilization. I'm not gonna pretend you can. But you strip people off of the place and you're not gonna be able to get away. But you strip away every argument and one fact still sits there and just will not move. The mice didn't die because they ran out of something. They died because they had everything. Every problem was solved. Every need was met. Every stressor lovingly removed. It was the ultimate safe space and it killed them. Take away the struggle and it turns out you've taken away the very thing that was actually holding them together. You know, we are always, we're always our best in struggle. You know, something happens, Pearl Harbor, we come together and we kick somebody's ass. 9-Eleven happens and to quote Toby Keith, we'll put a boot up your ass. Okay, when something bad happens, a tornado or a hurricane or an earthquake happens, and we rush together to help, that's who we are. And we can't look away from that. We also can't look away that society is trying to take and make us the most comfortable people to have ever drawn breath and that's not necessarily good. We have engineered away more friction and risk than any other human in history. And it is a genuine triumph, it is. I'm not romanticizing hunger or hardship, those are real evils worth fighting. But the experiment whispers a warning only a fool would ignore. Comfort is not the same thing as flourishing. A life with nothing left to overcome is not a paradise. It is a slow and beautiful surrender eventually to death. Notice which societies on earth are the safest, richest, most frictionless ever built. And notice that those are the exact societies quietly deciding not to have a next generation. The mice in abundance stop making mice. But here's where the story for me changes and stops becoming prophecy and becomes a choice because there is one thing those mice could never do that you can do today. A mouse can't sit on go, you know what, I'm gonna give my life meaning. Life is more than endless cheese. It can't choose the hard road when the easy one is sitting right there. It can't invent a purpose out of thin air. You can, you can pick up somebody else's burden that nobody's forcing on you. You can build the thing that maybe doesn't need to be building, but need to be built, but you can build it. You can have the child, you can take the harder job, you can serve the cause, you can fight the fight, you can fill a role that no one assigned you. You know, I think about that guy who he and his wife aborted their baby because of Down syndrome. Do we happen to have that audio? Let's play the audio. This is what the father, he aborted a child that had Down syndrome because of, you know, well, it's just not gonna have a good life. Really? Okay, listen to this. Yeah, Sarah, you do, let me see if I can find it. I'm sorry. Where is it? It's towards the bottom. Yeah, 17, cut 17. Yeah, of course I'm glad my dad didn't terminate me, but I'm normal. So, do you hear that? Yeah, somebody asked him, are you glad your dad, you're glad you're alive and your dad didn't abort you? Yeah, of course I am, but I'm normal. The cavalier attitude, and I contend this had nothing to do with the child. It had everything to do with his life. It had everything to do with his wife's life. They wanted an easy life. They didn't want a troubled child. They didn't wanna have to deal with a mess. Welcome to the mouse kingdom. Every living soul needs purpose. Find yours. They need something to strive for, strive for something. And we have a very bright future ahead. Stop looking for the easy path. This is the best of the Glenn Beck program. I am gonna break a rule slightly. I don't like talking about other podcasters, especially those who I disagree with, but I just, I need to set this up a little bit. Last week I told you about what was happening in Russia, and Candace Owens went over to Russia, and the story was not about her, it was about Alexander Dugan. And when she came home, and I guess she did her podcast today and I have been told that she is talking about how Russia is the defender of the faith, and that everything in Russia is good, and that of course everything here in America is in decline. They're not, our culture is evil, theirs isn't, they're the defender of the faith. And I just disagree with almost all of that. Well, except for the premise that America is in decline, yes it is, if we choose to continue, and our culture is evil. I think it's pumping up poison myself. We have to become people of God, but we certainly don't need a Christian prince to do it. The Lord has it in hand, and he's requiring his people to turn his face back to him. If we do, then we'll be saved. If we don't, well, then all bets are off. But it's as easy as that. I don't need to go to somebody who is telling us, like Alexander Dugan is, Russia is aligned with Iran. Is there any doubt in your mind that Iran is not a good place, not one where Jesus is like, you know what, sometimes I like to vacation in Iran. I just love the clerics there. I don't think so. Dugan said also he would give nukes to any state that would not, United States like Capitol State, any state that would actually help wipe the West off the face of the map, take America on. Okay, I don't think that's a friend. That doesn't sound like somebody I want to hang out with on my vacation, but to each his own, I guess. I've been telling you about Alexander Dugan for a long time, but now he brought up something just last week that I had not heard about, and it's the, Ketachon, I think, or the Ketikon, I don't know exactly how to pronounce it. I'd never heard of it before. There is a op-ed now at glenbeck.com written by Bill Cloud, and he talks about what this is, and Alexander Dugan and Russia and what they really believe, because you cannot get caught in this trap. Even the very elect are gonna get caught in this trap, and it's very, very dangerous. Bill, welcome to the program. Hi, Glenn, it's great to be with you again. Thank you. How do you pronounce this and what is Ketachon? Ketikon, Ketikon. Ketikon, Ketikon. Ketikon, okay. Yeah, well, it's a Greek term, actually, and it's used by the apostle Paul in a letter he wrote to the Thessalonians, and he's describing he who restrains or he who's holding back, and so it's called the restrainer. So that's what it technically means. And what he's referring to is that the restrainer, the Ketikon, is who or what holds back the man of sin from being fully revealed. And so the assumption is made that the Ketikon or the restrainer is a force for good, and it's there to keep evil in check. But apparently, and this is, I just found this out last week too when I read the article by Mr. Morrow, that Alexander Dugan believes that the West, I think we can include Zionism and Jews and that, that they're the evil in the world that has to be restrained. And so he is apparently applying the role of Ketikon or the restrainer to Russia, to his vision of what Russia should be, that they are a God-ordained instrument who with Islam is as an ally, that they're in the world to overcome the evil as he sees it, that is the West and the Jews, et cetera, et cetera. So that's where the idea comes from. How do Christians, how are they getting caught up in this? I mean, you say to me, hey, you know who the evil is, America, you could convince me that America does great evil with its culture. I agree, we are way off base with our culture. We are an enemy of God in many ways. But when you're looking to say, okay, we gotta wipe that out. And hey, by the way, let's partner with Russia. I begin to question you. Let's partner with Russia and Iran. There's no way Isaac Christian believed that at all, ever. How are they falling for this? Well, just my opinion, I guess, is that a lot of Christians just really don't know what the scripture says, quite honestly. A lot of people don't take the time to study it. A lot of people regurgitate theology. And theology, and I say this respectfully, is not equivalent to the truth. Theology is the study of God, but that's always subjected to a man's opinion. And in this particular case, Dugan is interpreting what Paul said about the restrainer to, and applying it to Russia in this case. So I think that's how it happens. It's generally, a lot of people just really don't know what the scripture has to say. They know what people say it says, but they don't take the time to read it. So I mean, there's probably a lot of other reasons. And people have their eyes on all the wrong things at this point in time, including Christians. So that's just my thoughts. Last week, I found out that Dugan and his allies are saying that the Antichrist is gonna come from the West, from America, and it's a Jewish Antichrist. Do you read that anywhere in scripture? Anywhere, anyway? In other words, that there's gonna be a Jewish Antichrist? No, I don't. And the Antichrist is coming from the West? Well, I mean, there are people who believe that, but no, I don't see that in scripture at all. In fact, all the patterns that we see in scripture seem to say that the Antichrist is going to come from the East. For instance, Nebuchadnezzar, he is a prototype of the Antichrist. He was the king of Babylon. He's the one that came in to destroy Jerusalem, destroyed the temple. He went mad for seven years. He became a beast. He made an image of himself, and he is from the East. And so there's a pattern there. So I could go on and on in that, but all the patterns seem to show that he's going to come from the East, not from the West. And isn't there something about Gog and Magog being Persia and Russia? Is any of that true? Well, when I was reading about Dugan, saying that he believes Russia is the restrainer and all these kinds of things, and wanting to align himself with Islam and how he believed that the restrainer, the catacomb along with Almaty, we're going to lead this holy war against the West and overcome the Jewish anti-messiah and all these kinds of things, that's when my brain just really just was on overload and I began to connect that idea to all these different prophecies. And one of them being there is this battle that is described in Ezekiel 38 and 9 with Gog and Magog war. Now, let me just insert this real quick. And what Mauro said in his article is that Dugan believes that this climactic battle that the catacomb and Almaty is going to fight his arm again. But I'm thinking if that happens, and I say if, he might be walking into what is described in Ezekiel 38 and 9. So that is this confederation of, it's a confederation of Islamic nations, but the Bible described or speaks to the chief prince of Meshach and Tuval, Gog and Magog who comes from the far north and where Israel's concerned, the far north could be and include Russia. So, people have talked about this all up for centuries, as who is Gog of Magog and certainly in the last 50, 60, 70 years. But when I saw this and that there's this man who's pushing this ideology and philosophy, supposedly even to Putin, how Russia's destiny is to be the catacomb and to put down the West and to put down Israel, et cetera. That's what I really thought. Maybe there might be something to this Russia being allied with these Islamic nations coming into the mountains of Israel. That's pretty strong in my view. But now the result will be, of course, that this invading force will be destroyed. So, Bill, I mean, I'm not asking anybody to believe that we're living in end times or anything, but I just did some research. Let me see if I can find this. It is shocking the number of people that actually believe that we are possibly in the end times. Let me see if I can find it. It's, let's see here. You look at this, it's not a fringe view. According to Pew, 39% nearly four in 10 say yes, we're living in the end times. Evangelical Christians say 63%. But here's the crazy part. About a quarter of people with no religious affiliation said yes to that as well. 9% of atheists say yes, we're living in the end times. That's interesting. Yeah, isn't that fascinating? I found that absolutely fascinating. And I did some research on, this has been happening since, I mean, the apostles thought Jesus was coming back. But there are some things now that are unique that were not, that are important pieces, like for instance, the reestablishment of Israel, important pieces of prophecy that we've now hit that make war rumors of war, nations rising against, you know, earthquakes, famines, all that stuff, mean a little bit more this time. Would you agree or disagree with that? I absolutely agree. If you don't mind, let me give you this passage of scripture. It's in Hosea chapter six. It says, come and let us return to the Lord. He is stricken, but he will bind us up. He is broken, but he will heal us. After two days, he revives us. And on the third day, he will raise us up that we may live in his sight. So it talks about two days. After two days, something happens. And on the third day, basically, he's describing the Messianic era when we live in his sight, when Messiah rules and reigns from Jerusalem on the earth. Point being this, a day with the Lord is a thousand years. A thousand years is as a day. It's been 2,000 years or two days since the Messiah left, and it was said that he will come again. So we're coming to the end of that second day when he revives us. On the third day, he will raise us up. So we're in that time, we're at that threshold. I believe adamantly that we're coming to the end of the second prophetic day, and about to enter into the third day, which means then there are going to be birth pangs. There are going to be all of these wars and rumors of wars and all the things that Messiah describes in Matthew 24 and all the prophets talk about. And then, you know, let's bring it back to this philosophy or theology that Dugan has, which by the way, embraces this idea that Moscow is the third Rome of the Roman Empire. And supposedly, according to their theology, it's to be the last one. So he believes we're in the last days too. And he aligns himself with Iran and these exotic nations who they also believe it's the last days, looking at it from a completely different perspective. So all of these things are aligning in a way that I don't think it's happened in human history. I know that there will be people who would disagree with that, but when you've got 9% of atheists saying, we're living in the last days, that's pretty strong. It's really remarkable. I've had atheists say, Glenn, I can't describe, there's no word to describe what's happening in the world right now except for the word evil. And I'm like, you're an atheist. They're like, I know, I know exactly what I'm saying, but that's the only way I can describe what I'm seeing right now. You're streaming the best of Glenn Beck to hear more of this interview and others. Download the full show podcasts wherever you get podcasts. I'm playing this almost under duress, almost under duress. Here it is, the world premiere of Thune, The Ballist Rhino. ["The Ballist Rhino"] Whoo! Yeah! Hey, hey, hey! Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, he walks in big talks like a king, but the room stays cold when it's time to bring. He points at the board, then ducks to fight, all suit no spark and the words all bite. He says, I got this, then shifts to blame, the same old grin with a different name. Say it loud, say it plain, you had the chair but lost the game. Too much pose, not enough drive, you keep the crowd but you never arrive. Thune, The Ballist Rhino. You don't get it done. Thune, The Ballist Rhino. Always on the run. You make a big scene and fold up small. Thune, The Ballist Rhino. He got balls at all. You sell that to dragon. Okay, all right, all right, all right, that's enough. There you go, yes, Ricky. Is it any wonder we never get any interviews of note from the swamp? Any wonder at all. You know what? To miss on a John Thune interview, I'm happily playing that. I'm happily playing that. He has nothing to say that I need to hear. You know, he's a ballist rhino. Anyway, let me take it. You're gonna be in DC. You could take that track right to his office and just like blast it through the halls. We gotta do that. Oh my gosh, thank you for that. I will be in DC soon. Thank you for that idea. I mean, I may need enough copy. I may need a hundred copies. Let's just leave it at that. I don't know what hundred people I could give it to, but I might need a hundred copies. All right, I saw Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg's new film last night. And it's good, it's very good. It's, you know, Steven Spielberg. It's not his best. Everybody's like, oh, it's the best film he's ever made. No, it's not. It's not. But not his best is still better than most movies that are out. Okay, so it's worth seeing. With that, I'm not gonna blow anything, but with that, some moments in this are just downright stupid. The kind of make you question if Spielberg, did Spielberg see the final edit of this? You know, and you'll know it when you see it because there are a couple of Jar Jar Binks level stupid calls in this movie. You know, grown adults hiding behind a leafless bush and a split rail fence while being hunted. The people are on the other side of the fence and they're just crouched down behind a split rail fence and a bush with no leaves, you know, or they're hiding behind a rock, literally about seven feet away. They had a chance to escape, but they wanted to see what happened. So they're standing behind this rock. While everybody's searching for him, it's like, please, did Spielberg watch this movie? Anyway, in the end, you'll find the aliens more believable than some of the humans, but go see it. With that said, that's the worst of it. And it's only a couple of scenes, you know, quickly. They go by, you're just like, oh, come on. But here's what I recommend. If you want your money's worth, don't go out and watch the nine o'clock show or the eight o'clock show. You know, go to dinner and then go and reverse that. Go to the six or seven o'clock show and then go have dinner and invite some friends that, you know, can think. Invite some friends to go with you and go see the movie, then sit down at dinner. And then because I'm telling you, the real story is not the one on the screen. It's the conversation that that movie will make, will just pull right out of you, okay? It opens and no spoiler alert needed here. Because the opening scene is, the world is at DEF CON 2. One step from the brink, you know? It's a sub, sub, sub, sub, sub, sub, sub plot. Or is it? I think the movie would say yes, but I'm not so sure. But DEF CON 2, in case you don't know, only time in American history we've ever had it is strategic air command has confirmed DEF CON 2 only one time in our history. And that's the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. DEF CON 1 is we're at full war, nuclear war. DEF CON 2 is without going to war, it is when everything, the rockets are juiced and ready to take off. All the planes that need to be up in the air are in the air, we just have to call them back. It's that kind of thing. Most people I think in the theater missed what happened at the end. And I won't tell you what happened at the end. But the disclosure is over, the chases, you know, take over the whole movie. And that opening fear of DEF CON 2 kind of vanishes by the final credits. It's there. And it's not sloppy writing. I think it's misdirection. It's the magician's other hand. The story tells you what you're supposed to fear in the first five minutes and then walks you right past it while you're staring at a spectacle. Okay. Now, in reality, if, and I don't believe this is what's happening here, but people are like, this movie, it's just softening up. If this movie was built to soften you up for disclosure, then the ending is really important. And you might miss the whole point on what the government would want you to do in case of disclosure, real or a PSYOP. Okay. There's also in the movie a religious angle that I'm not really sure I'm all that comfortable with. I mean, I am comfortable with it being presented in the movie the way it was presented. It's just, these are all conversations we have to have. Okay. And this part is more to the surface and it's pretty unavoidable. And the question is if there are aliens, are they from God? Now, hold that thought because this is where the movie stops being entertainment and starts asking harder questions about the world we're actually living in. And there's two theories that I think are worth mentioning here, predictive programming and cultivation theory. Okay. There is an old idea called predictive programming. It was popularized by researcher, Alan Watt. And the idea is that entertainment can preload the public with ideas. You put concepts into films and shows and stories year in advance. So when something similar appears in reality, it feels familiar, almost inevitable. We've seen it with the X files. Okay. Yeah, it's like an episode of the X files. Okay. That's what they mean, preloading you. So you don't necessarily freak out. I've seen it instead when it happens, you're like, I've seen this before, I've seen this movie before, right? Now skeptics rightly point out that this can become a conspiracy lens that explains everything and therefore doesn't explain anything, all right? But you don't have to go full fringe to see something real here. The Department of Defense or war and the CIA have had an official entertainment liaison office for decades, did you know that? They are brought in to help shape stories. And it's not a shadowy conspiracy. It's out there. They're given jets and bases and technical advisors for their movies and in exchange, they shape the stories for the government. And this is documented policy. Hollywood gets access, government gets their understanding of influence, okay? Now the second theory is cultivation theory. This one was developed by a guy named George Grubner and he was at the University of Pennsylvania. Decades of research on this shows that, now listen to this, heavy media consumption doesn't just entertain, it cultivates your sense of reality. Heavy media consumption, what are most people doing eight hours every day? They are scrolling and staring and consuming media. This research shows that heavy viewers develop mean world syndrome where everything is a danger. They overestimate the danger, crime, threats. They become more fearful, more dependent and more open to strong man measures. Fear cells, fear shapes. Grubner testified in front of Congress that fearful people are easier to manipulate and control. Psychologists have studied this for years and years and years, repeated exposure to threats in media can desensitize or heighten anxiety depending on the framing. So wars, crisis, existential threats, stories to prime populations, and it primes them to accept changes they might otherwise resist. Look how our country has been primed, Nazi, Nazi, Nazi, Nazi, Nazi, Nazi, Nazi, Nazi. What does that do? That primes you to turn on your neighbor, that primes you to excuse violence. This isn't magic, this is human psychology and it plays a heavy, heavy role in our society and our culture today. So, I don't know if this is all of this stuff that you're seeing now with the UFOs, if it's natural or being fed to us, but we know stuff is being fed to us through our algorithms intentionally. Also, think about Orson Welles. Orson Welles, 1938, War of the Worlds. What was the lesson we were supposed to learn from that? We were taught that War of the Worlds with Orson Welles caused mass panic, people fleeing into the streets, believing Martians has landed, blah, blah, blah. But that's not true. Only about 2% of the country was even tuned in. It was, War of the Worlds in Orson Welles and the Mercury Radio Theater was something that was, it was up against the hardest show, a radio show done by a ventriloquist, Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen. I mean, I know it's hard to beat, it's hard to beat. It's like Lawrence Welk, we're being beaten by a guy with an accordion? Yeah, anyway, 2% were listening to Orson Welles. The panic was tiny, it was real, but it was tiny, okay? The legend that there was mass panic, where did that come from? Listen to this, newspapers. Newspapers who were losing advertising revenue to radio during the Depression. And newspapers seized the broadcast to paint radio as reckless and untrustworthy. You mean like the way cable news paints podcasters? So the hysteria wasn't about public gullibility, it was about one medium manufacturing fear to destroy a rival. The lesson we supposedly learned was wrong. The real lesson is always ask who profits from the fear. President Reagan, he said in, I think, 87, he was at the United Nations, and he said that all of our earthly differences would vanish if we would face an alien or an alien threat from the outside of the world, okay? A sitting president musing out loud about unity through extraterrestrial fear. Back in 1960, Brookings, the Brookings Institute, delivered a report to NASA on the implications of discovering extraterrestrial life. And this is in the movie, I mean, they don't quote this, but this is implied in the movie. What they found in 1960, they warned the government that if you talk about aliens and you confirm them, it could destabilize our entire society, it would challenge religious and cultural foundations, and that leaders should carefully consider if they're gonna release the information. That's what this whole movie is about, okay? The fight between somebody who wants the information released and somebody who doesn't want the information released and which one is right. This conversation is 65 years old, and it happened in government buildings on the record in the 1960s, okay? We've been seeing a steady drumbeat of disclosure that is happening. I don't know what's real and what's not. Pentagon is releasing footage, congressional hearings, talk of, and I'm quoting non-human biologics, what? A government who has been denying this for decades suddenly decides to open the door? Why and who profits from fear? Run a pure thought experiment here, not claiming this is happening, just asking what it could mean if disclosure narratives were softening us up for a bigger narrative, something bigger, actual disclosure, okay? What major permanent shifts in the West Bank and in the Western world might need a spectacular distraction. We're living right now with rapid changes, currency, power, governance. There's an economist, his name is Robert Higgs, and he talks about something called the ratchet effect. A crisis expands government power, we know that. And even after the crisis passes, the machine doesn't go back. It only ratchets upward, bigger. Wars change borders and currencies. They don't have to be one outright. They just need to last long enough for people to forget what life was like before and accept the new normal. So in 2026, we see shifting global orders, debates over the dollar's dominance, pushes for digital currency, stablecoins, bricks, all of this stuff, okay? All of this is under strain. Okay, so we have all this competition, protectionism, realignments. Everything's about to change. You feel it, you feel it. A dramatic external threat, if it's real or amplified, could unify populations. It would justify new controls, surveillance, global coordination. Everything else would face resistance, but if you could just bring everybody together. Now again, this is a thought experiment. I really don't believe this is what it is. I think disclosure day, I don't think it's a government operation. I think it's Spielberg. He's a master storyteller who has his finger on the pulse and he sees what's going on. He wrote a great story. I think that's what's happening. However, he has collaborated with government entities to help shape narratives before. The famous Clinton denial, I did not have sex with that woman. That's Steven Spielberg, okay? The deeper point here is not aliens, it's vulnerability. The only door, any power human or otherwise needs is fear. A person grounded in true faith, history, principles, cannot be stampeded by flashing lights or headlines. Watch the other hand, watch the other hand. Admire the big-eyed invaders in the movie. Go see the movie, six o'clock show, dinner at nine, talk about the opening and the ending. What is this movie really about and saying? And just stay awake, know what you believe. Lights in the sky are one thing, the ratchet turning the shadows is another. Na, na, na, na. ["The Greatest Things Happen"] When you put the right things together, boom. Great things happen. It's like having a chat with the Cambridge Building Society. You'll always find us in tune with you. The Cambridge Building Society. Mortgages and savings, we can work it out.