Glenn Beck Wants to Know: Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?
You left Fox News and started The Blaze, a TV station, Web site and subscription service. How is that working out?
Check back with me in 10 years. I think we’re just now entering the fields that I was hoping we would enter.
Glenn Beck
You’ve said The Blaze could put traditional TV news out of business. That’s a bold prediction.
I learned that when Barbara Walters came and did an interview with me. They had about 50 people in our studio for two days â€" more people in my offices than we had employees. All for an eight-minute segment.
But do you really think that will happen?
The nightly news is doing a fine job of putting itself out of business. Who watches it? I mean really, besides my grandparents, who are both dead, who is watching the nightly news? I think we’ll be ready to put them out of business in the next three to five years.
Is it true that you expressed interest in buying Current TV?
Yes. I didn’t speak to him, but I was told that Al Gore didn’t want to sell to me.
When you heard Al Jazeera was buying it, what did you think?
I thought that Al Gore saw me more as an enemy of America than Al Jazeera, which I found fascinating coming from the former vice president. Or maybe he doesn’t believe a word he says. He sold for twice the amount of what it was worth.
How did your fans respond to your support of gay marriage?
I don’t care. The point is that government shouldn’t be involved in marriage.
Did you hear any reaction?
Can we stop dividing ourselves? Do racists exist? Yes. Do bigots exist? Yes. But most of us are not. Most Americans just want to get along. Why can’t we do that? What has happened to us?
I think there’s a misperception that your show is more political than it actually is.
Unfortunately, because of the news of the day, we have spent most of our time on politics. What people don’t ever understand is this: I’m the guy who lives in Dallas who did not get an invitation to the George Bush Presidential Library opening. He didn’t like me. I had called for his impeachment. I didn’t call for Obama’s impeachment. People think I just hate this president. No, I hate power and those who do everything they can to hold onto it.
But you said you were going to hunt down progressives like an Israeli Nazi hunter.
Oh, I will. I think these guys are the biggest danger in the world. It’s the people like Mao, people that believe that big government is the answer, it always leads to millions dead â€" always.
Sometimes when you give a speech, you hold up a napkin stained with Hitler’s blood. Why?
It could be Hitler’s, I don’t know. It was from somebody present during the July assassination attempt. The point of it is: pay attention when the trouble is small. If you don’t pay attention to people who want to regulate every aspect of your life, it spirals out of control.
What was it like for you to live in New York?
Sad, because I think New York is one of the greatest towns in the world. I love New York. I wanted to live in New York my whole life, and I find it so unbelievably closed-minded.
You must feel more comfortable living in Dallas.
Yeah, but there are people that hate me all over the world. I went to South Africa, and people hate me there.
Why did you start your jeans company, 1791 Denim?
I wore Levi’s my whole life. I think they’re great. They’re making them in China now. Fine, whatever. But when they branded themselves the uniform for the progressive movement, instead of complaining, I started my own company. I don’t care if you’re a liberal and you want to wear them. I hope they’re comfortable. If they’re not, return them to me.
Are you still in touch with Sarah Palin?
No. In fairness, I don’t really stay in touch with really anybody. I’m a little busy.
INTERVIEW HAS BEEN CONDENSED AND EDITED.
A version of this interview appears in print on September 8, 2013, on page MM12 of the Sunday Magazine with the headline: ‘there are people that hate me all over the world’.