Ben Shapiro (28:59)
Again, he doesn't mean that in terms of military reinforcements. He just means that the Republican Senate is not going to be standing for the kind of trash being pushed by the outgoing Biden administration. The backlash is here. That is also true with Regards to economics, the Biden administration decided that the way to actually heal the American economy was, was to artificially boost the price of labor. That is why you saw Joe Biden on, for example, picket lines. It's why you saw Joe Biden intervene multiple times in labor disputes on behalf of unions that were paying the freight for his reelect campaign. It's why Joe Biden decided to blow trillions of dollars into an already overheated economy. Well, the American people were tired of that. They didn't like it very much. And the thing about Donald Trump is he is an economic pragmatist. He will do what works. So there's been all this talk, this loose talk about how Donald Trump is going to levy 20% tariffs across the board no matter what. And let me be real about this, he ain't going to do that. What he's going to do is what he thinks is going to make the economy stronger. Because what Donald Trump understands better than virtually anyone in American politics is that the only solution is victory. What works is what works. If tariffs are going to damage the economy, he ain't going to do it. And if tariffs are going to help the economy, he's going to do it. If tariffs are leverage against foreign opposition, he will use them. And if they turn out to be useless, he will not use them. Which is why he's currently considering a person named Kevin Warsh as a new candidate to serve as Treasury Secretary. According to Politico, Warsh, who's a leading contender for the job, once served in President George W. Bush's White House and then as the youngest Federal Reserve Board member in the central bank's history. He has spoken about the importance of free trade, the political independence of the Fed and a strong dollar. Warsh has a few things in common with the President, however. Wall street would love it if he got the job. His father in law, Ronald Lauder, is a decades long friend of President Trump. He's already playing a key role within the transition. Even some of the most populous members of Trump's coalition are embracing him. One former Trump administration official said, quote, bringing people like Kevin in would demonstrate that the broad coalition of support Trump has assembled across the country is equally broad among those in the business world. Now, again, there is some blowback to some of the more tariff friendly members of the Trump administration. However, the reality is that even if Donald Trump were to pick Warsh, that doesn't mean he's necessarily going to be pro free trade. He's going to do what he feels he has to do remember, he used all this language about tariffs the first time around and then he used it mainly as leverage to get America's geopolitical opponents over the table. Meanwhile, Howard Lutnick, who had been considered as a possible treasury secretary, has been tapped as Commerce secretary. Again, that, that's a pick that makes some sense. According to Politico, Trump put out a statement saying, quote, lutnik will lead our tariff and trade agenda with additional responsibility for the office of the United States Trade representative. Senator Cynthia Loomis suggested, quote, he has been outrageously successful in life under the most adverse setback on your heel circumstance that life can throw at you. And that's a reference to the fact that he rebuilt cancer Fitzgerald after September 11th. That was the terrorist attack that killed 658 of the company's employees, including his own brother. Loomis wrote, quote, howard rebuilt the business to the powerhouse it is again today and helped make the families who lost loved ones whole financially. So this is a guy who has both a heart and a drive to succeed. So again, Trump is putting together a very solid team here. The team is about breaking things and moving quickly. That is what it is about. And the world is already responding. In just one moment, we'll get ready for a world that knows a new sheriff is on the way. We'll get to that in a moment. First, today we are celebrating a monumental achievement by one of the most prominent and influential voices of our time, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson. He has officially reached his 500th show episode. That is correct. 500 episodes of brilliant, thought provoking, life changing conversations. It's all available right now at Daily Wire, including his Mastering Life series. It's your personal roadmap to building a life of purpose, strength and meaning. Coming December 1st, Dr. Peterson is releasing his highly anticipated 10 part biblical series Gospels exclusively at Daily Wire. Plus, head on over to Daily Wire plus right now. Celebrate Dr. Peterson's 500th episode with us today. Meanwhile, the world is already adjusting to President Trump. It's like Joe Biden never existed. I know. It's like his worst nightmare. Joe Biden, you know, he thinks that he built himself a legacy. And then of course, he was ousted for Kamala Harris. And now he has disappeared into the wilderness, never to be heard from again. But the world is just going right back to what it was before, namely more peaceful and more afraid of America, which is not a coincidence. More afraid of America generally means more peaceful. That is the way the world works. It is unfortunate that that is so. It also happens to be the reality on a business level. According to the Wall Street Journal, businesses are already beginning to stock up on imported goods before Donald Trump dumps tariffs on China. They're also considering how to cope with the levies, if and when enacted, whether they will be able to raise prices, whether they will need to find alternatives to their Chinese manufacturers. When Trump began his trade war against China in 2018, US businesses scrambled to frontload imports before tariffs were implemented, according to the IMF. As a result, the US's trade deficit with China rose in 2018 before falling in 2019. Already, exports from China surged last month. Some economists think that was driven, at least in part, by frontloading people buying the stuff before they think it's going to be tariffed. But all of that is simply a predicate to what happens next. There's a shifting of production outside of China. China is still the world's top exporter of goods, and the US is still its top buyer. American companies bought roughly $430 billion of Chinese goods last year. Computer and electronic products make up the biggest chunk of that. But cut off the American markets to the Chinese, and they do actually have a problem. There's been a lot of talk about China having other markets. That, of course, is true. They've cultivated Latin America, they've cultivated parts of Africa. The United States is an extremely rich market for Chinese product. And we shouldn't just be using our leverage against China, we should be using our leverage against Europe to use against China, because the Western world has to be unified against the Chinese aggression that is burgeoning in the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits. Otherwise, we're going to sleepwalk our way right into a war. The way that actual World War 3 happens is not by simple accident. It happens when one power actually believes the other power is not going to move or that they have an advantage in moving first. That is how world wars actually happen. They work out of hope. It's not like somebody just fires a shot and magically World War 3 breaks out. Typically, the situation has to be right in order for everybody to go weapons up. And that's usually when one side misperceives its own strength. Well, if the United States flexes muscle, it'll be much more difficult for China to misperceive its own strength. According to the Wall Street Journal, some economists doubt the US will succeed in raising tariffs to 60% across the board on Chinese products. But economists at Goldman Sachs predict additional duties on China could average out to a 20 percentage point increase in the effective tariff rate, which would be really, really significant. Now, what does that mean? Well, obviously, listen, for American consumers, it means higher prices because that's what tariffs are. It also means a rethinking of America's national security needs vis a vis China, which is a good thing. And this also means the United States is going to have to, as I say, increase its leverage on other countries with how they deal with China. According to the New York Times, as they gathered this week in South America, many of the world's leaders were engaged in a delicate diplomatic dance with President Xi Jinping of China. Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, called for a consistent, durable relationship with China. Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, pledged to be patient, calibrated and deliberate. President Biden promised not to let competition veer into conflict. As the United States makes a transition from Biden to Trump. Presidents and prime ministers around the world are searching for stability, particularly when it comes to China. Xi told Biden he wanted to maintain a stable, healthy, sustainable relationship with the United States. But potential conflicts with China loom on human rights, the fate of Taiwan, technology, competition, cyberattacks, aid to Russia, and tariffs. So the term that's been used for the Trump administration policy on China is decoupling. And that is something that absolutely should be pursued with alacrity because continuing to feed the alligator, hoping it will eat you last is an extraordinarily poor strategy. Now Xi is issuing warnings to other people in attendance, according to the New York Times, while promising to abide by a commitment to, quote, mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and winning cooperation. The Chinese leader also said, quote, our position of resolutely safeguarding China's sovereignty, security and development interests remains unchanged. Again, this is a place where Donald Trump has led historically. He's going to lead again on this. Donald Trump almost single handedly drove a bipartisan move against China during his first term. That's a very real thing. By the way. I know congresspeople on both sides of the aisle, there are very few things on which they agree. The one thing they agree on is the rising threat of China. Again, this is one of the reasons why I think that Pete Hegseth is going to make a great secretary of Defense and why I'm urging him to pick as Secretary of the Navy, Mike Gallagher, who's been on top of this, really on top of this in terms of defense of the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea. So as China grows more militant, it is worth noting, by the way, that all of the sort of happy talk, the world of fantasy that has dominated American foreign policy thinking for years. It's so ridiculous. I mean truly ridiculous. There's a piece in the New York Times today talking about the fact that China's emissions are growing faster than literally any other place on earth. And for all the talk from John Carrer on how we need to cooperate with the Chinese on climate to save the world, you know who doesn't give a crap about that? China. They do not care. They do not care whatsoever. They're in an exponential growth curve. In terms of emissions. Projections show that China is probably going to exceed cumulative emissions over the course of the next few decades. According to the New York Times, for many years, wealthy places like the United States and Europe had the biggest historical responsibility for global warming. China's astonishing rise is upending that dynamic. Over the past three decades, China has built more than 1,000 coal fired power plants. As economy has grown more than 40 fold. The country has become by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gases on planet earth. It is not close by the way. The United States has been dropping since about the year 2000. The European Union the same. China has increased its emissions per year from approximately 4 gigatons in the year 2000 to somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 gigatons today. Last year for the first time passed Europe as the second largest historical emitter. That's like cumulative. That includes all the years where Europe was leading in China. Probably the number one question I get from listeners lately is how can I get in the conservative fight? Well, it's really important to know where your dollars are going. Most credit cards are funneling millions of bucks to left wing causes and candidates hoping you don't actually notice. Now you have a choice. Coin is America's conservative credit card. Find them at c o I g n.com with every single transaction you advance conservative causes and charities at no cost to you. COIN empowers you to take back our country with every single swipe. It's great looking credit card. You'll take pride in using it. It's bright red with we the people on the front. Coin works everywhere. Visa is accepted. It comes with 100% US based customer service and consumer protections. Thousands of patriots are earning cash back while fighting the left wing agenda. The demand is so high there's now a waitlist. It's a movement. Join it. Go to C o G n dot com and join the waitlist today. Be sure to select Daily Wire in the how did you hear about us? § because that helps them and it helps us as well. Terms apply. Go to coin.comdisclosures for full details. Once again, c o g n.com and sign up today. Now, China's lying about this. They're promising their emissions are going to peak this decade and then start falling. There is no reason to believe that cheap growth is where it's at for China. Now the New York Times tries to make excuses for China. They say, you know what, in terms of emissions per person, it's still pretty low in China, right? It's going to increase because China, if it does not continue to provide additional layers of economic growth, is going to fail. They have a lot of crises on their hands. They have a demographic crisis on their hands. They have a massive imbalance between the number of young men and young women in their country. They have serious debt crisis on their hands. They have an innovation crisis on their hands. They can steal a lot of tech. But you know who did that also? The Soviet Union. They never really caught up to the United States. So what they're going to rely on is cheap oil, cheap coal, cheap energy. It's the thing they need the most. And they're going to rely on the stupidity of the west in continuing to fund their growth. Well, I think with Donald Trump, a lot of that stuff is going to come to an end, as the Wall Street Journal points out. When Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for more multilateralism at the opening of the Group of 20 nations summit on Monday, their mark appeared aimed at Donald Trump. Many leaders from Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa at the G20 made clear their alarm at the prospects for a sharp US Turn inward on trade, health and environmental policy with Trump's looming return to the presidency. When they say a turn inward, by the way, what they mean is that the United States is no longer going to sacrifice our sovereign interest to some specious international standard that helps other nations at our expense. That is not a thing that we are going to do. And the reality is other countries are already adjusting. That is a good thing. According to the Wall Street Journal, some leaders seem more intent on signaling to Trump that they were open to cutting deals that spare their economies and established defense arrangements from too much disruption. Others sought to remind the president's elect that their countries gave more to the US in the form of investments than they cost Washington in overseas alliance commitments and other favorite Trump targets. You know what I love about this? That other countries are finally thinking of themselves through the prism of what is good for America rather than the other way around. That is a good thing. You know, world leaders. The truth is, Trump is much more predictable than Joe Biden because when you speak in the name of airy fairy ideas, when you just say, we're for democracy, everyone knows that the United States is not going to be consistent in that approach, that some democracies are going to be supported and others are going to be sold down the river. See, for example, Hong Kong. When the United States speaks in terms of human rights, everybody looks at the United States and says, okay, we understand you sometimes care about that and sometimes you really, really don't. They're right about that. What they're going to get from Trump is something absolutely predictable. If it's bad for the United States, he ain't going to do it. And so that means that they can calibrate their policy around all of that, which takes us to Ukraine. So President Trump is now pushing for both Vladimir Zelensky and Vladimir Putin to talk to him, to try and broker a deal, to try to broker an off ramp as soon as possible. Here's President Trump. He put out this message.