Interview: Glenn Beck Interviews Donald Trump on His Eponymous Show - August 26, 2026

Mr. President, welcome. Last night, we found out that --

Well, it does sound --

Go ahead.

It does sound a little exhausting as you -- as you're going over that list. I'm -- I'm getting exhausted. I said, that's a lot of work.

I know. I don't know how you do it.

Yeah. I do it --

Last night, we found out that, uh, that -- we found out that, uh, Dolly Parton, uh, passed away. And you did something, and I -- I actually wrote this in my diary last night before I heard what you did. I said, I feel like she's kind of, you know, like I feel about her the way I felt about Queen Elizabeth.

She was just such class. And I felt like we should lower our flags and for the first time in history, you said we should lower our flags and you declared that our flags should be at half-staff. That's never been done before. Why'd you do it for her?

Is -- that was never done for an entertainer before, is that what you mean?

Yeah, never.

We've done -- we've done this, you know, lowering, but as I understand it, I've heard that from a couple of people. I'm a little surprised but she was unique. I mean, she was amazing. And to lose her, it's like you lose a member of the family. You know? We all knew her so well. I knew her a little bit. She wasn't a very political -- She really liked me, I will tell you, but she also wanted to stay very -- you know, she -- she was of the opinion, you know, the 50 percent who needs to lose?

I don't think it's 50. I think it's probably 20 percent of the fans, OK, not 50. But she was a great person and she was just a nice person. You know, I liked her a lot. And I thought it was a natural thing to lower the flags.

Yeah. Can we, um, put something to rest here, because the speculation is crazy. The CIA director -- CIA director, ours, is in Russia. Rumors are saying Putin's are going to -- Putin is going to test NATO resolve all the way to speculation that is crazy, he's going to strike England, all the way to this is maybe the US telling them about the Iranian sanctions, saying, we're serious about them.

Can you tell me why our CIA director flew in the middle of the night to meet with the Russians?

Yeah. Well, none of the above. He's there on, you know, very sort of semi-routine. I hate to disappoint people. We would like to see the war with Ukraine end. That's a war, would have never started if I were president. That's one of the -- one that's one of the negatives of not having it done that way. I think this way has actually turned out to be bigger in many ways.

But you wouldn't have had the war with Ukraine, and you wouldn't have had 25 million people coming into our country like they did, just come in like we were a bunch of fools. It was so sad. But they, you know, 20 -- and I think the number is higher than 25, frankly, but they came in from prisons and they were drug dealers and they were murderers and everything else, and they poured into our country.

You wouldn't have had that, but you would not have had the war in Ukraine. Uh, John Ratcliffe is a fantastic guy. He's the head of the CIA. And he is not in there for any of the things that you said. Now, something may come out, you know, out of it. We're working very hard to get that war ended. Uh, and frankly, they both want to see it ended at this point.

I know. Um, the Atlantic of all places is reporting, and this is starting to become commonplace, that the Ayatollah is dead. Is the Ayatollah dead? And, um, is there a way to win this war -- I mean, really win this war, um, and have them unconditionally surrender without the people rising up who don't have any guns?

So is he dead? And where are we on the war?

I don't think he's dead. He was very seriously wounded. Uh, the left side of his body, uh, the arm, the leg, the whole thing, he was very seriously wounded. But I don't think he's dead. Uh, and if he is, they're putting on a pretty good show because they talk about, you know, going back to talk to him all the time, you know, to get a final blessing on things.

But, you know, you make a deal with them, it's like, uh, not the -- it's not the most honorable group, I will tell you that. And, you know, we have this great open we took out 22 boats last night. We have people coming in the blockade. Our Navy has been unbelievable. Our military has been unbelievable, the combination.

But -- and our -- our financial strength that we built it up so much like you wouldn't believe in a year and a half. Our financial strength is unbelievable and those things are going toward a very big victory. We had the victory in Venezuela, and we're going to have a big victory here very soon.

Um, can we -- I mean, uh, because these people are not -- it's not like you're negotiating with Western-minded people. These people want chaos and death and everything else. Can -- is any -- has there been any talk anywhere of anybody, I'm not saying us, supplying the people with the ability to fire back?

Because you've got to get the 80 percent of the people to stand up. Do you foresee them being able to stand up in the future and finish this regime?

So a lot of -- right. They say they're so surprised that the people aren't fighting back. But, Glenn, if you were in that position and you're a brave guy, I've watched your whole career. I've been a fan of yours for a long time. You're a brave guy, but I don't think you'd be standing out there when they have a machine gun nest.

But, you know, they have really snipers at the tops of buildings, and people go out to protest and they get hit and they don't have to hit many. But when you see five or six or 10 people go down and you have 100,000 or 200,000 people, they leave. I don't care who you are, they leave.

Yeah.

And it's very hard to protest when you have people that are willing to shoot you and kill you. And that's why they're not protesting. And there is a chance, because they have become very much weakened. You know, their Navy is, as you know, totally gone. Their air force is totally gone. They're not -- their soldiers -- many of their soldiers aren't being paid they have 300 -- I think 300, or I heard -- I think it's 300 percent inflation.

And their -- their monetary -- their money is -- is almost valueless. Now, I mean, they're not doing very well. And, you know, I would have to -- and I could have told you the same thing, not as strongly, but two months ago, three months ago and I'd have to read the New York Times saying how well they're doing.

They're not -- they're not actually saying that anymore, which is hard to believe. I'm surprised they don't continue to say it. But, you know, there was so much fake news put out. Because right from the beginning, from the B-2 bombers, a little more than a year ago when we knocked out the nuclear to the present, we have really dominated, really, truly dominated.

Um, we are -- um, we have so many enemies, I feel like inside our own gates. We have the DSA, uh, and we have Islam, the Red Green Alliance, something I put up on the chalkboard when I was at Fox. And I said, this is going to happen and everybody said that they'll never work together and that's exactly what's happening.

Um, the would you push for or sign a no Sharia law act for America? And when it comes to the -- the Marxists, um, what advice do you have for the GOP to begin to relate to the people who feel like there is an affordability crisis in America, especially for the youth and the Marxists are playing on that and exploiting all of that?

Yeah.

What is -- what advice do you have?

Yeah, I would say two things. Number one, on Sharia law, I would absolutely say that it's not this country, it's no Sharia law. And you do have pockets of it, as you know. I would say no. And you go to London, you go to Paris, it's almost like a second way of life. It's ridiculous. And I would absolutely be on your side on that, or on a lot of other people's side too, because you know, you are -- You and I have people that I think we're -- we're more based on common sense than we are on ideology.

It's all about -- good politics is all about common sense anyway, but I would absolutely prohibit the Sharia law thing and it is happening in this country a little bit. And where we see it, we take it out and you have to take it out. You have one system. We have a great system. Sometimes it's very frustrating, but it's the best there is, that I can see.

Uh, as far as the affordability, so affordability is interesting because the Democrats caused affordability. I took over, everything was high. We had the highest inflation in history, they say 48 years, so either one. But we had the highest inflation in the history of our country prices were at the highest.

You look at the oil and gas, you look at, uh, groceries, everything. You look at eggs. Remember, I took it over, eggs were five times higher than they were four years before. And we've gotten them down very, very substantially. And prior to the war, prior to what we're doing with Iran, which I think will be ending fairly soon, you could really say, you know, because the strait is open, we take a lot of ships through the strait now.

We're taking them in. The mines are gone. You probably saw that, we put it out yesterday, all the mines. We got rid of the mines. But the strait, it's functioning it's a functioning strait. Uh, yes, every once in a while, there'll be a drone or a rocket or something shot but it is a very functioning strait.

A lot of oil is pouring out, 10 million gallons -- 10 million barrels yesterday. But as far as affordability, when I was just prior to saying we have to go down, we have to do this, uh, I met with my people. We just had record stock market and I said, you know, we're going to have to do a detour, we cannot let -- it's very simple to me, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.

That's what it's all about. It's 99.9 percent. We cannot let them, because they are crazy and they will use it and we cannot let them have a nuclear weapon. And we stopped it. I stopped it twice. I stopped it then and I stopped it with the JCPOA. That's the Obama deal that he gave everything, one of the worst deals, one of the most dangerous deals ever said.

He gave them a road, a path to a nuclear weapon. That was a path -- that wasn't a stoppage -- that was a path to a nuclear weapon. And I terminated that, as you know. It was a big deal when I did it and they tried to say, like, it was -- it was a disaster. They would have had a nuclear weapon five years ago if I didn't. I did -- I terminated it in my first -- in my first term, and so I saved it then.

They would have had a nuclear weapon. They would have used it. Israel would have been totally knocked out. They would have knocked out -- there would be -- I will say this, if Donald Trump wasn't president, there would be no Israel right now. There would be -- and that's -- that's a guarantee. There would not be an Israel, because they would have had nuclear weapons and they would have used them immediately.

But as far as pricing, the prices are coming down. You know, they came up with that word affordability. So I inherit the worst inflation in history and I have my first news conference a day after I win, and the press is screaming at me about prices. And they, especially what about eggs, what about this, what about -- I said, I'm only here for one day, give me a chance.

I didn't even know. They're talking about eggs. They're screaming at me about eggs. I said, I just, you know, I just won yesterday. I mean, the whole thing was just absolutely crazy. Actually, it was the first day in -- it was on January 21st. I'm having a news conference. I'm there for one day and they're screaming at me about prices.

I inherited a mess in so many ways, the border, which I solved very quickly. I inherited so many different problems that this was a bad administration. This was an incompetent administration, but I inherited, uh, high prices. And then from the first day, they started using the word affordability. They looked at me, affordability.

It was a new word. Nobody ever heard the word. It was a new word that they devised, because they're quite good at that. They're not good at running a country, but they're good at, I guess, good at politics. I don't know. They have some awfully bad policy for people like men and women, sports, etc., but I inherited affordability.

I inherited high prices, I'll put it a different way, and we've really gotten them down. Now, we have a little bit of an oil -- don't forget, when we when I did this, people thought the oil would go to $10 a gallon, you know that. And they thought -- but we had to do it. We had to stop them from having a nuclear weapon.

And we did and the prices are coming down very rapidly. And now beef is starting to come down. You know, the meats, the beef is starting to come down, but prices have come down very, very -- very, very -- very substantially.

I have to tell you -- I have to tell you, Mr. President, I didn't plan on talking about this, and we can get into it at a later date, but please, please, when it comes to beef, please look at the cartel that is the meat processing cartel. I mean, that is -- I run a ranch, so I know what it's like.

It's horrible.

And I'm telling you, it is the processing plants. There's four of them and I think two of them are not even American. It's bad and they're -- I believe they're colluding with each other.

And I'm surprised that the ranchers and the farmers haven't done it because they're smart as hell. I'm surprised because that's been going on a long time, Glenn, long before I got here.

Help us, help us. It's so -- we can't -- we can't butcher. With all of the federal regulations it is really hard. You know, if there's something you can do to help.

Glenn, is that just a question of regulation, do you think?

A lot of it is. Yeah, a lot of it is. The inspections are insane.

So they make the regulations so tough that -- so could you do it -- if you didn't have those regulations, could you do it on your ranch?

Yes.

And is that the way to do it, or do you think --

Yes.

#NAME?

Yes. Break the back -- break the back of those processing plants. There's people that want to build processing plants everywhere. The regulations are killing us, just killing us.

So you're saying, with less regulation, you think that the ranchers and farmers would do a very good job of processing the beef?

Yes.

Wow.

Yes, I know.

I'm going to look at that today.

I know.

I've been hearing about this problem. For 20 years, I've been hearing about this problem.

Free your people. Let our people go. Let your people go.

You know what, this could be a very good call for ranchers and farmers, no, for the country.

That would be good.

No, I've been hearing only bad about, it's four places and it's a monopoly.

It is.

And who's controlling --

This would break their back.

Who's controlling those regulations, Department of Agriculture?

Yes and FDA.

And the FDA.

Or US -- or is it USDA? I can't remember which one, but it's --

USDA.

It's the federal regulator -- it's all the inspections. It's all the inspections.

Wow.

Um, Mr. President, I got to get to one more question, Canada.

No, this is a very big thing you just told me, though, because you just gave me a very good idea. OK. Good, good. Very good. I love the call. I love this call.

Can you -- can you tell me quickly about Canada? I mean, it seems to me they had a really good deal, um, but this is all about the elections and throwing our elections. What is happening? Is there a way to end this?

Look, I don't know how you feel about Canada. They are one of the worst countries in the world to deal with. They're -- and this has gone on for many years.

Wait -- wait -- wait, can we say this? I love Canadians and Canada; I do not like their administration.

OK. Well, the administration and the previous administration too was terrible, with --

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

But they have taken advantage of the United States for many decades, actually. They charge tariffs that are unbelievable, like on milk, 400 percent. And on like -- and I just said, we're taking them on. And I took them on at the beginning, but we had so many other things to do because the country was a mess.

But I said, we're going to take them on, we're going to stop it. And you saw the Lake Ontario. You know, people thought I was kidding. Maybe I wasn't, because the last one you saw was the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America.

I know, I know.

But now we have a gulf and we have a lake, OK? You know, it's very simple. But -- but look, I don't want to go into great detail because it's maybe boring to people, but to me, it's not boring. They charge tariffs. They take advantage of us as though they were a state and they're not a state. And they've taken our car industry and they've taken our agriculture industry.

You know, the farmers can't sell anything in there because the tariffs are so enormous.

I know.

And yet they want to sell in us without any tax. So I had a deal that was a pretty good deal, you know, quite good. And because they're afraid that I won't do any -- in other words, we won't trade. They don't have anything that we have to have. OK, we can get by. I mean, there are a couple of things that would make it a little inconvenient, but we could get them elsewhere.

Uh, and it's time to teach Canada, you can't do this anymore. We lose $60 billion and really, more than that, $60 billion a year with Canada.

Mr. President, I --

We can't do that.

I can't believe I have to say this to you. I have a network break. You could hold on, but I know you're busy. I so appreciate your -- your time, sir. I am sorry that we're on a network break.

Well, you are terrific and thank you for the painting. That was so beautiful, the picture.

You're welcome.

That was so --

Thank you, sir.

You are fantastic. Thank you very much and I'll talk to you soon.

You bet.

Thanks, Glenn.

You bet. Bye, bye.