2026 is widely predicted to be an explosive and turbulent year. AI is growing faster than we can keep track of. Global conflicts are simmering. The world economy is teetering on a debt-fueled monetary reset and possible dollar crisis.

It’s going to be a wild year.

On this episode of “Glenn TV,” Glenn Beck, Steve Deace, and Liz Wheeler give their top predictions for 2026.

Steve Deace

Prediction #1: America trades Taiwan for Venezuela’s oil

“I think that China and the U.S. are going to effectively swap Taiwan and Venezuela,” says Deace.

“With the disruption that is happening in markets and where we are in terms of a long-term paradigm shift, I think we are not just going to sit there and just let Venezuela with maybe the largest oil reserves in the world just go on the bye-bye here in our own hemisphere.”

This, in turn, he says, will spur China to “do the exact same thing to Taiwan.”

“Steve is right on the money,” says Glenn’s head writer and researcher, Jason Buttrill, who is a former U.S. Marine intelligence specialist and Department of Defense contractor.

Glenn notes that this has massive implications for chip-making, as Taiwan currently supplies the United States with over 90% of the world’s highest-performance chips that go into smartphones, modern weapons, and artificial intelligence.

Prediction #2: Global leader alleges alien contact

“I think we’re going to see at least one elected official somewhere in the world next year claim to have directly communicated one-on-one with non-human intelligence,” says Steve.

Public interest in extraterrestrial life is peaking right now, he says. “The number-one-selling movie in America right now on Amazon, the biggest website in the world, is ‘Age of Disclosure”’ — a 2025 documentary claiming to expose an 80-year global government cover-up of non-human intelligent life and a secret international race to reverse-engineer extraterrestrial technology.

On top of that, world-renowned director Steven Spielberg — who has been pretty quiet since what many thought was his farewell film back in 2022 — has come out of retirement to direct a “disclosure film on UFOs” in 2026.

“The pressure on this is amping up,” says Steve.

Liz Wheeler

Prediction #1: Cabinet turnover

“I think we’re going to see some significant Cabinet turnover in the Trump administration,” says Liz, noting that it is Attorney General Pam Bondi who is most likely on the chopping block.

“Listen, we voted for Trump because we want justice for all of the deep-state weaponization of the government targeted at us. And we have not seen that from the Pam Bondi Department of Justice,” says Liz.

“The Trump voter demographic has patience. We’re generous. We understand that we’re up against this conglomerate enemy, but I think people are starting to run out of patience.”

Prediction #2: Denaturalization and deportation of a certain member of Congress

Liz’s top prediction, she says, is that “a member of the U.S. Congress will be denaturalized and removed from Congress and deported from the United States of America.”

“I wonder who that could be,” laughs Glenn.

Liz is, of course, referring to Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) — a radical leftist who prioritizes foreign interests, especially her home country of Somalia, over America.

Besides the strong speculation that Omar illegally married her own brother, there is ample evidence that Omar’s father, Nur Omar Mohamed, came to America not because he was fleeing a tyrannical regime but rather because he was “a member of that regime,” says Liz.

“He was actually a high-ranking military official [in Somalia]. He tried to hide that association so that he could claim asylum here in the United States, but he was in charge of propaganda for that communist regime,” she explains, calling it “immigration fraud.”

If that is found to be true, then “Ilhan Omar’s naturalized citizenship status is itself illegitimate.”

Glenn Beck

Prediction #1: AI boom threatens US power grid

Glenn has been warning for some time that surging AI data-center energy demand will eventually strain the U.S. grid, causing rolling blackouts and brownouts.

“I think 2026 is going to be the first year that we see things like Texas having rolling brownouts for a week at a time. I think you’re going to start to see the strain on the grid by the end of next year in ways that you would never have expected,” he says.

Prediction #2: Civil rights movement 2.0 sparked by AI

“I think next year is going to be a huge year historically for the beginning of a civil rights movement,” says Glenn. “I think we are going to see massive civil rights cases come to the courts next year, and they’re only going to get bigger and bigger.”

He warns that these kinds of cases will be unprecedented, as courts will debate whether AI-generated content, like deepfakes for example, count as protected speech and whether censoring “harmful” AI output is a First Amendment violation.

2026 is also when AI rules and regulations will greatly impact public education, says Glenn. Whether it is heavy AI policing, which could spark a full-blown privacy revolt, or the opposite — intense AI implementation via proctoring software, keyword/voice monitoring, or facial recognition camera — a “civil rights movement” over technology in classrooms is sure to spark.

To hear more 2026 predictions, watch the episode above.

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Apple has introduced its own digital ID, which is connected to Apple Wallet — but Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck is not thrilled to hear about the company’s latest advancement, calling it a “very bad idea.”

“Digital ID is the first thing. Then it includes your medical records. It includes all your health — everything. It will give you access to the hospitals or not access to the hospitals. It will allow you to buy things or not buy things,” Glenn explains.

“It’ll allow you to access online or not access online. It is control of absolutely everything. And that’s in the design, and they talk about it openly,” he adds.

After the tyranny displayed during COVID, Glenn is among those most skeptical of advancements like digital ID.

“Presenting the new Apple digital ID,” Glenn says sarcastically. “Now at the TSA checkpoints in more than 250 airports all across the U.S., you can present your digital ID at TSA checkpoints and get right onto that plane.”

While Apple claims the digital ID is “not a replacement” for a physical passport, it does add an official government ID to a user’s Apple wallet.

“It does sort of sound appealing, doesn’t it? I mean, just speaking frankly for a moment,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere chimes in.

While Glenn agrees that it does “sound appealing,” he points out that the end result would be anything but.

“I have to tell you, when you start putting everything, all records, all passports — it is your one universal key, and it’s tied directly to online, where it’s tracking everything, everywhere you go, every dollar you spend,” he says. “This is just a very bad idea.”

“There’s a story … it’s called the book of Revelation. I mean, how much clearer do you have to be, where you can’t go anywhere, you can’t buy anything, unless you have the mark. I’m not saying Apple is coming up with the mark of the beast, but this is the technology that sure kind of fits it,” he adds.

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AI company 2wai may have taken its latest commercial a bit too far — as it presents the idea that your loved ones could live forever, as AI avatars, of course.

In the commercial, a pregnant mother speaks to her passed loved one via the phone app, showing the avatar her stomach.

“Oh, honey, that’s wonderful,” the AI responds. “He’s listening. Put your hand on your tummy and hum to him. You used to love that.”

The deceased avatar is 2wai’s core product, a HoloAvatar — which is an AI rendition of a real person, brought to life by a large language model.

“The question on the table, based on what you just saw: ‘Is this idolatry or not?’” BlazeTV host Steve Deace asks BlazeTV contributor Todd Erzen on the “Steve Deace Show.”

“To quote Gandalf, ‘Run, you fools,’” Erzen responds. “This is grotesque idolatry. This is emotional pornography of the highest order.”

“I lost my mother three months before I got married. She never got to meet my four daughters. She was the finest human being I ever met. She was truly good. I would never dishonor her memory with this. I’m utterly disgusted by the perpetual childish neediness of grown-ups who would bow at this altar,” he continues.

“It is profoundly wicked and evil to normalize this in any way, shape, or form. May God have mercy on our souls, quite frankly,” he adds.

“Steve Deace Show” executive producer Aaron McIntire is on the same page as Erzen, telling Deace the product should be burned “with fire.”

“It’s possible that this might not be idolatry if we were all robots, but we’re not robots. Something like this is just not fit for human nature,” he adds.

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