9/19/25 - The Real Reason Behind Late Night Show Cancellations

Summary

Mark Levin Podcast – 9/19/25: The Real Reason Behind Late Night Show Cancellations

Host: Ben Ferguson (filling in for Mark Levin)
Date: September 20, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this episode, guest host Ben Ferguson examines the controversy around the recent cancellations and suspensions of prominent late night shows, especially the departures of Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel. He argues the mainstream narrative—that these cancellations represent a dangerous new wave of censorship driven by the Trump administration—is false. Instead, he emphasizes financial realities and audience loss as the real reasons, rebuffing claims of government interference or “cancel culture.” The episode also explores the importance of protecting free speech—even unpopular speech—and warns against weaponizing government agencies like the FCC for political purposes.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Setting the Record Straight: Why Were Colbert and Kimmel Canceled?

• False Narrative:
  The media and left-wing commentators allege that Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel were forced off air due to pressure from Trump-era politics and censorship.
  • Ben Ferguson (00:52): “The media has decided to go all in... claiming that Donald Trump has gotten late night comedians fired... That is a lie.”
• Financial Factors:
  Both hosts, according to Ferguson and cited executives, were losing their networks tens of millions of dollars annually due to declining ratings and costly productions.
  • Ex-Paramount Chief, quoted by Ferguson (03:48, 04:50): “It was financially not viable. It had been that way for a long time. We had made a decision months prior to the announcement that we were not going to be going forward with that show.”
  • Ferguson (06:05): “Once it was so clear how much disdain he [Colbert] had for conservatives and it wasn’t fun anymore, you’re going to lose your show.”
• No White House Influence:
  Despite media insinuation, CBS executives insist there was no political or merger-related pressure from the government.
  • Ex-Paramount Chief (04:24): “I'm not going to tie any of that to regulatory approval…we really needed to be in a financially viable business.”

2. Jimmy Kimmel’s Fallout: Money and Missteps

• False Attribution to "Cancel Culture":
  Ferguson emphasizes that Kimmel remained on the air despite many controversial statements only until it became financially untenable.
  • Ferguson (09:41): “If this was really about cancel culture…Jimmy Kimmel would have been fired…when he said that people that went to a hospital…if it’s overcrowded, they hadn’t gotten the COVID vaccine, deserve to die and not get care. He did not get canceled when he said that.”
• Audience Alienation and Demographic Decline:
  Kimmel’s audience shrank dramatically in his target demo, causing local affiliates (Nextar, Sinclair) to drop the show, which led to suspension.
  • Ferguson (11:55): “He had lost his audience. In the core demographic… he was down to like 120-something thousand. He was over a million a decade ago.”
• Refusal to Show Accountability:
  Kimmel’s failure to retract a false monologue about the motives behind Charlie Kirk’s murder pushed affiliates and the network to act.
  • Ferguson (11:25): “Until Jimmy Kimmel agrees to retract his lie and tell the truth, we’re done. Now, I don’t know if Kimmel will ever apologize because he’s got enough money where he can just say, here’s the middle finger, I don’t care.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Reality of Business Decisions

• Ex-Paramount Chief (04:24, 05:31):
  “We had been looking at late night. It was financially not viable…months prior to the announcement that we were not going to be going forward with that show. I love Stephen, he does a great job. But we really needed to be in a financially viable business.”
• Ferguson, on false conspiracy theories (04:24):
  “This is all PCBS."

On Free Speech, Censorship, and the Role of Government

• Ferguson (15:19):
  “If we start using the FCC to go after our political opponents…they are going to come after us tenfold.”
• Charlie Kirk (46:51):
  “Free speech is a liberal value. It is not a left wing value. It is wrong...You should be allowed to say outrageous things...Free speech is a birthright...and you guys decided not to codify it, and now it’s poof, it’s basically gone.”

The State of Late Night TV

• Ferguson (28:04):
  “At the beginning of the year, Kimmel had 1.95 million total viewers…two weeks before his long overdue suspension…1.1 million viewers…His August household rating was a 0.35...In August that number [age 18–49 demo] dropped to 129,000.”
• Ferguson (29:00):
  “The late night is done with because they were so hateful for so long that half of America will never watch them.”

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Major Segment Timestamps

• 00:43–16:00:
  Main thesis—debunking claims of censorship; financial realities behind show cancellations; clips of ex-Paramount chief.
• 16:00–20:00:
  Callers and Ferguson discuss moral/financial consequences, difference between free speech and consequence culture.
• 20:00–39:40:
  More on ratings decline, affiliate impact, and why networks reluctantly held onto Kimmel/Colbert.
• 41:15–49:57:
  Dangers of weaponizing the FCC; historical precedent for censorship; Kamala Harris's comments on shrinking free speech.
• 54:01–59:04:
  Listeners weigh in; deeper dive into ratings collapse and late-night irrelevance.
• 79:09–88:10:
  Related story: Violent anti-ICE protests in Chicago, bigger trend of aggressive left-wing activism.
• 90:53–94:50:
  Debate with caller on boundaries and consequences for "immoral" speech vs. constitutional protection.

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Tone & Style

Ben Ferguson utilizes direct, unapologetically opinionated language throughout, matching Mark Levin’s signature "say-what-others-won’t" approach. He combines passionate defense of free speech with disdain for what he views as media dishonesty, correcting public misperceptions with cited data, executive quotes, and listener calls. Memorable moments come from blunt assessments of late-night hosts and pointed criticism of mainstream media and Democratic politicians.

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Conclusion & Takeaways

• Financial Realities are the Real Story:
  The departures of Colbert and Kimmel were driven by money and ratings, not censorship or presidential interference.
• Media's "Dictator" Narrative Is Baseless:
  No evidence supports claims that Trump or the government forced these cancellations, despite mainstream assertions.
• Danger of Censorship is Real—for All:
  Conservatives should avoid weaponizing regulators like the FCC, since political tides shift and threaten everyone's rights.
• Free Speech is a Core Value:
  Protecting even distasteful or offensive speech is crucial, and the alternative is a slide toward UK-style criminalization of expression.
• Late Night TV Has Lost Its Influence:
  Networks clung to failing hosts for too long out of ideological affinity, hastening ratings collapse and financial losses.

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Final Message:
Protect the Constitution and free speech—even when it’s uncomfortable. Don’t let the narrative of victimhood distract from basic business realities or justify dangerous government overreach into media and expression.

Transcript

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

The radical left's agendas are attacking your values. But conservatives like you haven't forgotten what this country was built on. My friends, the Heritage foundation exists to make sure your voice is heard and to represent your values in the D.C. swamp. The Heritage foundation stands for your values. And they won't give up the struggle because they know you never will. Paid for by the Heritage Foundation.

[Donald Trump]

He's here. He's here now.

[Ben Ferguson]

Broadcasting from the underground command post deep in the bowels of a hidden bunker.

[Donald Trump]

Somewhere under to the brick and steel.

[Ben Ferguson]

Of a nondescript building, we've once again.

[Donald Trump]

Made contact with our leader, Mark Levin.

[Ben Ferguson]

Welcome. It is the Mark Levin Show. Ben Ferguson filling in for the Great One this evening. And it is really nice to have you with us. Mark's going to be back with you as he is in Israel. I promise, coming next week. He will be with you. But I promise I'm going to do the best show I can for you tonight because we have so much to talk about. All right, let's start. Start with the issue that the media has decided to go all in on. And they're claiming that this is what dictators and tyrants do. They're claiming that Donald Trump has gotten late night comedians fired, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel. And they're saying, like, who's gonna be next? And this is what a dictator and a tyrant does. That is a lie. And we're gonna talk about that lie. So you understand it when Stephen Colbert was. His show was canceled, all right? And, and that's a different way than being fired. Uh, it was a canceling of the show for one reason. It was a canceling of the show because it wasn't making money. And apparently it was losing. Listen carefully. Like $40 million a year. That is a lot of money. There was not pressure from the President of the United States of America for Stephen Colbert show to be canceled. There have been a lot in the media that are now rewriting history as we speak. And they're saying that, in fact, the people that are in charge of the network have now explicitly said that cbs, it was not threatened or pushed to do what I just said. Like, that didn't happen. And so if you look at the facts, it was a money issue. The show costs way too much money to produce, and the ratings weren't there. Now, when Stephen Colbert was let go, I said this on CNN at the time and I made it very clear. And I said, what you guys are not understanding is this is not canceling of an individual because of what he Said, in fact, I believe that CBS would love to keep Colbert on attacking conservatives as long as they could. In fact, they did it to the point where they were upside down losing money on this show and there was no way out. And so they had made the decision, they said months earlier, now in interviews, CBS executives, that months earlier they decided not to move forward with the show, not to renew the show. So when you look at this and you look at Colbert, it's a lie to say that Stephen Colbert was canceled because of Donald Trump. In fact, let me just let you hear from the ex paramount chief who is insisting that Colbert's cancellation had nothing to do with seeking the Trump administration's approval for what is being described as a mega merger. So this is again, the grand conspiracy theory of the left. Listen to her tell the story in her own words.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Outside of the settlement, there are other actions taken to ensure there would be regulatory approval. You know, I think about rollbacks of DEI policies. I think about some things like the cancellation of Steve Colbert's show. You know, that was never explicitly stated as being part of getting regulatory approval. But it's something that I think a lot of people assumed. Do you think that they made the right choices to ensure that they got the regulatory approval? I'm not going to tie any of that to regulatory approval, I can tell you that. We had been looking at late night. It was financially not viable. It had been that way for a long time.

[Ben Ferguson]

We pause. Listen to what she just said. Her words right there was that I can. And you know what? Screw it. I'm going to re. I'm going to back it up. I'm going to back it up so that you can hear her words again. It wasn't viable, she said, and it hadn't been viable for a long time. Meaning they let it go way past the expiration date because they love the propaganda of the. Of their network attacking conservatives night.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

It was financially not viable. It had been that way for a long time. We had made a decision months prior to the announcement that we were not going to be going forward with that show. I love Stephen, he does a great job. But we really needed to be in a financially viable business. And you saw we did that with James Corden as well. And, and in terms of dei, I think the reasons why DEI exists matter and will always matter, and we need to continue to fight for those issues. But I think the way in which DEI has been executed has often led to more problems than it solved. So any of the changes that were made or continue to be made, but under us. I think we were trying to create an environment that would address the issues in a different way.

[Ben Ferguson]

So translation, this is all pcbs. I'm going to go back and I'm going to play for you what I said on Stephen Cole on Stephen Colbert being canceled. Now, this was the night after Stephen Colbert was canceled. I said this on Abby's show on cnn. And this goes to the core of why his show was canceled. Because he had lost his audience.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

They're going to get affected by some of this too.

[Ben Ferguson]

I would say. Sledderman, Leno did a much better job of having on George Bush and then having on Bill Clinton. They, they actually did a better job.

[Charlie Kirk]

It was a different time.

[Ben Ferguson]

But, but my, it doesn't. My point is if you stop doing it and you. And there are people like me that just. We don't even care. I don't even know when the show's on. That's how irrelevant it is. Because once he hate once it was so clear how much sustain he had for conservatives and it wasn't fun anymore. You're going to lose your show.

[Charlie Kirk]

I mean, listen, I really explain this over and over.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Yeah, Honestly, I'm with Charay on this one. I mean, I think you can, I think it's a little speculative, the Elizabeth Warren of it all, but there's no.

[Ben Ferguson]

Question that the direction of linear television.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Is going in a certain place. So that is by far probably one.

[Ben Ferguson]

Of the bigger factors. Can I give you a quick. I just love there how they will not accept the truth. Colbert had major disdain for conservatives and it wasn't funny anymore and he lost his audience. And that's what led to the cancellation. The ex Paramount chief insisting Colbert's cancellation had nothing to do with seeking Trump approval. It was about the show unsustainable. So now you fast forward to right now and they're all saying that you know Stephen Colbert and, and, and, and now you've got Jimmy Kimmel. This is all about a dictator. All right, let's look at what Kimmel said. Kimmel said, quote, we hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them. Okay, that's a lie. We know he wasn't a conservative. We know he's a liberal. We know he hated Charlie Kirk. We know that he wanted to take out Charlie Kirk because Charlie Kirk was saying mean things he believed about his lover and he couldn't take the hate anymore. And so he said I'm going to kill him. That's his own words, his own text messages. So he's lying to you and he knows that he's lying to you when he says this. He's trying to say this is somehow MAGA kid. Everybody knows the reason why he killed Charlie Kirk is because he hated MAGA kid. He hated him. He hated him. Back to the exact quote. Charlie Kirk is anything other than what than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it. That's also not just a lie, it's sick. And by the way, look at the time frame. By the time Kimmel did this monologue, it was already extremely clear from the governor, local law enforcement and our federal government law enforcement that Charlie Kirk's accused assassin and by the way, in his own words, was a leftist in a relationship with a furry transsexual. That's not a MAGA kid, okay? And knowing this, Kimmel still told tens of thousands of people who still watch the show that the alleged assassin was in fact maga. So it's his fault, Donald Trump's fault, it's conservatives fault that, that, that Charlie Kirk was killed. Which doesn't make any sense logically. But hey, what, who cares about facts, right? Let's, let's not even care about facts at all. The second reason why he was fired is because already the show was losing money. And so you had two of the country's biggest affiliates. And again, this is not cancel culture. This is the, this is Nextar and Sinclair Media who had had enough. Both of those networks that are affiliates told Disney and ABC that they were done during airing a late night show that is attacking literally their audience. And it's a show that is only pleasing to LA and New York viewers and maybe Boston and some other places like that. But in normal America no one is watching Jimmy Kimmel anymore for the reasons that I just stated. And he had lost his audience. In the core demographic that you need with an audience, okay? In a core demographic that you need, it is a. The younger generation. And that's how you buy ads. He was down to like 120something thousand. He was over a million a decade ago. This was a massive drop in audience size. And so when you have nexstar and Sinclair who are about to make him even smaller, both of them telling we're done with the show because we're done with them attacking Americans. Never forget, if this was really about cancel culture, is the, is the left trying to claim that this is like a dictator and a tyrant like Getting people fired in media. Jimmy Kimmel would have been fired, okay, when he, when he said that people that went to a hospital and if it's overcrowded, they hadn't gotten the COVID vaccine, deserve to die and not get care. He did not get canceled when he said that. Why? Because I believe ABC and Disney love this guy. They held on to him while he was losing money for a very long time. Yes, they were. Then finally at the point where they were looking for an out. Stephen Colbert was not fired for censorship. It was because the show sucked. He wasn't funny anymore. He hated half American Alien in them. And there wasn't enough audience left to cover that. That is a very risky bet. Now, per the Hollywood Reporter, Disney asked Kimmel to address the lie he told in a way that, quote, would take down the temperature. What he planned to do, by the way, we were being told on Wednesday night instead, the report says, was going to fan the flames of the MAGA fan base. Someone who worked on the show basically confirmed this while claiming to deny it. No, no, the source said Jimmy was not planning of making it worse, but he also wasn't kowtowing to maga. Okay, so now we know. Now, by the time all this had happened, so you Understand the timeline, 66 big affiliates of the roughly 200 affiliate stations had said they would not carry the episode. And that's when ABC announced it was suspending the program. And that's when the left and the crazy media started to blame the fcc. When the Trump administration had allowed abc, Disney to brazenly violate the public interest clause in the broadcast agreement for five years, four years in the Trump's first term and nearly a year into Trump's second term, that is how you could argue this, right? And the arrogant Jimmy Kimmel is the one who got him suspended. And it wasn't for what he said the other night. It was for alienating and attacking over half the country every chance he could. And then when he had his screw up, he refused to do the decent and honorable thing. And that's when affiliates said, we're done, right? We, we are done. Until Jimmy Kimmel agrees to retract his lie and tell the truth, we're done. Now, I don't know if Kimmel will ever apologize because he's got enough money where he can just say, here's the middle finger, I don't care. But I do think it's interesting how the media is trying to protect him. All the other late night hosts, by the way, they're narcissists they're trying to make it about themselves, too, in this big Kumbaya United moment. It's, it's, and I'll read you some of that in a moment so that you can hear what they're saying because it is pretty disgusting. But Jimmy Fallon, responding to Kimmel's situation, said, quote, I know Jimmy Kimmel and he's a decent, funny and loving guy. That's not true. If he was, he wouldn't have said that people deserve to die if they didn't get the COVID vaccine. Like I, I, I, I'm going to call BS there. And the way that they did their monologue was like this me too type movement, right? We'll stand with you. We'll stand with you. And it's pretty pathetic. But also, I would say, not surprising because this is what the Democratic Party has become. They have become a group of radical extremists and a, and a small group of them are just, I would say straight up domestic terrorists. And this is what they believe. Quick break. Ben Ferguson filling in for the Great One, Mark Levin. We'll be right back. MARK levin.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

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[Ben Ferguson]

Foreign welcome back. It is the Marco Vin Show, Ben Ferguson filling in for the Great One tonight. We've got a lot to talk about. I do want to get to your phone calls as well. Your reaction to the left losing their minds over the cancellation of Jimmy Kimmel. 1877-381381-18773. 813811. I I've also. 1 other point I want to make on this is I've seen a lot of people saying that this is like consequence culture. That's like some new thing that's like, happened in the last 24 hours. I don't believe that that is what happened to Jimmy Kimmel. I believe that it is actually as simple as they were losing millions of dollars on a show that no one was watching, and they saw an opportunity to get out. If he was making the money, he would still be in the air right now, even after what he said about Charlie Kirk. Because he's been able to say things like that for a very long time. A great example is just rewind to when he said it. Covid. If you hadn't gotten the vaccine, you show up at a crowded hospital, you deserve not to get treatment. You deserve to die. And he didn't get fired then. So this is not a consequence. I don't believe that ABC News here is doing the right thing. This was a financial decision. I. I'm also not in favor of limiting free speech. Okay, but if you cheer and mock a violent assassination of someone like Charlie Kirk, should there be a consequence for that? If you're employed by a private company like ABC and Disney, even as woke and liberal and radical as they are, you would hope there'd be a consequence. I do not believe ABC News did this as a consequence. For him, it was a business decision. They had lost a bunch of affiliates from two different affiliate groups, and they said, well, now this is beyond unsustainable. So I will not give ABC News credit. By the way, they still air the View. Let's also be clear about that. Now, there's been a lot that has been said in the last 24, 48 hours about the FCC and the fact the FCC should be looking into these shows like the View. I want to caution you on that, and I want to make it very clear why I want to caution you on that. Okay? I know that there are ebbs and flows in politics. Jimmy Carter gave us Ronald Reagan. Then he gave us. Then we got Bush, and then we got Bill Clinton, and then we got Bush, then we got Barack Obama, and then we got Trump, and then we got Joe Biden. Kamala Harris. I am a history of the presidency and the history of politics guy. And I can promise you Democrats in my lifetime will be back in power multiple times. And if we start using the FCC to go after our political opponents, who, by the way are dying on their own on the air because the audience is disappearing because the American people are starting to reject this woke radical ideology of the left. If we start advocating for people to get fired, then when they're in power, they are going to come after us tenfold. They already did it by the way, the last time they had conservatives like myself that were canceled on social media. They had kicked Donald Trump off of social media platforms, all of them where he had to make his own. We saw the government conspiring with private sector to silence and censor and to throttle conservatives. We do not want to play that game. We do not want to play that game. Ben Ferguson filling in for the Great One. We'll be right back.

[Charlie Kirk]

Foreign.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

2023 terror attack on Israel. The Abraham Accords seemed doomed to fall apart. But now, two years after the terrorist attack and five years after the historic peace agreements were signed, the Abraham Accords remain resilient. However, without the support of the American people, the Accords have an uncertain future. So to keep the Abraham Accords alive for the next five years, it's critical that patriots like you support them. And that starts with understanding exactly how they came about and why they're so important. @Heritage.org Levin Heritage.org L E V I N you'll find an exclusive resource only available from the Heritage Foundation. The Abraham Accords Report gives you the latest news and statistics on how the accords are boosting trade and innovation and advancing the United States vital interests in the Middle East. The Accords will only continue to bring peace to the Middle east with your support. So go to heritage.orglevin to claim your free resource today. That's heritage.orglevin paid for by the Heritage Foundation.

[Ben Ferguson]

The Mark Levin show live and national at 877-381-3811. All right, welcome back. It is the Mark Event Show Ben Ferguson filling in for the Great One. It is nice to have you with us. And I do want to get your reaction to all that we are talking about tonight, including the ex paramount chief telling the truth that Stephen Colbert's cancellation had nothing to do with with seeking Trump's approval for a mega merger. That is the new accusation coming from the left. She said it was all about the money which goes back to what happened with Jimmy Kimmel. They gave they needed a reason to get rid of him to end the show sooner to save money because it was losing millions was being reported on. Now that's what they're saying in the streets. Makes sense if you look at Colbert. And so I Don't believe that quote, ABC News did the right thing thing at all. Let's get to your phone calls and see what you think about all of this. Let me go to. Is it Claudio in Rockford? Welcome, you're on the Marco Ven show, Ben Ferguson with you. Hi.

[Caller]

Hey Ben, thanks for filling in for Mark.

[Ben Ferguson]

Absolutely.

[Caller]

So my, my thing is like I think that we need to make sure that the financial aspect of the yanking of Kimball is brought into the forefront because as a company you cannot afford to be losing millions and millions of dollars. And your audience then the fact that he lied about an issue, that's the other portion. It's not just the fact of the freedom of speech per se. It's just that he lied on public airways, let's call it, and abc. They should have yanked him a long time ago. But that's here, there and there. But. And then the other thing is that.

[Ben Ferguson]

You know, it's weird. Let's just go down this rabbit hole for a second because I'm actually don't think they should have fired him a long time ago. I like knowing that there are radical leftists out there that are alienating a lot of America and bringing them to the conservative side of things. I actually like that there is Ilam Omar's out there and the AOCs because I actually think people are just realizing how crazy the left has become and how hateful they are. Jimmy Kimmel wasn't funny. He was mean spirited man. Like I think he did more harm on TV than good for the Democrats that he had on his show. I think it destroyed late night television. And there's just a certain point of view, like those people I don't want to be associated with those people are sick. And that's what he I think become to represent. So I actually liked him on the air. And look, yes, he quote got fired, okay? He got fired because of what he said about Charlie. No, he got fired because his ratings sucked and they looked for an opportunity to get rid of him. And this was the one they could do it on.

[Caller]

Right? Right. But still the issue with the regulation though, again, a different administration comes in and it's not the Republican one, we're in trouble.

[Ben Ferguson]

I don't think that you do not weaponize the fcc. And I'll give you this scenario on this so that people understand it. Several years ago, Democrats pushed hard to get rid of conservative talk radio. They said it was unfair that there were so many conservatives on talk radio and there weren't enough liberals and they were talking about equal time, like they wanted it. Basically, if you had three hours of Limbaugh or Levin or Ferguson, that you had to have three hours of counter programming of a left, a lefty. That's what they were. That was their argument. They wanted to shut down conservative talk stations. Now, luckily it didn't happen. I believe now that's exactly what they would do if they got power. If we start abusing the power at the FCC to start silencing people that we disagree with, there will be precedent and there will be hell to pay. And you will watch the number of newstalk stations disappear overnight or they will start mandating that you put on liberals to counter the conservative programming. And that also would kill conservative talk radio. You don't weaponize the sec. It is supposed to be non partisan. It is supposed to be non political. And that is the point that everybody needs to just keep their eye on the ball here and understand that this is a terrible move by us. If we want to weaponize our government to go after them, because they'll do it right back to us. And there's an argument people go, well, they already did it to us, so it's fair game. It, you, you, you cannot get this back in the box if you use it to start getting people fired because. And they will use it 10 times harder on us than we ever could have imagined before. That's how extreme they are. So don't give them the opportunity.

[Caller]

Well, they did it to Covid. We couldn't express the opinions. Doctors that had point clinics, they were shut down.

[Ben Ferguson]

Great point. And they shut. I mean, they shut down our schools, they shut down our churches. If you don't think they want to do more of this, you're not paying attention. Claudia, I appreciate the phone call. Thank you, sir. Let me go to Bonnie and Addison, Texas. You are on the Mark Levin Show. Ben Ferguson with you. Hi.

[Caller]

Hi, Ben. How are you doing?

[Ben Ferguson]

Doing well. How are you?

[Caller]

I'm doing okay. As far as Jimmy Kimmel goes, I think a comedian should be a comedian. He certainly didn't have that aspect. Our college campuses today are not fostering the aspect to our students that we would like. Where if I disagree with you, that's fine. But you know why Charlie Kirk was shot, why Jimmy Kimmel was fired? Free speech should be a cornerstone of our country and our constitutional republic. However, when you get to such discourse or when Steve Scalise was killed, you would have thought somebody learned a lesson. I'm sorry Steve Scalise was shot.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, he almost died. Thank goodness he's still with us.

[Caller]

Thank God. You would have learned. You would have thought the country would have learned a lesson, but I guess we didn't. You get Ilhan Omar and you get AOC and Chuck Schumer ranting and threatening people and doing all that type of stuff. That's why we got to such a point where we can't have the conversations we used to have. But for God's sake, I agree with you. You don't fire somebody. But if you're hired by a company, XYZ company and I'm lying on the air and they know I am and I am hired by a private company or somebody, they have a right to fire me.

[Ben Ferguson]

Well, he can say whatever he wants to say on anywhere else. But I don't believe this is abuse of the airwaves as some have tried to describe it. I don't believe that. I want to be clear. I think this was just a scumbag whose ratings were down 43% long before Charlie Kirk lie happened. You had only 129,000 viewers and the coveted demo. And Jimmy Kimmel's ratings have been in the toilet for years. And finally it got to the point where they just said, we want out. And he gave them a reason. And Disney said, yay, we're gonna save a bunch of money.

[Caller]

If I'm not making money for you, why would you want me?

[Charlie Kirk]

Right?

[Ben Ferguson]

It's run like a business, right? And let me just explain to you how big the fall has been. Okay? At the beginning of the year, at the beginning of the year, Kimmel had 1.95 million total viewers by the end of August, two weeks before his long overdue suspension. All right. The number had plummeted to just 1.1 million viewers. How did he lose 940,000 viewers in the first half of the year? Because he becomes so mean spirited and hateful towards Donald Trump in his monologues that they basically conservatives and even moderates are like, I'm done with you. Like you've gone crazy, right? You've gone nuts. You, you, you're, you're nowhere close to being funny. Where you were. The, the post, by the way, near Post pointed out those rating slide is down 43 from January. That, that is 1.95 million. His August household rating was a 0.35. It marked the weakest showing of the year. And that what would be most concerning to ABC Disney is if the corporation driven by profit decided to stay with hate. Right? Because we were seeing the collapse of Kimmel's viewers. The 18 to 49 age demo which sets the advertising rates. The number was at 212,000 in January. By August that number had dropped to 129,000. And and so Stephen Colbert, by the way, who was, you know, they canceled show. He's still on the air, but he's going to be it's at the end of the year, it's gone. He was some said fired by CBS. The show was just canceled. It lost around $50 million a year. It currently attracts, by the way, more viewers at 2.57 million total viewers and 281,000 in the demo that is coveted for advertisers. So just to put it in perspective, Jimmy Kimmel was way, I mean 129,000 in the key demo compared to 281 for Stephen Colbert. And Colbert was losing them money. The late night is done with because they were so hateful for so long that half of America will never watch them. And the other half of America has a lot of other options to watch streaming shows on demand shows. The list goes on and on. And so the audience is smaller. There's more people that spend time on social media than ever before because of the phone that is in her hand. So grabbing viewers is extremely hard. He took them for granted. He hated on too many people for far too long. And that's where you get yourself in the situation that he's in right now. So I don't feel sorry for him. But I'm also not giving praise to ABC News like they quote, did the right thing. I'm not buying that at all. Ben Ferguson filling in for Marco Van. Don't forget you can send me your comments right now if you're on X. Follow me during the break at Ben Ferguson show if you're on Instagram. I, I, by the way, what I genuinely wonder how many of you guys are on Instagram. So during the break if you'll follow me on Instagram, we're using it more, we're posting more there. I just want to see how many you guys actually use it. It'd be great data. So during the break at Ben Ferguson podcast, if you'll follow me on Instagram and on Facebook just Ben Ferguson put it in there, you'll find it. We'll take a break. We'll come right back. More your phone calls. 877-381-3011 coming up after this much love in.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

Decades of conflict in the Middle east made many despair of ever finding a lasting peace. But in 2020, Israel and four Arab nations once estranged, joined together for peace by signing the Abraham Accords. Thanks to President Trump's leadership, these historic agreements opened up previously unimaginable channels for cooperation, new pathways for peace, trade collaboration. After five years, the Abraham Accords still stand as a beacon of hope for a future of shared growth and interfaith tolerance. Why should Americans like you care? Peace in the Middle east is vital to America's national security, and that's why the Heritage foundation dedicated its resources to supporting the implementation and expansion of the Abraham Accords and peace through strength. And that's why the Heritage Foundation's experts released the Abraham Accords Report tracking the evolution and expansion of the Abraham Accords. This exclusive resource, only available from the Heritage foundation, presents the latest news and statistics on how the Accords are boosting trade and innovation and advancing the US Critical interests in the Middle East. Get the latest updates today by going to heritage.orglevin that's heritage.org Levin paid for by the Heritage foundation.

[Ben Ferguson]

Welcome back. It is the Mark Event Show Ben Ferguson filling in for the Great One who's in Israel coming back. I will be with you next week. We've got a lot to talk about and I want to get to some of your thoughts, your phone calls on the fake. You know, I can't believe that you know another late night guy, Jimmy Kimmel was was fired, suspended indefinitely. This is censorship. No it's not, dude. Wasn't making them money. And the rich narcissists, they're all getting together right now. Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert make Jimmy Kimmel suspension. All about Stewart, by the way, and Colbert. They're like, woe is me, right? If you're ever looking for an oasis away from the left's bitter and divisive politicalization of Charlie Kirk's brutal murder, former comedian John Stewart and Stephen Colbert were not the place to go. John Nolte, saying this, and Breitbart both once again bust abused their late night purchase to make the long overdue suspensions of Jimmy Kimmel all about them. Stewart was so eager to make it all about Jon Stewart, he rushed into the studio on Thursday even though he normally only works Mondays. Jon Stewart returned to the Daily show with a government approved program and referred to President Donald Trump as a great father and dear leader. He joked about Trump's recent visit the UK and played a clip of a reporter's question about Kimmel and whether free speech was under attack in America. How dare you, sir? How dare you, sir? Stewart yelled. What outfit are you with, sir? The Antifa Herald Tribune. When the Audience booed or expressed dismay. Stewart in a panic, tried to shush them. A group of correspondents delivered a message in unison and showered the President with over the top praise as though they lived in a dictatorship. Naturally, the soon to be well gone. Stephen Colbert did the same thing saying quote, tonight we are all Jimmy Kimmel. That's what he said at the start of his monologue before decrying the suspension as blatant censorship. With an autocrat, you cannot give the an inch. He said if ABC thinks this is going to satisfy the regime, again, this is how you have people trying to kill the President and people trying to kill Charlie Kirk. Because of this type of rhetoric. When you have an autocrat, you cannot give an inch. If ABC thinks this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naive and clearly they've never read the children's book if you give a mouse a camel. And to Jimmy, let me just say I stand with you and your staff 100%. Both of them by the way, are lying with a claim that the FCC had something to do with Kimmel's suspension when it was the affiliates who owned the local stations that said we're not airing the show anymore and Kimmel's ratings were in the basement in which he lives. When Jimmy Kimmel said that Charlie Kirk's accused assassin was maga, that was a clear lie. It was a violation of public interest. Right, and the public interest clause, in my opinion. But again, that is not why they fired him. They fired him because it was insensitive. They fired him because his ratings were in the tank. They fired him because the money was, the show was unsustainable financially. That is what it boils down to. And anyone else saying anything else on one side, the other outside of that, you're just wrong. You're just wrong. 1 877-381-3811 Zach in Kansas City. Welcome. Nice to have you.

[Caller]

How's it going man?

[Ben Ferguson]

Good.

[Caller]

Yeah. So I agree. I, I think it was comes down to the fact that all those late night shows were just starting to lose viewership. Based on their views, they're missing their market across most of the country. Unless like you said, you're in New York or you're in California. I don't think it's any surprise that Colbert show is getting canceled. I don't think it's any surprise that Kimmel got fired the way he did.

[Ben Ferguson]

No, it's not surprising. And anyone that thinks that it is surprising, I'm sorry, you're, you don't look. You're not looking at the facts and you're not looking at the ratings. And I go back to what I played for you earlier with that ex Pioneer chief. She said it clearly, this is a business decision.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Outside of the settlement, there are other actions taken to ensure there would be regulatory approval. I think about rollbacks of DEI policies. I think about some things like the cancellation of Steve Colbert's show. That was never explicitly stated as being part of getting regulatory approval, but it's something that I think a lot of people assume. Assumed. Do you think that they made the right choices to ensure that they got the regulatory approval? I'm not going to tie any of that to regulatory approval. I can tell you that we had been looking at Late night. It was financially not viable. It had been that way for a long time. We had made a decision months prior to the announcement that we were not going to be going forward with that show. I love Stephen, he does a great job. But we really needed to be in a financially viable business and you saw we did that with James Corden as well. And in terms of dei, I think the reasons why DEI exists matter and will always matter. And we need to continue to fight for those issues. But I think the way in which DEI has been executed has often led to more problems than it solved. So any of the changes that were made or continue to be made, but under us, I think we were trying to create an environment that would address the issues in a different way.

[Ben Ferguson]

That is the narrative that they don't want you to know. Cnn, Brian Skelter on the cancellation of Colbert the Late Show. Another form of he said capitulation by CBS to Trump. There's no. There's no indication that that is true. That's another lie put out there by Brian Skelter on cancellation of Colbert. And now they're doing the same exact lie. The same exact lie when it comes to why Kimmel's gone. Kimmel's gone because they were losing too much money and Kimmel's gone because the show sucked. We'll be right back.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

This segment of the podcast is exclusively sponsored by Pure Talk. Pure Talk offers great coverage and can save your family money on your wireless bill every single month. Go to PureTalk.com to find the plan that's right for you. Thank you again for listening and thank you so much for this sponsorship. PureTalk.

[Donald Trump]

He's here. He's here now, broadcasting from the underground.

[Ben Ferguson]

Command post deep in the bowels of a hidden bunker somewhere under the brick and steel of A nondescript building. We've once again made contact with our leader, Mark Levin. Welcome. It is nice to have you with us. Our two Mark Levin show. Ben Ferguson filling in for the Great One. As I mentioned earlier, we're talking about free speech. And should the government be involved in limiting free speech or should the government decide what speech is okay to have and what speech is not okay? Now, right now, there's clearly an appetite in an. In a reaction to say, hey, we should get rid of people whose voices we don't like. Jimmy Kimmel would be an example of that. Or the news, the nightly news, that they're always saying negative things about conservatives. I understand that viewpoint. But if we start abusing our power with the FCC to accomplish that goal, it will come back a thousand times on us as conservatives. If you don't believe me, and this is about playing the long game, I'm going to remind you of what Kamala Harris had to say about silencing and shutting down free speech of conservatives that she hated. Specifically Donald Trump when it came to Trump. And should he be suspended from Twitter? Listen carefully.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

All of these social media companies and these online platforms which are so powerful in their ability to impact perception about an issue and to influence behaviors. Let's be clear about that. There have to be standards and he and his account should be taken down. We saw in El Paso that that shooter in his manifesto was informed by how Donald Trump uses that platform. And this is a matter of corporate responsibility. Twitter should be held accountable and shut down that site. It is a matter of safety and corporate accountability.

[Ben Ferguson]

Thank you, Senator Warren.

[Caller]

You can respond.

[Ben Ferguson]

So look, I don't just want to.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Push Donald Trump off Twitter.

[Ben Ferguson]

I want to push him out of the White House.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

That's our job. But the way join me in saying that his Twitter account should be shut down.

[Caller]

Let's figure out.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

No. Why it is that he has. He has lost his privileges and it should be taken down. And the bottom line is that you can't say that you have one rule for Facebook and you have a different rule for Twitter. The same rule has to apply, which is that there has to be a responsibility that is placed on these social media sites to understand their power. They are directly speaking to millions and millions of people without any level of oversight or regulation. And that has to stop. Donald Trump has 65 million followers on Twitter. And we have to take seriously the weaponization of this platform by the president and the need therefore, of a private corporation to be held accountable to say he has abused the terms and it could result literally in a threat to safety of human beings who are participating with the process of justice.

[Ben Ferguson]

There is not a part of you, civically, constitutionally, that is concerned about the precedent or private company taking the platform away from the president or some other elected official.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Free speech does not condone or protect threats to the safety of other human beings. And so that is what we are talking about. Like, let's be really clear about what we're talking about.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

I think we need to push back on this.

[Ben Ferguson]

There's no guarantee to free speech, on.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

Misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy.

[Ben Ferguson]

So here's my question. You hear Tim Waltz, you hear Kamala Harris there calling for an end of free speech. And anything they describe as hate or misinformation, you should then lose your ability to speak. Can you imagine if we start doing what they're doing? Let's go back to what the House Judiciary committee put out August 26th of last year. Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg admitted three things on that day. Number one, that the Biden Harris administration pressured Facebook to censor Americans. I was one of them, by the way. The amount of censorship that I received during Trump's time in the office was incredible. They came after our pages to shut us down on X and to shut us down on Facebook. And many of you probably felt that as well, especially if you said things like the word ivermectin, okay, or something about the vaccine and Covid, or you were asking questions about COVID and not just blindly following the doctor psychopath Anthony Fauci. The second thing, by the way, that Mark Zuckerberg admitted to on August 26th of 2024, is that Facebook did, in fact censor Americans at the behest of the Biden Harris regime, including the FBI and the deep state coming in saying, hey, silence this person. Like they had a hit list of people they wanted to shut down. Mark Zuckerberg on August 26th of 2024 also admitted that Facebook throttled the Hunter Biden laptop story so it wouldn't spread virally, that people wouldn't see it. Now that just what I told you. There was a big win for free speech. It was a big win for free speech. And if Americans, by the way, wanted free speech to be in it, to be shut down, or what Democrats refer to as free speech, as hate speech, they would have elected Harrison Waltz because it's what they ran on. Hillary Clinton ran on it, too, but not in the same way that Harris did and Waltz did. I go back to Waltz's words, eight seconds. But it tells you everything about the Democratic Party.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

I think we need to push back on this.

[Ben Ferguson]

There's no guarantee to free speech, on misinformation or hate speech. And especially around our democracy, especially around our democracy, there's no guarantee to free speech or misinformation or hate speech. Okay, what's, what's free speech? And what is your definition of misinformation? What is your definition of hate speech? Is it what I'm doing right now? The answer is yes. Okay, like, the answer is yes. Full stop. Full stop. Charlie Kirk, by the way, he had a lesson that he gave in the UK about free speech. And what do they do in the uk? They're locking old people up for things they said online, online years and years ago. They're locking up comedians for things they tweeted years ago. And let me just play for you what Charlie Kirk said about the political revolution that we're witnessing and what we're watching right now in the UK as well. Here is his own warning, and he's right.

[Charlie Kirk]

My wish for the left is that you will become liberal again and no longer leftist. Free speech is a liberal value. It is not a left wing value. It is wrong. And I'm sure we'll talk about this in the Q and A, but as of today, Lucy Connolly is going to jail for two and a half years in this country for a social media post that she apologized and deleted about a migrant hotel. That is not a free speech value at all. You should be allowed to say outrageous things. You should be allowed to say contrarian things. Free speech is a birthright that you gave us and you guys decided not to codify it, and now it's poof, it's basically gone. And I think there's something really troubling about that because I want you to imagine one day that reform might take over this government. You guys can laugh, but they're winning elections in downtown London. Farage is ascendant. There is asylum majority in this country. I see this. Oh, I'm going to really scare you. I see the same themes that led to Trump's rise in this country. I see it with the working class in the streets of London. I see the muscular class. I see people coming up. To me. It's the same vibe. You guys are about to see a political revolution. If the stars align, that could mirror what happened in America. So when that happens, do you want Nigel Farage, Prime Minister, to be able to lock you up if you criticize his government? If your Answer is no. Then you have a moral obligation to make sure that your prime Minister and the MPs advocate for a value neutral free speech policy. So regardless of who is in power in this country, you guys can challenge and you guys can speak openly. That is the bedrock of a liberal democracy.

[Ben Ferguson]

By the way, Charlie Kirk was right when he said that. It's exactly what I'm warning you about right now. And I even said it before election day. Free speech was literally on the ballot with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. And the Democratic Party had openly said that free speech is something that is negotiable. There was a new report that came out on censorship. The federal government attempted to control AI. We also know to suppress free speech. The Judiciary Committee put this out in December of last year. That the Biden Harris administration has pushed companies to create woke biased AI models and censor American speech. We know that that for a fact they were doing it. RFK Jr talking about free speech as well when he was talking about the COVID and the lockdowns and people that were angry at things he said. You want to know what RFK Jr said about free speech? I just, I don't feel at home with people who believe in censorship. I think it's disqualifying.

[Donald Trump]

It'S antithetical and inconsistent with democracy.

[Ben Ferguson]

And we had Hillary Clinton yesterday making this extraordinary statement that endorsing. Endorsing the censorship of speech in our country. We have Kamala Harris saying that free speech is a privilege, it's not a right. And, and Tim Waltz saying the same thing. And I think that that is disqualifying for anybody who wants to be President. United States. Couldn't agree more with RFK on that statement as well. There are a lot of people that are saying right now that we need to be going after and shutting down networks and shutting, shutting down shows like the View. By the way, I love that the View is out there. I think they are insignificant. I think the View is a place that hateful people go to watch TV in an echo chamber. They do not have the influence they used to have over this country. They used to have a lot of influence. So did abc, NBC and cbs. Their influence has disappeared. The last election is proof of it. The media, the mainstream media controlled by the left used to be able to control the country because of social media, because of Elon Musk Saving X, because the pendulum swinging back, because of shows like this one, because of podcasts that are out there, because of social media warriors that are out there. We can now go around them. And if they want to say things the way that they're saying things, I'm fine with that because that's how I know I live in a free country. When Kamala Harris, and this is when the pendulum goes back, and it will one day, Kamala Harris tweeted out on 930 of 2019, quote, let's be honest, Donald Trump's Twitter account should be suspended. That was in 19. And why did she say it? She said it for one reason. She said it because she wants the government to decide what you can and cannot say. It is no different, by the way, than what Hillary Clinton said on cnn. The same thing. If the platforms, whether it's Facebook or.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Twitter X or Instagram or TikTok, whatever they are, if they don't moderate and.

[Ben Ferguson]

Monitor the content, we lose total control.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

And it's not just the social and psychological effects.

[Ben Ferguson]

It's real harm. Real harm. There it is. Hillary Clinton doesn't believe in free speech. Do you want them in charge of this? Hell, no. Ben Ferguson filling in for the great One. We'll be right back.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

When was the last time you bragged about your wireless company? Like, did you know my wireless company gave away a thousand American flags to deserving vets and forgave $10 million in veteran debt? Did you know my wireless company raised almost half a million dollars to help prevent veteran suicide? In other words, when your wireless company is Pure Talk, there's a whole lot to brag about. You can even brag about the coverage you get with Pure Talk, a 5G network that is insanely fast, dependable and secure. And you can definitely brag about how much money you save with Pure Talk, unlimited talk text, plenty of data, just 25 bucks a month, saving the average family over $1,000 a year. It's time to switch to my favorite wireless company, Pure Talk. Go to PureTalk.com Levin and save an additional 50% off your first month. Again, PureTalk.com Levin make the switch today. Pure Talk wireless, worth bragging about.

[Ben Ferguson]

All right. Welcome back. It is the Mark Levin show, Ben Ferguson filling in for the Great One. I want to get to your phone calls, get your reaction to all that we're talking about, including the canceling of Jimmy Kimmel. It was it, was it because of censorship or was it because he had no audience and he said something stupid and they wanted out? I think it's clearly you follow the money, you look at the audience. That's what it actually is. I want to get your phone calls in here and see what you think about all of this. 1-8773-8138-1187-7381, 3811. Let me go to Eric. Line two, you are on. Nice to have you with us.

[Caller]

Yes, hello, Ben, and thank you for taking my. Well, just two quick points. This is not a, the Jimmy Kimmel thing, in my view, is not a free speech issue at all. I think Iger just saw this clown. He had outlived his youthfulness and it was time to, it was time to cut the cord. My second point is that referring to your point that, you know, the, that conservatives can't get into this, into this free speech and censorship thing because, because you're afraid of what enlightenment, rightfully so, what, what the left might do should they get back in power. And you know, that sounds, that's reasonable. That sounds good. But you know, the left is going to do it anyhow, no matter what the right does. No matter if we stand up for constitutional principles or not. No matter if we, you know, take our foot off the gas here and, you know, kind of let the Constitution have its say.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, but here's my thing. The, the, everything goes off the rails if we decide to not protect free speech. That's the point that I want to make, Eric, which is, I'll go back to another great example of this. There's been like recent debate over flag burning. All right? Texas versus Johnson, the Supreme Court case over flag burning was explicitly clear at the Supreme Court. You have the right to burn a flag, by the way. I think you should have the right to burn a gay flag, a transgender flag, or any other flag that you want to burn. I don't think that should be a hate crime. All right? I want to be very clear about that. I need to know that we live in a country where if there ever is a moment that my kids and my grandkids need to burn a flag to protest a tyrannical out of control government run by these Marxist socialists and communists, that they can do it. Now, if you're burning a flag today, there's a pretty good chance I'm going to probably get in a fight with you. But our Constitution, we either protect free speech and freedom of expression or we don't. And I am not in favor of locking someone up for burning an American flag. I'm not in favor of canceling people who say things that I disagree with because then someone's going to cancel me. They're going to suspend my account so I can reach no one. They're going to Take me off radio stations. They're going to silence the Great one. That is the that is what will happen if we open Pandora's box now and we decide to start doing things not looking at what the Constitution says about free speech because of the left and what the left traditionally does. That's when we get ourselves in trouble. Screw the Democrats for a second. I mean that like the hell with them. I am a constitutional conservative and we must protect the Constitution and our freedom of speech. If somebody wants to say something stupid, good. That's how I know we have free speech. We'll be right back.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

When was the last time you bragged about your wireless company? Like, did you know my wireless company gave away a thousand American flags to deserving vets and forgave $10 million in veteran debt? Did you know my wireless company raised almost half a million dol to help prevent veteran suicide? In other words, when your wireless company is Pure Talk, there's a whole lot to brag about. You can even brag about the coverage you get with Pure Talk, a 5G network that is insanely fast, dependable and secure. And you can definitely brag about how much money you save with Pure Talk. Unlimited talk, text, plenty of data, just 25 bucks a month, saving the average family over a thousand dollars a year. It's time to switch to my favorite wireless company, PureTalk. Go to PureTalk.com Lavin and save an additional 50% off your first month. Again, PureTalk.com Levin make the switch today. Pure Talk Wireless. Worth bragging about.

[Ben Ferguson]

Making sure the land of the free and the home of the brave stays that way. Dial Mark levin now at 877-381-3811. All right, welcome back. It is the Mark of Inn Show. It is nice to have you with us and if you just join us, we have been talking about a lot of the big break, including the canceling of Jimmy Kimmel and how the media is just getting this one oh so wrong. They have no clue what they're talking about when it comes to this. And it really does genuinely make me laugh of just how bad they have gotten it. I also want to get to another big story and it is one that's very important and it's one that the media is actually not talking about at all. It is a story about Bagram Air Base. This is one of those. And again, I want to put it on your radar screen because it is one that is extremely important and no one's covering it. It doesn't mean that it doesn't Matter. President Trump announced in the UK that the US Is trying to get Bagram Air Base back from the Taliban. Now, you may say to yourself, why the hell would we care? Why would we want to get it back? Well, it's a national security reason. How do we know that? Listen, the president, in his own words.

[Donald Trump]

Except that he didn't respect the leadership of the United States. They just went through the Afghanistan total disaster for no reason whatsoever. We're going to leave Afghanistan, but we're going to leave it with strength and dignity and we're going to keep Bagram, the big air base that one of the biggest air bases in the world. We gave it to him for nothing. We're trying to get it back, by the way. Okay, that could be a little breaking news. We're trying to get it back because they need things from us. We want that base back. But one of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it's an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons.

[Ben Ferguson]

Did you hear the last part there? Did you, did you hear that little last part from Donald Trump?

[Donald Trump]

But one of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it's an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons.

[Ben Ferguson]

It's an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons. You want to know why I'm glad I voted for Donald Trump? This is another example of it. And President Trump announcing that he's trying to get Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan back from the Taliban because China makes its nuclear weapons an hour away is one of the most important national security issues of our time. I want to take you back also to October of last year when Donald Trump on comma and ban and Biden abandoning Bagram Air Base. This was on a campaign stop event.

[Donald Trump]

We left. We spent billions of dollars years ago to build a big air base. And you knew that one from your own time.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yes, I did.

[Donald Trump]

A big one, a really good one. Powerful runways, long runways. And you know what happened? I'll tell you. They, they gave it up and it was one hour away from where China. Bill, forget about Afghanistan. One hour away from where China builds its nuclear weapons. Would have been very nice to have. And China now occupies that air base. So it's terrible. It's terrible.

[Ben Ferguson]

I mean, he was warning you then. Now there are some in the media that are trying to act like this is like some sort of massive shock that the President of the United States of America would be doing this right now. I don't think anybody should be shocked because he said it and talked about it during the campaign. This is what Americans voted for. I, I, I, I, I will go to an article that was on Fox News and here's what they said. President Trump on Thursday says administration is trying to get the former US Bagram airfield in Afghanistan back from the Taliban. In remarks, the press while standing alongside the UK Prime Minister Starmer, the president criticized the handling of the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan under President Joe Biden said he had a little breaking news. We're trying to get it back. We're trying to get it back because they need things from us. Again, this goes back to what I would refer to as the art of the deal. Now, Trump did not expand on whom he was referring to or if referring directly the Taliban, the terrorist organization that took over the country in 2021. What they need we also don't know from the United States of America and that we can dive into speculation on as well. We want the base back, but the one of the reasons we want it back, as you know, it's an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons. Now the White House has said nothing else about this and I think that's on purpose. But let's talk about the lead up to this. In March it was reported that the White House hostage envoy Adam Bowler met in person with Taliban officials at the Kabul International Airport as he worked to secure the release of George Glesman. Now that was significant. Sources also confirmed that this was the first direct meeting between the US Administration and the terrorist run government since the collapse of Kabul in 2021. A report by the AP later said that the Taliban were allegedly interested in normalizing ties with the US after experiencing a virtual geopolitical blackout in international diplomacy over its immense human rights abuses. They also, along with the in this envoy that we had, they apparently met with the Taliban's foreign minister and discuss ways to develop, quote, bilateral relations between the US and the Taliban. They also talked about issues related to citizens and investment opportunities in Afghanistan. Because if we're totally gone, guess what? The void always gets filled with our adversaries, specifically China and Russia. And we know this. The removal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan began during the first Trump administration in March of 2020. It was very clear, as the president put it then Donald Trump, that we need to start looking at a way to get our men and women out. But the way that it was done was shocking by Joe Biden. Open source intelligence showed that the Taliban had been making gains across Afghanistan in the year leading up to the August 2021 withdrawal. Why because they knew we had a weak president and they could get away with it. Under the deal forged by the first Trump administration, the US agreed to withdraw all US forces by May 1st of 2021. Biden extended the withdrawal date to August of 2021. And we know what happened. We know American servicemen were killed by a suicide bomber. We saw the chaos erupting as the president cared more about the date. 9, 11. Having this big moment, right, this big moment where he could say, I got us out of America's longest war. That is what Joe Biden and the left was obsessed with. They didn't care who died. They didn't care if the country fell into chaos. They didn't care about any of it. Now, there's also something else that you need to know about where the President's mindset is when it comes to dealing with terrorists. Donald Trump putting out on true Social quote. On my orders, the Secretary of War ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a designated terrorist organization conducting narco trafficking in the US Southcom area of responsibility. Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics and was transition Transit, transiting along a known narcotic trafficking passage en route to poison Americans. The strike killed three male narco terrorists aboard the vessel, which was in international waters. No US Forces were harmed in the strike. Stop selling fentanyl narcotics and illegal drugs in America and committing violence and terrorism against Americans. I, I go back to the basics on this. This is what the president ran on. He ran on protecting us and having Bagram Air Base, which we already split, shed a lot of blood to build that. We should have never given it to the Taliban. We should have a presence in the Middle east, in Afghanistan with an, with an air base, and especially one hour away from where China is making their nuclear weapons weapons. That is just a solid foreign policy. President's not talking about occupying a country. President's talking about controlling an airfield so that our military is there to strike any terrorist organizations in the Middle East. That would be extremely helpful, by the way. And, and not just that, but also to make sure that we are safe from the threat of China, which is a very, very real threat right now. So I say this present job well done. I, I, I don't care that the media is acting like this isn't happening. Uh, they're never going to give Donald Trump credit for things that he is doing to try to keep us safe. In fact, they'll either gonna not talk about the story or they're gonna try to spend the story into something terrible. That's just what they do. They're gonna try to say that Donald Trump's, you know, meeting with terrorists, that'll be part of what they say. Just get ready for it. It's going to happen. But what the president's actually doing is protecting us on the national security front and everyone should be happy about that. Quick break. Ben Ferguson filling in for the Great One. Don't forget, grab my podcast. I'd love to keep up with each and every day. Ben Ferguson Podcast wherever you get your podcast. And you can send me your comments on X during the break or during the show at benfergusonshow. And if you're one of those on Instagram, we're trying to figure out how many of you guys use it. Follow me during the break. I just want to see benfergusonpodcast on Instagram. We'll be right back.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

When was the last time you bragged about your wireless company? Like, did you know my wireless company gave away a thousand American flags to deserving vets and forgave $10 million in veteran debt? Did you know my wireless company raised almost half a million doll help prevent veteran suicide? In other words, when your wireless company is Pure Talk, there's a whole lot to brag about. You can even brag about the coverage you get with Pure Talk, a 5G network that is insanely fast, dependable and secure. And you can definitely brag about how much money you say with Pure Talk. Unlimited talk, text, plenty of data, just 25 bucks a month, saving the average family over $1,000 a year. It's time to switch to my favorite wireless company, PureTalk. Go to PureTalk.com Lavin and save an additional 50% off your first month. Again, PureTalk.com Levin make the switch today. Pure Talk Wireless. Worth bragging about.

[Ben Ferguson]

By the way. I should have said this earlier. If you have not bought Mark's new book on Power, would you please, like right now, go to Amazon and get it? Because so much of what we're talking about tonight and what's happening in the world as we speak right now is exactly what he was talking about in his book. If you've not read On Power, do it. I have. I think I have every bookmarks ever written, which means I've read every book and there are very few political books that come out that I get excited about. When Mark writes one, I'm excited about it. Do it. Like go get it. It's on Power. It's on Amazon. You will love it. It is a very, very much A cautionary tale of what we're dealing with right now. So grab it wherever you get your book. Sorry, I want to get some of your phone calls. 1877-3813-8118-7733-813, 811. Let me go to Detroit to Tenney. Welcome. Nice to have you with us.

[Caller]

Hi, Ben. I just want to say let the free markets work. Look what happened to Disney last year. Look what happened to Budweiser. We don't need to regulate.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. We need to expose you. Expose the rot. People will turn away from it, and you will see the consequences of that rot. And that's when, if you want to live under regime, then start silencing and censoring because it will come back to haunt you. And I think the cautionary tale as I played for you earlier was Charlie Kirk's words when he was in the uk. I mean, the UK right now. You can get arrested. Not. You can. Let me rephrase that. They are arresting people for things that they've written on social media that was a threat to no one or it was just words that hurt someone's feeling, like, oh, no, we got to put you in jail now. That's what they're doing in the UK as we speak, because they didn't codify free speech.

[Caller]

That's right. And so I hope that somebody, somebody really smart will have the President's ear on this one, because we don't need to be taking away people's licenses and all that stuff. We just need to let the market work and let people say what they want to say, no matter what.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah, I agree with you there, and I appreciate the phone call. Thank you. Good to talk to you. Let me go to Sam in Kansas City, Missouri. Nice to have you with us. Hello.

[Caller]

Dan. Thanks for taking my call. Nice to talk to you.

[Ben Ferguson]

You as well.

[Caller]

All right, I got a quick question, and it's two parts. Do you have Been or Mark's new book? And what do you think of it, if you've gotten into it?

[Ben Ferguson]

I. I have it literally in front of me right now. So one of the cool things there. There's a couple cool things when you get to know Mark. All right, And. And I'm blessed to. To call him a mentor. You get a soft copy and it says embargoed until July 28th of 2025. And it's like a smaller one, and it's, like, got, like. I mean, it's not even, like, bound. Well, you get what I mean? Like, it's literally Like a advanced little copy of the book that you get, which is great because it comes FedEx the door. And I'm like, this is amazing. So the answer is, yes, I have it. And Mr. Producer in this is 9th New York Times bestseller. Am I right about that? I think it was eight before. Now this is. This is ninth. I think it's his ninth. Yeah, it is. So the answer is, yes, I have it. It's here. But I've got the embargoed copy, which is kind of fun. I like collecting those because everybody's like, wait, where'd you get that? And I'm like, I got it from Mark. It's pretty cool.

[Caller]

I bought my copy on. I want to say it was the 4th of August, and I talked to Mark that night, and I said that I wanted to go get another copy for my stepson that's going off to college. And then he's like, let's get his number and we'll send him a copy. So I got that three weeks later, which is any who see if I can make you laugh? See if I can make you laugh first. Before I get to the two points, I told Mr. Paul Screener on when I first heard that Colbert was being canceled and he's gonna be off the air because he lost like 40, $50 million, I'm like, wow, that's like the views annual oats and straw budget, right?

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. There you go.

[Caller]

Okay. Well, my main thing was I wanted to try to say something different than what everybody's been saying about Kimmel being canceled. If you just set aside the political stuff. He hasn't been really funny, honestly comedically funny, in years for being on the air since 2003.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. Oh, I agree. I mean, back in the day, he had a co host. It was on. I think it was on Commie Central before he got this job, if you remember, I call it during the fat camel stage. I can say that because I've. I've been up and down with my weight multiple times in my life, so I can say that. But it was like, when is in his big boy days, he was funny back then. He really was.

[Caller]

Was.

[Ben Ferguson]

He was. It was Corolla, right in that. Right, Ms. Producer, where he did the show with the other guy. I'm trying to remember his name. Yeah, they, like, they were funny. They were irreverent. They were hilarious. It would make you laugh. Then he got over there, and early on, I think he was actually funny. And then he just got into like, hey, I think my opinion matters in politics. And I'm going to start trying to have big influence. And I'm sure it was, you know, people around him in LA were like, oh, my gosh, you're amazing. Way to go after George Bush or way to go after, you know, whoever in the Republican Party is next they wanted to attack. And then he just became insufferable. And now he's just an angry, bitter guy on tv. And that was why his show failed at the end.

[Caller]

Tanked. Completely tanked. And you hit in the last segment on something really important is that, yeah, the FCC cannot be weaponized in either direction because free speech is one of those things. The First Amendment, the entire Bill of Rights and the Constitution as original intent. People should read David Barton's book, How Things Should Be required reading in high school and college political classes. Place those 10 paramount.

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. By the way, David Barton, I've known him since, gosh, I'm not kidding. I think I met him when I was 8 or 9 at our church when he was talking about American history. And I've known him ever since. He does phenomenal work and his books are incredible. You're right there. I appreciate it, Sam. Thank you for listening. 1-877-3813 08:11 Fred San Francisco, nice to have you with us on the Marco Vin Show. Ben Ferguson with you tonight. Hi.

[Caller]

Hi. Yeah, listen, I spent two years in Afghanistan and I've been to Bagram many times. It was built by the Russians, and the Taliban is never going to give it up. They're sick people. What, Trump. I would worship Trump if he would go back in again and beat those Taliban people, send them back to the Stone Age.

[Ben Ferguson]

Let me say this. And if they're not threatening the United States of America, that ain't going to happen, number one. Number two, you're right. Russians started it. But we made Bagraman as something special and we should have never given it up from a national security standpoint. We'll be right back.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

Hey, folks, I've got something you need to hear. It's real raw and it fearlessly cuts through the noise. It's called Frontier by Blaze Media, a fantastic magazine. And issue two is here right now. If you missed the first one, you missed something big. But here's the good news. This one's even sharper, even stronger, packed with stories you won't find anywhere else. Now, Frontier by Blaze Media isn't just a magazine, it's a movement. And in issue two, we're really turning it up, folks. But you can't buy Frontier in stores or online. The only way to get it is with Blaze Unlimited. Blaze Unlimited gives you even more than Frontier, including early access to exclusive events, VIP opportunities, members only content and premium treatment. Go to blazeunlimited.com Levin to subscribe today. Claim your copy. Supplies are limited. Please don't miss out. That's blazeunlimited.com Levin Secure your subscription today. You're gonna love it. Don't just read Frontier. Live it.

[Caller]

He's here.

[Donald Trump]

He's here now, broadcasting from the underground.

[Ben Ferguson]

Command post deep in the bowels of a hidden bunker somewhere under the brick and steel of a nondescript building with We've once again made contact with our leader, Mark Levin. I wish I could say this wasn't predictable, but it is. A group of Chicago Democrats, so demoralized over their powerlessness to stop ICE from enforcing federal immigration law and taking the worst among illegal immigrants off the streets, have now taken to the streets to become violent. A group of Chicago Democrats, angry and decided we're going to take matters into our own hands. They're now taking to the streets as we speak. In the Windy City, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers clash with protesters who were trying to blockade official vehicles, obstruction officers from coming and going, and even slashing police tires outside the Broadview ICE facility as the Trump administration continues its Operation Midway blitz campaign to rid Chicago of the worst of the worst criminal illegals. The protesters became so violent and obstructed and obstructive that ICE officers tossed gas canisters among the crowd to disperse them and and get them back to their protected lines. Video showed the protesters surging forward past protest lines to pressure ICE officers and hamper their movements trying to stop their vehicles. The protesters slashed the tires of federal vehicles as well. Here's how they described it on News Nation when they were talking about this moments ago. You can see this federal vehicle, this government vehicle attempting to get into this facility. And this is what has been happening. So we're going to walk a little bit closer. Come on, let's go this way. We're going to get a little bit closer here so we can see what's going on. We have another vehicle coming out right here.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Watch out for this.

[Ben Ferguson]

So this vehicle is leaving right now without. And now we've got, they've just popped a tire. So you can see this. They just slashed this tire right here of this government vehicle. You've got these guys up on the roof that have pepper ball launchers. This is going to be deployed. They've got that tire slashed here. So they have certainly taken matters into their own hands down here on the protest level. Going from what was pretty calm and peaceful to again, slashing tires, really creating these issues for these federal law enforcement officials. I mean, look up on the roof here, you got three guys now with pepper ball launchers ready to respond to this crowd. Luckily, we didn't have tear gas or anything deployed right there. But now later there was the gas that was deployed. These riots outside the ICE Broadview Processing center and attacks on ICE officers come after the Democratic politicians, including the Governor Pritzker and the mayor, Brandon Johnson, have attacked, vilified, demonize ICE law enforcement. The U.S. department of Homeland Security saying that in a statement moments ago, several arrests we are also being told have been made. And one protester in particular, an extreme left wing candidate for Congress, was tossed the ground when he. When she tried to approach ICE vehicles. Another example of the insanity of the left. Now, the Palestinian activists are also a part of this group. Yeah, you got to wonder, you know, hey, how much of this is like being paid for, right, by dark money? Uh, we also know that this. They're planning more protests to happen throughout the weekend. You have a Chicago alderman proudly telling the news that he attempted to block ICE vehicles during a ride outside the city. This is an elected official. I want to be clear, admitting to what would be a federal crime. I hope that somebody will prosecute him, probably, though not in Chicago. But listen to what this elected official said.

[Charlie Kirk]

We were kind of on the front.

[Ben Ferguson]

Line of it as a vehicle was coming, and so we were looking to block the vehicle. It still kept driving, almost ran over someone. And at that point we started seeing the pellets. So it was tear gas, it was pepper spray. A little mix of both. So you could feel it even under the mask and start coughing and, like, start, you know, spitting out and get everything.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

So you had a mask on at the time?

[Ben Ferguson]

Yeah. So even through the mask, you can.

[Charlie Kirk]

You can feel it.

[Ben Ferguson]

Like right now, I can still feel a little burned in the eye, back of the neck just because of the chemicals themselves. And then just, you know, I was able to walk, clear my head a little bit and grab water. Wanted to take care of myself, but then make sure other people were okay. I mean, these are the elected officials, the Department of Home, the Department of Homeland Security statement also says this, quote, early this morning, over 100 riders surrounded the US Immigration Customs Enforcement Broadview Processing Center. Riders assaulted law enforcement through tear gas cans, slashed tires of cars, blocked the entrance of the building, and trespassed on private Property police under JD Pritzker sanctuary jurisdiction refused to answer multiple calls. You ready for this? For assistance? So they called 911 and because of the governor and the mayor there, they refused to help law enforcement that literally was under attack. So far federal law enforcement arrests have arrested three of the riders. Throughout the morning. Vans have showed up to pick up and drop off riders. This is an organized effort to obstruct ICE law enforcement. I go back to the follow the dark money. Who's paying these people to do it? I want to know. Our ICE enforcement officers are facing more than a, a thousand percent increase in assaults against them. Disturbingly, in recent days two ICE officers have have had cars used as weapons against them. And by the way, Chicago was not the only target of pro legal alien protests of ICE on Friday. Protesters were also arrested in New York City for accosting ICE officers and blockading federal vehicles. I go back to what I said earlier. This is well organized by the left. Who is paying for it? And on the day before, several elected officials in New York were arrested for invading a federal ICE facility and trying to stage a sit down protest. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was one of the protesters arrested for obstructing ICE officers in the performance of their duties. ICE officers arrested a total of 71 people they say during Thursday's protests in New York City alone. Among the other 11 elected officials arrested were a New York State senator, actually multiple and assembly members as well. So this is the new Democratic party. Like they're now saying arrest me. I want to stop federal agents from doing their job and taking criminals off the streets. This is who they are, this is what they believe in. And, and I, anyone that doesn't realize just how radical these people are, you're, you're not paying attention because they are in fact this radical. I want to get your phone calls in here and I want to see what you think about all of this. 1 877-381-3811-877-3813 811 Let me get to your thoughts on this. I'll go to Aaron in Commerce City. Welcome. You are on the Mark Levin show. Ben Ferguson with you. Hello.

[Caller]

Great to talk to you Ben.

[Ben Ferguson]

How are you doing? Well sir.

[Caller]

I wanted to reject your notion that we need to accept some of all of this vile rhetoric for first amendment reasons. There's a concept called moral turpitude and that is basically when you fall outside the societal standards of moral and ethical conduct you are subject to consequences. And I think a lot of this rhetoric, and I think that's what got Charlie Kirk killed, is Democrats running rampant with this vile rhetoric that dehumanizes conservatives and their political enemies to the point that lunatics think that okay. To murder them and assassinate them.

[Ben Ferguson]

All right, so let's break this down and have a grand conversation on this. Okay? Do you believe, Aaron, that I should be able to call you a fascist or should I be arrested?

[Caller]

If you want it. If you not arrested, if you want to stand in front of my face and call me a fascist, you can do that.

[Ben Ferguson]

All right. Should I be able. Hold on. Should I be able to call you a Marxist?

[Caller]

You can call me a Marxist.

[Ben Ferguson]

All right, let me ask you this. Should I be able to call you a Nazi or should I go to jail? If I call you a Nazi.

[Caller]

Why are we suddenly talking about jail? That is a criminal consequence, not a civil.

[Ben Ferguson]

I'm glad you asked that question, because that is exactly what the left is wanting to do. They want to get us to a point where we are criminalizing free speech.

[Caller]

We aren't criminalizing it, though.

[Ben Ferguson]

They will.

[Caller]

They already have. See, this is where I.

[Ben Ferguson]

And that is. And that is my point that I'm making here, which is why I go back to what I said earlier. It. You either have freedom of speech or you don't. And if you start trying to silence and censor people that disagree with you, then it will never end. You will never be able to get that back in the box. You open that box and we do this, I am telling you right now, throughout history, we will end up like the UK and in the UK right now, they're locking up old men in comics for things they said online.

[Caller]

The box is already open. They opened it.

[Ben Ferguson]

All right, so tell me. All right, so then play this out for me. Tell me, best case scenario, what would happen if you were in charge today with what you're describing? Explain to me what that looks like.

[Caller]

If I was in charge today, I would make Democrats subject to the exact thing that they are trying to subject us to. The exact.

[Ben Ferguson]

So give me an example.

[Caller]

People learn by example.

[Ben Ferguson]

Should. Okay, then, should we ban all liberals from social media platforms that celebrated the death of Charlie Kirk?

[Caller]

Should they be banned? No, we need them to continue to speak so we can identify them and issue consequences for their moral turpitude.

[Ben Ferguson]

All right, so you are in favor of free speech then?

[Caller]

I believe they can. They can speak, but they have to face consequences for that speech if they cross over the line.

[Ben Ferguson]

Okay, so let's go to Jimmy Kimmel. Jimmy Kimmel and what he said. Do you think that he should be arrested for that?

[Caller]

Arrested and facing criminal prosecution? No.

[Ben Ferguson]

Okay. Do we have laws in this country, by the way? If you slander a liable somebody that you can sue and usually you can win.

[Caller]

Those. That would be civil consequences. Yes, he should be subject to civil consequences for what he said.

[Ben Ferguson]

Okay, so, so I, I go back to the point that you described on, at the beginning on moral perpetuity. Like, there are people out there that say things that I disagree with all the time. I do not want that to be banned speech. Because once you start banning speech, they're going to start locking us up when they have power. They're going to say that I'm inciting violence as a talk show host. They're going to say that Mark Levin is inciting violence, that Sean Hannity is inciting violence, that Glenn Beck is inciting violence, that Clay and Buck are inciting violence, that the Charlie Kirk's, the Ben Shapiro are inciting violence. And they're going to say, you must take them off the air.

[Caller]

Well, that's, that's the problem. You're saying they're going to do it. And I'm going to say they, they.

[Ben Ferguson]

Wanted, they want to do it, but they haven't been successful. They're having to kill us to silence us. If we go down the road that you're describing, they're going to be able to actually get us off the airwaves.

[Caller]

No, they're not. I reject that because the extent that they've had to go to is murder.

[Ben Ferguson]

All right, so, so let me ask you, let me ask you this. Do you believe that we should force ABCs for every liberal guest they have on. They must have a conservative.

[Caller]

No, I don't. I don't believe in this balanced thing. No.

[Ben Ferguson]

Okay. Do you believe that we should mandate that the view have exactly the same number of conservative guests or conservative hosts as liberal hosts? No.

[Caller]

No, I reject that.

[Ben Ferguson]

Okay, so then what are you advocating for? I'm trying to figure that out.

[Caller]

What I'm advocating for is consequences for immoral behavior by society.

[Ben Ferguson]

So give me an example of someone that that would apply to. What would that look like?

[Caller]

Okay, so the example would be, let's say, for example, Jasmine Crockett.

[Ben Ferguson]

Mm.

[Caller]

Her going out and saying, yeah, the murder. Charlie Kirk was a fascist. He was an evil, he was a Hitler, he was this, that or the other. And so, yeah, he kind of got what he deserved. That inspires others to commit murder. That is incitement.

[Ben Ferguson]

Okay, so what would you have happen to her then?

[Caller]

Person number one, she should be, she should be kicked out of Congress just like they did to that Santa.

[Ben Ferguson]

You think she should be kicked out of Congress for her opinion on Charlie Kirk? Do you understand that Charlie Kirk would never advocate for that?

[Caller]

It's not her opinion. It's for her moral turpitude.

[Ben Ferguson]

Okay, so then who decides what moral turpitude is when it's not us? Okay, so Congress is run by Democrats in a couple of years and they change the definition of what you're saying drastically. And are you going to be okay with that?

[Caller]

They can change it all they want. I mean, they've all they are. They already did it to George, Santa.

[Ben Ferguson]

But do you understand my point? Just, just think about it, okay? Where does this end? Quick break. Ben Ferguson filling in for Mark Levin. We'll be right back. Mark levin.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

Israel is at war with Iran, a nation whose leaders have vowed to wipe Israel and even the United States off the map. In a necessary act of self defense, Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities, military targets and top leadership. Right now the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground preparing large scale distributions of life saving food, first aid and emergency kits, especially to Israel's most vulnerable people, the sick, the elderly, children and families in great need. The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is also making sure that hospitals, emergency rooms and shelters are fully stocked with critical and life saving medical supplies. But the fellowship needs your most generous gift today to make this work possible. Now is the time, ladies and gentlemen, to stand with Israel's most vulnerable to rush your gift. Call 888-585 IFCJ and donate today. That's 888585, IFCJ or online at levin for the fellowship.org that's Levi N for the fellowship.org.

[Ben Ferguson]

Welcome back. It is the Morning Markovin Show. Ben Ferguson filling in for the Great one. Don't forget you can send me all your comments on X. Follow me right now at Ben Ferguson Show. Also grab my podcast if you would. I'd love to keep up with you guys there. I do two of them. One, it's called Verdict with Ted Cruz. I co host with Senator Ted Cruz. I also host the Ben Ferguson Podcast. You can grab it wherever you get your podcast and listen every day. And a cool one I do in the mornings. It's called the 47 Morning Update. It's about 10 minutes long and it is the biggest stories coming out of the White House each and every day. So make sure you grab that one as well. The 47 Morning Update there. All right, I want to get to some of your phone calls. 1-8773-8138-1187-7381-3811. We'll get your reaction to all this. Let me also just say one other thing real quick about Bagram Air Base. Someone said, ben, why do we give a crap about Bagram? We just flew halfway around the world or all the way around the world actually, if you want to be real honest about it. To bomb Iran, that took all of the logistical resources that we could. You could imagine talking to people at the Pentagon like it was a stretch what we did. And we did it, it was amazing with our self bombers and refueling. It was unbelievable. But like if you think that's sustainable to do every day in a war with China, you're wrong. And that's exactly, exactly why Trump said we got to get Bagram Air base back from the Taliban Afghanistan because China makes their nuclear weapons an hour away. I'll be right back.

[Ex Paramount Chief / Senator Elizabeth Warren]

Only murders in the buildings.

[Ben Ferguson]

He's at five. The hit Hulu original is back. The night Buster died, he was talking with this mobster. Was he killed in a hit?

[Charlie Kirk]

We need to go face to face with the mob.

[Ben Ferguson]

Get ready for a season.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

Buongiorno, signore.

[Ben Ferguson]

This is how I die. You can't refuse.

[Caller]

You're gonna save the day like you.

[Ben Ferguson]

Always do by being smart, sharp and.

[Caller]

Almost always by mistake.

[Charlie Kirk]

The Hulu original series only Murders in The Building premieres September 9th.

[Ben Ferguson]

Streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney.

[Charlie Kirk]

Plus for bundle subscribers term supply New episodes Tuesdays.

[Ben Ferguson]

This is the nation's town hall meeting and you can join in at 877-381-3811. All right, welcome back. It is the Marco Ben Show, Ben Ferguson with you. I gotta just tell you, if you guys have never followed Media Research center, they do amazing work. Also news busters, they're under the same umbrella and what they do is they give you data on like what the media is doing and, and some of their lies that they're doing. So CNN sanctimonious Jake Tapper is now referring to newsbusters in the, in a media research center is quote a far right pro Trump group. They were around before Trump was even a conservative. Okay, just to put it in perspective, who conduct, as he described it, non scientific, frankly non credible analysis of network news coverage. And then he proceeds to tell you what their coverage is. Mr. Producer, this one's just for you. President they're saying about TV news networks because he doesn't like what they report. Maybe their license should be taken. Now, we should note first that this 97% figure is wrong. It's actually 92%. And that figure comes from a non scientific, frankly non credible analysis done by a far right pro Trump group looking at the NBC, CBS and ABC evening news broadcast. So to be crystal clear, just to reiterate the point here, this is the President of the United States threatening to use the power the presidency, the Federal Communications Commission or FCC to remove or change new. I love it. They're so freaked out that they're getting exposed for just how biased they are and they're so afraid. Meanwhile, these are the same people that were screaming for censorship, okay, for years, like screaming about it. Now, this all goes back to Donald Trump says, um, he's a very strong person for free speech. He had then immediately said 97% negative coverage of him is something that he believes is concerning, if not illegal. Right? So, so that is what Donald Trump is referring to. Public interest standards. That's something that the liberal media will not tell you that broadcasters must meet to keep using the public airwaves for free. It's called public interest standards. Now this is where I will back Donald Trump on this. And I want you understand this caveat here. It's an important one. As a free speecher. Um, a hundred percent positive coverage of Kamal Harris and 94% negative coverage of Donald Trump serves only as a, a sliver of the population. It, it serves only the extreme left. It does not serve the whole public. And if ABC doesn't want to serve the whole public, by the way, they can quit using our public airwaves. They can move exclusively to cable. And then like at cnn, you can just do whatever the hell you want. Like you can at Fox do whatever the hell you want or Newsmax or OAN or any other channel that's out there, like cable. You can be biased, like msnbc, right? You can be biased as a conservative network. The public airwaves is what the President is talking about, which is where, again, Jake Tapper's just straight up full of crap and doing total propaganda. I also want you to hear what the President said in the White House. He was taking questions on this. Okay? So listen to the words and how he describes what he's saying. Follow up on Charlie Kirk. There's been a lot of talk about free speech this week. Do you see a difference between cancel culture and consequence culture?

[Donald Trump]

I mean, your question's a little trick question. I'm a very strong person for free speech. At the same time, when you have networks that, where I won an election, like in counties, I guess it's 2,600 to 525. That's called landslide. A landslide times two. When you have that kind of, that level of popularity or voter support, as I did in the last election. And yet 97 and 94%, different numbers, you see different numbers with different stats. But 97, 94, 95, 96% of the people are against me in the sense of the, the newscasts are against me. The stories are 90. They said 97% bad, so they gave me 97. They'll take. Make a great story, and they'll make it bad. See, I think that's really illegal, personally. You can't take. You can't have a free airwave. You're getting free airwaves from the United States government, and you can't have that and say, and somebody that just won an election. And I had to go through this during the election, I think it's a miracle that I can win when 97% of the stories on the networks are bad or whatever it may be. Whether it's 89 doesn't matter. It's a tremendous number.

[Ben Ferguson]

If you listen to the President there and you understand what he's saying, he's referring to public interest standards and 100% positive coverage on ABC, NBC, CBS of common 94% negative coverage for Donald Trump. This is a real question that I do believe should be in fact asked. I don't believe this is a crazy thing to act now. Senator Chris Van Hollen putting out total propaganda. And here's what he said today at the Senate as he was losing his mind. This is a lie, but this is the Democratic Party saying it. This new attack on free speech is now accelerating. Trump and his attorney general have vowed to go after groups and organizations whose views they disagree with. Just the other day, FCC chair Brendan Carr threatened Disney, ABC and Jimmy Kimmel. He said, quote, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel, or there's going to be additional work for the FCC ahead. That is a textbook example of violation of the First Amendment. The FCC chair essentially threatening to use his power over licenses and mergers to pressure companies to fire Kimmel. Shamefully, ABC fell in line. They capitulated. They didn't have to, but they did. This legislation that Senator Murphy and the rest of us are introducing will strengthen the ability of individuals and organizations to protect themselves against this abuse of government power and deter government officials from engaging in that effort. By the way, can we just remind you of the guy who's talking right now what he was in favor of? He was in favor of silencing conservatives. He was in favor of Big Tech shutting us down. He was in favor of Donald Trump being taken off all platforms while he was still the President, United States of America. This the guy that was in favor of raiding Donald Trump's home. This the guy in favor of the weaponized weaponization of the federal government to spy on Donald Trump. And now he wants to lecture me about free speech. Like, spare me, dude. Get like, give me a break, man. And now he's like, we're going to introduce legislation to hold Trump accountable, help Americans protect themselves from this abuse of power. You guys abused the government in ways that I didn't even think were imaginable. And you did it every day. And now you're like, oh, we've got it. We, we need to protect the American people. The American people said they wanted protection from you, man. They wanted protection from your party that had lost their damn minds, that were literally spying on political campaigns and trying to lock up the President, United States of America, because he won an election, a free and fair election. And then Jake Tapper saying, oh, this is a non scientific poll. Why? Because you don't, you, you don't like the numbers. How many times have you ever done a positive story on Donald Trump, Jake? It's like a fair question. Now, I don't care because I'm in favor of free speech. But you're also on cable. But if 100% of the time you're in favor of the Democrats and 90% of the time, you're, you're, you're running stories against the Republicans on the free airwaves. Like if ABC wants to be propaganda the way that they are, then like, knock yourself out. Go to, go to cable. Chuck Schumer, by the way, another one of these scumbags in Washington, D.C. listen to him. When Donald Trump and Brendan Carr threatened to take away the licenses of any media company that says something they don't like, our democracy is on the road to dictatorship. Free speech has been a fundamental of this democracy, the core of it for.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

The last two centuries.

[Ben Ferguson]

And they want to undo it by threatening, bludgeoning people so no one in America will be allowed to express themselves freely. That is the road to dictatorship. And they're putting us on it. By the way, just as another point of reference, Chuck, you stayed silent when Biden used 93 federal agencies to silent. To silence, I should say. His opposition. You guys weaponized the entire government. You had the FBI going to threaten and meet with social media companies to tell them literally who was on their list of who they wanted to be censored. The Biden administration was waging war on free speech. They had 57 censorship initiatives. Biden. I mean, Biden's out of office now, right? That's good. But many of his censorship initiatives are still in effect. And that's part of what people need to understand that this, this. This Democratic Party was doing now what they're saying Republicans are doing, even though it's not even accurate to what Republicans are advocating for, because they just have to lie to you 24. 7. We know why Stephen Colbert was fired. It wasn't censorship. It's because he lost his audience and they were losing tens of millions of dollars. We know why Stephen Colbert was suspended indefinitely. It's actually very, very, very, very simple. It's not hard simple like, we know. We know. We know. We know, we know, we know. It's because of what he said about Charlie Kirk. He then refused, right? He refused to apologize and be a human being. And then they said, great, we want to get rid of you because you're not making us money. And when all the network affiliates started lining up saying, we're not taking this. This show anymore. We're done with Jimmy Kimmel. What did Jimmy Kimmel do? He said, the hell with all you. And there's people that, by the way, want me to feel bad for his staff. I hate it when anybody lose their job, okay? I really do. But if you want to blame somebody for losing your job, you need to blame your boss, Jimmy Kimmel. This is no different than when Ellen DeGeneres lost her job. And everybody was like, oh, I'm so sad about it. Like when she lost, you know, when she got basically forced out. Why? Because she was a terrible person that was mean to her staff. And we found out what a bully she was behind the scenes. We witnessed what a terrible bully she was behind the scenes. And everybody's like, well, you shouldn't be. You should be feeling sorry for the employees. I do, but whose fault is it? It Jimmy Kimmel and the people that wrote the monologue, lying to the American people about the assassin and the death of Charlie Kirk and basically blaming Charlie Kirk for his own death and Donald Trump, like, those are the people that should be blamed for all the jobs that were lost. That's just the truth. I mean, that's the reality of this situation. America isn't putting up with this anymore. We are seeing the pendulum switch in a very big way. 1-877-3813 08:11 Ben Ferguson filling in for the Great One. We'll be right back. Mark Le Begin Foreign.

[Heritage Foundation Announcer]

This episode is.

[Ben Ferguson]

Brought to you by FXX and Hulu.

[Charlie Kirk]

An all new season of Futurama is back. Blending heartfelt moments with razor sharp humor.

[Ben Ferguson]

While accidentally saving the day.

[Charlie Kirk]

The Planet Express crew is back, defying.

[Ben Ferguson]

Gravity and common sense.

[Charlie Kirk]

From the creator of The Simpsons comes.

[Ben Ferguson]

10 new episodes where the romance is.

[Charlie Kirk]

Hotter, the threats are bigger and the action hits harder. Don't miss the all new season of Futurama. Watch it Mondays on FXX or streaming on Hulu.

[Ben Ferguson]

Welcome back. It is the Mark of Incho, Ben Ferguson filling in for the Great One who's been in Israel. He'll be back with you next week as many of us are getting ready for the funeral of Charlie Kirk. And I will be there for that funeral out in out in Arizona. I'll also be doing some of the of the coverage on Fox News channel. So make sure you watch there from the stadium. I want to just remind you real quick of what Charlie Kirk said on his final trip to Britain. He was in Britain warning about what they were doing with free speech. He was on GB News. I do that a lot. And right now in Britain it is a scary time if you're a free speecher because free speech doesn't exist. And I want you to hear what Charlie had to say. He was over there in the UK and part of the reason why I went over there is I think to warn them. Like you guys are going down a dark and scary path, a path that is going to hurt a lot of people and it's also going to hurt your country. Take a listen.

[Charlie Kirk]

Have you had a lady called Lucy Connolly since you've been here? Of course. I talked about her yesterday and no one knew what I was talking about in Cambridge. Who are you talking about? The students didn't know I mentioned her because I did the research. My team did an amazing job and I think she just had her petition denied in the last hour or so today.

[Ben Ferguson]

It's Tuesday today.

[Charlie Kirk]

She's had her appeal denied. So she's going to be carrying out her two and a half year sentence for solitary tweets. So she deleted four, four hours later. What's your take on the whole situation? I'm going to try to get the U.S. state Department involved. I don't know if you know what their bandwidth is here. But I'm sorry, like, again, I'm speaking a citizen, not as US Government. I just want to be very clear. Like, is this a way that a liberal democracy and an ally of the United States acts? Just to be clear, what she said would not be any prison time in America. I don't like what she said, but she showed contrition. Well, there's two parts. The first part where she said, like, I don't want immigrants in my country. Perfectly acceptable. That's fine. You'd say that. You're allowed to have that. I think there was one part about, like, potentially, like, violent. Whatever she said. Let me. Yeah, I want to be clear.

[Ben Ferguson]

So.

[Charlie Kirk]

So I think. I think by the time she sent the tweets, some asylum hotels were in the midst of being burnt down or their Molotovs thrown through a window. She tweeted, burn them down for all I care. You're allowed to say that in America.

[Ben Ferguson]

So.

[Charlie Kirk]

So the argument is, was she inciting violence or was she reacting to the images she was saying? And by the way, just to be clear, you guys have the wrong incitement threshold. In America, you need to have specific time and specific place in order to reach the incitement threshold. Every day people say, you know, well, someone should go kill Charlie Kirk. I don't like it, but that's protected speech. In America, we care about what you do, not about what you say. And then she showed contrition and she apologized. And from my understanding, when the police force showed up to her door, they asked her questions, being like, you know, do you think that. Do you hate immigrants? No. She gave, like, very satisfactory answers, and they still arrested her. And I just find it so outrageous that she's going to now jail for two and a half years for a deleted social media post that she apologized for. As you guys have birthed free speech, the world, you now guys are becoming a totalitarian country.

[Ben Ferguson]

You're now becoming a totalitarian country. This is what happens when you don't protect free speech. Charlie tweeted out once. Free speech is not just saying what you want to say, but it is having to hear things you don't want to hear. I think we all should take a moment and remember that it is. It is having to hear things you don't want to hear, but when you can hear things you don't want to hear, you know that free speech is alive. And I do believe we are at a crossroads right now in this country, I really do, where we are either in favor of free speech or we're not. Like, straight up, it's one of the two folks. You're either in favor of free speech or you're not. There is no okay. There is no in between on this. Because once you lose free speech, it's game over forever. And you think it may only happen in countries like Russia or China or North Korea. No. What we're talking about right now is happening right now in the UK One of our strongest allies in the country that birthed free speech. God bless you guys. See you back here soon.