Donald Trump (7:25)

He said, ben, Ben, you want to know why? Why Vladimir never invaded Ukraine when I was president? You want to know?

Ben Shapiro (7:32)

And I said, yes, Mr. President.

Donald Trump (7:34)

He said, well, because I talked to Vladimir, I said, vlad, Vlad, if you, Vlad, if you go into Ukraine, I'm gonna bomb the out of you.

Ben Shapiro (7:47)

And President Trump continued the story.

Donald Trump (7:49)

And Vladimir said back to me, no.

Ben Shapiro (7:50)

You aren't, Mr. President.

Donald Trump (7:51)

And I said, well, I might.

Ben Shapiro (7:56)

And then President Trump said, quite correctly, if there is a 5% chance that that is going to happen, you don't do the thing. This is the thing that President Trump knows, because he is a man who is credible on foreign policy. He's not like our current dead president. Usually. Maybe he'll end up on a dollar bill or something, because usually I should be actually dead to get on dollar bill. Joe Biden has been dead for a while, so he might make it onto a dollar at some point. In any case, our currently dead president says things like, don't, and then the rest of the world just does. Meanwhile, President Trump says that, and the rest of the world goes, ooh, I don't know. This could get ugly. When we talk about President Trump's foreign policy, it is not isolationism. He believes in an America first foreign policy. And here's what I think that he means pretty clearly from his foreign policy in his first term. He means three things. One, America's interests are first. Now, this should be obvious. America's interests are paramount. Obviously, this should be a truism. American citizens come first, right? We're Americans. We come first. This is America. Welcome to America. Right? America first does not mean that America has no interests in the rest of the world. I can name off the interests America has in the rest of the world. We have an interest, for example, in seeing that Mexico doesn't ship a bunch of fentanyl up through our border. We have an interest in making sure that China doesn't take control of the trade routes through the Taiwan strait, to which 92% of world shipping goes. We have an interest in ensuring that China doesn't shift the precursors for fentanyl over to Mexico. We have an interest in ensuring that Iran doesn't threaten American allies. We have an interest in all of those things. Now, that brings us to point 2. America's interests have to be carefully calibrated to our investments in them. That doesn't mean that every solution is the same. So there are lots of bad things happening all over the world at all times. If America only has a minor interest in a thing happening on another side of the world, we ought not get involved in that thing. Conversely, if we do have an interest in the other side of the world or close to home, then not only ought we to get involved, we ought to do it in the most efficient possible manner. Which brings us to point number three. When America's interests are on the table, all measures and means necessary to achieve those interests are on the table. That is why President Trump has been hyper consistent in his application of foreign policy. Contrary to popular left wing opinion that he's sort of throwing darts at a board or something, that is not true at all. President Trump wants America's allies to be strong enough to stand on their own. President Trump wants to make sure that America's enemies are in retreat. Why? Because anything else wouldn't be America winning. And President Trump wants America to win. And then there's the American Dream. Now, the American Dream has sort of been perverted in the United States over the course of the last few decades, but I think it's a pretty obvious dream. It's a dream to get married, to have kids, to be able to live in a community that worships the God that you love, to be able to build a business that you want to build and make that business successful and hire other people to give charity, to stand up for your country. These are all the things that are elements of the American dream. There were always the American Dream, and yet we were told that the American dream is weird. We were told that all of this was weird. I've never seen a bigger political misstep than the entire Democrat media. Human centipede declaring that J.D. vance was weird. The Vice President Elect is the least weird person I have ever personally met. That is the most bizarre statement. They trotted out the human inflatable Tim Walls to flail his arms like he's in a car lot off the side of a freeway and pretend that it was masculinity, when apparently he has no bones in his wrists and somehow he wasn't weird. They trotted out Doug Emhoff, who, you know, may or may not have assaulted some ex girlfriends, a question that the media were totally uninterested in investigating. Of course they tried it out. Doug Emhoff. I have personal irritation with Doug Imhoff of everybody in the Biden orbit. I hate Doug Mhoff the most, just as a Jew. He drives me up. He drops me up a wall. He drives me up a wall. Doug Emhoff represents Judaism like Osama bin Laden represents Christianity. Okay? In any case, they tried out these guys and they're like, this is the new masculinity. And JD Vance, that weirdo with his picture perfect family and his beautiful wife and his nice kids, living in a nice house, having grown up in really, really horrifying circumstances, you should read his great book, Hillbilly Elegy. And then having built companies, gone to Yale Law School, served in the military, he is the apotheosis of what the American dream looks like. The vice President elect. And some of them are like, that guy's weird. Here's the thing. We are now in the middle of a normie revolution because it turns out a lot of us are normies. A lot of us just want a quiet, good life where we build things and we get to engage in the greatest economy in the history of the world and we get to live secure in our own place of residence. Let's. We don't have to worry about walking out on the street and being physically assaulted by someone. These are all very, very normal desires and very normal dreams. And that's the American dream. And the left had lost it in so many ways. The left had lost it in so many ways. I remember I was in Los Angeles. I grew up in la. I was in Los Angeles fairly recently. I left LA because LA has turned into a complete donkey. It's just horrifying. And I went back, we went out with some friends. I go down the street with my wife, and we have our 24. 7 security, which we need, unfortunately. And on the other side of the street, our friends go. They go out, three cars down, a car pulls up right in front of them. Three guys jump out of the car and immediately rob. Immediately rob. My friend and his wife. This happened, like, in a very nice area of Los Angeles. This is not normal. So the left kept saying about Donald Trump, he's not normal. Here's the thing. The America he stands for is normal. The America he stands for is good. The America he stands for is great because it is good. So that's why I'm in a good mood, because we're actually winning. But here's the thing. Winning requires constant work. One of the questions that my business partner and I constantly ask ourselves when it comes to the success of Daily Wire, and thank God, it's been unbelievably successful. One of the questions that Jeremy Boring and Caleb Robinson and I, we all ask ourselves, are we good at this, or is everyone else just not very good at this? And the same question should be asked in politics on a constant basis, are we really good at this, or are the other guys just really crappy at this? Now, let's be real. The other guys are super crappy at this. Okay? They literally ran a corpse. And then when it turned out that everybody found out he was a corpse because he died on stage with President Trump, they then decided to swap him out for a potato of a human, a person who is physically incapable of uttering coherent sentences. And so I think the question we have to ask ourselves is, how do we retain the momentum? And the answer is, we do the right things. We do all the things that President Trump has already promised he's going to do. And here's the thing. I think that he's going to do all those things because President Trump keeps his promises. Now, I've talked about this before. My evolution. Now, I have evolved on President Trump. As many people in this room know. In 2016, I didn't vote for either candidate because I didn't know if President Trump was going to be conservative. And I said at the time I doubted that he would. And then right away, he nominated Justice Gorsuch. And I put on a MAGA hat, like, one month into his presidency. And then in 2020, obviously, I backed him and I supported him and I voted for him. And in 2024, I backed him. I gave money to his campaign, I fundraised for him. I campaigned in six states. I went with him personally to an October 7th tribute. That's not because I'm doing anything great. It's because he is doing something great. And if we back him and if he does the right things, which I think he will, I believe he will. I actually know he will. If he does those things, then he is totally correct. America will be great again. The great American comeback is on. A new golden age is just beginning.

Audience Member 1 (16:00)

Hi, Ben. I appreciate all the work you've done, done with the Daily Wire and everything. You're a great guy, man.

Ben Shapiro (16:05)

Look at this guy.

Audience Member 1 (16:06)

Great person. So my question for you is, when you talk about Trump's and his economy policy, I think the biggest thing that I hear all my friends and everyone talking about is tariffs. So if. If what Trump says on tariffs really is so true, you know, want 60% on China and just 20% base.

Ben Shapiro (16:25)

The.

Audience Member 1 (16:26)

The biggest I can think of in front of research is from 1828, when they passed 50% tariff policy. So do you think Trump's right in his tariff policy? And if so, why hasn't any president proposed something similar?

Ben Shapiro (16:36)

Okay, so he's asking about Donald Trump's tariff policy. Here's what I think. I'm going to go back to my original statement about Donald Trump and the economy. Donald Trump cares about one thing, and that is winning. Okay? What that means is that if tariffs are in fact inflationary, if they are in fact a problem, then he is not going to do them. But the tariffs are really designed not because tariffs are like fun and games. Tariffs are designed for President Trump as leverage. There is no one in the history of American politics who has used leverage better than President Trump. He uses tariffs as a way of threatening countries to do what he wants. So I'll give you a story. I won't give you the source on the story because I don't want to betray confidence, but it's a great story, so I'm going to tell it anyway. Okay? So this is a story I'd never heard anyone before. Here's the story. President Trump's meeting with Justin Trudeau, who may or may not be Fidel Castro's son. In any case, by the way, he's totally Fidel Castro's son. Anyway, he's meeting with Justin Trudeau, apparently during the first administration, and he is asking for a bunch of things right, for Canada to do. And Trudeau doesn't want to give all of them. So Trump says to his people, bring.

Donald Trump (17:35)

Bring Justin here. Bring Justin to me.

Ben Shapiro (17:37)

So, apparently, they sit across from one another and Trudeau is talking with the president. And President Trump says, justin, I want you to tell me, if there were.

Donald Trump (17:45)

One thing I could do tomorrow to completely wreck the Canadian economy, what would it be?

Ben Shapiro (17:51)

And Trudeau goes, Well, I mean, Mr. President, there are a lot of things. You're a very powerful country, but, you know, if you tariffed our cars, it would be really, really bad. And Trump goes, justin, I want to.

Donald Trump (17:59)

Teach you a lesson. The first thing not to do in a negotiation is answer the question. If you could do one thing to destroy me, what would it be?

Ben Shapiro (18:11)

So, of course. And President Trump continued, I don't care about Canada.

Donald Trump (18:14)

I only care about America. So I'm gonna tariff all your cars unless you give me what you want.

Ben Shapiro (18:21)

He got what he wanted, okay? That's how I think President Trump thinks about tariffs. Hey.

Audience Member 2 (18:33)

Hey, Ben. Super easy, fun question. After your review of Wicked and hearing you were a musical theater enthusiast as well, I gotta know what your favorite musical Theater performance is.

Ben Shapiro (18:44)

Well, I'm sorry, I missed the last part of the question.

Audience Member 2 (18:46)

What's your favorite, like, musical theater performance?

Ben Shapiro (18:48)

Oh, it's my favorite musical theater performance, man. Guys, I'm straight. I'm just gonna put that out there right now. I have four kids as proof of this fact, okay? But my favorite musical theater performance. So I will say the most brilliant musical ever written is Sweeney Todd. My personal favorite musical is 1776. Every year when I was a kid, I dressed up as John Adams from the musical 1776 for the parents in the room for Halloween. Not just on a daily basis, for all the parents in the room. If you want to show your kids something super patriotic for July 4th, go show them the original musical of 1776. It's terrific. Hey, Ben, I'm from Western Pennsylvania, near Butler. What was your first reaction when you heard Trump was shot? Oh, man. So, I mean, my first reaction is it was actually on a Shabbat. It was on a Saturday for me, so I couldn't actually check the news. My security came to me, and they said, the president's been shot. And I said, well, is he alive? Right? I mean, you got lead with the news, right? Lead with, he's alive, but he's been shot. My first reaction was that God clearly wanted Donald Trump to be president. I'm dead serious, because there is no way to watch that take. There's just no way. And see what happened and see how close we came to the president's brains being splattered on a stage on national television and not think that God physically reached his hand down into the world and took President Trump's head and went. That was legitimately my first time. I was actually. It scared the hell out of me. But in a certain way, it was sort of comforting, because when you see an open miracle, which is what I actually think that was, there's no way that shot should have missed when I see it. And that's, you know, obviously, it's a tragedy. There are people who are killed, and our condolences go to the families, and we give money to the families. Okay. But when you see something like that, an open miracle like that, the first thing that you have to think is, God's hand. Hand is present in the world, and for whatever reason, God's hand is on Donald Trump. So I actually have a much more difficult question, unfortunately, with President Trump coming in. How do you think he'll support Israel's war against Hezbollah and all their enemies, and how you think that will go? Okay, so I Think that President Trump, when it comes to the war that Israel is currently waging against Hezbollah, waging against Hamas. As I say, President Trump's metric is winning, okay? And because he wants America's allies to win and Israel is an American ally, I think that he will stop slow walking aid to the Israelis. They can finish the war and finish it fast. He's expressed this many times over. This, by the way, would be the proper solution given that Hamas is an evil terrorist group that is currently holding four American citizens hostage and Hezbollah has killed literally hundreds of American citizens and Iran has killed thousands of American citizens. Now, I don't think that President Trump wants heavy involvement in the Middle East. In fact, I know he doesn't. But this is the beautiful thing about having strong allies. When you actually allow them to do the things they have to do, they win. And what Israel is doing right now is winning. And that is a good thing. It is a good thing for the world that Israel is winning. I have a kind of controversial question.

Audience Member 1 (21:58)

Who do you believe the greatest pound.

Ben Shapiro (22:00)

For pound fighter of all time is? I'm sorry, the greatest pound per pound per pound fighter of all time. Oh, wow. The greatest pound for pound boxer of all time. I mean, strong case for Sugar Ray Leonard. Strong case for. I mean, Rocky Marciano obviously has undefeated record, but he didn't really fight that many great fighters. But, you know, I'm not sure how many people are into boxing arcana, so we'll leave it at that.

Audience Member 3 (22:30)

Hey, so my name is Sam. One issue that I'm seeing here that I don't think is getting enough attention is the fact that India and Pakistan and various other countries like that are getting billions and billions of dollars from scamming Americans through robocalls and scam calls. And I really don't think it's getting enough attention. And what can we do about that?

Ben Shapiro (22:50)

Well, I mean, I think first of all, when it comes to, you know, powers like India, certainly we can use economic leverage to get a crackdown on those sorts of activities. And I would hope that the President does a lot of those things. I think that he will. I also think that when it comes to, you know, the intelligence community, there are things the intelligence community can do in gathering information about the criminals who are currently perpetrating this sort of stuff. Which is why, for example, Tulsi Gabbard should be approved as DNI.

Audience Member 4 (23:18)

Hello, Mr. Shapiro. My name is Ian O'Neill. First of all, I want to thank Mr. Kirk and you because I used to be deep blue in my Ideology. And I used to be a self proclaimed socialist.

Ben Shapiro (23:30)

Well, thank you.

Audience Member 4 (23:36)

And my main question to you, Mr. Shapiro, is do you believe that generation, Citizens Z will be the great next greatest generation of the United States of America?

Ben Shapiro (23:48)

So we're going to find out whether Generation Z will be the next greatest generation. I got to hand it to my boys and millennials, we showed up this election cycle. But yes, I think that there is a backlash and it's coming strong inside Generation Z. I think right now you're seeing a radical polarization inside Generation Z. It's incredibly polarized. You're either seeing blue haired woke libs or you're seeing rock ribbed maga hatted Republicans. A lot of that tends to be gender gapped. But I do think that as the left continues to follow this pathway into nothingness and as people get older and as they start to get married and start to pursue actual purpose in the world, they will become more conservative. So I think there's every opportunity to do that thanks to organizations like Turning Point and the hard work that the people in this room have done. I want to get to that question, but there's a girl over here who really wants to ask a question. So, hey, how do you feel about.

Audience Member 5 (24:36)

The impossible, possibly implementing Bible teachings in public schools as a Jew?

Ben Shapiro (24:42)

Oh, okay. So the question was, how do I feel about people implementing Bible teaching in schools as a Jew? I think it's great. I think they should, you know. So the Bible is the seminal document of Western civilization. You literally cannot be literate without knowing the Bible. The fact that everyone is treating the Bible as just sort of another document or as just a religious text misses the entire point, which is that all of America is built on biblical values. All of it. Hi. I was just very curious, given your.

Audience Member 4 (25:20)

Stance on sending money to like Eastern Europe with Ukraine, why are you such a proponent for sending money to the Middle East?

Ben Shapiro (25:26)

So the truth is that I'm very much in favor of sending money where I think it will be useful. So the big problem with sending money to Ukraine right now is that the Europeans really should be paying their freight and also that you have to have an off ramp in Ukraine. I'm actually not a proponent, for example, of completely cutting off Ukraine if it means Vladimir Putin walking through Kiev. And actually, President Trump has said something very similar. What he wants is for the Europeans to actually pay their freight. He wants the Europeans to up their spending. When it comes to the situation in the Middle East, I've said a thousand times, and I will continue to say Israel should get off American aid as soon as humanly possible. They're in the middle of an existential war right now. And so now would be a particularly poor time to do it given the fact that President Biden has slow walked the aid. But having talked not only to American legislators, but also to a number of members of the Israeli government, the only thing I say to them is it is good for you and it is much better for America for you to get the hell off of American aid. Stop being on American aid. I really believe that America needs to stop giving as much aid all over the world to a wide variety of places. Oh, sorry. Yeah, you go. And then we'll get this guy. So my name is Kaiser Williams, and I've been told that my first name is offensive and that I should be called by my middle name. Do you take offense to my first name? Why would I possibly take offense to your middle. Your first name? It'll be a real irony if it turns out your middle name is Hitler or something. But it's not. But no, I think I figured not like, that's so stupid. There are so many. There's so many great names to take offense at. Like, for example, Cardi B.

Audience Member 3 (27:07)

Yeah, staying right there.

Ben Shapiro (27:10)

Okay, so the question was, who's going to be a Democratic nominee in 2028? I don't know, man. That bench is looking real thin. The Democratic nominee in 2020. The Democratic nominee in 2028. So, well, let's see. Who do they have? They have the mayor of a small town who is gay and likes choo choos. He buttigieg. They have. Kamala might not go away. She's talking about running again, which, God willing, you know, I will donate to that primary campaign. I would love to see her try. There's been some talk about JB Pritzker who has to be lowered into the Illinois Capitol by Crane. There's been some talk about the genderless Ken doll that is Gavin Newsom in California. Again, this is. And of course, there's the somewhat routinely wasted appearing bartender aoc. So it's not. It's not like an amazing. It's not an amazing bench is. I guess what I'm saying right now. I have no idea. But none of them look particularly good.

Audience Member 2 (28:10)

Hi, Ben. My name is Grace Hosmonik and I want to thank you personally for making me a conserve. I was a socialist and an atheist for 10 years, and because of you, the people of Zaywire, I became a Christian and a conservative. My question for you, Ben, is are you concerned like I am that the pendulum will swing in kind in 2028. The Democrats will come back strong, stronger, harder and better than they were in 2024.

Ben Shapiro (28:46)

So, yes. I mean, the answer is yes. And I think that everyone in the room should be worried about that, which is why we should work hard to make sure it doesn't happen. Right. I tend to be a worrier and sometimes worry is the first step at actually planning for the countermeasure. The best countermeasure is going to be success. I don't think it's going to happen because I think President Trump is going to have an incredibly successful presidency. But that does mean a few things. It means, for example, that Congress has to be on the same page as the president. It does mean that Republicans and the president need to work in concert with one another because they have an incredibly slim majority in the House. And as I've said before, when it comes to politics, you know, politics is not just a matter of sort of sheer willpower. You actually have to have some give and some take, and it gets pretty ugly sometimes. There's a lot of sausage that has to be made. Okay? But I do think that this is going to be a really successful presidency and that will be the best comeback to the possibility of a Democratic resurgence. I think they suck at everything, and I do trust they will continue to suck at most things. This will be the last question. Sorry, she's been waiting. This will be the last question as well.

Audience Member 5 (29:50)

Hi, Ben. My name is Rachel. I am from the blue state of Maine. I've been a fan of you for a long time. So this is a dream come true to ask this question and say hello. My question to you is, as you know, New England was of those few places in the country that stayed blue this election. So how can we make New England great again?

Ben Shapiro (30:15)

So, number one, number one, New Hampshire came very, very close to turning red. That was a very good. That state came very close to turning red. However, what I will say is that in deep blue states, right, I was from a deep blue state. I was from California and then I left because it was terrible. And I went to Florida, which is an amazing state. And so if you are in a purple state, I think that you can turn that state red. If you're in a blue leaning state like Virginia, I think there's a possibility that from time to time it'll turn red. I think if you're in a deep blue state, you should get your ass out of there and move to a red state. And the reason. And the reason I. The reason I say that is because here's some good news. You want a piece of good news? Here's a piece of really good news. Okay? So they screwed up the 2020 census, okay? They really did. They actually screwed this up. The Biden administration acknowledged they screw up the 2020 census. If they had done the 2020 census properly, that would have meant that electoral votes would have shifted from New York, Connecticut, Illinois, California, to Florida, Texas, and Arizona. Which means if they had done the census properly in 2020, Trump would have won without winning any of the blue wall states. That means by 2030, Republicans are in a commanding electoral college position. So come on down. It's great. Okay, so I just want to finish with this note, guys. The future of the country is not just President Trump. The future of the country is in this room. It's on both sides of me. It's these young people here. It's the people who are in the audience who are building the businesses and creating the educational institutions that are building the social fabric of the country. The future of the country is beginning right now. And 100 years from now, people are going to look back to this inflection point in American history and they're going to say, wow, President Trump was right. Not just about his own candidacy, but about the American people. The American people. We kick ass. The American people are so great, and we are making the country great again. Thanks so much, guys. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you.