I realized THIS after hearing Savannah Guthrie’s PLEA for her mom’s release

What this episode is about

The discussion centers on Savannah Guthrie's emotional appeal for her kidnapped mother’s release, highlighting strategies for effective communication with hostage-takers. Key points include the importance of humanizing the hostage, avoiding confrontational language, and fostering an atmosphere conducive to dialogue, which contrasts with typical responses that may escalate tensions.

Key takeaways

• In hostage negotiations, humanity trumps hostility—humanization is key to saving lives, not scoring moral points.
• Anger is tempting, but strategic calm often yields better results—preservation outshines momentary satisfaction.
• Great negotiators prioritize behavior change over ego; clarity from conversation is stronger than cries for revenge.
• In the face of extremism, de-escalation isn’t weakness—it’s a tactical move for eventual justice.
• Historical leaders like MLK teach us that moral clarity involves confrontation without the urge for annihilation.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Glenn Beck (Guest) · 10 min speaking
• Savannah Guthrie (Guest) · 1 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Savannah Guthrie
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Savannah Guthrie, Donald Trump
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Donald Trump, IRGC, Joe Biden, MLK
4. 9:00 – 11:04: Savannah Guthrie

Notable quotes from "I realized THIS after hearing Savannah Guthrie’s PLEA for her mom’s release"

• Let me strangely start with Savannah Guthrie. let's go to cut 10, please.

  about Savannah Guthrie · at 0:00

• When political leaders deescalate in a moment of tension or like Trump's administration is doing today, sitting at a negotiating table with people like Iran. How do you do that? You can't believe anything they say. You actually.

  about Donald Trump · at 5:28

• 37,000 people. How are you going to do that? And he said, No, no, no. I'm going to be very, very careful. I am reaching out to them now and saying, Sign up. If you want to…

  about IRGC · at 7:22

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Savannah Guthrie — Person · Referenced example / case study speaker · 3 mentions · first at 0:00
  Used as the opening example of calm, tactical hostage-negotiation language (humanizing, de-escalating) to argue for similar tactics in political conflict.
• Donald Trump — Person · Referenced political actor (example in argument) · 2 mentions · first at 5:08
  Cited as an example of political leadership actions in tense situations (e.g., enforcement/ICE, negotiation posture) to discuss escalation vs. strategic negotiation.
• MLK — Person · Referenced moral/philosophical exemplar · 1 mention · first at 6:57
  Referenced as a model for combining moral clarity with non-humiliating rhetoric—supporting the argument that persuasion and stability require a path back for opponents.
  He confronted the injustice, but he didn't seek annihilation.
• Joe Biden — Person · Referenced political actor (contrast / critique target) · 1 mention · first at 8:10
  Invoked to criticize inflammatory rhetoric in official speeches as counterproductive to persuasion and reconciliation, reinforcing the episode’s de-escalation thesis.
  The principles of deescalation, if every speech increases humiliation, think of what Donald Trump I'm sorry, what Joe Biden has said about us in presidential official speeches…

Companies & orgs

• IRGC — Company · Referenced organization · 1 mention · first at 7:19
  Mentioned in the context of negotiations with Iran and the rounding up of people, highlighting the complexity of dealing with such entities.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Let me strangely start with Savannah Guthrie. Uh let's go to cut 10, please. This is her speaking to the kidnappers.

0:07 We received your message and we understand. We beg you now to return our mother to us so that we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us and we will pay. So notice what she said. There's no insults. There's no grandstanding. There's no virtual virtue signaling. It's just this. We really We want our mother and our grandmother back. Please let her go. Um it's the only way we can have closure. We She's appealing to the humanity of these hostage takers. This is nuts.

0:58 Why does that work? There's very specific things the FBI has you do. You have to humanize the hostage. That's why please return our mother. Avoid any ego threats. Reduce all escalation. Um signal willingness to engage. This is very valuable to us and we will pay. And then create some sort of bridge back to you know reason. Okay. You don't scream at the captor. You don't shame them publicly. You don't you don't say you're evil but beyond redemption. You don't do any of those things. Why? Because humiliation cornered is volatility unleashed.

1:44 The goal of this is not catharsis. It's it's not to win. It's not to feel superior. It's not to shame them. It's not to tell them how bad they are. The goal is the safe return of the hostage. I am, believe it or not, leading someplace with all of this. So, as I'm as I'm doing my research on, you know, how do you speak to a hostage? You don't want to live my life, believe me. um this this series of things that have been studied for a long time. It is these are the that's the only way back the only road back from the brink if you're in this situation.

2:28 But if I put her in any other situation and I said, "Humanize them. Avoid ego threats. Reduce escalation." Any other situation, you would say, "That's what?" No, I'm not doing that. That's weak. Are you kidding me? These guys are hostage takers. They're monsters. There's no reasoning with them. A bridge to these guys, that's naive. Okay, I think we all agree kidnappers are really bad. Okay, really bad. When somebody straps a bomb to their own cause, when they take a life hostage, that's about as far gone as it gets. Yet negotiators who are trying to reach a goal still lower their voice. They still leave the door open. They still search for leverage that changes the behavior rather than satisfying your your emotions. Okay?

3:26 Nobody is saying, "Hey, talk to them this way because you don't understand them." No. No one's saying surrender. What this is, it's all about tactics. Do you want to feel good for the moment and tell them off? Can you imagine what she really wants to say to these people? Do you really want that moment of satisfaction where you've just said it all to these people? Or do you want to accomplish the goal and save the hostage? Here's where I'm going. Look at everything that is happening in our life. I feel as though our freedoms, our institutions, our country is being held hostage by dangerous ideologies and dangerous actors. Okay? And that feeling is as visceral in me as I think it is for you. And the anger in me on this is so real. I have a hard time tapping it down sometimes because I get so angry at these people. I got to believe in some way like Savannah feels and her family feels. Can you imagine your mother being

4:38 taken? Why would you do that? What is wrong with you? All of the emotions she's feeling. But if the objective is preservation, not applause, then the tactics matter. So, I heard this and I started looking into it and I thought, "Wow, why don't wait, why do these tactics work with hostage takers?" But then we just leave it at that. Look what Donald Trump is doing right now in Minnesota. Did you see? We are now we're cleaning house in Minnesota. We're cleaning house in Minnesota. We're getting the things we wanted done.

5:20 Uh, and they're tracking anybody who's following ICE. They're tracking them. It's all out in the open. When political leaders deescalate in a moment of tension or like Trump's administration is doing today, sitting at a negotiating table with people like Iran. How do you do that? You can't believe anything they say. You actually trust them. Yeah. I mean, you want them to survive? No. None of that is the point. None of that is the point. The point is con uh uh conversation to getting to conversion. A behavior change is the point or the ability to keep them talking until you got them and you're going in and you're taking them out. Believe me, nobody is saying to Savannah and her family, just talk nice to these people because you don't understand them. you don't blah blah blah blah blah blah. They're like, just keep them talking until we can figure out who they are and we're going to put them in jail for the rest of

6:25 their lives. Okay? Sometimes the goal of negotiation is not friendship. It's clarity. It's to demonstrate to your citizens and to the world that every peaceful avenue has been exhausted before harder measures were considered. That's not weakness. This is strategic positioning when it comes to those who have taken our hostage cu and our institutions hostage. MLK got it. He never confused moral clarity with humiliation. He confronted the injustice, but he didn't seek annihilation. You know, I was talking to the crown prince, and you'll hear this. I spoke to him yesterday. We recorded it yesterday uh after the show and so you'll hear it in a minute and and I said, "How are you going to work? You're going to work with the IRGC, the people who just rounded up 37,000 people. How are you going to do that?" And he said, "No, no, no. I'm going to be very, very careful." I am reaching out to them now and saying,

7:29 "Sign up. If you want to pledge that you're not going to be a part of this, that you will not turn against the people of Iran, that you will change sides, you contact us and we'll keep your name on file." But if your name is not on file, if you're if if we have it to sort out, it's not going to go well for you. But as he said, you have to have room for return. You have to otherwise you don't survive in any of this. If every political action violates the principles of deescalation, if every speech increases humiliation, think of what Donald Trump uh I'm sorry, what uh uh what Joe Biden has said about us in presidential official speeches where he was, you know, they're worse than the Nazis, all of these things. That was that is not the way you negotiate with people. It's not you're not going to persuade anybody.

8:33 And if you're using language like that, then the goal cannot be reconciliation. It can't be. It can't be that you want to solve this hostage crisis because you're violating everything that we all know works. So your goal must be isolation and division and destruction because you don't retrieve a hostage by convincing yourself the captor is irredeemable and telling them that you you retrieve a hostage by creating a path very very narrow for different behavior. You're appealing to their humanity. The end goal is not victory through ruin.

9:21 The end goal is stability without surrender. Strength without escalation, preservation without that permanent fracture. You've got to come back. It has to survive permanent disagreement. Has to. So the question is not whether we fight against these things. The question is, are we fighting in a way that will actually be effective that leaves a path back? Cuz if there is no path back, then we're not negotiating for a hostage. We're negotiating for applause. And applause has never restored a divided republic. I want the hostage back.

10:09 Justice will be served in the end, but we have to start behaving in such a way that Savannah Guthrie just behaved when she was speaking directly to the hostage takers. Appeal to their humanity. Don't cause more harm to push them and anger them even more. But know that justice in the end, justice will be served. But applause and playing to a crowd or just making yourself feel better is actually plays into those who want division and destruction. It plays right into their hands.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "I realized THIS after hearing Savannah Guthrie’s PLEA for her mom’s release"?

Glenn Beck (Guest), Savannah Guthrie (Guest).

What is "I realized THIS after hearing Savannah Guthrie’s PLEA for her mom’s release" about?

The discussion centers on Savannah Guthrie's emotional appeal for her kidnapped mother’s release, highlighting strategies for effective communication with hostage-takers. Key points include the importance of humanizing the hostage, avoiding confrontational language, and fostering an atmosphere conducive to dialogue, which contrasts with typical responses that may escalate tensions.

What is mentioned in this Glenn Beck episode?

5 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Savannah Guthrie, Donald Trump, IRGC, MLK, Joe Biden. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "I realized THIS after hearing Savannah Guthrie’s PLEA for her mom’s release"?

The episode runs 11 min; the transcript is about 1,489 words in 13 timestamped sections.

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