Best of the Program | Guest: Mark Trammell | 4/17/25

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Speaker 2 What the heck does Mark Trammell, who's talking about the litigation in California that could take parental rights away from all of us, free trade,

Speaker 2 and Charlie Chaplin have in common? You'll hear it all on today's podcast. So, you made it back from the camping trip.
No bears ate you, no hunters shot you, you didn't drown in the river.

Speaker 2 You managed not to burn your tent to the ground with a campfire.

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Speaker 2 Just one tiny little problem, and I do mean tiny. You came back with a parasite.

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Speaker 2 That's me.

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I can't even talk about it.

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Speaker 3 You're listening to

Speaker 2 the best of the Benempach program. We're going to get to some really important stuff.

Speaker 2 I mean, not now, but at some point we'll get to some really important stuff. You know, actually,

Speaker 2 you know, the week that it is, I think there are other things that are much more important.

Speaker 2 I think

Speaker 2 our attitude, our hope,

Speaker 2 our being the resilient American.

Speaker 2 is so important right now. You know, the world is watching us right now and how we're reacting.

Speaker 2 And I want to talk to you about what the president is doing with tariffs. I did a show last night that if you missed, you really need to see.

Speaker 2 And we'll go over it here in a little while. But

Speaker 2 the world's watching us, watching the president and watching us. How are we reacting? Who are we as a nation? You know, a lot of people think that as people, we are just...

Speaker 2 We can't take any pain. You know,

Speaker 2 that's why fights will happen with the United States because they just think our enemies just think they'll not be able to stand it. They can't take it.
They can't take it.

Speaker 2 And is that who we are?

Speaker 2 I'm going to take you back to 1920. 1920, we were a nation that was bruised by war.
We were battered by the grind of progress. Everything was changing, but we were dreaming.

Speaker 2 We were always, always dreaming of something better. That's who Americans are.
Always dreaming. And it's what makes us different as a people, and that comes from hope.

Speaker 2 And where does hope come from?

Speaker 2 Hope comes from something.

Speaker 2 Hope comes from faith in something real.

Speaker 2 Okay?

Speaker 2 That's something that has always given Americans hope is God and his promises, knowing that God is real and his promises are real. When you understand his promises, they're all all based in hope.

Speaker 2 They're all based in love.

Speaker 2 And when God is real to people, they act differently. That's how you can tell a real Christian, do they act differently? Or are they still the same nasty people they always were?

Speaker 2 If you are, then you haven't been changed by it.

Speaker 2 When it becomes part of who you are and everything that you produce, that's how you know somebody has really changed. And as the world was faltering, millions were dead,

Speaker 2 You had the influenza of 1918 just right near Rearview Mirror. Where did that hope come from?

Speaker 2 Where did you find hope in culture?

Speaker 2 There was

Speaker 2 in World War I and after World War I, there was somebody who was very, very small, small by design, that was flickering on the movie screen. He wasn't a king.
He wasn't a titan.

Speaker 2 He wasn't that strong American square-jawed hero.

Speaker 2 But he was a hero. He was an American hero.
And most people don't look at him this way.

Speaker 2 But he didn't need any fancy titles or, you know, land or money or anything else, because in the end, he was a hero because he was simply you.

Speaker 2 He was simply me.

Speaker 2 He was all of us. He was every man.

Speaker 2 He's the guy who's, you know,

Speaker 2 down on his luck, but he has nothing but a spark in his eye and a stubborn refusal to give up.

Speaker 2 He is the American psyche made flesh. He's flawed.
He was scrappy. You know, he'd cut a corner or two, you know, when the landlord's knocking.

Speaker 2 Maybe he'd be loafing when the sun was too warm, but steal, be dishonest, never.

Speaker 2 Harm somebody else? Never, not in a million years.

Speaker 2 This hero was actually homeless, or, as Americans used to say, a tramp. He was the tramp.

Speaker 2 Today is Charlie Chaplin's birthday. And I want to bring him up for one reason.

Speaker 2 Charlie's little tramp

Speaker 2 is America and is the American spirit. He's lasted this long

Speaker 2 in our memories for a reason, but I don't think anybody really talks about it. Charlie's little tramp was always in it for something bigger, bigger than him.

Speaker 2 Honor, decency, the kind, quiet nobility that just doesn't need a megaphone to shout its worth. It just is.

Speaker 2 Most people have never really even seen a Charlie Chaplin movie,

Speaker 2 but they'd recognize him, but they don't even really know why.

Speaker 2 Watch the movie City Lights. It's 1931.
I don't think I've ever gotten my wife to be able to sit through it. She's like, oh, Jesus, Charlie champ.

Speaker 2 I know, I know it's silent and everything else, but it is so good. It is the best storytelling on screen that you've seen, maybe ever.

Speaker 2 And it's about this tramp, this guy with, you know, patches on his coat and just lives on the street. And he stumbles into love.

Speaker 2 And he loves not some starlet, not with somebody, you know, draped in diamonds, but a blind flower girl who is just selling flowers on the corner. she has nothing she's poor

Speaker 2 and

Speaker 2 and the best thing about her for the little tramp is she can't see the patches on his coat now

Speaker 2 they meet each other several times through the film she thinks he's a millionaire

Speaker 2 She thinks he's a millionaire because he's buying her flowers and there was confusion at the beginning of this giant Rolls-Royce that pulled up and she could hear it and she could hear the servant get the guy out of the car and Charlie just happened to take take a walk through the car because the car was blocking his way to get to the sidewalk.

Speaker 2 So he just walked through the car and she thought he was the millionaire. And he doesn't correct her, but he doesn't, you know, try to impress her or demand her awe or anything.
He just loves her.

Speaker 2 And so in the movie, he learns that there's a doctor who can restore her sight.

Speaker 2 A miracle, but it had a pretty high price tag. So

Speaker 2 what does this guy do?

Speaker 2 Never has two nickels to rub together. He actually does something that he doesn't like to do.
He goes to work. He sweeps the streets.
He boxes in a ring.

Speaker 2 He scrapes and he claws for every penny just to pay her rent

Speaker 2 and then to fund her surgery. And when he's done, when her eyes are open,

Speaker 2 he doesn't come in with a cape fluttering and...

Speaker 2 You know, you should be grateful to me. I'm your savior.
He didn't do any of that.

Speaker 2 Instead, he passes a flower shop and he looks in and he's thinking of her and he sees there she is in the flower shop. She can now see and she's working in the flower shop.

Speaker 2 She's not selling them on the corner anymore. And she turns and looks at him and he immediately starts to walk away.
He doesn't,

Speaker 2 he's not looking for anything. He just is looking for her joy.
Watching her joy from the shadows is enough for him. He doesn't need credit.

Speaker 2 When you see see this scene, I mean, it just makes your heart ache with pride. And to me, it screams America because that's who we are.
We

Speaker 2 as people

Speaker 2 have always felt the joy of lifting others up, you know, finding your heart full because you know somebody else is smiling.

Speaker 2 Charlie Chaplin wasn't just a face on the screen.

Speaker 2 He is us. And sometimes we forget who that is.

Speaker 2 He was a creator. He was a genius.
He wrote, he came up with the little tramp in the museum.

Speaker 2 We have Charlie Chaplin's trappings.

Speaker 2 This

Speaker 2 is Charlie Chaplin's cane

Speaker 2 from those movies.

Speaker 2 It was given to Danny Kaye back in the the 1950s because there was a story, I think, in Time magazine, that said, Danny Kaye is the new Charlie Chaplin.

Speaker 2 And Danny Kaye, one day, got a knock on his door, and there standing at his door was Charlie Chaplin, an aging film star.

Speaker 2 And he presented it to Danny Kaye and said,

Speaker 2 They say you're the new me. You have to have the cane.

Speaker 2 How remarkable is that?

Speaker 2 to be called a charlie chaplain back then it's sure i mean he wrote he directed do you know he composed the scores for all of his films and the reason why i'm bringing this up is because you know this guy has brought joy for so long long after he's dead

Speaker 2 One of the songs he wrote for the little flower girl, he wrote it, and it's in the movie. It's the theme of the movie.

Speaker 2 You've heard a million times, but probably had no idea that that was from that movie or any movie. And you had no idea that Charlie Chaplin ever wrote it.
But this is who he was.

Speaker 2 Smile

Speaker 2 though your heart

Speaker 2 is aching.

Speaker 2 Smile even though it's breaking

Speaker 2 when there are clouds.

Speaker 2 this is the American spirit.

Speaker 2 It doesn't matter. There's clouds in the sky.

Speaker 2 There's tomorrow.

Speaker 2 No matter how much you hurt, no matter how much you're struggling, it's going to be okay. It's going to get better.

Speaker 2 And I don't think it's a coincidence that that song with that sentiment written by him, really who he was as a person, as a character at least, endures.

Speaker 2 If you ask people now,

Speaker 2 name a giant of the 20th century that

Speaker 2 from the very beginning of the 20th century to the end of the 20th century, name enduring stars.

Speaker 2 Some people might say, I don't know,

Speaker 2 John Wayne.

Speaker 2 But there's two names that will come up every time, every time. Charlie Chaplin.

Speaker 2 They don't even know why, but he is burned and seared into our collective memory. And there's another one,

Speaker 2 Mickey Mouse.

Speaker 2 And the amazing thing is, and I don't ever, I've never heard anybody talk about this before, so this is just me, but

Speaker 2 it's the same character. Walt Disney ripped Charlie Chaplin off.
Mickey Mouse is Charlie Chaplin.

Speaker 2 Mickey Mouse is the one who

Speaker 2 is down on his luck. He's always down on his luck, him and his dog.

Speaker 2 He's always there just trying to make somebody else happy. He doesn't win in the end.
Charlie Chaplin and Mickey Mouse, they don't win in the end, but they do.

Speaker 2 They see something bigger than just the win that we would all see.

Speaker 2 Mickey is the animated echo of the tramp.

Speaker 2 Which I think those two

Speaker 2 are the best cultural icons of the 20th century. When people think of the American century

Speaker 2 and we think, oh, you want to go back to the little leave-it-to-beaver days, you want to go back to the, you know, black and white days, the days of the 1950s.

Speaker 2 No, that's not, that isn't what I think of.

Speaker 2 I think of individuals

Speaker 2 like the tramp and Mickey Mouse. Those were the ones that influenced us and showed us who we could be.

Speaker 2 So if things are getting down in your life, just remember today is Charlie Chaplin's birthday.

Speaker 2 And

Speaker 2 just remember, smile.

Speaker 2 No matter how bad things are getting, no matter how dark things are,

Speaker 2 There is light and it is still shining, especially this week. It's shining.

Speaker 2 And in America, we still have it better than anybody else in the world as long as we can dream

Speaker 2 as long as we can dream we can be whatever we want to be as long as we can dream we can do

Speaker 2 and Americans have always dared to dream to do and to believe in something better

Speaker 2 You know, the First Amendment wasn't written for the speech you like. It was written for the speech you don't like.
I mean, you don't need to protect, whatever it is, like, you know what?

Speaker 2 You are the greatest. You're the greatest.
You're like, you know what?

Speaker 2 We better protect that speech. I'm not going to try to silence that speech.
Speech is protected when it's something everybody says. Stop saying that.

Speaker 2 Now, how ironic and scary is it that the platforms and the pipelines that carry your voice the furthest are controlled by people you often don't believe in, you know, and they don't believe in the freedom that you you have.

Speaker 2 We have watched the left crack down on ideas they don't like for decades, shutting down debate, throttling content, cutting off people who dare to think differently.

Speaker 2 And you know who's been aligned with them the whole time? A lot of the major mobile carriers. Oh, you mean the ones that were triangulating grandma who was in D.C.
on January 6th?

Speaker 2 Didn't even need a warrant. Just, hey, I want to tell you who was there.
This old lady was there. She's got something going on.
This is why Patriot Mobile exists.

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Speaker 2 They have built a network that supports rights enshrined in our Constitution, not just with words, but with the money you send them and with their actions.

Speaker 2 You still get reliable nationwide 5G coverage, excellent U.S.-based customer service, and a peace of mind that comes with knowing that your money isn't working against everything you believe.

Speaker 2 So make the switch today. PatriotMobile.com/slash Beck.
972 Patriot, 972 Patriot, or PatriotMobile.com/slash Beck. Now back to the podcast.

Speaker 2 This is is the best of the Glenn Beck program, and we really want to thank you for listening.

Speaker 2 Last night I did a show on trade, and this is something that Stu and I have been talking about and kicking back and forth because I am a free trader. I believe in free trade.

Speaker 2 However, I think that there are things that have truly changed.

Speaker 2 And it really goes back to World War II and then to the 1970s and then to NAFTA. And we've shortchanged ourselves every step of the way.
And it

Speaker 2 just

Speaker 2 it's gutted us. It's gutted us.
Can we play cut eight? This is from last night, how NAFTA has affected all 50 states. Listen.
The promised prosperity never showed up.

Speaker 2 The NAFTA winners were Mexico and Canada. Remember, he started that whole thing with expanded global trade.
NAFTA turned Mexico into a manufacturing haven. U.S.

Speaker 2 companies, including Ford and GM, raced across the border for cheaper labor and to make auto parts and electronics.

Speaker 2 During the first seven years of NAFTA, Mexico added a million new manufacturing jobs. Good for Mexico, not good for us.
In 1993, Mexico's exports to the U.S. totaled almost $40 billion.

Speaker 2 By 2000,

Speaker 2 those exports totaled under $136 billion over 300% growth in seven years of NAFTA

Speaker 2 the U.S.

Speaker 2 now has a trade deficit with Mexico ranging from 15 to 171 billion dollars every single year since 1994 what does that mean that means we're buying a lot of stuff but we're not selling a lot of stuff We're not making stuff.

Speaker 2 We're buying stuff. What about Canada? Well, they hit the NAFTA jackpot jackpot as well.
At the end of 1993, when NAFTA was signed, Canada enjoyed almost an $11 billion trade surplus with the U.S.

Speaker 2 By the year 2000, that surplus was over $52 billion. And just like we have with Mexico, the U.S.
has a trade deficit with Canada between $13 and $78 billion every year since 1994.

Speaker 2 It's a sweet deal if you're Canadian. Now look,

Speaker 2 I have no problem with prosperity all over everywhere. I don't want to hurt other countries, but I do think it's right for us to care about our country to make sure it doesn't slide into the abyss.

Speaker 2 Meanwhile, while that's happening, by 2000 the U.S. had over 766,000 job losses related to NAFTA.
Where's your prosperity?

Speaker 2 Some states were hit harder than others, but NAFTA-related job losses affected all 50 states. American factories became empty shells.
Now, that's just not a stat.

Speaker 2 That was 766,000 families wondering, how are we going to pay our mortgage?

Speaker 2 It is, it's remarkable when you look at the full thing, and you really have to understand, because I am a free trade guy. I am.
But we have done things and signed treaties from 1946.

Speaker 2 then 70s and then the 90s and we we

Speaker 2 we made bets that i think were bad bets and And there's no problem on trying to help, you know,

Speaker 2 the reason why we have a lot of these tariffs over in Europe is because in 1946, we decided we needed to help rebuild Europe. And that's good.
That was a good thing and a righteous thing.

Speaker 2 It wasn't necessary that we did it, but we wanted to do it. Well, now there comes a time when we need to rebuild our own country.

Speaker 2 And that's not at the expense of others. It's just we have to pay attention to our own country.

Speaker 2 And if you talk to people, you know, especially with the World Trade Organization, maybe even European Union and Canada and even China, free trade is what we have or what we had. And then

Speaker 2 Donald Trump came in and blew it up. But if that's what they believe, I want to take you to just one guy, Joe, car maker, Toledo, Ohio.

Speaker 2 He's a dreamer at heart. He builds sedans to rival the very best.

Speaker 2 Joe has a vision. His cars, born in America, gleaming from the lots of Detroit to Dusseldorf.

Speaker 2 He builds a great car.

Speaker 2 But is the trade free? Is it fair? Well, let's take one of Joe's cars. We're going to take a trip bound for Germany.
$30,000 car bound for Germany now.

Speaker 2 This journey, as Joe knows all too well, is a wake-up call. Joe's sedan rolls off the line, a marvel of steel and sweat, all for $30,000.
And he dreams this is going to compete in Europe.

Speaker 2 This is just as good as anything they have over in Europe. And it's cheaper.
It's cheaper. People crave quality over in Europe.

Speaker 2 The world's not a level playing field, I know, but I've just made a better car. So the car hits the docks bound for Hamburg.
Shipping costs are $1,500. Insurance, another $450.

Speaker 2 Now, the cost of the $30,000 car is $31,950 before it even smells the salt of the ocean. Joe takes it on the chin because he knows that shipping fee and insurance are part of the process.

Speaker 2 That's the price you have to pay if you want to show off your creation to the rest of the world. You got to get it over there.

Speaker 2 But he doesn't necessarily account for what comes next.

Speaker 2 Joe's car now, at $31,000, docks in Germany. And now the EU, the gatekeepers, pounce.
There's a 10%

Speaker 2 tariff because it's coming from America. That's $3,195.
They strap that onto Joe's dream just for crossing the border. Why? Because the EU protects its own.
America has the doors wide open.

Speaker 2 EU says, wait a minute, it's coming from America. Slap tariff on it.
Okay.

Speaker 2 So Germany's cars, just they waltz into the U.S. with a 2.5% tariff.
Fair?

Speaker 2 You tell me.

Speaker 2 2.5 versus 10%. Joe's car is now at $35,145 and we're just getting started.
Next, they have the value-added tax, the VAT tax, 19% in Germany. That's $6,677

Speaker 2 hit on the tariffed price. That's not a tariff, they say.
That's just a tax.

Speaker 2 But it's a tax on Joe's car. It doesn't happen on Volkswagen.
That skips the import duty.

Speaker 2 So he's having to pay almost $7,000 just on a VAT tax for the import of the car, but he already paid for the import tax. So add another $105 customer's fee.

Speaker 2 Joe's sedan now is at $41,927 before it leaves the port. Free trade?

Speaker 2 Well, more like a toll road with no off-ramp. Next, the car is hauled inland, $315 to a Berlin dealership.
The dealer, smelling profit, tax on 15% margin at $6,289.

Speaker 2 Now the car is at $48,531 and Joe's dream is fading just a little bit. The dealer says, you know, I'm just going to round up.
It's going to be $50,000. Round and proud.
Okay.

Speaker 2 But wait, now there's a VAT again. 19% on the sale.
So it's $95 for the buyer. The dealer offsets the import tax, but the consumer is stuck with a full bill now.

Speaker 2 Toss in $315 for the registration and taxes. Joe's car hits the lot at $59,815.
That's double the price that it was when it sat on the lot in Toledo, Ohio.

Speaker 2 Now it's the same price, maybe even a little cheaper, than a BMW.

Speaker 2 Is Joe's car as good as a BMW, that trusted brand?

Speaker 2 This is a rigged game.

Speaker 2 Picture Joe back in Ohio, staring at his factory floor. His $30,000 car, his sedan, built with American grit, cost Germans $60,000.

Speaker 2 A BMW made in Munich skips all the tariff, ducks all the import VATs.

Speaker 2 It It lands thousands cheaper. And Joe's car, it's priced out.

Speaker 2 His dream is crushed by tariffs. This is why I'm a free trade guy.
I don't like tariffs. But if you're going to have tariffs, then we should have tariffs.

Speaker 2 And maybe, maybe, just maybe, that it's time we start thinking about ourselves. You know, I am a free trader, but is our country in good shape?

Speaker 2 Can we continue to do the things that we've always done by giving everybody else the benefit of the doubt? I mean, this is not the tale that is spun by, you know, all the suits,

Speaker 2 not all of the, you know, Brussels and Beijing. They're not telling this story.

Speaker 2 Do we have free trade anywhere? I mean, real free trade.

Speaker 2 The reality is it's a gauntlet of fees. It's a maze of levies.
It's a system that we've played nice with for far too long. We've taken it because a couple of reasons.
One, We're good people.

Speaker 2 After the war, we wanted to rebuild Japan. We wanted to rebuild Germany and the rest of Europe.
So we just said, hey, let's do what's right for you guys because you guys are really suffering.

Speaker 2 And it wasn't that we're just, you know, Mother Teresa. It was good for us.
It made sense. We wanted them as a trading partner.

Speaker 2 We also wanted them to be safe and secure because if they're not safe and secure, we're not safe and secure. So it was good for all of us, all of us.

Speaker 2 But there comes a time when you're like, hey, we have our own problems here at home. We really need to concentrate on ourself here a little bit.
We need to pay attention.

Speaker 2 We've tried to, you know, have you ever seen a mom who just works her fingers to the bones for her kids? And she's doing all the right things. And she's not doing it to be some hero.

Speaker 2 She's doing it because it's the right thing to do. She's just a good mom.
But at some point, you know, the doctors and hopefully her husband and even her children will go, Mom, you got to stop.

Speaker 2 You got to stop. You can't take care of any of us if you don't take care of yourself.
That's where we are as a country right now.

Speaker 2 We won't be able to help anyone if we don't stop and help ourselves first.

Speaker 2 By the way,

Speaker 2 if Joe happened to be building cars in Japan and sent a car from Germany to Japan,

Speaker 2 another country that we rebuilt,

Speaker 2 do you know how much the tariff is? Do you know what it would cost the Japanese car? How much would be added to the Japanese car?

Speaker 2 Zero.

Speaker 2 We rebuilt these countries.

Speaker 2 And it was our doing, our choice.

Speaker 2 But it's time that maybe we stop.

Speaker 2 We stop. Okay? We stop.

Speaker 2 When does a person like Joe get his turn? Ask the middle manufacturer in middle America about free and fair trade.

Speaker 2 Because as it stands right now, I'm not sure it's free or fair.

Speaker 2 This is a hard debate that America has to have. This is a debate that I don't even know if I'm on the right side.
I honestly don't. I've always been on the other side.
But I'm to the point to where

Speaker 2 I know what's coming. I know the price we're going to have to pay.
I know how bad it is if we keep kicking the can down the road. It's the same thing that we're doing with Social Security.

Speaker 2 It's the same thing we're doing with spending. It's the same thing we're doing with everything.

Speaker 2 And we don't do anything because no politician will tell you the truth. No politician has any idea or the guts to do it or the guts to do it.

Speaker 2 They might say they have the guts, but then when it comes to it, then they start getting pressure and they immediately back down.

Speaker 2 Do you know the kind of pressure that I think Donald Trump is under right now? From the whole world, from the Fed, from everybody else, people in his own party.

Speaker 2 You imagine the pressure this guy is under? And yet he's like, no, I believe it's right. When's the the last time you had a president that did that?

Speaker 2 That wasn't doing it for politics, was doing it because he actually

Speaker 2 might be wrong, but he's actually doing it because he believes it's the right thing to do.

Speaker 2 Name the last president,

Speaker 2 Reagan,

Speaker 2 and what it was he doing it on.

Speaker 2 The last big threat we had to our nation: Russia, communism.

Speaker 2 This threat is just the threat of us not doing the right right thing. This isn't a threat of

Speaker 2 some foreign ideology, although we have those. This one's just, can we stop spending money?

Speaker 2 Can we stop giving everybody else a break and having this weird self-hatred so much that we're like, no, you know what? Everybody else should get the break. We shouldn't get the break.

Speaker 2 No, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 2 At least for a time period. Maybe we should.
Maybe we should say, hey, everybody, we love you, but we got to take care of ourselves.

Speaker 2 I think that's what Donald Trump is doing.

Speaker 2 This is the best of the Glenn Beck program.

Speaker 2 If you thought your rights as a parent were secure now that President Trump is in office, you might want to think again, bad actors all across the country

Speaker 2 continue to try to circumvent the administration and violate the Constitution.

Speaker 2 In Colorado, now there is a bill making its way through the state legislature that would create legal grounds for the state to revoke custody of parents who misgender their children.

Speaker 2 Named the Kelly Loving Act, named after a 40-year-old transgender man who was killed in a club in 2022. In Massachusetts, a mom is accused of kidnapping her own children.

Speaker 2 And in California, a case was dismissed against a school district in which a guidance counselor helped a girl secretly, socially transition from female to male without a single call to her mom.

Speaker 2 And in fact, when she wanted to talk to her mom, she's in fifth grade, when she wanted to talk to her mom, the school discouraged her from talking to her mom.

Speaker 2 Now a federal judge has resurrected this case, and it could be precedent setting for the rights of parents in California and all across the country because, you know, whatever happens in California trickles down to the rest of us.

Speaker 2 This is a really important case. Mark Trammell is the CEO for the Center of American Liberty.
Mark, welcome to the program. How are you?

Speaker 4 I'm well. Thanks for having me, Glenn.

Speaker 2 First of all, you are replacing Harmeet Dillon as the CEO of Center for American Liberty. Those are huge shoes to fill.

Speaker 2 But congratulations on the job.

Speaker 2 Now let's continue the work here.

Speaker 2 What is happening here in California? Tell me about this story.

Speaker 4 Yeah, so Aurora Regino, Her daughter was in the fifth grade.

Speaker 4 She was actually 11 years old when an elementary school guidance counselor facilitated the social transition of Aurora's daughter from female to male without so much as a phone call to Aurora.

Speaker 4 So as a result of this egregious violation of Aurora's parental rights,

Speaker 4 we filed a lawsuit. We filed a lawsuit in federal court and unfortunately the court dismissed the case.

Speaker 4 The court, I think, just absolutely got it wrong and we that caused us to appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. We filed that appeal.

Speaker 2 Hold on just a second. Why did they just dismiss it? What was their reason for just not hearing the case, just dismissing it?

Speaker 4 They dismissed it because the court reasoned that there was not a

Speaker 4 constitutional right violated. So in fact,

Speaker 4 what's really interesting is the response from the Court of Appeals. So last year we filed an appeal at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
When you file that appeal, you have a three-judge panel that

Speaker 4 hears the case. They came out just about a week or two ago and

Speaker 4 gave an opinion. And they said the lower court applied the wrong standard.
And this is what the standard that the lower court applied. They said that

Speaker 4 we failed to establish that there was a fundamental right violated because there was an existing precedent that clearly established that fundamental right, which is a ludicrous standard.

Speaker 2 I mean, doesn't our Constitution say if it's not enumerated in the Constitution, it belongs to the state or the people?

Speaker 4 It does.

Speaker 2 It does. So we don't need an enumerated right to have

Speaker 2 control of our own family and counsel with our own children. Right? Correct.

Speaker 4 Correct. In fact,

Speaker 4 the Ninth Circuit gave direction to the lower court and said, look, the standard that you applied is... of course ludicrous.
The standard that you should apply

Speaker 4 is this idea that there's a fundamental right if something is objectively, deeply rooted in the nation's history and tradition.

Speaker 4 And so here, the lower court expected us to point to precedent that said parents have a right to know and to consent to the social transition of their child in a public school setting.

Speaker 4 Well, of course, there's not case law that says that because this is a new phenomenon that's happening, not just in California, but in states across the country where these parental secrecy policies are being implemented and being applied, where schools are really poisoning kids' minds at a very young age, as early as kindergarten, with this idea of transgenderism and changing their gender.

Speaker 4 And it's all on this

Speaker 4 basis, this legal falsehood that kids have a right to privacy from their parents.

Speaker 4 It's completely a legal falsehood. So we are encouraged.
We're encouraged that this case has been revived by the Ninth Circuit of all places.

Speaker 4 The Ninth Circuit is getting this issue right, whereas we've seen some other circuits across the country get it wrong.

Speaker 2 Can I ask you something?

Speaker 2 When did the Ninth Circuit become like

Speaker 2 halfway sane? They've always been crazy.

Speaker 2 What happened there? There wasn't like an announcement. It's like we just slip through a wormhole and all of a sudden they make sense.
What happened there? Yeah.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I mean, it is a, it's bizarre. Yeah.

Speaker 2 It is.

Speaker 2 It is. Makes me question everything.
But anyway, go ahead.

Speaker 4 You know, I'm not going to argue with it. If the Ninth Circuit wants to revive this really important case, I'm happy.
I'm really happy about it.

Speaker 4 And Glenn, I think what I would love to point out is just that last year, Gavin Newsom signed AB 1955 into law in California.

Speaker 4 And he did that in response to conservative parents who ran for the school board. They got elected.
And the first thing that they did was they passed notification policies.

Speaker 4 They said if a school starts facilitating the social transition of a child, they have to at least notify parents.

Speaker 4 Not even necessarily get consent from parents, but at least call them, let them know that this is happening.

Speaker 4 So in response to that, the Attorney General of California, Rob Bonsa, actually sued

Speaker 4 the Chino Valley Unified School District

Speaker 4 and others as well to have those policies declared unconstitutional. He had some success doing that, but

Speaker 4 they signed this law, Gavin signed this law in AB 1955 that would strip school districts of the ability to even pass and implement such notification policies.

Speaker 4 They want to do all of this to kids behind closed doors and not let parents know.

Speaker 4 But Aurora's case is important because whereas AB 1955 is a state law, Aurora's case is a federal civil rights issue, right?

Speaker 4 It arises under the Constitution, under the 14th Amendment. And so if Aurora's case is ultimately successful,

Speaker 4 it can

Speaker 4 pretty much gut 1955 in California. And I think set a precedent that will be very persuasive across the country.

Speaker 2 So we're looking at the decision that will come out is either that children have rights and can make decisions that are unrestricted or nearly unrestricted. Or

Speaker 2 parents,

Speaker 2 their power over their children is nearly unlimited, right?

Speaker 4 Yes. And also

Speaker 4 a third actor in there is really the role of government-run schools, right? This idea that government-run schools know better than parents

Speaker 4 what's in the best interest of their children. And so it's almost like this presumption that parents are nefarious.
They're not going to support their children in a transition.

Speaker 4 Wherever people stand, and there are strong beliefs on both sides of this issue in the country. But Aurora Regino, we certainly make this point in the papers we filed with the court.
Aurora Regino

Speaker 4 stated she would have been supportive of her daughter's transition. But she was taken out of the equation altogether.
She wasn't even given the opportunity to be part of it.

Speaker 4 And if she thought that this was actually inspired, if she thought that this was this was actually originating from her daughter and not being pushed upon her by the school, the reaction would be a little bit different.

Speaker 4 So in fact, the first case, this is not the first case we've handled with this set of facts. The first case we handled was a case of Jessica Conan in Salinas, California.

Speaker 4 Jessica's daughter was in the sixth grade when teachers invited her to an equality club that met during the lunch hour. And it was the only extracurricular that wasn't after school.

Speaker 4 You know, if clubs meet after school, parents have to arrange for pickup. But if it's in the lunch hour during recess,

Speaker 4 these things can be kept secret from parents.

Speaker 4 And

Speaker 4 that case resulted in a settlement. We recovered damages for Jessica.

Speaker 4 But I think what has to continue to happen is when parents see this happening, they have to go to the school board. They have to

Speaker 4 shout them down.

Speaker 4 I mean, they really have to give it to them if they're implementing these policies that violate parental rights, if they're being adversarial to parents in the way that they desire to raise their children.

Speaker 4 And they have to run for the school board. They have to win.
They have to pass these notification policies. They have to stand up.
They have to file these lawsuits. They have to fight back.

Speaker 4 And we're seeing this groundswell across the country.

Speaker 4 And as someone who's a parent myself and

Speaker 4 really, really

Speaker 4 obviously because of the work that we do interested in preserving these rights, it's really encouraging to see not only the

Speaker 4 movement toward parental rights, but also seeing that even courts in California are

Speaker 4 starting to get it right and come around to this idea that, of course, this is a fundamental right. I mean, when

Speaker 4 When was it that a parent didn't have the right to name their child? Right?

Speaker 4 Like if the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal says that a fundamental right is deeply rooted in the history and tradition of a nation, parents have always had the right to give their child a name.

Speaker 4 And that right extends beyond the formation of the United States. And this is really across the spectrum of humanity.
Parents have always given their children a name.

Speaker 4 Well, now schools are giving kids a new name, a new identity, new pronouns, all without so much as calling parents.

Speaker 4 That phenomenon has to stop and the Center for American Liberty is dedicated to ending it.

Speaker 2 Wow.

Speaker 2 I've never thought of it that way about the power of the schools giving a new name to your children. That is

Speaker 2 bad. Mark, thank you so much.
When are we going to hear the results of this? When is this actually being argued and where are we going to hear the results?

Speaker 4 So the Ninth Circuit just gave this ruling. So they've punted it back to the district court with direction.
So, look, this is a slow process.

Speaker 4 We're probably months away from another ruling in this case, but we'll be sure to keep you

Speaker 4 up to date, and you'll be the first to know.

Speaker 2 Thank you very much. By the way, if you want to help them in their work, this one affects all of us in every state, LibertyCenter.org, libertycenter.org.
Mark Tremmel, thank you for joining us.

Speaker 2 You know, I have a friend who lives in Washington state who told me that the governor, look this up, see if he signed it yet, that the House and the Senate in Washington state has just passed a bill that says in an emergency, the state has complete right to your health.

Speaker 2 So in other words, it can do anything it wants.

Speaker 2 If there is a pandemic, they have complete right to make all the decisions for your health. And he loves living in Washington State.

Speaker 2 I mean, you know, there's some issues with it because he thinks like we do, but he loves it. I mean, it's where he grew grew up, and he's like, I can't, I can't.

Speaker 2 If the governor signs it, I can't live here. I can't have, I can't have that hanging over my head because they will use it.
Why would you pass something like that? Do you see it?

Speaker 3 Uh, I'm looking and seeing bits and pieces here, but um,

Speaker 3 you know, I don't know if it's exactly as described. I just have to look into it more.
It's the first time hearing about it.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I hadn't heard about it either. And, you know, he called me up this weekend.
He's like, have you heard what's happening in Washington? I'm like, no.

Speaker 2 I mean, if that's true, if that's what's happening and find out.

Speaker 2 If that's what's happening, could you live there?

Speaker 3 I mean, I suppose I could live there until an emergency started and then leave.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And then if they say nobody's leaving the state because of the emergency, you're stuck there.
No, you don't have control of my health. You're not going to know.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 3 They would have massive constitutional concerns,

Speaker 3 problems with saying, hey, you can't leave the state.

Speaker 3 That's quite clear clear in the Constitution. They can't do that.
But I mean, again, who knows?

Speaker 3 I suppose, though, you hit that standard and you're like, well, is there any place on earth I can live? Which is probably no.

Speaker 2 That's insane.

Speaker 3 You need to build a platform, like the guy off the coast of the UK. You just build a platform and have everyone come out and party.

Speaker 2 That's what you got to do. Have you seen that platform?

Speaker 2 That's not really.

Speaker 2 It's not where I want to live. No, no, but I'm saying

Speaker 3 I don't. And even there, they still, of course, all these things always get taken down in international waters.
I know. So, I mean, at some level, you can't protect against everything.

Speaker 3 I don't think there's certainly no legal right for a state to keep you within a state. So that is at least something.

Speaker 2 Well, they don't have the right to tell you exactly what to put in your body and not put in your body, what you have to take and what you not have to take. That is

Speaker 2 terrifying. Just terrifying.

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