← The Ben Shapiro Show
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2112 - Trump Gives The BEST PRESS CONFERENCE EVER
00:49:27
President Trump announces at a press conference that the United States will now call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America; he explains his position on the United States buying Greenland; and the media go predictably insane. Click here to join the member-exclusive portion of my show: https://bit.ly/3WDjgHE Ep.2112 - - - DailyWire+: Kick off 2025 with 25% off your new DailyWire+ annual membership. Go to https://dailywire.com/subscribe today! Matt Walsh’s hit documentary “Am I Racist?” is NOW AVAILABLE on DailyWire+! Head to https://amiracist.com to become a member today! Get your Ben Shapiro merch here: https://bit.ly/3TAu2cw - - - Today's Sponsors: Birch Gold - Text BEN to 989898 for your free copy of the Ultimate Guide for Gold in the Trump Era. Helix Sleep - Go to https://helixsleep.com/ben for an exclusive offer. Hungryroot - Go to https://Hungryroot.com/ben and use code ben for an exclusive offer. Trust & Will - Protect what matters most in minutes at https://trus...
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- [00:00]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, folks, on today's show, we have a lot to get to, cuz Donald Trump just gave one of the greatest press conferences in American history. He talked more in this press conference than Joe Biden has for four years. And he actually said coherent words, which I know we're not used to it, so it's. I feel kind of spoiled, to be honest with you. We'll get to that. We'll get to Mark Zuckerberg and all the fallout from his announcement that he's killing the idiotic fact checking programs that have been used as censorious tools. Look at some Middle east policy from the Biden administration. Let's start with this press conference because, man, oh man, this was a doozy and it was wonderful in so many ways. So first I just have to show you a map of what America is going to look like under Donald Trump. It's a map of what America's gonna look like. So there you see it, the United States. You also see the Gulf of America. Now, you might be thinking yourself, hold up a second, isn't that the Gulf of Mexico? No, it isn't. It isn't anymore. Donald Trump is going to instruct the federal government to, to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. And I am here for it. It's fantastic. If you look at that map, about 65% of the coastline along the Gulf of Mexico is in America. So screw it. That's our gulf, my friends. That is the Gulf of America. Here's Donald Trump announcing.
- [01:11]
Donald Trump
And we're going to be announcing at a future date pretty soon. We're going to change because we do most of the work there and it's ours. We're going to be changing sort of the opposite of Biden, where he's closing everything up, essentially getting rid of $50 to $60 trillion worth of assets. We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring that covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name.
- [01:44]
Ben Shapiro
Yes, yes. My friend Matt Walsh has suggested that we also rename the moon, to which I say abso freaking lutely, we should rename the moon. It's our moon. We put a flag on it. We were there first. Ours. Not China's moon, not Russia's moon, our moon. Deal with it. We need to annex the moon immediately. But actually, like, really, I think it's pretty amazing that we're renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. I think it's great. And like, who's gonna stop us? Mexico? Sure. They can't even balance a budget or stop the cartels from running their country. So the answer there is no. But that's not the only thing on the Manifest Destiny agenda list for the Trump administration that I am loving. I'm loving. Donald Trump has now deployed the Crown Prince, Don Jr. To Greenland, because that is the next American territory. Go back to our map there for a second. Just want to show you the map. Look how big the United States is going to be. You see, right north of us, there's this country that used to be called Canada. As we know, President Trump has been talking about making it the 51st state. And I know that Justin Trudeau is out there tweeting how it'll never be the 51st state, but he has no say in the matter, because when we invade, he will be shipped to the Panama Canal to work the Panama Canal. Don't worry, I'll get to the Panama Canal in just a second. That's right. More America is better. As you can see on this map, Trumpland, which is huge. Trumpland used to be called Greenland. It will be renamed Trumpland, and it will be made in inherited fiefdom of the Trump family. I would assume, in actuality, we really should actually take Greenland, though, because Greenland actually is quite a vital place territorially. The United States actually spends on the military defense of Greenland. Like right now, we have military bases in Greenland. We use Greenland's northern border in order to protect Arctic shipping. Right now, it is supposedly and officially Danish territory. It is home to the US Military's Pitufic space base. And of course, it's very important because as ice melts in the Arctic Circle, there are brand new North Atlantic shipping lanes that have drawn interest from Russia and China, and Denmark ain't doing a thing about it. So either Russia and China are going to have an impact there, or we are going to have impact up there. Arctic shipping has increased, According to Forbes, 37% over the past decade. Also, the island is part of the strategically important Greenland, Iceland, UK gap, a choke point. Russian ships actually have to transit to travel from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic. Also, Greenland has a bunch of untapped mineral resources. Those include include coal, zinc, copper, iron ore, diamonds, and oil. And a lot of the island has not been explored. There are only about 60,000 people on the island in total. And actually, the United States, believe it or not, does have a pretty good historic claim to Greenland. I'm gonna go through the history. I know you weren't expecting A history of Greenland, but you're gonna get a potted history of. Of America, Greenland relations. Because actually, quite seriously, we should purchase Greenland. Here's President Trump on this matter.
- [04:37]
Donald Trump
We need Greenland for national security purposes. I've been told that for a long time, long before I even ran. I mean, people have been talking about it for a long time. You have approximately 45,000 people there. People really don't even know if Denmark has any legal right to it. But if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security. That's for the free world. I'm talking about protecting the free world. You look at, you don't even need binoculars. You look outside, you have China ships all over the place. You have Russian ships all over the place. We're not letting that happen. We're not letting it happen. And if Denmark wants to get to a conclusion, but nobody knows if they even have any right, title or interest, the people are going to probably vote for independence or to come into the United States.
- [05:27]
Ben Shapiro
He is correct about that. He is correct about that. The people of Greenland have been talking about independence for a very long time. If that were to happen, they would realign with the United States in a heartbeat. First of all, it's better to live in the United States than it is to live in a principality of Denmark. Second, as far as security concerns with Russia and China, Denmark ain't gonna defend those Arctic straits. You think Denmark is gonna go up against the Russians or the Chinese? If that is a matter of national security for the United States, why not sell Greenland to the United States? If you are Denmark? And by the way, the United States discovered, like, half of Greenland. Just gonna point that out here. When he says it's not clear what the historic sort of preserve of Denmark is in Greenland, he's actually correct about this. So back in 1775, to give you the potted history of Greenland, Denmark and Norway declared Greenland a colony. Greenland was then formally transferred from Norway to Denmark by a treaty of 1814. Denmark started trying to colonize the island in the 1880s. But here is the thing. A huge chunk before the 1880s was actually discovered by, wait for it, Americans. It was American Charles Francis hall, who was the first to see northwest Greenland during the Polaris expedition, which was 1871-1873. And another explorer named Robert Peary actually claimed much of the north. The only reason that Denmark has any claim whatsoever to Greenland as far as the United States is concerned is because when the United States was interested in purchasing the Danish West Indies During World War I, Denmark required the country to recognize its claim over the whole island of Greenland. At the time, Peary, the explorer who discovered much of it and claimed much of it, opposed the US Giving up the claim because he said, hey, the Monroe Doctrine says no European interference in the Western Hemisphere. Instead, he suggested correctly, that we should have purchased the island outright. And then, as it turns out, by the way, we basically had to do it anyway in terms of defending the island, because as you will recall if you remember your world history, by the early 1940s, Denmark had been conquered by, wait for it, the Nazis. And so once that happened, the United States basically had to defend Greenland as its own principality because it was the only known significant source of a. Of a material called cryolite, and because Germany was attempting to use the North Atlantic as a base during the war. During World War II, the United States actually did apply the Monroe Doctrine on European colonies in the North Atlantic Ocean. By 1946, the Joint Chiefs of Staff had listed Greenland and Iceland as essential international locations for American bases. In fact, when NATO was in its heyday, Greenland was seen as more important to both American and Canadian defense than some of the Western European countries. Because again, if you take a look at a map, when you get up to the very, very north of Canada, which is, say, the North American continent, it starts to get pretty close to territory that is controlled by Russia. In 1951, Greenland and the United States signed a treaty that gave the United States exclusive jurisdiction over defense areas within Greenland. So again, there is a very, very solid case that the United States actually ought to buy Greenland. Okay, but we're not stopping there, folks. Again, let's go back to our map. So on this map, I did not label Panama. Panama is actually to the south of that territory there. That's called the other side of the wall. And, you know, it's west of the territory that I've labeled there. The anti European moat used to be called the Atlantic Ocean. It will now be known as the anti European moat to prevent the Europeans from coming over here and bringing their terrible economic and social ideas. In any case, President Trump has made clear that he does not want the Panama Canal to be controlled by the Chinese. And this is a real concern. People are making fun of this sort of stuff, but actually it's a real concern. Yeah, he's half joking when he's making fun of Justin Trudeau and talking about making Canada the 51st state and all of that sort of stuff. But the Greenland thing is actually a fairly serious proposal. And when it comes to the Panama Canal. There really is a serious problem with the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal was built with American labor. It was built with American money. It was turned over idiotically by one of our worst presidents, Jimmy Carter, during the Carter administration. That was a stupid move. The Panama Canal has run significantly worse since the turnover to Panama. But it's not just that. The Panamanians have actually turned over both ends of the canals to Chinese companies. If you've ever visited Panama, I have been down there. I have visited the Panama Canal. It's not all that wide. It's relatively narrow, particularly at the entrance and exit. And so it'd be very easy for those companies, these Chinese companies, to shut off the entrances and exits to the Panama Canal. And 40% of all American container traffic goes through the Panama Canal. That's a lot of American commerce that's moving through the Panama Canal. That's the reason we built it in the first place. Which would mean that if the United States were ever to get into a conflict with China, pretty much all shipping would stop dead. Because. Because China would try to take control of the Taiwan Strait. They would try to take control of the Strait of Malacca, which is sort of the tip of the South China Sea. That would shut off another shipping route. 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Gordon Chang, an author writing for Newsweek, points out the serious risks over at the Panama Canal. He says it's true there are no uniformed People Liberation army soldiers now stationed in the Canal Zone. But that's not the end of the story. Almost certainly there are Chinese operatives and military personnel in civilian garb there. The Panama Canal is a choke point that Beijing seeks to control and undoubtedly close off in the moments before the next global war. For instance, CK Hutchinson holdings, through its stake in Panama Ports Co. Operates a port in Balboa at the Pacific end of the canal and in Cristobal at the Atlantic end of the canal. Hutchinson, therefore, is the biggest port operator in the zone. The Panama Maritime Authority renewed Hutchinson's 25 year concession to the two ports in June of 2021. Now, Hutchinson is supposedly a private company in Hong Kong, but as you'll recall, The Chinese took over Hong Kong, which means that every company that is being operated from Hong Kong is under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party. In times of war, those facilities would be controlled by the People's Liberation Army. Gen. Laura Richardson, who is the head of the U.S. southern Command, in July 2022 said in Aspen, I was just in Panama about a month ago flying along the Panama Canal, looking at all the state owned enterprises from the PRC on each side of the Panama Canal. They look like civilian companies or state owned enterprises that could be used for dual use and could be quickly changed over to a military capability. R. Evan Ellis, professor of Latin American Studies at the US Army War College, said, quote, there are numerous ways a knowledgeable actor like the prc, its companies and agents, could temporarily shut down the canal. The risk does not come so much from the physical control of ports on both sides of the canal, but the knowledge and access that comes from China's significant commercial and other activities across Panama that gives China bases from which to act. Also, China is embedded into the zone's infrastructure, including telecom systems that were supplied by Waitfred Huawei, which is the Chinese official telecom association that basically embeds all sorts of intelligence apparatus. Inside the Internet. Surveillance cameras and other equipment has been provided by hikvision, which again is a Chinese company. There's another bridge over the canal and China's building that one as well. So serious problems in the Panama Canal. Here's President Trump talking about the Panama Canal.
- [14:53]
Donald Trump
The Panama Canal was built for our military. I'm not going to commit to that now. It might be that you'll have to do something. Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. It's being operated by China. China. And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We didn't give it to China and they've abused it.
- [15:16]
Ben Shapiro
Yes, this, yes, very good, Trump. Very, very good, Trump. This is, this is best, Trump. This is excellent. It is just an added benefit, by the way, that's ticking off the entire left wing media like, no, the human cry, no, there can't be more America. We can't talk about expanding America. We have to talk about contracting American territory. We have to do land acknowledgements. That's the most important thing. This is crazy. We can't do this stuff. This is bad. Here is cnn.
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CNN Reporter
One of the biggest things that stood out to me from that press conference, from moments when Trump got out there, before he even started taking questions, is the level of anger.
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Donald Trump
He's really agitated.
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CNN Reporter
Well, we know why. He made it quite clear a few moments in, it's two things. It's his legal issues overall, but it's the sentencing that he is facing on Friday. Friday that so far is still. Judge Marshan has denied efforts to delay it. His attorneys are still working to do so. And two, it's this report by Jack Smith that we are told is imminent and is going to come out.
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Political Commentator
It is remarkable. Somebody who is two weeks from resuming the presidency of the United States, who, whether you voted for him or not, whether you like him or not, just engineered a remarkable historical political comeback, is so whiny and so full of grievances. Now, that is Donald Trump's trademark. That has been his trademark since he came down that escalator. He uses grievance to keep his people together, to keep his base together, and to keep his team loyal.
- [16:38]
Ben Shapiro
Ugh. You wanna talk? Who's whining? You guys are whining. I'm sorry you lost, but you did. Meanwhile, by the way, over at the Washington Post, Philip Bump has an entire column titled Trump Takes America first to its Expansionist Endpoint. Oh, no, no. We must never talk about the Gulf of America. That's bad. Cause, you see, America's bad. And the more things we name after America, the worse it is. Quote, the Gulf of Mexico has been named the Gulf of Mexico since before the United States of America was named the United States of America, says Philip Bump. Since, that is, before there was a United States of America. You can see that name used on old maps, like the one produced in France in 1717. George Washington wasn't born until more than a decade after that map was made. And yet, in a few months, the Gulf might carry a new name, at least in the eyes of a U.S. officialdom. The gulf of America. This isn't a reorienting of geography akin to when Trump, during his first term in office, drew a black line on a map of the southeastern United States. It is instead part of a much less innocuous pattern, one that has Trump extending his America first mantra to suggest that this nation has dominion over territory it doesn't currently control. Oh, no, no, no, no. Okay, let's be clear about this. America's Manifest Destiny was a good thing. It is very good that America stands coast to coast. That is a wonderful thing. If America were to buy Greenland, that would also be a wonderful thing. If America were to either convince Panama to better control the Panama Canal, to take it out of Chinese hands, or to give it over to American control, that would be a very good thing. If Canada were to get rid of Justin Trudeau and elect Pierre Puliev, then I suppose all the threats of invasion go away. But let's be real about this. The reason Canada is great is because America is great. That is the reality. They are completely dependent on the American economy. They're completely dependent on America's force of arms. Again, that doesn't mean we have to annex every place that's near us. Doesn't mean that we have to take every place over. And we won't. But if a country like Greenland is willing to allow itself and Denmark is willing to allow it to be used as a thoroughfare by the Russians and the Chinese, what exactly are we supposed to do? Sit there for that? If the Panama Canal is going to be used as a choke point by the Chinese, are we just supposed to sit there and. And do nothing about it? What exactly is the plan, Madude? What is the plan, guys? And the answer is there is no plan. It's just to just whine about America. Whine about America. Justin Trudeau, by the way, is very angry at the suggestion that he would become governor of the 51st state at this point. By the way, that is his best political path forward. Since he's not going to be Prime Minister for much longer. He tweeted out, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Canada will become part of the United States. Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other's biggest trading and security partner. Well, I mean, that actually is a pretty solid case why we should annex you. But in any case, even if we were to annex you, don't worry, you wouldn't end up in Canada. We'd ship you down to Panama so you can work that canal. We need somebody who's going to be working the canal, and Justin Trudeau isn't going to have anything better to do. That wasn't all that Trump had to say at this magnificent press conference. I loved it. It was just great. So, on foreign policy, he was asked about what he is going to do if the hostages are not freed by Hamas by the time he takes office in just 13 days. And here was President Trump's answer, that.
- [19:46]
Donald Trump
All hell must be paid if they don't release the hostages. Do I have to define it for you? Look, all hell will break out if those hostages aren't back. I don't want to hurt your negotiation. If they're not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle east and it will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don't have to say anymore. But that's what it is. And they should have given them back a long time. They should have never taken them. There should have never been the attack of October 7th. People forget that. But there was. And many people are killed. They're no longer hostages. I have people from Israel and others calling, begging me to get, you know, we had also people there from the United States, just so you know, they're holding some so called hostages from the.
- [20:37]
Ben Shapiro
US this, this Joe Biden never had any moral clarity about this. Cuz he's a fool. Donald Trump has moral clarity about this and this is the correct approach. If Hamas is not afraid, they're not releasing the hostages. It is that simple. There's nothing else that is going to make them release the hostages other than dire threats and action and allowing Israel to do exactly what it needs to do in the Gaza Strip. Okay. And then Trump was asked about the possibility of a preemptive strike on the Iranian nuclear facilities if they were to ramp up their nuclear production. And Trump gave the correct answer on this one too. Again, he gave more answers in this one press conference than Joe Biden has given in four years and said more intelligent things in this press conference than Joe Biden has ever said his entire career. Cuz Joe Biden was, is and will be a dullard. Here is President Trump explaining that if Iran were to attempt a nuclear weapon, he's not gonna tell you what he would do because he's the president and he is not gonna tell some dumb reporter what he's gonna do cuz it's a stupid question. That is correct. That is right.
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Donald Trump
The US launching a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. And I said I don't talk about it. It's a military strategy. But it is a legitimate question. It's not really because only a stupid person would answer it. Look, it's a military strategy and I'm not answering your questions on military strategy.
- [21:57]
Ben Shapiro
Yes, correct, correct. This is good. This is good. And speaking of other good things, President Trump also had some words about Joe Biden's attempts to shut down drilling for oil off pretty much all of America's eastern seaboard on his way out. And Trump says, look, in America we like to produce energy. American energy independence has made us less dependent on some of the worst places in the world. That is a good thing. And Joe Biden is throttling America's energy independence. Here was President Trump on this.
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Donald Trump
He wants all gas heaters out of your homes and apartments. He wants them to be replaced by essentially electric heaters. I don't know what it is with electric. This guy loves electric. We're going to be ending the electric car mandate quickly, by the way. This guy loves electric and we don't have enough electricity and then we have AI where we need more. And he wants to get, he wants everybody to have an electric heater instead of a gas heater. Gas heater is much less expensive. The heat is much better. It's a much better heat. As the expression goes, you don't itch. Does anybody have a heater where you go and you scratch in and that's what they want you to have. They don't want you to have gas where you don't have the problems of the electric.
- [23:12]
Ben Shapiro
It's the best. It's so good. It's just the best. America's got a problem. Joe Biden's still in office. But when it comes to grocery shopping, I've got a problem. I'd like to eat healthier. Both my busy schedule and the keeping of the kosher. I never seem to have time to shop for the right ingredients. Well, that's changed thanks to Hungryroot. It's become the easiest way for me to eat healthy. Hungryroot is like having your own personal shopper who really gets you. They handle my weekly grocery shopping. They recommend healthy foods that align perfectly with my taste. Nutrition goals, kosher choices. You get high quality nutritious food whether you're looking for anti inflammatory options or gut friendly meals or you're just trying to get more protein in your diet, which I am. The best part, they learn your preferences over time. Everything they offer is free from high fructose corn syrup and artificial preservatives. They even source top quality meats without hormones or antibiotics. My weekly deliveries can include everything from fresh smoothie ingredients and ready to eat meals to salad kits. It's transformed how I approach healthy eating. You're gonna love Hungerroot because it's awesome. Take take advantage of this exclusive offer. For a limited time, get 40% off your first box. Plus get a free item in every box for life. Go to hungryroot.com Ben use code Ben that's hungryroot.com Ben code Ben get 40% off your first box and a free item of your Choice for Life. Hungryroot.com Ben Code Ben Also, New Year's resolutions, they always come with a lot of pressure. There's hitting the gym or learning a new skill. Getting your finances in order, it can all feel pretty overwhelming. But one resolution that gets pushed aside that you can actually just do and be done with. Creating a will or trust is actually a super important thing. You know, it's important, but it feels like a daunting task. Well, that's where trust and will comes in. I recently went through the process. I took a look at it. I was amazed how straightforward it is. You can literally create your estate plan while you're relaxing on your couch. Their platform is designed by attorneys, but it's customizable by you, which makes it both reliable and personal. And they guide you through everything step by step. Every will or trust is state specific. It's legally valid, covers everything from care wishes to to guardian nominations. Listen, you don't want the state doing this if you die. You want to preset all this stuff. Plus, all your documents are stored securely with bank level encryption, giving your family easy access when they need it the most. The best part, you're not alone in the process. They offer live customer support through phone, chat and email. They've helped hundreds of thousands of families already. They have an excellent rating and thousands of five star reviews on trustpilot. They'll speak for themselves. Check one of your goals off early this year with trust and will protect what matters Most in minutes. Trustandwill.com Shapiro Get 10% off plus free shipping. That's 10% off and free shipping. @trustandwill.com Shapiro among other things, the Trump administration will be doing Tom Homan, who again straight out of central casting, he's gonna be in charge of making sure that the border is closed and that illegal immigrants are deported. He's the border czar. He was on Fox News or Fox Business rather yesterday. And he says, listen, I'm perfectly willing to talk with the press about what it is that I do. I'm more transparent than you have ever had before. Here he was yesterday.
- [25:52]
Political Commentator
You're planning to hold weekly White House press briefings. What will be in those briefings? I mean, they put the border right at the very center of the White House and the administration. What will you be doing in the briefings? List of deportees?
- [26:09]
Donald Trump
We'll be doing what the current administration isn't doing. We're going to be transparent with American people.
- [26:15]
Ben Shapiro
Well, good, good. And here's the thing. Trump is not hiding the ball. Nobody was hiding the ball. What you saw with President Trump is what you're going to get with President Trump and the American people by the polling data. Like it. President Trump's approval ratings are in positive territory for probably the first time in his entire political career. Meanwhile, the House passed a bill on Tuesday that would target undocumented immigrants charged with nonviolent crimes for deportation. According to the New York Times, an opening salvo from a Republican majority that has vowed to deliver on President Elect Donald J. Trump's promise. Crackdown at the border. The measure, by the way, drew unanimous Republican support and also 48 Democrats. This measure was named after Lake And Riley, the 22 year old nursing student who was killed last year in Georgia by an illegal immigrant who had crossed into the United States and was arrested and charged with shoplifting but was not detained. The idea being, if you come here and you commit a nonviolent offense, you still shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be here. You should go away, you should not be in the country. This is very common, sensical. The fact that more than two thirds of Democrats voted against this demonstrates where the Democratic Party is and they are totally disconnected from the American people. The American people are not interested in illegal immigrant shoplifters remaining in the country. To what end, precisely? In the Senate, by the way, John Fetterman is joining as a co sponsor because Fetterman is the only Democrat who has his head screwed on straight. And that was after I had a stroke. Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the number three Republican, said, quote, this bill is more than just a piece of legislation. It's, it's a return to common sense American values. Under President Trump's leadership, there will be a lot more where that came from. And Again, bipartisan vote 264 to 159 is because the Democrats have run themselves right off the reservation. The Democrats are so far away from the common sense center that Donald Trump has claimed all of it. Now, meanwhile, I want to point out that President Trump is going to be quite pragmatic in how he approaches all of these issues that include things like spending. So if you are expecting, here's the downside of a pragmatic Republican administration. If you are expecting massive spending cuts to happen under Donald Trump, it's not going to happen. The reason it's not going to happen is because the American people don't like massive spending cuts. They don't. The American people have always wanted to have it both ways. On the one hand, they don't like the national debt. On the other hand, they don't like cuts to any of the programs that they like. So if you ask them if the government spends too much, they'll tell You? Yes. And if you ask them what they'd want to cut, the answer is, like, around the edges. So speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who is at root a fiscal conservative, he is saying the true thing out loud, which is that the GOP is not going to cut benefits or restructure any of the major entitlement programs, which again, was not only highly likely with a very slim majority, it was a guaranteed certainty. So I'm putting that on the map right now because one of the things that's going to happen is when this whole thing is wrapped up into one big, beautiful bill, as Johnson and Trump have said, or even two big, beautiful bills, the border bill and a tax bill, when all this stuff gets wrapped up together in one big bill and spending is not decreased, understand there was never any real taste in Congress or unfortunately, this is unfortunate, by the way, or with the American people in serious steep cuts in the spending. There isn't. That's just the reality. And you can either yell at the reality or you can deal with the fact that that is the reality and work to convince your neighbors that everybody needs to rethink this whole giant spending thing. But ain't going nowhere. Here is speaker of the House Johnson.
- [29:28]
Mike Johnson
The Republican Party is not going to cut benefits, okay? We made that very clear over and over and over. And that's the commitment of the White House and the commitment of this Republican conference. We do know. However, at the same time, there are many, many areas of fraud, waste, and abuse. The government is too large. The agencies are too many. They have too many divisions and employees and all the rest. And there will be a very deliberate auditing of all of that in various aspects as we go through the process.
- [29:53]
Ben Shapiro
Now, there will be a big battle among Republicans over the debt limit. And let's be real, raising the debt limit is generally a useful tool in clawing back some of the spending. And I'm up for the battle. Like, I think it'll be good for there to be an internal Republican firefight, paring away some of the provisions. But overall, if you are expecting a massive reduction in the curve of spending under a Republican administration, just be prepared. It is not going to happen. There is not a majority for that. Among Republicans, there's not a majority for that. That's just the reality. All right. Meanwhile, the left is so frustrated today. They are so frustrated with Mark Zuckerberg, wildly frustrated with Mark Zuckerberg. As we discussed at length on yesterday's show, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook have now completely rewritten the censorship rules on their social media network, which is a good thing, to be completely frank. They actually structured pretty much all of their censorship rules to, to shut down the Daily Wire specifically because we were the number one news publisher on their platform. And this gave no end of heartburn to the legacy media as well as to the Biden White House. And Facebook fell for it, and Facebook fell to the pressure, and now Facebook is reversing all of that. One of their new policy executives, Joel Kaplan, explained some of these changes that are being made to the censorship policies on Fox News yesterday.
- [31:10]
Donald Trump
So, Joel, why now? I know you said it's a change, but did you feel restricted over the last four years and this is the first time you have it's in your business interest to express this quest for freedom?
- [31:23]
Joel Kaplan
Well, there's, there's no question that there's an opportunity here with a new president taking office, as I said, who really believes in free expression. And that's just going to give us the space to get back to those values that Mark has talked about for a lot. Mark gave a big speech six years ago at Georgetown about free expression, about these values all. Unfortunately, you know, there's been a lot of political and societal pressure here and around the world that have pushed away from those values. We've got a real opportunity to reset, get back to them and really provide a space.
- [31:54]
Donald Trump
How was the Biden?
- [31:55]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, so this is the take. President Trump was asked at this press conference about Mark Zuckerberg and the changes in policy at Facebook. Here was his answer.
- [32:05]
Donald Trump
Honestly, I think they've come a long way. Meta. Facebook. I think they've come a long way. I watched it. The man was very impressive. I watched it. Actually, I watched it on Fox. I'm not allowed to say that. Say it.
- [32:17]
Ben Shapiro
Do you think he's directly responding to the threats that you have made to him in the past with his officials? You're not gonna get Trump sugarcoating that one. You're really not. And by the way, if that's true, I would hope that it's not. I would hope that when Zuckerberg says that he has changed his mind back to what it was in 2019, that he would like this to be the rule all the way out. I hope that's true. Regardless, there's no question that Trump's election is what got this done over at Meta. Now the media are fighting mad about this. I mean, they are losing their ever loving minds over this. Which leads to one of the great headlines I've seen. This is from the New York Times. Quote, Meta says fact checkers were the problem. Fact checkers rule that false. What the. Ever. What the. What the f. Meta says fact checkers were the problem. Fact checkers rule that false. Well, so the hell what? That's because fact checkers are constantly political. What do you think they're gonna say? No, it's true. We were the problem. What exactly did you think they were gonna say? What a joke. This headline should have been from the Babylon Bee. Absolutely ridiculous. So the fact checkers are all really mad. They're mad because Mark Zuckerberg said, we're no longer using your fact checking resources because you're too politicized. He said, quote, fact checkers have been too politically biased and they've destroyed more trust than they created. That is 100% true. 100% true. And they are mad as hell. They are so mad. They're mad for a couple reasons. One, somebody called them on their bull. And two, they're really, really mad because other money's going away and they need the subsidies of big social media companies. Don't you see? The Democrats cudgeled social media into paying their friends at the fact checking organizations to fact check on behalf of Democrats, to help out Democrats and to hurt Republicans. And now the gravy train is going away and these people are gonna have to get real jobs where they, you know, earn a living doing useful things as opposed to being leeches on the ass of society. These are the patronage friends of Democrats given top level jobs outside social media companies in order to police speech. That's what these fact checkers were, and they are mad as hell. Neil Brown, president of the Poynter Institute, a global nonprofit that runs PolitiFact, said, quote, I don't believe we were doing anything in any form with bias. There's a mountain of what we could of what could be checked, and we were grabbing what we could. Sure, sure, yeah. That you. No bias at all. None. You did an amazing job, guys. So when you fact checked the same statement by Trump and Biden, the and for Trump it was false and for Biden it was true. No problem whatsoever. No problem. When you treated every Joe Biden lie as a slip of the tongue and every Donald Trump generality as an overt lie? No, no, that was unbiased. Totally unbiased. Meta's fact checkers, by the way, have called an emergency meeting. According to Business Insider, the international fact checking network has convened an emergency meeting of its members following Meta's announcement on Tuesday, it will end its third party fact checking partnerships in the US and replace them with a form of community notes. In an interview with business insider, the IFCN's director, Angie Holland, confirmed that the meeting scheduled for Wednesday was organized in direct response to Meta's decision. Quote, we hold these meetings monthly, but we call this one specifically because of today's news. The meeting is expected to draw between 80 and 100 attendees from the IFCN's network of fact checkers, which spans 170 organizations worldwide. The IFCN has long played a crucial role in Meta's fact checking ecosystem. Certification from the IFCN signaled the fact checking organization met rigorous editorial and transparency standards. By the way, we actually at one point attempted to set up a fact checking organization that would meet the standards for Meta. And Meta said no. The social media companies said no. You know how many hoops you had to jump through in order to do this? And those hoops were all being set by places like the ifcn. Angie Holand, again, one of the heads of this organization, she put out a statement, quote, this decision will hurt social media users who are looking for accurate, reliable information to make decisions about their everyday lives and interactions with friends and family. Fact checking journalism has never censored or removed posts. It's added information and context to controversial claims. It's debunked hoax content and conspiracy theories. The fact checkers used by Meta follow a code of principles with capital C and a capital P for code of principle. So you know they're super principled in their code cuz they used capital letters requiring non partisanship and transparency. It's unfortunate this decision comes in the wake of extreme political pressure from a new administration. Man, the gaslighting is so strong. It is so strong. The gaslighting, which is you guys were only put in place because of pressure from Democrats, because of pressure from the legacy media on Zuckerberg and Meta. That is the only reason you had your jobs in the first place. And now those jobs are going away because all the pressure went away. And now you're blaming Trump, you're blaming the Daily Wire, you're blaming the evil right for you losing your job. Well, fine, you want to blame us? Fine. You know what? I'll take it. You should lose your job. You were terrible at your job. You were trash at your job. Your job was to be unbiased fact checkers and instead you decided to be tools of censorious oppression and repression. That's what you were good on Meta for getting rid of you, for tossing on your ass. Go get a real job. Seriously Learn to code. All right. In just one second, we'll get to the latest with Joe Biden. I know these last 13 days, they feel interminable. They're never going to end. When will he go? When will that. When will he go? First kickoff, 2025. With 25% off, a new DailyWire plus annual membership, this year will be one for the history books. In less than two weeks, President Trump will be inaugurated. The Daily Wire will be there with live, uncensored coverage of every monumental moment while we celebrate what's ahead. The fight is not yet over. The 2025 has already reminded us the bad guys don't rest. Neither do we. Join us in the fight right now. Get 25% off your new Daily Wire plus annual membership. Every dollar fuels our mission. Go to DailyWire.com subscribe join today. Alrighty. Meanwhile, President Biden just won't go. Remember that guy when he was president? He's still president. I know. It's a mystery to all of us. Why is he still there? Like he's been dead for years and there he is, still doing things. It's kind of amazing, I guess, just proving one of Newton's laws of motion that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion. What if the object is technically at rest, but seems like it's in motion? That's sort of the story of President Biden. Well, I guess this is. As his final farewell, he's going to release as many terrorists as humanly possible into the world political sphere. On Monday, the Biden administration announced the transfer of 11 Yemeni detainees, including two former bodyguards for Osama bin Laden, to Oman, which has agreed to help resettle them amid steps to reduce the population at Gitmo. Yes. It was such a big deal. Oh, no, we can't hold terrorists at Guantanamo Bay because then bad things might happen to them at Guantanamo Bay. Oh, no. Terrorists at Guantanamo. Oh, no. It was always stupid to be upset that we were holding terrorists at Guantanamo. It was always dumb. I never cared. I'm not sure why anyone cared. They're terrorists. In any case, the idea here is that all these people are now going to be released. The Defense Department said, quote, the United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing Gitmo. The 11 detainees were identified as Uthman Abd al Rahim Mohammed Uthman Muad Hamza Ahmed Al Awi Khaled Ahmad Kassim Suhail Abdu Anem Al Sha Rabi. This is just an exercise in seeing how many Arabic names I can read. Hani Salah, Rashid Abdullah Tauf, I.Q. nasser, Awad Al Bihani, Omar Mohammed Ali Al Rahma, Sanat Ali Islam Al Kazimi, Hasan Muhammad Ali Bib Atash Sharqawi, Abdu Ali Al Hajj and Abd Al Salem Al Hila. So if I named one of your friends, come on down and collect your winnings. In any case, all these people are terrorists. We are now going to release them to Oman. Certainly they won't go back to, you know, doing terrorism. That would be crazy if they did that, you know, like every other terrorist seemingly that we release, they certainly won't do that. But wait, there's more. Biden is also attempting to trade some of the Gitmo prisoners for hostages being held by the Taliban. Wait, I thought the Taliban were our friends now after all this schmuck decided to turn over all of Afghanistan to the Taliban, saying that they had helped us in the transitional process. Now it turns out that they're just as evil as they ever were and they've gone right back to beheading their enemies and they've gone right back to oppressing women and stuffing them into bags and basements and marrying off children and all the rest. The Taliban, the world's best people. So glad we decided to get 13American service people killed and hand them billions of dollars in military technology. The only good news being only China got that military technology cuz the Taliban have no idea how to use a helicopter. In any case, the Biden administration is now negotiating with the Taliban to exchange Americans detained in Afghanistan for at least one high profile prisoner alleged to be an Osama Bin Laden associate held the Gitmo. Why? It's almost as though because the United States keeps trading away terrorists for Americans, people keep taking Americans hostage. It's totally crazy. Now I interviewed the incoming National Security Advisor Mike Walls about specifically hostage issues and he said, listen, if anyone takes an American hostage while we are in office, they should know one thing. They are going to be dead. All their friends are going to be dead. That is the way that you treat with hostage takers, but that is not the way Joe Biden has. He's just been trading away as many terrorists as he can find in favor of people like Brittney Griner. The administration has been discussing a deal with the Taliban since at least July. Apparently the US will release Mohammad Rahim Al Afghani, who the US government alleges was a senior Al Qaeda aide. If the Afghan rulers release George Glesman, Ryan Corbett, and Mahmoud Habibi, American citizens seized in Afghanistan in 2022. Rahim is currently being held in Gitmo. Biden had yet to decide on the Taliban's proposal, apparently. So that's great. We need to let more Gitmo prisoners go and incentivize more hostages to be taken. By the way, I am so glad that we decided to engage in the most ignominious surrender to a bunch of 7th century cavemen. It worked out well for everybody. Well, the good news is Democrats are really at the top of their game right now. They've decided that it's very important to give aoc, the venerable aoc, the inimitable aoc, Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, she of the three names and three IQ points. They've decided to give her a plum spot on the steering and policy panel, the Energy and Commerce Committee. So they decided to let her skip a few more senior people and instead give her a spot on that Energy and Commerce Committee. That committee is responsible for jurisdiction over health care, energy, technology, and other policy areas that will be in the spotlight in the new Congress. There are a lot of more senior Democrats who are mad because given that this is the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee, you know, they might want to take a more moderate position than the Biden administration has historically taken on things like the Green New Deal. Nope, they decided to hand that over to aoc. So we'll see how that goes for them. Bold move, Cotton. We'll see how well all of that works. Meanwhile, with the Trump administration coming in, the end of the war in Ukraine is going to be on the table. President Trump has made very clear that he wants to get to the end of the war in Ukraine as fast as humanly possible. And everybody knows what the outline of a deal looks like. Now, I don't believe that President Trump is going to force Ukraine into a situation where Ukraine will be invaded again in a year or two or three. I don't think that would be in President Trump's interest as President of the United States. And it's not in his interest for Vladimir Putin to go strolling through Kyiv. That would look quite bad for the incoming Trump administration. The most likely scenario here is keep up the military pressure on Russia, sufficient to get Vladimir Putin to come to the table. So Vladimir Zelensky did an interview with Lex Friedman over the course of the last 48 hours or so in which he called out to President Trump for enough continued aid to at least continue the battle.
- [44:06]
Volodymyr Zelensky
I think that President Trump not only has will, he has all these possibilities. And it's not just talk. I really count on him. And I think that our people really count on him.
- [44:19]
Ben Shapiro
Now, I have to say, points to Vladimir Zelensky. He was asked by Lex Friedman. So Lex is a super nice guy. I know Lex. But one of Lex's big things is sort of this emotional sensitivity where he asks if people can find common ground with their enemies and all the rest. And so he asked Vladimir Zelensky if Ukrainians can find it in their heart to forgive Putin. He's like, no, no, that's going to be a no from me dog. The reality is that a compromise is needed in order to reach an agreement.
- [44:49]
Volodymyr Zelensky
And you're understanding the fact that he is no injured after all the murders, he is not in jail, assuming all the murders, and no one in the world is able to put him in his place, send him to prison. Do you think this is a small compromise?
- [45:04]
Ben Shapiro
This is not a small compromise. And to forgive him will not be a small compromise.
- [45:09]
Volodymyr Zelensky
To forgive. No one will forgive. This is absolutely impossible to forgive him. We cannot get into the head and soul of a person who lost their family. Nobody never will accept this. They simply took away the most precious thing from you. Will you ask who ruined your life before going to rip their head off? I'm just curious. They took your child away. Are you going to ask who did this? And they will answer that, that dude did this. You will say, oh, well then there are no questions. No, no, no. You will go hell and bite their head off. And it will be fair.
- [45:43]
Ben Shapiro
He ain't wrong. He ain't wrong. Vladimir Putin is a bad guy. He's a very, very bad man. Vladimir Putin. He is a brutal, vicious dictator who kills his enemies and runs his country while with iron control via a network of oligarchs. He pays using monies and resources that actually should be in the hands of the citizens of Russia who are not in the corrupt pay of the current regime in Russia. All that said, President Trump is looking for a practical off ramp here. What's amazing here is the Washington Post takes it. The Washington Post actually put out an editorial and the Washington Post editorial is amazing. It says, quote, ukraine risks losing the war. A Trump imposed bad deal would be worse then losing the war. How? You're going to have to explain that one. You're going to have to explain. So the great, the great fear for the Washington Post is that Trump might cut a deal. So whatever Ukraine does, they must never take the deal. Never, ever take the deal. If you take the deal, then you know Trump might get a win and this war might end. Instead, you have to have the war continue. Even though there is no hope that Ukraine is going to outright win the war by pushing Russia completely, completely out of the Donbass region or Crimea, the war is going to come to an end because it has to come to an end, because there is not an endless supply of men in Ukraine, nor is there an endless supply of desire in Russia for continued war that ends in stalemate due to technical inferiority on the battlefield. So the most likely scenario here is once again a stalemate. The lines get drawn pretty closely where they are in place. Security guarantees to Ukraine to prevent future invasions by Russia. Everyone knows this is the most likely end to the war. And that's why everyone's getting more realistic as President Trump comes closer to the office of the presidency day by day. Already coming up, there is yet more good news for Republicans. We're gonna take a look at a magical map. If you're not a member, become a member. Use code Shapiro checkout for two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us. I've often said that that gender affirming care is health care. It is mental health care, and it can actually be suicide prevention care. I think I'm gonna take some medicine so I can kind of like transform into a boy, get surgery. After the surgery, I didn't really feel any better when it stopped being a thing for adults and it started to be a. Let's teach this to kids. Total lie, manipulation. It's gaslighting. Please stop.
- [48:11]
Donald Trump
He's a boy, not a girl.
- [48:12]
Ben Shapiro
How could she do this to my son? What they're talking about is hormonal therapy or sex reassignment surgery on children. I thought fixing me externally would fix me internally, but of course I was wrong. The fact that the state thinks that they're more important and have a better say in what happens to your child over the actual parents opinion is egregious. Puberty blockers, surgeries, big muscles, moneymakers for hospitals, for physicians.
- [48:38]
Donald Trump
All I want to do is hold my son.
- [48:42]
CNN Reporter
Are you asking me to lie to parents? And he said yes.
- [48:46]
Mike Johnson
This is a weaponized use of a parent's sympathy and caring and concern by.
- [48:52]
Ben Shapiro
The left to destroy your child. Let's tell kids that maybe they can be the opposite sex. Maybe they actually are the opposite sex. It is an evil thing to tell.
- [49:02]
Mike Johnson
Children that happiness lies on the other.
- [49:05]
Ben Shapiro
Side of puberty blockers or double mastectomies.
- [49:08]
CNN Reporter
The left so badly wants to blur these lines.
- [49:10]
Ben Shapiro
That's a five alarm fire. It's criminal.