Glenn Beck was joined Tuesday by two-time Emmy nominated Hollywood producer Riaz Patel, who also happens to be progressive, gay, Muslim, an immigrant, and (as he added) left-handed. Inspired by their unlikely friendship, the two produced a podcast that took a look at some of the issues that are dividing our country and offered a way for Americans to move forward and learn to work together.
"When we met, things that you have said changed the way I see the county, the world, and I think there's real importance in having friends, having relationships, with people who think completely differently from you," Riaz said.
Glenn noted that our country is so divided right now that it feels like "it's us verses them."
"It shouldn't be," Riaz replied. "I think it's 'us verses the problem.' Whatever the problems are, it's all of us on one side. But the more we demonize each other, the more it feels like we're against each other."
Riaz introduced the powerful new podcast, saying, "The premise is simple. Can we look at the things that divide us, from a different angle, maybe a more human perspective, personal perspective that allows us to see the connections?"
For the first podcast topic, they took on the "impossible task" of having a reasonable conversation about gun rights with people on all sides of the debate.
"We all want the same thing. We don't want the children to be harmed. So knowing we all have the same goal, how do we work together to achieve that goal?" Riaz added. "And so this [is the] journey of exploring how do real Americans engage with each other."
Watch the video above to catch more of the conversation, or listen to the full podcast below.