Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:
GLENN: But while we’re here kind of talking about history this half-hour, I just want to address something that came out from the Huffington Post yesterday.
And I think outrageous.
The Huffington Post wrote a story, and it says, you know, Glenn Beck’s people didn’t respond for comment.
Well, we weren’t given a chance to comment on a story.
They put a phone call in and then pushed print.
And they went to press on this story, as they called us.
We had no time to respond.
And it is the sloppiest journalism I have ever seen.
They ran a story.
And it’s all over Twitter this morning.
They ran a story that I have this copy of George Washington’s Don Quixote, which I’ve been taking around and talking about in all of my speeches.
And they claim — they called Mount Vernon to find out if that’s George Washington’s copy of Don Quixote.
And they said — and Mount Vernon said, “We have George Washington’s copy of Don Quixote.”
So Glenn Beck must be a liar.
Here’s the thing, George Washington owned three copies of Don Quixote.
An English — I’m sorry — two English and one in Spanish.
I have the second English version that he bought.
In his library, it has his writing in it, it has his book plate in it.
My copy was given to Tobias — what was his name?
Tobias Lear.
Tobias Lear was the personal secretary that was at the bedside of George Washington when he died.
He then gave it to his son, Benjamin Lincoln Lear.
This book has — from the personal library of George Washington book plate over it.
Over that book plate is a book plate that says Benjamin Lincoln Lear.
It also has George Washington’s handwriting in it.
Mount Vernon will not deny that George Washington had three copies, and he gave one to Benjamin — or, he gave one to Tobias Lear.
How — how do I know they won’t deny it?
Because there are records at Mount Vernon that show it.
He was a record keeper.
This book came from the Lear family, through an auction in Maine.
They finally let it go.
It went to an auction house called the James D. Julia Auction House.
Highly respected.
It was bought by Bauman Books in New York.
Bauman Books, the reason you would ever pay the price that Bauman pays —
because you’re not getting a deal when you go to Bauman, is because you know the provenance.
You know that this is — is impeccably recorded on exactly — when they say this is what it is, that is exactly what it is.
Somebody brought it from Bauman Books, and I bought it from them.
Now, I don’t think you care at all about rare book dealers, you know, previously had a book from George Washington.
But you know who does care?
Me.
And here’s why:
Because people are now saying I’m dragging out a fake Washington book all around the country.
And now they’re starting to question the Washington compass, which also has documentation.
And, you know what, let me tell you something.
I paid a fortune for these things.
And these people who are printing these things are hurting the monetary value of those items.
And they’re only trying to do it becauseit’s the same group of people that try to discredit any kind of history that is coming from a conservative.
They have their own political motives for doing it.
HuffPo.
When we called the HuffPo and said,Guy said everybody else was going to run with it, so I just had to run with it.
You didn’t even talk to us.
So that excuses you for sloppy journalism?
I paid a fortune for this.
I have all of the documentation.
It’s solid documentation.
And documentation that Mount Vernon will back.
And you know who was bidding against me for the compass?
Mount Vernon.
You know what they said when they lost,“It doesn’t matter.
Some day we’ll get it anyway.”
So if it’s fake, I’m going to file a gigantic lawsuit — it will be a uge lawsuit.
It will be the most magnificent lawsuit you’ve ever seen.
PAT: And how long —
GLENN: The documentation is there.
Hang on just a second.
And if these people are right, then I’m suing for enough money to put my name in gold on every building in New York and then maybe I’ll be angry enough to run for president.
(chuckling)
PAT: And it took you a long time with that compass to scrape off the Made in China stamp on the back of it. [ < /sarc> ]
GLENN: Yes, it did. [ < /sarc> ]
JEFFY: It doesn’t just come off. [ < /sarc> ]
GLENN: No. [ < /sarc> ]
PAT: So it just pisses me that they’re doing this to you now.
Because that wasn’t easy. [ < /sarc> ]
GLENN: Yeah. I know it was very difficult to get the Made in China off.
Just amazing. [ < /sarc> ]
PAT: You literally paid a fortune for that compass.
And wasn’t that part two of their investigative series —
GLENN: Yes. Tomorrow.
Tomorrow, we question the compass.
PAT: Yeah.
So, I mean —
GLENN: Jeez. If I need to drag around the documentation for everything — so when I was on the road and say,“This is George Washington’s.”
And we went back and checked the tape.
There were times that I said, this is the one that he got on that day,
and that wasn’t the one he got on that day.
He had three copies.
So that wasn’t the one that he got on that day.
But usually I said,“This was George Washington’s copy of Don Quixote.”
And they’re questioning that this was George washington’s copy.
And the only reason why they said that it wasn’t was because they went on record because people were calling Mount Vernon saying,“Glenn Beck is lying, isn’t he?”
And they said, “No, we have George Washington’s copy of Don Quixote.”
Yes, you have two of two them.
He had three of them.
I have the other one.
But nobody cares to listen to that.
And so it’s just sloppy journalism, at best.
STU: Obviously, no one — they don’t care —
GLENN: Nobody cares about that.
Nobody cares about this.
STU: What’s the reason they’re doing this?
The point you’re making with the book, is that what they’re attacking?
GLENN: No. No.
The reason I brought the book out washow was it George Washington — on the day they signed the Constitution,
what he said was, in his diary,“Signed the Constitution today.
I pick up my copy of Don Quixote.”
So how — that book has always bothered me.
I look at it, and I’m like,“Okay. What was he trying to say?
What was Don Quixote speaking to him about?
Why was this book so important?”
It really isn’t that.
Because to me that’s like somebody saying,“I save the world today,
and I’m going to Barnes & Noble.”
What is that?
And so what it was, was he finished the Constitution with purity, with exactness.
He did exactly what he was supposed to do.
And as he said at the end of the Constitutional Convention, the event is in the hand of God.
So he did exactly what he was supposed to do.
He knew that that a future generation would see the Constitution.
They would be faced with — he didn’t know what it would be,but totalitarian, socialism, you know, or the status quo.
And people wouldn’t know which way to run.
And they — because they did the right thing, in his words,they raised the standard to whichthe wise and the honest would run to.
And so that allowed him to, when he finished say,“Yeah. And I get to go read a good book.
I’ve heard these great things from this ambassador about this story.
I’ve got that book coming in.
I can sit under my tree on my farm and read.”
The point I’m trying to make with the book is: When you do the right thing,
And George Washington saw this time,
and he gave us the — he gave us where we should be going.
We shouldn’t be going to socialism.
We shouldn’t be going to a strongman.
We shouldn’t be looking for the status quo.
We should run to the Constitution.
Because it was done with exactness
and they could sleep at night,
and we’ll be able to sleep at nightbecause our answers are all contained there.
Our problems are because we didn’t adhere to the Constitution. America, run to the Constitution.The event is in the hand of God.
Featured Image: American television personality and radio host Glenn Beck holds a copy of a Don Quixote book
as he talks about Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz during a campaign event at the Johnson County Fairgrounds January 31, 2016 inIowa City, Iowa.
Cruz is campaigning across the state on the eve of the Iowa caucuses.
