Best of the Program | Guests: Kathie Lee Gifford & Thomas Blackshear | 7/19/24

This episode features a deep dive into current political events, personal reflections on faith and resilience, and discussions with Kathie Lee Gifford and Thomas Blackshear about their respective projects and insights.

1. Donald Trump's humility and strategic shift in addressing political adversaries suggest a new phase in his leadership.
2. Kathie Lee Gifford's book presents a fresh, in-depth look at the biblical figures Herod and Mary, focusing on the eternal struggle between good and evil.
3. Gifford emphasizes the importance of faith and personal relationship with God over religious dogma.
4. Thomas Blackshear’s art show aims to reconnect Americans with their history through powerful visual storytelling.
5. The episode underscores the importance of resilience, faith, and the power of narrative in shaping personal and collective identity.

1: Political Reflections and Trump's Evolution

Glenn Beck discusses Donald Trump's recent convention speech, focusing on Trump's humility and strategic avoidance of directly targeting Joe Biden.

• "Donald Trump has kind of shifted gears into this zone of, I know what I know, I know what I feel, and I know who the other side is." - Glenn Beck

2: Kathie Lee Gifford on Herod and Mary

Kathie Lee Gifford introduces her new book, which explores the lives of Herod and Mary, contrasting evil and purity.

• "Herod is one of the greatest stories never told." - Kathie Lee Gifford

3: The Power of Faith in Dark Times

Beck and Gifford discuss the importance of faith and the belief that God is sovereign in all things.

• "It takes the fear away. There is no such thing as coincidence." - Kathie Lee Gifford

4: Thomas Blackshear on American Narratives in Fine Art

Thomas Blackshear talks about his involvement in an art show that blends American history with fine art, aiming to inspire and educate through visual storytelling.

• "If I had an unlimited amount of cash and I could buy anything this man's ever done, I would." - Glenn Beck

5: The Intersection of Art and History

Blackshear shares insights into his creative process and the importance of storytelling in art.

• "Throughout my career, there's been at least six to seven times where God gave me an image, and all I had to do was copy it." - Thomas Blackshear

1. Seek New Perspectives: Challenge traditional interpretations of historical or religious figures to gain a deeper understanding of their significance.
2. Embrace Humility: Like Trump, consider humility as a strategic and personal strength in leadership and life.
3. Deepen Your Faith: Focus on building a personal relationship with God rather than adhering strictly to religious practices.
4. Incorporate History into Daily Life: Engage with historical narratives through various mediums, such as books or art, to stay connected with cultural roots.
5. Support Artistic Expression: Invest in or support art that tells powerful stories, as it can inspire and educate future generations.
6. Use Adversity for Growth: View challenges and adversities as opportunities for personal and spiritual growth.
7. Cultivate Creativity: Engage in creative activities like art or writing to express personal stories or emotions.
8. Stay Informed Yet Grounded: Follow current events with a discerning eye, balancing awareness with personal values and beliefs.
9. Mentorship and Legacy: Consider how your actions and creations contribute to your legacy and the inspiration of others.
10. Value Collaboration: Work with others who share your vision to create something greater than what you could achieve alone.

Glenn gives his thoughts on President Trump’s speech on the last day of the RNC. Artist Thomas Blackshear joins Glenn to discuss his latest joint project with Mercury Studios and where he finds inspiration for his art pieces. Author and actress Kathie Lee Gifford joins Glenn to discuss her newest book, "Herod and Mary," a fictional-thriller retelling of an often-untold biblical story.

People

Donald Trump, Kathie Lee Gifford, Thomas Blackshear

Companies

Blaze Podcast Network, Preborn

Books

Herod and Mary by Kathie Lee Gifford

Guest Name(s):

Kathie Lee Gifford, Thomas Blackshear

Content Warnings:

None

Glenn Beck
Well, hello. It's Friday. The Glenn Beck podcast. Today we cover the convention, start to finish, backwards, forwards, and all the ways you can look at it, including the way the New York Times looked at the convention and Donald Trump's speech. What did we really learn? What's happening with the convention? And where is Joe Biden?

All of that and more on today's podcast.

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You're listening to the best of the Glenn Beck program.

So last night, the president came out to speak, Donald Trump at the convention, and we haven't had a chance to talk. Thank you, Stu and Pat, for filling in for me. The last couple of days, I had to have some surgery on, on kidney stones, which Mandev, that's a fun ride.

But, so thanks for filling in.

But I've been watching the convention this week, and it is the best convention I have seen, and I think it was better than the Reagan conventions. And those were pretty good.

This, this had everything you needed in the republican convention.

It had all of the right people speaking, I thought, all the way through the week, if people spent the time and watched it, actually listened to it, they saw a very different party than what they have ever seen before. At least I did. And last night, a very, very different Donald Trump. I've never seen him like this.

I've never heard him speak this way. I've never seen him take the stage the way he did. He was humbled.

And I think, you know, he pushed back on the crowd, or the crowd pushed back on him. Halfway through the speech, he said, you know, I was not supposed to be here tonight. I'm not supposed to be here. And they started chanting, yes, you were. Yes, you were. And he said, no, I wasn't. An assassin wanted me gone, and I wasn't supposed to address you today, but God saved my life. And it was not a moment of boasting.

It was a moment I thought of clarity.

Now, there's something else that happened that I haven't heard a lot of people talk about. In fact, I haven't heard anybody talk about this yet. And I think it's very, very telling. Donald Trump has kind of shifted gears into this, into this zone of, I know what I know, I know what I feel, and I know who the other side is. And they're dismissed.

He's not fighting them like he was before. Now, that doesn't mean that he's not fighting. The one thing about Donald Trump is he's a fighter. But it's almost as if he feels that the outcome is already there and he doesn't need to, he doesn't need to push the envelope anymore. He just needs to say the truth.

And so he came out quiet, humbled. He did about 30 minutes of just riveting material that he wrote himself. He tore up the speech, wrote this speech himself, which is also not Donald Trump. He usually will ad lib.

He doesn't usually write his own material, but he wrote the first 20 minutes and probably the last 20 minutes as well.

The rest of it was kind of a stump speech. But he, he came out humbled and told the story of the assassination.

He said at one point, uh, Joe Biden's name, and at one point when he said it, he said, I'm only going to say this once.

And he talked about telling the story of the assassination and said, it's too painful, so I won't tell this story again.

You'll hear it the first and last time from me tonight.

When he brought up Joe Biden. Do you remember the context, too? On, on, when he first brought up Joe Biden and then apologized and said, I'm, I'm not going to say his name anymore.

Stu
Yeah, he was talking about the ten worst presidents of all time and how all of them added up together wouldn't get to Joe Biden. And that's when he said his name.

Glenn Beck
Right, right. And he said, you know, I didn't want, I didn't want it to be unclear who that president was. That was worse than the ten worst combined.

He said, but I'm not going to mention his name anymore.

And to me, that may be lowering the temperature a little bit. I think that's one way to read it. But I think, more importantly, I think he strategically is now looking at the fact that Joe Biden's not going to be the nominee. I just don't believe he's going to be the nominee, and it's only a matter of time. And Donald Trump, why waste his hour of television, or in his case, 90 minutes of television, making a case against a guy who's not going to be running?

And that's why he kept saying they, they made these things. This administration did this and did not say Donald Trump or it did not say Joe Biden and did not say Kamala Harris. Now, that the Kamala Harris thing, um, I think it's because he just doesn't know if Kamala is the one running. And, and why, why look back at the people who are so far behind you, uh, at this particular point? Um, but the. The hopeful side of me says that he didn't mention Kamala because he knows it's going to be Michelle Obama. And I only say hopeful because Stu will owe me. I think it's four grand, isn't it, Stu?

Stu
Three. It's definitely three. It's 100% three. Three.

And even that with inflation, I don't even know if we can really count 3000. I think we should probably lower. I don't know. Well, we'll talk about that.

Glenn Beck
Five. It should be five. Yeah, because three just isn't what it was, you know, six months ago when we made this bet, I will say.

Stu
Thank God for bite inflation, because by the time I pay this bet off, it will be worth nothing.

$3,000 will be like, what, a loaf of bread?

Glenn Beck
We won't be able to buy a sandwich. No, we won't.

All right, so, uh, there's a couple of. A couple of stories here that explain the speech. The first one is the New York times and the New York Times.

Trump in RNC speech struggles to turn page on the past. Well, it's a little difficult, you know, when the past involved assassination attempts, you know, a little difficult there. Donald J. Trump has been a man long undone by himself. He imperiled his presidency in political campaigns with personal grudges, impulsiveness, and an appetite for authoritarianism. You know, it's really strange how they keep seeing authoritarianism in Donald Trump when he's not done anything authoritarian.

I mean, he might say, you know, we should go after the press and take away their license until he's reminded they don't have a license. And, and he wasn't serious in the first place. Lock her up until he wasn't serious in the first place.

I can't find the authoritarian streak in him myself on anything that he's actually done.

And then they say, also, he's caused himself problems for his casual approach to the rule of law.

Now, Stu, out of he who shall not be named and Donald Trump, which one has the casual approach to the rule of law?

Stu
I don't know. Should we go over the latest court to overturn his student loan debacle?

Glenn Beck
I know, I know. I read that this morning in the New York Times after reading the casual approach to the rule of law. And then, you know, the next story is, oh, another court said, you can't do that with student loans. He just keeps trying to go around the law.

Stu
Yeah.

Glenn Beck
Over and over again.

Stu
The court turned his latest attempt at student loans the same day he announced another attempt for, I think it was $1.5 billion of student loan relief. I mean, he is addicted to giving away money to these people. It's incredible.

Glenn Beck
His unwillingness to accept electoral defeat and his actions that have resulted in $83 million in penalties, nearly three dozen felony convictions, and additional legal trouble ahead. I mean, that's how they start.

And, I mean, you've got to be, I mean, you're just under the spell of witchcraft if, if you buy into any of that. But on Thursday night, with his right ear still bandaged, five days after he was wounded by a would be assassin's bullet.

Okay, can we talk about that for a second, stu?

Stu
Sure.

Glenn Beck
The bandage, what they're trying to say here is he didn't need the bandage.

Do you think he needed the bandage still?

Stu
Yes. My guess is that his ear looks pretty funky right now, and he doesn't necessarily want to walk out on stage with a little bit that way.

Glenn Beck
Yeah, I was actually hoping that he would take off the bandage because I think his ear probably looks worse. He lost the top of his ear.

And, you know, that's kind of a, you know, you have to be, I mean, there's, there's conspiracies throwing around. Now, a third of Democrats believe that he set this up with the, with the Secret Service.

What, to have his ear blown off?

I mean, how delusional do you have to be, first of all, he's not the guy who's got the in with the Secret Service and, you know, the spy agencies and everything else.

The conspiracy doesn't, it falls apart pretty quickly. You know, it's not rational by any means.

Stu
And it's, this is something, Glenn, you see in polling every single time, if there is a conspiracy theory about your political opponent, about a third of people will believe it, no matter what it is. That is like now. You can get higher than that. The Democrats, about 50% of them, believed 911 was an inside job when George W. Bush was president. You can find numbers that get higher, but, like, the baseline number for a conspiracy theory against your political opponent is about a third. It just, just is like, it's people, a lot of people just taking the position they think hurts their opponent more than them actually believing it, I hope. But there are a lot of people, I mean, Joy Reid is on television every single day talking about this stuff.

I mean, they threw poor Joe Scarborough off the air. What do they think this guy was going to say? I mean, what do they think of Joe Scarborough if they leave Joy Reid on the air?

Glenn Beck
I never thought of it that way.

Stu
That's amazing.

Glenn Beck
Exactly right. Yeah. So here, let me just switch gears here. Joy Reid posted a video of herself working through a bizarre conspiracy theory suggesting that the Secret Service helped Donald Trump to create the defiant photo image from the shooting. She noted the Biden campaign released a lot of detailed medical information about his condition within minutes of the announcement that he had contracted Covid-19 again. But when it comes to what happened on Saturday with former President Donald Trump, this assassination attempt, we know almost nothing about his medical condition.

Bum, bum, bum.

How come no one has any information about this wound? We still don't know for sure whether Donald Trump was hit by a bullet or whether he was hit by glass fragments, whether he was hit by shrapnel, we don't have any of those details.

Glass fragments. Where were the glass fragments from?

Was that the teleprompter that they say was it?

Stu
There was an initial report. I don't remember who reported it, but there was a report that it was glass fragments, and it wasn't even a liberal reporter. I remember reading it and being like, what? Like, what are you talking about? And then about five minutes later, you could see pictures of it where both of the teleprompters are still fully intact. I mean, it was a crazy theory that was debunked immediately. But people like Joy Reed, who are impossibly stupid, continue to believe it.

Glenn Beck
And we have a picture unlike anything I've ever seen, a picture of the bullet in flight as it's about to hit his head.

It's incredible. Yeah.

Stu
I think it's actually just could have.

Glenn Beck
Been a fly, a really big mosquito. We don't know. We don't know.

Thomas Blackshear
Yeah.

Stu
I think the picture is just after it passes his head. But, yes, I mean, it is about as, I mean, it's one of the most incredible photos ever taken. And the photographer who took it has basically the most impossible photo you can take. And it's still not the iconic photo of the incident, which is like, kind of, kind of a, I mean, you go through the, you caught a bullet in your picture and still, like, somebody else got the picture of him standing up with his fist up with the blood streaming down his face, which is still the iconic photo of that day. But, yeah, I mean, it is so stupid. They believe everything. They believe that, you know, the bandage is fake, that he didn't actually get injured. Like, I don't know. I thought it was glass that hit him. Now he didn't get injured at all. Doesn't need the bandage.

I mean, it's just everything they come up with is dumber and dumber.

Glenn Beck
They're just crazy, really, truly crazy about him. It's just, I think they lose all reason. And for Joy Reid to be on the air on MSNBC is remarkable. And not because they should fire her because of her points of view. I don't believe in that. Just because she's dumb as a box of rocks, man. Yeah, she's crazy. She is crazy.

Stu
To be fair, I don't think Joy Reid has lost all reason. She just didn't have it at any point. So it's impossible to lose for her in particular.

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

Let me introduce you or reintroduce you to a dear friend of mine, Kathie Lee Gifford. Hi, Kathy Lee. How are you?

Kathie Lee Gifford
Glenn, I was trying this morning to think how long it's been since we used to hang out quite a bit in New York. And then you were smart and got left out before anybody did. And I got, you know, it took me longer. I left about five years ago, but I was praying for us this morning that our time together would be fruitful and blessed and favored of the Lord because you and I have always understood that about each other, that everything we did and everything that fueled our life was not about us. It never has been. It never has been. So I am so happy to say hello to you again.

Glenn Beck
Oh, me too. Me too. So you've written a new series of books or a new book that I think is going to develop and hopefully a series.

Kathie Lee Gifford
Right, the first.

Glenn Beck
Right? Yeah.

Right, right. I know.

And this is the story of Herod and Mary. So tell me why this story is important and what's different about your telling of it.

Kathie Lee Gifford
Well, this, I've lost track as I'm sure you have two of how many books you've written. I know it's over 30, but I have no idea and I don't care. It doesn't matter. I just keep finding stories that I, that I can't keep inside me. So in 2012, I went on my first rabbinical trip to the holy land with an amazing teacher named Ray van der Lund. And I learned for the first time, you know, Herod is mentioned just twice in Matthew, just twice. And it's just, we know he's a bad guy. You can tell. But there's no. It's all in black and white. No color, no technicolor, no dolby sound, right? I went on this trip and I. The stuff I learned about Herod, I went and this is what happens to me all the time on these trips. I get mad. Why didn't anybody ever tell me this?

I was sick of being in grandma's Sunday school. Stop it. These stories are epic. They're unbelievable. They're not all in the Bible, but if you search deeper and deeper, well, so anyway, I came home so on fire about Herod that I literally, my son found everything on the Internet. There was about every book, because I thought, I got to make a movie about Herod.

If Jesus is the greatest story ever told and billions of people believe that Herod is one of the greatest stories never told, and I thought, there's something here.

Glenn Beck
I don't know anything really about him.

Kathie Lee Gifford
That's the point. And once you start learning his story, you're going to freak. That he had, he was one of, first of all, one of the most genius architects, probably of all time.

What he built in Israel, the architecture, the Caesarea maritime. It took two centuries, no, two millennia, for them to figure out how the man built a marina on the mediterranean sea so that Caesar's ships could come to. And he called it Caesarea maritime.

Why was it named it after Caesar? Because he needed Caesar. He had no army. He called himself the king of the Jews. He wasn't even a jew. He was an idiomite from basically modern day Jordan. He wasn't a jew at all. So the Jews hated him. You know how they are about their ancestry. And the Romans didn't trust him because he was. But he was. He got out of situations. He was like the consummate politician.

He was paranoid like crazy. So he was always looking behind his back to see if, you know, Julius Caesar was going to turn his back on him or who, what's her name? Cleopatra tried to seduce him.

He might be the only man that ever said no to Cleopatra, but it's scolding because he didn't want Mark Anthony to murder him.

And he was turning about his whole family because he was the richest man on the planet and he had all this power. It's a modern day story, basically, Glenn, ripped from the headlines, really. It's going on all over the world. It never changes. He murdered anybody and anybody that got in his way, including his children. The only woman he ever loved, his wife, Miriam nee. And until our book opens, basically, at the end of his life, when we go back and we tell it from the time that he was first born, basically, and then we juxtapose it against the story of the beginning of Mary's life, this young virginal teenage girl from Nazareth who has been visited by an angel, the purest of any kind of visitations could be. And he tells her what's going to happen because God has blessed her. And she says, let it be unto me, as you have said. I mean, knowing that she could be stoned for this. She'd never been with a man. She knew it, but she knew nobody else would believe it. So it's an incredible story of Herod's debauchery and his evil, his evil all contrasted up against Mary. So people ask me all the time, and I'm sure they do. You too, Glenn. Cathy, do you think there's more evil in the world now than there used to be? And I always answer the same thing, which is no evil has been. Evil was in the Garden of Eden. Even when the Lord God was walking in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve, the serpent was there. So we shouldn't be surprised by that. The only thing that's different now is that we have a lot of cable news channels and we have cell phones.

I said, but what we have to learn to do is realize that the Lord God, creator God, Jehovah, Elohim, Jehovah, Jireh, Jehovah, Raphae, Healer, all the names of Jehovah are still here, too. And that's who we have to look to. And that's what Mary did. And Mary had a journey to take that would be excruciating, excruciating. And she said, yes, Lord. So basically, we opened up the book as a thriller. And I have to give great thanks to my co writer, Brian Litzen, PhD, because I don't know how to write these kinds of books. I've written 30 some other kinds, and they come to me. But it was my son Cody who said, mom, we got to take this passion you have for this ancient evil characters. The next one we're going to write is about Nero, and the next one probably about Jezebel and Ahab, and it's always been there. But I want people to have hope, Glenn, that even though this evil is happening, we cling to the living hope. And the living hope shows up in the course of us are telling the herod story in the form of a young teenage girl who has carrying the savior of humankind in her womb. And if that doesn't give you hope, what can?

Glenn Beck
It really is interesting to me, Cathy Lee, that, you know, in our darkest times, it is a choice. And one, this sounds really weird, but one of the things that has really given me such hope in really dark times is, you know, this might be the time, and I know everybody has said this for 2000 years, but this might be the time that Christ comes back. And when you really think about that, it's, I think some people would go, whoa, wait, hold on. Just say, I don't want to. But I think that's exhilarating to think that we could be witnesses to those days that people have waited for forever. And when you have real faith that Christ isn't surprised by any of this, God knew this from the beginning, right?

It just, it takes all of the pressure off of, I mean, you still have to do what you're supposed to do, but you don't.

Kathie Lee Gifford
It takes the fear, carry the burden.

Glenn Beck
Of all this evil. Yes, it takes the fear away, you.

Kathie Lee Gifford
Know, takes the fear away.

Studying rabbinically, which means studying the source material of the Bible, the ancient languages that are still around and they haven't changed, which is the Hebrew and the Greek. You know that in the Hebrew Bible there is no word for coincidence. None, because they believe, and I believe, and I think you do too. There is no such thing as coincidence. God is either sovereign God in all things or he's not God at all. So when you say good luck to somebody, it's a waste of your breath. There's no such thing as luck. There's no such thing as random or coincidence. No, he is sovereign God and he always has been. He's the only thing that never changes the world around us. My God, every time you wake up and you look at the news, everything, we don't know who's going to be president this weekend, you know, we don't know who's going to, we don't know anything. We just have to know him.

And it's not about religion. And you and I have talked about this so often, it's about relationships with the living God. So I agree with you. But people, when the first, and people don't understand, they say, well, when the first christians were there, when Jesus, I said, no, there weren't christians. When Jesus was alive. Those were followers of the way. They were all Jews. All Jews. And not until Jesus, Washington, dead, resurrected and ascended to heaven did the apostolic period begin. And it was zero who actually called them little christians, because based on the word crystal, and he did it derisively. My dog's trying to get off my table. No, I'm going to walk with my phone, if you don't mind, for a second, just so I don't have a dead dog on my computer.

Some water. So I find that we're talking to.

Glenn Beck
Kathy Lee Gifford about her new book, Herod and Mary. It's a, it's a thriller, but based on the true biblical story.

Cathy, you know, you talk about no coincidence.

I think there was a change that happened after this attempted assassination on Donald Trump, and it changed the country and it changed him. Have you paid attention to the convention at all this, this week and seen him? Because I know you know Donald Trump quite well.

Kathie Lee Gifford
I've known, I've known Donald since I first moved to New York in 1982. And he was already a good friend of Frank's at that point. And his father Fred, they all used to play golf together at all those great golf courses in that area. And, you know, I tried it. I try to avoid politics because long ago Billy Graham said to me, Kathy, sure. The only thing I really regret in my life was getting involved with politics.

God has put you on this planet to be in the entertainment world. He's giving you a boldness about your faith. He's told you, and he says, if I would, I'm just, I love you, Kathy. He told me this in my twenties.

You are. God is going to use you hugely in the media, in the world of entertainment. Just keep telling people that he loves him, that God loves them. That's it. And the three times that Frank and I got involved in politics was because we sued the state of New York for things that were against children and we won every time. Yeah, but that was not political in the sense of Republican, Democrat. It was about children.

Right?

Glenn Beck
So I don't want to ask you about, I don't want to ask you about politics.

Kathie Lee Gifford
I know. I know you don't. I just wanted to let everybody know I am not a political animal, but I follow it like an animal.

And I know how I feel about things and I pray about everything. I pray for Donald because he was a friend of mine. And when I was just giving birth to Cassidy, and that's 31 years ago, he saved me in Cassidy from a crazed psycho who was trying to murder me and her. And he sent his helicopter for me in Cassidy. He sent his, like, more and more every single day until they found this guy. I had more people around me protecting me, and I just. I mean, that's the Donald that I've known forever now, of course. Yes. So that's. I can't help it. I have a personal experience with this man that very few people ever have.

But I've watched with interest the spiritual changes, the journey that he has been on all these years, because I have spoken to him at my home and or different places and Mar a Lago, you know, about Jesus. That's all I talk about to anybody. Not if they don't want to talk about it, but if they want to. And he was always so respectful and always under, you know, understood what I was talking about.

Glenn Beck
Yes.

Kathie Lee Gifford
And then he just respected it. And that's what people don't realize about Donald. He will listen to people. He's fascinated by people, and he wants to learn. He wants to grow.

Glenn Beck
This is the best of the Glenn Beck podcast. It's a compilation of clips from various episodes. If you want to dig deeper into this interview, check out the full podcast episode.

I have been taking art lessons for, I don't know, five, six years, and have gotten to know some great artists. And my art teacher said to me, as I was, I just wanted to paint landscapes because it took my mind off of everything. And as she was teaching me, and I would paint, she would say, tell me a story, and I would tell her a story of something. And she said, when I finished that landscape, she said, that should be the last landscape you ever do. She said, you have so many great american stories. You should paint stories. And we started talking about how our artists no longer tell stories. You know, it's kind of like, you know, Hilton hotel art. It's just kind of, you know, what's up on the wall. And people can't afford really good, fine art, and it's hard to find things of meaning that you want to have in your home. And so we started working with 30 of some of the best artists alive today in America, and a few of them from overseas that just love America.

And we started taking them through the museum that I have, where we have a massive collection of american history. And we wanted these artists to go through and find something that really inspired them, a story from american history that they wanted to paint and that they wanted to bring to life.

And we are doing a show at my studio. It'll be the first time we open up the studios since for a very long time.

And it is called the american narratives in fine art. And it is going to be a combination of paintings and historic artifacts. And there's not going to be any experts there to judge it and say, oh, well, look at the brushstrokes. It is going to be judged by you. You will vote on which painting told the american story, the best one. Which artist moved you to want to reconnect with american history. It'll be something for your whole family to come and see. And also, this art will be for sale to give you.

People just don't know great artists necessarily anymore like we used to. But one of the greatest living artists, I believe, in today's world, if I had an unlimited amount of cash and I could buy anybody everything this man's ever done, I would.

His name is Thomas Blackshear. He is the Norman Rockwell of our day. In fact, he's just been inducted into the illustrators, american illustrators hall of Fame, which Dean Cornwell, all these great, great, you know, Winslow Homer are in the hall of Fame. He's a living artist. And he's incredible the way he tells stories.

And he called this week. He's doing a couple of things. He's doing Charlie Chaplin based on, we have his cane.

He's, we have the props, the, the Ten Commandment props that you will see from the movie. He's doing this amazing painting of Charlton Heston as Moses.

And he called and he said, look, I know this isn't political. He said, but I want to pray on this. But I wanted to know if I could paint the iconic picture of Trump getting back up off the ground with his fist. And I said, thomas, whatever the Lord tells you to do, you are the more than welcome to do.

Thomas Blackshear joins me now to talk about that painting and this art show. Welcome, Thomas. How are you?

Thomas Blackshear
Thank you so very much for having me on. Glenn, good talking with you.

Glenn Beck
You bet. Good talking to you, my friend.

So are you going to do the president's rise back up off the stage?

Thomas Blackshear
I plan on still maybe doing a painting like that, but my main thing was trying to make sure I had it in time for your show. I'm still trying to figure out if I'm going to be able to get that done or not because I am still working on the other three. So that's something I like that I will be doing. It's just a matter of trying to see if I can still get it done on time. And that's what I'm still trying to.

Glenn Beck
Figure out, well, I will tell you, because some of them are going to go up for auction. And even if it's unfinished, you should bring it, because I think people would pay a good price for that one. Thomas, I think that is within your style. That's going to be absolutely incredible because it is an iconic moment.

So tell me the stories that attracted you that you wanted to tell.

Thomas Blackshear
Well, I mean, man, when you sent us that list, you had so much to choose from. It was hard to try to figure out what to do. And, you know, I knew for sure. I think the first thing that struck a chord was the piece to do a piece on the emancipation proclamation, because you had a copy of that. So I'm like, yes. Yeah, maybe I should do one on that. So that's the first one I chose to work on. And I think I came up with a real nice design for that one. So I was pretty excited about that particular piece.

Glenn Beck
And then it reminds me, Thomas, if I may, your painting reminds me of, because I've only seen the outline and the early color study of it, but it reminds me of a cover that Norman Rockwell did years ago. And I can't remember the scene, but you have the emancipation proclamation printed, and then you have, I believe it's the Lincoln memorial. And behind, in front of that, and then I. A black man in the flag wrapped around him with the opened handcuffs or chains. And it's just stunning. Stunning.

Thomas Blackshear
Yeah.

That was interesting, because, believe it or not, that photograph of that man was taken at least almost 40 years ago.

And I just had it sitting. Really?

Yeah. Yeah. And I.

Glenn Beck
So you. You took that picture 40 years ago?

Thomas Blackshear
Yeah. Yeah.

What happened was this. I was living. When I first got married, I was living in an apartment complex in California. And there was a neighbor of mine who. And this woman who was living there had a boyfriend who was a football player. And he, you know, he. He had a nice physique. And every time he walked by, I kept saying, man, I need to use that guy on something. So, you know, I went up to him and asked him if he would pose for me, and he said he would. And so he came over and I was trying to figure out, well, what do I do with him? You know? So I said, well, let me. I don't know why. I just said, let me wrap him up in the american flag.

And that's what I did. And to be honest with you, the photographs really weren't that well done, but they were good enough to give me the impression in the image I needed and I've just been sitting on them for the last 40 years.

Glenn Beck
Unbelievable.

So, Thomas, besides us, if I may call you a friend. I don't know if you call me a friend, but I consider you a dear friend.

Thomas Blackshear
Of course you can call me a friend.

Glenn Beck
I don't want to ever assume, but I just love you so much. And I love your work so much.

Besides me calling you and asking you to do this, why are you doing this particular art show? Because you are.

You're everywhere. I mean, just won the grand Prix of the west and, you know, inducted in the illustrators hall of Fame. You are so busy. What is it about this art show that is different to you?

Thomas Blackshear
Well, the show is very unique.

Nobody that I know of has ever done a show like this before.

I mean. I mean, for you, first of all, to be the kind of historian you are, and then having all these artifacts and memorabilia that you've gotten, and to do a show where you display a painting, and then next to it will be the artifact, I mean, that's just unique and different. It's just a different concept. And then, like I said, because of everything you own, my goodness. And then the artists that you've chosen, I mean, it was kind of interesting because one of the artists, one of my friends, Frank or Daz, he showed me some of the stuff he was working on. And when I saw what he was doing for you, I said, oh, my goodness. I'm gonna have to up my game because it looks so good. It looks so good.

Glenn Beck
Yeah.

Thomas Blackshear
I just said, oh, boy, here we go. You know, I gotta.

I can't come in here looking like, you know, some kind of slouch. Boy. So I've been doing what I could to just try to, you know, do a nice piece with some of the images that I'm doing. So.

Glenn Beck
So we've done. You've been up to the ranch a couple of summers where we've had some of these artists come up and learn how to storytell from people like Pixar and others. And I have gotten the impression that many of the artists, not necessarily you, but many of the artists have a hard time because they'll be pegged for one particular kind of thing, and they want to branch out and they want to tell these stories, but they just haven't had the chance, because some of the galleries are like, no, we don't. That won't sell. That won't sell. And they may be right in the end. I would hate to say this, they may be right in the end, but I don't think they are. I think people are hungry for inspiring art. And, you know, one of yours is the picture of the angel guarding the child sleeping. What do you call that one?

Thomas Blackshear
That's called watchers in the night.

Glenn Beck
Oh, my gosh. That is one of the most stunning paintings I've ever seen.

And it's religious without being overtly religious.

You have another one. I can't remember what it's called, but it's a black man, and he is wrapped in, like a shroud of stars or something. It's been a while since I've seen it. Another unbelievable painting.

Thomas Blackshear
The image is called night and day, and the painting is supposed to depict nighttime being wrapped up in daylight.

And that's the idea I got. But what was unique about the painting? Washington? It's the first time I had ever done a painting for an art show, and I didn't know what to do. So I prayed about it, and I asked the Lord, I said, God, I need a painting. I don't know what to do. Could you give me an image I just made? I just ask you to make it an incredible design and give me nice colors and a powerful image. And I don't remember how long it took, but it might have been a couple of weeks. But I remember all of a sudden, one day, he flashes this image inside of me. I saw it inside of my mind, and it was perfect. And all I did from that point on was copied what he showed me. So throughout my career, there's been at least six to seven times where God gave me an image, and all I had to do was copy it. The most recognized image that I've done, and I did it many years ago, is a painting called forgiveness. And that pain came the same way where I prayed about it, and God showed me the pain. So when that happens, all I have to do is copy what he shows me.

And that's how I get a lot of the images, because he just gives them to me.

Glenn Beck
You make that sound so easy. But seeing that he's the greatest painter ever, it's not as easy as you make it sound.

I'm so thrilled to be your friend. I am. As you know, I own one of your originals, and it is. I mean, I've got a few really good paintings, and that is my favorite painting that I own, and I honestly wish I could own many more of yours. And it's an honor to have you as part of this art show.

You are the Norman Rockwell, you know, the JC leyendecker of our day. And I just, I'm thrilled to have you.

So thank you so much.

Thomas Blackshear
That is a big burden to carry, my man. But I appreciate.

Glenn Beck
Well, you carry it well.

You carry it well. Thank you so much.

I want you to look up Thomas Black Shear. It's Thomas Blackshear Iihdeme. You'll see some of his stuff. You just go back into his past, and you'll find these things that you've seen a million times.

And he's just remarkable. He'll be one of the 30 outstanding, top of their craft artists that will be joining me at the studio in September when we try the first american narrative in fine art, where we are trying to get these artists to be able to see that they can branch out from a barn or a horse or something that kind of feels like America and restore the storytelling to fine art. So, you know, you may not be able to afford the original, but you could afford the print of it and hang it in your home. And it will teach your children about history in a very uplifting and inspiring way. And we enjoy, we invite you to join us at this event at the Mercury Studios in September.

It will be September 2021. Friday and Saturday at the Mercury Studios. We have 100 works of art and the original documents or the original artifacts from american history to sit next to it. Join us. You can find all the information@glennbeck.com. dot.