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- [00:00]
Ben Shapiro
Inauguration day, January 20th. Watch it with us.
- [00:04]
Michael Knowles
Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Michael Knowles, Andrew Klavan and Jeremy BOREN Live from D.C. donald Trump's historic second term officially begins.
- [00:12]
Ben Shapiro
Coverage starts at 8:30am Eastern. Watch live on Daily Wire, folks.
- [00:17]
Michael Knowles
Monday history is in the making. The Daily Wire will be live from D.C. as Donald Trump takes his oath of office. Watch it all live and celebrate the 47th President with 47% off your membership. Use code 47@dailywire.com subscribe and join us live. Well, nature is healing. Things are beginning to change. Donald Trump will be taking, as we mentioned, his oath of office in just days. In order for Donald Trump to take office, first Joe Biden has to go on his way out. Joe Biden is attempting to constrain President Trump as he comes in. According to the New York Times, in the final days of his term, President Biden has issued a series of policy decisions intended to cement his agenda and in some cases make it harder for presidents elect Donald J. Trump to put in place his own. And this is always the danger of an outgoing administration, particularly one as venal and corrupt and terrible as Joe Biden's administration. Joe Biden is going to end up as a footnote in history, the guy who ushered Donald Trump back into the White House. The 11th hour decisions, many of them executive actions, according to the New York Times, include measures on environmental justice, which is to say banning fracking and limiting drilling off the coast. Prison reform, meaning jailbreak, immigration, immigration, foreign relations. Some are intended to preserve Biden's legacy. Others are last ditch efforts to expand his approach. What does that mean? Well, he's attempted to announce a ban on new oil and gas drilling across more than 625 million acres of U.S. coastal waters. President Trump has promised to reverse all of that. Biden is creating two national monuments in California that are not really about creating national monuments. They're intended to prevent mining and drilling that would cover 848,000 acres of desert and mountainous land in the state that no human will ever visit unless they were actually going to, you know, increase the energy production of the United States. The Biden administration announced that they would remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism in an attempt to box Donald Trump in. Of course, President Biden commuted the sentences of pretty much everybody on federal death row unless they killed particular protected classes of people, which apparently does not include small children. The president also issued sweeping rules earlier this week to govern how AI chips and models can be shared with foreign countries. The president said that he would cancel Student loans for more than 150,000 borrowers, which is a thing that he doesn't actually have the ability to do. And the Supreme Court said he could not, in fact, do. The administration issued sweeping extensions of deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of people to prevent President Trump from actually moving those people out of the country. And, of course, President Biden signed a piece of legislation that gives full Social Security benefits to some public sector retirees who are currently receiving them at reduced level. And he's attempting to shield people from being fired by the incoming President Trump. Meanwhile, Joe Biden is desperately attempting to shore up his legacy by crapping all over Kamala Harris, his vice president. And apparently they're very mad at one another. According to the Wall Street Journal, Vice President Kamala Harris has told close allies and family members she's disappointed in President Biden's recent contention. He would have won the 2024 election. So it wasn't enough for. For him to be pushed aside. Now she wants him to admit that he would have lost anyway and that it was a good move for him to be pushed aside, which is pretty amazing considering that, again, he was shiv directly in the guts by everybody around him. It was a true Julius Caesar assassination moment in American politics that we all got to watch as it unfolded. And Kamala Harris wants Joe Biden to acquiesce in his political euthanasia. Harris, according to the Wall Street Journal, has been reluctant to distance herself from Biden or criticize him throughout her vice presidency, even as several top Democrats pushed her to break from the unpopular president. Harris refused. Yes, it was all about her support for the man that she had just destroyed. Asked if he thought he could have defeated Trump earlier this month, Biden said, quote, it's presumptuous to say that, but I think, yes, based on the polling. Now, in reality, that's not true. But of course, this infighting was bound to break out. Of course that was going to happen. Nothing new there. Meanwhile, Karine Jean Pierre, world's worst press secretary. We are seeing the last of her. Thank God. Thank God. Well, she says, don't worry, guys. It'll take time to see Joe Biden's impact. I mean, that's true. The garbage policies that he planted in the heart of American democracy are gonna take a while to come to fruition, and they're going to be completely damaging. The vast overspending, the changes to procurement systems, the way that environmental regulations have been done. All those things will take time to fully materialize. Donald Trump is gonna try to Reverse as many of those as possible. But Karine Jean Pierre, she's out there saying, don't worry, Joe Biden will be seen as a historic president. How does he reconcile this gap between what he views as in chief as achievements, infrastructure investments, job growth, climate initiatives, and the perception that he's failed to deliver? The American people have gone through a lot in these four years, and so we understand that it's going to take a little bit of time for them, for folks to, to see the impact that this administration has had. But there are facts. There are, there's data out there to show that the work that this president has done building an economy from the bottom up, middle out has been. Has mattered. Yeah, not so much. Not so much. It'll be great to see the end of her because she is just absolutely awful. And here's the thing. By the time Joe Biden left office, people don't like him across the spectrum. Moderates don't like him because he wasn't moderate. The left doesn't like him because they are nuts. Just absolutely nuts. Antony Blinken, the outgoing Secretary of State, was giving his outgoing statement, his sort of denouement. And a bunch of far left, pro Hamas reporters showed up to harass Tony Blinken as though Tony Blinken had been some sort of stalwart pro Israel ally throughout the current Gaza war. In our democracy.
- [05:54]
Andrew Klavan
Why did you keep the bombs flowing.
- [05:56]
Michael Knowles
When we had a deal?
- [05:57]
Andrew Klavan
I'm happy to address questions.
- [05:58]
Michael Knowles
We had a deal. Everyone in this room knows we had a deal.
- [06:02]
Andrew Klavan
I'm happy to address questions when we get a chance. Thank you.
- [06:07]
Michael Knowles
You know, he richly deserves it. It's his own fault. It was this administration that decided to allow pro Hamas propagandists into the press room. It was their decision to do that and they received the outcome that they so richly deserve, which is to be booted out of office and be hated by the very people that they were attempting to parlay with. Meanwhile, President Trump is entering the White House with more positive sentiment than he has ever had in his entire political career, including his first term. A According to a new CNN poll conducted by ssrs, Trump continues to see majority approval for his handling of the transition. 55% approval, which is a very, very high percent, 56% expect President Trump to do a good job in his second term, which, by the way, is an amazing number. Almost 6 in 10Americans expect Donald Trump to do a good job in his second term. That's including moderates and Democrats and everybody else. Why? Because as it turns out, Donald Trump is a pragmatist. He's utilitarian. All he cares about is the winning. And so even people who may not agree with many of his conservative policies are interested in a country that actually functions again, a country that actually has a booming economy and a strong foreign policy. Opinions of Trump personally are closely split between favorable 46% and unfavorable 48%. Those are his best numbers since just after the 2016 election. However, the numbers on personal approval matter a lot less than the number on. Do you think he will be a successful president? That is a big number. 56%. 56% say they believe economic conditions in the country will be very or somewhat good a year from now. 52% say the country more generally will be better off four years from now. By the way, 31% of Democrats believe the economy is going to be somewhat or very good a year from now. And so do 54% of independents. That is an amazing increase for President Trump. He is coming in with a honeymoon. And if Congress does the things it is supposed to do, then we are going to see this boom lit turn into an actual boom on behalf of President Trump. And you can feel, you can feel the mood changing in the country now. The addition of Elon Musk, sort of the Republican side of the aisle, has been an imagistic boon in extraordinary ways. Yesterday, for example, the super heavy booster was caught again by the so called chopsticks. So Musk is doing things with technology. They're just cool. You know what? It's cool to be American. It's cool to live in a country that makes this sort of thing possible. It's cool to live in a country where a guy who comes to America with pretty much no money can build himself into the richest person on earth, making companies that create electric cars and rockets that are reusable and can be caught from midair that are 20 stories high. Here's some of the footage yesterday. I mean, again, maybe I'm like a little kid with this stuff. That's fine. I think most people are. It's just cool. It's just cool. And it gives you a feeling of optimism about the country to see this sort of thing and know, by the way, that Elon Musk is going to be participating in trying to move toward governmental efficiency. That is a very, very good thing. Here's some of the video from yesterday.
- [09:11]
Jeremy Boren
Booster now hovering as it aligns with the tower for catch.
- [09:16]
Michael Knowles
Booster coming in. Get ready for that boom. And here come the chopsticks. And they are going to catch the booster in midair and you can hear everybody cheering. I mean, that's super cool. It's really cool now. 30 years from now, people will pretend that it never happened and that it was all a conspiracy theory. But it is, in fact really, really, really cool. And again, you can feel nature beginning to heal. The FBI in December closed their DEI office that is in anticipation of President Trump doing the same, according to Fox News. The agency told Fox News Digital, quote, in recent weeks the FBI took steps to close the Office of Diversity and inclusion effective by December 2024. The agency did not specify why it had closed the office, but the obvious answer is President Trump was going to come in and close it anyway. DEI practices are on their way out the door, as well they should be. You're feeling it as DOGE moves toward cutting all sorts of DEI programs. According to the Washington Post, DOGE is going to be identifying hundreds of millions of dollars, billions of dollars in spending on diversity, equity and inclusion that they are going to identify as possibilities for cuts again. According to the Washington Post, they're considering a 19 page report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty that identified more than $120 billion annually in what it said was diversity, equity and inclusion spending. And DOGE is going to target that for cutting and that is going to be excellent as well. Well, it's a brand new beginning. And you know what I love about new years and new beginnings? It's not just about watching the ball drop or making resolutions we all forget by February. It's about the feeling of possibility, the fresh start we all crave. While everybody is talking about new gym memberships and diet plans, I want to talk about something that could truly change your 2025, your financial freedom. Make this the year you start to get out of debt and stop being crushed by it. The first step is to contact PDS debt for a personalized debt solution. Listen, a lot of people have been there. Those credit card statements that keep growing even though you're paying payments every month, that pit in your stomach when you think about your debt, that's no way to start a new year. That's why I want to tell you about PDS debt. They've been a game changer for so many people. If you're carrying $10,000 or more in debt, they can help you create a personalized debt solution. Personal regardless of your credit score? Yes. Even if you have bad or fair credit, you qualify. The best part? They can help you save money while paying off your debt in a fraction of the time. No more watching those balances stay stuck while you keep making the minimum payments. I have friends who've gotten into debt. It is brutal. It can ruin your life. Make this the year. Instead you take control of your debt. Get a free debt analysis right now@pdsdebt.com Ben it only takes 30 seconds. That's pdsdebt.com Ben pdsdet.com Ben Also, you know what's funny? When I started the Daily Wire, I thought the hard part would be the content creation. Well, it turns out dealing with all the behind the scenes stuff. The hiring, the HR policies, employee issues. That's the stuff that eats up your time. I'm not alone. When you're a business owner, every second of your time is unbelievably valuable. So don't waste your energy and risk losing money dealing with time, sucking payroll issues, office politics, and HR infractions. Focus on what matters most. Running your business with help from Bambi. Here's what makes Bambi different. They give you access to your very own dedicated HR manager at a fraction of what it costs to employ someone full time. And get this, Bambi cost just 29 bucks a month, whether you have 10, 75 or even 100 employees. If I had Bambi when I was first building my team, it would have saved me countless hours and headaches. Instead of getting bogged down with paperwork and compliance issues, I could have focused on growing my show, connecting with my audience. Well, with Bambi's HR autopilot, you're not gonna have to waste your valuable time getting into the weeds on HR policies, onboarding or terminations. Plus, Bambi is month to month, no hidden fees. You can cancel anytime. Right now get one month of Bambi for just one dollar call. Go to Bambi.com, type in Ben Shapiro under podcast. Schedule your first call with an HR manager right now. That's one month of Bambi for just $1 at b a m bee.com Ben Shapiro podcast Corporate America is beginning to conform to the new reality. As well it should. Google, for example, is not going to be doing what the EU wants it to do and adding fact checks to YouTube videos. Well, that's because the EU wishes to crack down on free speech. The EU is not a friend to free dissemination of opinion. Google has never included fact checking as part of its content moderation practices. But the EU was pushing super hard. And if Joe Biden had been reelected, you can guarantee that Google would have moved in that direction because Biden was very friendly toward the EU policy. But now In a letter written to Renate Nicolet, the Deputy Director General under Content and Technology arm at the European Commission, Google's global affairs president, Kent Walker said the fact checking integration required by the commission's new disinformation code of practice, quote, simply isn't appropriate or effective for for our services, and said Google will not commit to it. That matters because all of the fact checkers have been historically far left wing propaganda outfits that are designed to quash the speech of people who disagree. Instead, Walker is moving toward, he says Google is moving toward a sort of community notes program, just like X, which is correct. That is the way it ought to be done. Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg over at Meta is not just changing policy with regard to opening up a free speech, allowing people to say things, allowing people to see things. He is also apparently going to start actually operating Meta like the business it originally was. He's going to cut low performers faster. According to the Washington Post. It's a move that will lead to thousands of job cuts in a layoff that could affect 5% of the company. He's decided to raise the bar on performance management. Zuckerberg said. This is going to be an intense year. I want to make sure we have the best people on our team. Meta confirmed these policies will lead to a dramatic staff cut again. One of the reasons for that is because they're going to cut a lot of the DEI dead weight. Watch. That's what's gonna happen. Meanwhile, even companies like Starbucks are feeling the ability to actually do business again. Starbucks is now going to require people visiting its coffee shops to buy something in order to stay or use its bathrooms. That sounds like a small change, but the reality is Starbucks tried this a few years ago. The left wing blowback was so strong they then said that homeless people could basically walk into their bathrooms and shower. And now they realize, hey, wait a second, maybe the cultural tides have turned and we don't actually have to allow people to loiter in our stores. Business is very often led by culture and culture leads politics as well. All of this is very good. You could feel a lot of this optimism yesterday in the hearing for Scott Besant, the Treasury Secretary nominee for President Trump. Scott Besant suggested it's time to change our attitude about the economy. It's time for a pro growth attitude.
- [15:34]
Andrew Klavan
Productive investment that grows. The economy must be prioritized over wasteful spending that drives inflation. As we begin 2025, Americans are barreling towards an economic crisis a year end. If Congress fails to act, Americans will face the largest tax increase in history, a crushing 4 trillion tax hike. We must make permanent the 2017 tax, 2017 tax cuts and Jobs act and implement new pro growth policies to reduce the tax burden on American manufacturers, service workers and seniors.
- [16:14]
Michael Knowles
So again, all of this is good and you can feel the optimism in the business community. By the way, again, I'm the co owner of a fairly large business in the United States. I know business owners ranging from the right to the left. Everybody, even the people who didn't vote for Trump, are very optimistic about the state of the economy, about the realization that this government is not going to be attempting to quash American innovation. That was always the feeling under Joe Biden. Joe Biden's closing message was innovators in our economy are forming an oligarchy to control you. Says the man who spent 50 years in American politics at the top of a governmental oligarchy designed to control you. And now business owners are saying, you know what? We're no. The answer is no. Scott Besant actually had a fascinating exchange with the execrable evil Bernie Sanders. And Bernie Sanders truly like his perspectives are evil. He's a bad person, Bernie Sanders. He is, he is a total leech. He has been a leech for his entire adult life. This is a man so ridiculous that he was effectively kicked out of a commune for failing to do work back in his 20s. He's a deadbeat who failed to pay child support for his own child back when he was in Vermont. And Bernie Sanders is a scuzz bucket. He is awful. And he happens to be a pathetically rich socialist with his own lake house Dasha. In any case, he decided that he was going to go after Scott Besant and ask about the so called oligarchy by citing people like Elon Musk. And listen to Bessant's answer here.
- [17:35]
Andrew Klavan
Do you think that when so few people have so much wealth and so.
- [17:39]
Michael Knowles
Much economic and political power that that.
- [17:41]
Andrew Klavan
Is an oligarchic forms of society? Well, I would note that President Biden gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two people who I think would qualify for his oligarchs. So this is not a condemnation of any one individual. I'm just asking, would so few people have so much wealth and power? Do you think that that is an oligarchic form of society? Senator? I think it depends on the ability to move up and down the no, that's not really the answer.
- [18:18]
Michael Knowles
I mean, even if you had that.
- [18:19]
Andrew Klavan
Mobility, no matter who those individuals might be.
- [18:22]
Michael Knowles
Okay, that's an insane perspective from Bernie Sanders, it doesn't matter if you can become a billionaire. It's an oligarchy. If billionaires exist. That's asinine. And Bessant was like, no, that's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. Because of course it is ridiculous. It is a scavenger mentality. Bernie Sanders has never produced a damn thing one day in his entire life. He is a career loser. He is a loser who has been made into a famous person by a bunch of people who have a zero sum mentality when it comes to how the economy ought to work and how human life ought to work. Bernie Sanders has never hired a human. He has never run a business. Bernie Sanders has never been a person who has developed any sense of personal success. He's never produced anything for anyone except for himself and the people who he supposedly gets to vote for him. And there he is declaring that any form of society in which some people are able to get rich is an oligarchy while he himself has a lake house. What a pathetic. And you know what? We're done with that. We're done with that as a country, I hope permanently. I doubt it. But at least for the moment, we are very much done with that. Besson wasn't done roasting senators, by the way. Yesterday, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who has just made an ass of himself in every one of these hearings, he decided to ask Scott Bessant about an article in the Economist and suggests that Bessant hadn't read it. It didn't go well for him.
- [19:32]
Andrew Klavan
I'd actually asked you personally to read.
- [19:36]
Michael Knowles
This Economist magazine article.
- [19:38]
Andrew Klavan
I don't think it's complicated. Senator Whitehouse, you gave it to me in your office and I did read it.
- [19:43]
Michael Knowles
Good.
- [19:44]
Andrew Klavan
All right, so we're ahead of you. So I just want to make sure I will point out to my children behind me, doing your homework is important. It is important.
- [19:51]
Michael Knowles
And thank you for doing that.
- [19:52]
Andrew Klavan
I think you're the first person in.
- [19:54]
Michael Knowles
A nominations hearing has actually done the.
- [19:55]
Andrew Klavan
Reading that has been proposed.
- [19:57]
Michael Knowles
Oh, White House. What a clown he is. Now, there are some problems on the horizon. Those problems are things that unfortunately both parties are going to ignore. So there are some problems that are handleable. One of those problems is the extension of the Trump tax cuts. If the Trump tax cuts were to expire this year, that would be awful for business. It'd be a radical increase in taxation that would lead to job loss, to lack of innovation, to lack of productivity. Here is Bessant talking about that yesterday in front of his confirmation hearing.
- [20:24]
Andrew Klavan
As we begin 2025. Americans are barreling towards an economic crisis a year end. If Congress fails to act, Americans will face the largest tax increase in history, a crushing 4 trillion tax hike.
- [20:40]
Michael Knowles
But that is actually solvable. That is something that actually can be solved for by a Republican Congress extending the tax cuts. That is going to happen. That is the number one priority for the Trump administration. But there are other problems that are on the horizon. And here is where again, I have a problem with both parties. This is not a single party problem and that is the spending. So Bessen says, listen, we don't have a revenue problem in this country. We have a spending problem in this country. That is obviously, obviously true.
- [21:05]
Andrew Klavan
We do not have a revenue problem in the United States of America. We have a spending problem that historically, for the past 40 or 50 years, revenues, federal government revenues have averaged about 17 to 17 and a half percent of GDP and spending has been slightly over that, leading US to a 3.5% budget deficit, which is manageable because we have roughly 3.8% nominal growth, 1.8% real growth, 2% inflation today, as you stated, and to be clear, this is one of the things that got me out from behind my desk and my quiet life in this campaign was the thought that this spending is out of control. We are spending about 24, 25% of GDP. So as you said, 6.8 to 7% deficit. We have never seen this before when it is not a recession or not a war.
- [22:11]
Michael Knowles
Okay, so here is the big problem. However, if you think that spending levels are about to drop dramatically, I don't think that's the case. Because the American people don't want the spending to drop dramatically. We, like every other developed Western country, are going to spend our way into some form of actual economic problem. We are going to spend our way into austerity measures eventually because we refuse to take the measures that would actually be necessary. And when it comes to the economy, we ought to have a long term vision. But we also ought to have a long term vision when it comes to your educational future. And this is why you should check out Grand Canyon University, a private Christian university in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona. They believe we're endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. GCU believes in equal opportunity and that the American dream starts with purpose. GCU equips you to serve others in ways that promote human flourishing and creates a ripple effect of transformation for generations to come. By honoring your career, calling you impact your family, your friends and your community, change the world for good by putting others before yourself to glorify God. Whether your pursuit involves a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree, GCU's online on campus and hybrid learning environments are designed to help you achieve your unique academic, personal and professional goals. With over 340 academic programs as of September 2024, GCU meets you where you are and provides a path to help you fulfill your dreams. The pursuit to serve others? That's yours. Let it flourish. Find your purpose at Grand Canyon University. Purpose Private, Christian Affordable. Visit gcu. Edu Again, that's GCU Edu. I visited their campuses. A lot of great people over there. Check them out. Gcu Edu today. Also, anywhere worth going is worth going in a good pair of boots. Find your perfect pair with Tokovas the first time I put my Tokovas boots on, it was like they're already broken in. Which makes sense because each pair goes through over 200 meticulous steps of hand crafting with every stitch on point. Tacova's boots are made for a good time and a long time. Talk about attention to detail. I used to think Western boots were just for cowboys, but here's the thing. I'm not really a cowboy. And they're great. Since these folks started in Texas back in 2015, they've been changing that story. Whether you're a lifelong rancher or you're just looking for your first pair of Western boots to Coba's makes it feel easy. You can wear these beauties from sunup to sundown. They're built tough enough for long days, but stylish enough for those big nights out. I love wearing my Toqovas. Honestly, I'll wear them out when I go to dinner with my wife because they look great, they're very cool, and they are really comfortable to no matter your size or style, they've got the perfect boot waiting for you. Plus, with Tocova's Best in the west guarantee, you get free returns and exchanges for 30 days. Pretty hard to beat right now. Get 10% off@tecovas.com Shapiro when you sign up for email and texts. That's 10% off at T E C O V A S.com Shapiro tokovas.com Shapiro see site for details to Covas Point your toes west so at the same time, Besant is saying we don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. He's also saying we're not gonna touch Social Security and Medicare. Listen, I get it. I get that. That is the Actual politically viable thing to say about entitlement programs. The reality, of course, is that entitlement programs are gonna get solved by neither party, because any time anybody tries to do something about it, that person ends up on the wrong side of the American people. I'm old enough to remember when George W. Bush, in the aftermath of his reelection, proposed Social Security, quote, unquote, privatization, which just would have meant that you would have been taxed for Social Security and would have gone into a savings account that. That would actually have been invested in the stock market. Okay. If that had happened, if you had taken that money and invested it in the Dow Jones industrial average in 2005, the Dow Jones industrial average in 2005. Just to be clear about why, George W. Bush was right on this, but nobody will do it again. The Dow Jones industrial average in 2005 was 10,600. Today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is 43,000. 43,000. You have quadrupled the amount of money in those Social Security savings account if you had just put it in the Dow Jones Industrial Average when George W. Bush wanted to do so. But nobody was willing to touch it because everyone's afraid of the issue. That includes Republicans and Democrats. Here's best. In saying we're not going to touch Social Security or Medicare, I want to.
- [26:00]
Andrew Klavan
Emphasize that President Trump has said that Social Security and Medicare will not be touched. And I believe. But I'm saying touch in a positive way.
- [26:11]
Michael Knowles
Not cut benefits, not raise taxes, indeed increase benefits and take that 25% cut.
- [26:17]
Andrew Klavan
Off the table, just to make that clear. No, no, I understand. And those. Those would not be touched.
- [26:26]
Michael Knowles
Again, I think that. That Trump knows politically what is palatable and what is not. But let's be real about this. Spending levels ain't gonna radically decrease anytime in the near future, which is the reason why President Trump wants an elimination of the debt limit. And I'm not in favor of eliminating the debt limit. I think that it is very good that Congress actually has to consider raising the debt limit so there can be an actual negotiation over not increasing spending in particular areas. Although I will say that Congress always goes to the easiest area to cut, which is the area they shouldn't cut, which is defense. They always go to defense and pretend it's easier to cut defense than it is to restructure some of the entitlement programs, which is a mistake. However, President Trump is calling for an increase in the debt limit. My guess is that he will get.
- [27:06]
Andrew Klavan
It once President Trump takes office. And if I'm confirmed, if he wants to eliminate the debt limit. I will work with him and you on that.
- [27:16]
Michael Knowles
Like this is really, you know, again, I don't think great policy, but the reality is that we are about to enter a boom time because taxes are going to remain low, regulation is going to be reduced. Innovators and businesses know what is coming. Predictable low regulation. Societies are the ones that actually have extraordinary economic growth. And we're about to see that in the United States. Other nominees for President Trump had their hearings yesterday that included Doug Burgum over at the Department of the Interior, who's made himself sort of a cult figure after running a Quixota campaign for president. Here is the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum, who is going to be the new Secretary of the Interior. I do want to begin with gratitude, as I always do, with a special thank you to my friends, Senator Hoeven, Senator Cramer, not just for their kind words this morning, but their incredible service to the country and to North Dakota over their lifetimes. And Senator Lee, as you acknowledged, I'm deeply grateful for the support of all of my friends, my family, especially our three kids and my amazing and courageous former first lady and my wife, Katherine Burgum, who's joining me here today. It's certainly an honor to have been nominated by President Trump to Serve as the 55th Secretary of the Interior. Meanwhile, Lee Zeldin, the former congressperson from New York who ran for governor of New York, that may have saved Republican Congress a couple of years back because he outperformed against Kathy Hochul. He was asked by the execrable Senator Sanders about China and our perspective on China. He's going to be the head of the EPA and he says, listen, China's an adversary. Why are we pretending they're our friends? Are you and hopefully your colleagues, if.
- [28:53]
Andrew Klavan
You are confirmed, prepared to work with.
- [28:55]
Michael Knowles
China to try to lower carbon emissions? Senator, on many different issues, it is important not just to be working with nations that we are the strongest aligned with, but to also be in communication and engaged in dialogue with countries that might be considered competitors and also our greatest adversaries. And right now, China is a, is an adversary in many respects. He is right about that. And this is why I'm very confused about the varying perspectives on the right about TikTok. TikTok is a Chinese app. It is run by ByteDance. ByteDance is a subsidiary of the Chinese government. They are gathering data on Americans. They are spreading via social media algorithm mental poison to Americans. And the way that you can tell this is that the version of TikTok that Chinese people see is totally different. You're not gonna see attempts at transgendering the children in China. You're gonna see that all over TikTok. Today, Chinese government propaganda is going out on TikTok at an alarming rate on every issue from economics to foreign policy. Hey, China runs the out. Listen, I'm speaking as somebody who has 3 million followers, almost 3 million followers over at TikTok, and something like 60 million likes over at TikTok. So this is not coming from a small account at TikTok. TikTok is a Chinese owned app that is designed as a psyop on the American people. And yet somehow there's been this attempt, whether through solidarity with many of China's actual policies or out of a misguided belief that somehow, if the American government doesn't like Chinese ownership of TikTok, that means the American government is attempting to censor information to the idea that TikTok ought to be bad unless it divests of its Chinese ownership. And no one is suggesting that TikTok, if it were not owned by the Chinese, ought to be banned. No one is suggesting that right, left or center, so far as I'm aware. I'm not calling for any of the other social media mechanisms to be shuttered. In fact, I want them to broaden the amount of speech they allow. I've been fighting for that literally my entire career, and it's been a major issue for my company, the Daily Wire. TikTok, however, is a Chinese app. It is Chinese owned. It is a Chinese propaganda tool. This is perfectly clear from all available data. And yet you're seeing some bizarre folks on the right now saying that if TikTok is shut down, they're going to go and join other Chinese apps. Okay, geniuses. I mean, I suppose if you would like the Chinese to, you know, actually be able to face track you, which is apparently one of the things that these apps are doing. They're not just. They're not just tracking your data, they're tracking literally everything about you. This is crazy towns. What. What is the possible logic? So one bizarrely awful account, a person named Kim Iverson tweeted, just download the xiaohongshu app. Banning TikTok is going to completely, massively backfire. This app is showing Americans a completely different view of China. It's obvious China is the new world. Well, I guess you guys aren't being hijacked or anything by the Chinese. I guess that's not happening. What would possess you? This is legitimately like you read a bunch of Walter Duranty propaganda about the Soviet Union in 1932, and then it turns out that Walter Duranty is basically having his prostitutes and booze paid for by the Soviet government. And that comes out and you're like, you know what? In retaliation for that coming out, I am now going to subscribe to Pravda and give them all my personal information. What the hell? Like, seriously, what the Chinese. By the way, this is hilarious. The Chinese are actively attempting to ban American users from being able to reach the Chinese on their new Chinese apps. So Beijing censors are getting very upset. They're getting very upset because as it turns out, the Americans who are joining all these, they don't want the Americans to actually be able to access Chinese viewers via these new apps. They want to ban them. They don't want anything American in their country. They don't want any of our culture in their country. What they do want to do is track everything you are doing. I fail to understand. Maybe there is no logic. Maybe it's all just reactionary nonsense. Rednote, which is one of these apps, is again doing extraordinary technological tracking of all of its users on behalf of the Chinese government. So, I mean, I guess if you want to give them your data, that's your problem. Just understand the Chinese government is going to have all of the data that is on your phone if you give it to them. According to the New York Times, Manamatana Lee spent the past five years building one of the hottest commodities on the Internet, a group of people who reliably watch her videos. On TikTok. She built an audience of nearly 10,000 followers with videos of herself vacuuming her house in Wisconsin while her youngest daughter napped in a carrier on her back, a video of Ms. Lee dancing and doing the dishes has been watched more than 1 million times since November. Now, with the Supreme Court soon to rule in a case that could determine whether TikTok could be banned in the United States over national security concerns, Ms. Lee and other Americans looking for alternatives are downloading Xiaohongshu, a social media app popular in China and little known outside the country. How funny would it be if they banned TikTok and we all just move over to this Chinese app? She wrote on Monday on TikTok, encouraging her followers to join her. Oh, goodness gracious, people. Seriously, I'm not getting it. Why do you want the Chinese to have your information? Why you should be pushing for the actual bill that Congress pushed through to be implemented so that TikTok remains a feature of American Life, but is not owned and run by the Chinese. By the way, this is not just a critique of of the left. This is a critique of pretty much everybody who is pushing this nonsense. So Dave Portnoy, who generally I enjoy the owner of Barstool Sports. He does a lot of great things. Dave Portnoy, when he's doing his. The other day he did something awesome. He walked into a pizza shop and the pizza shop needed like 60 grand to keep operating. He liked the pizza, they were very nice to him. So he gave him 60 grand. Like, Dave does some really great stuff. I don't know what he's talking about here via TikTok.
- [34:41]
Megyn Kelly
The TikTok thing. I've already talked about this. The band. I don't think there's any way we lose TikTok if we lose Tik Tok. First of all, I don't even think they can really ban Tik Tok. Like, I think it'll still work. From what I've seen, you just can't. Like new people can't find it. Maybe I'm wrong. Whatever the US government bans TikTok is just more proof than go about the American people at all. Like, they have no clue what's going on. They're detached from reality. The amount of people, businesses, creators, individual, whatever you want to say, who earn a living through Tik Tok, they have no clue. So just to strip these people their livelihoods overnight because why? The only thing I can come up with. You're afraid China could use it for like disinformation? Control the algorithm, show people what they see. Listen again, if people are too dumb to check where they're getting information that it is important in the first place. Like what? The US government doesn't do disinformation. It's not a med. It's not an act. There, there's fake everywhere you go. If you have half a noodle up here, you gotta check what you're doing, do your research. If you're just getting on a random Tick Tock dance, then you're a. And whatever. I don't care about you. So again, I don't think there's any shot. I think the backlash will be too huge. Too many people losing their livelihoods, too many people companies losing marketing. I just don't see any way.
- [36:00]
Michael Knowles
Why are you blaming America for that? America offered Tick Tock an alternative Sell. Sell your algorithm, just divest of your Chinese ownership. That's it. Instead, apparently, the Trump administration is having the head of TikTok, a person named Xiao Chu to sit among the President's elect high profile guests during the inaugural. Now listen, I understand that a lot of TikTok stars who are fans of President Trump. Again, I have a lot of followers on TikTok. I'm a big backer of President Trump and I think that this administration is going to be great. But the reason people are animated about TikTok has nothing to do with with quote, unquote censorship. It has to do with the Chinese government running the thing. It's, it's pretty wild. Okay, in a moment, we'll get to some better news and some worse news. First Monday is the big day. The Daily Wire will be live from D.C. to bring you every moment as Donald Trump is sworn is the 47th President of the United States. We're not just covering history, we're delivering it straight to you live and uncensored because 47 is the magic number we're celebrating. With 47% off new Daily Wire plus annual memberships, we're tossing in a free $20 gift for joining the fight with Daily Wire plus you get all our shows uncensored and ad free, along with unlimited access to exclusive movies, documentaries and series that are literally reshaping the culture. Don't miss it. Use code 47@dailywire.com subscribe for 47% off your new membership today. Okay. Meanwhile, some good news for Republicans in the Senate. Brian Kemp is apparently looking at running for Senate against Jon Ossoff. John Ossoff will lose that race. The polls right now Show Kemp up 46 to 40. Right now, Ossoff is leading some of the other Republicans who are being nominated. I think that that is just because of the amount of notoriety that Ossoff has had in the state of Georgia. I think that those races would not be 10 point races in favor of John Ossoff. Kemp should run and he should win. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio's Senate replacement has been named in the state of Florida. That would be the Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who was named by Governor Ron DeSantis to replace Rubio, who's going to be the Secretary of of State. Moody is an excellent pick. She's been an excellent Attorney General in the state of Florida. To replace her governor, DeSantis named his chief of staff James Uthmeyer, who will also be an excellent ag. So again, the Republican Party is pretty stacked top to bottom and the Senate constituency has a chance of getting bigger because there are a bunch of Democrats who are in red states. And if Republicans actually run people who are good, they are going to win those particular states. Meanwhile, in sort of the least shocking story of the day, there is a person named Darren Bell. Darren Bell is a Pulitzer prize winning cartoonist who apparently had very far left, very far left and had a very big obsession with ripping on Republicans who were worried about child grooming. So he put out cartoons. For example, in 2022 he put out a cartoon saying the groomer is trying to turn our children into freaks. And it showed a Republican elephant exposing himself to children. But on his chest it said bigotry. Because this groomer was apparently not grooming children into sex, but into bigotry. And many cartoons like this, another one showing an angry maga hatted person saying modern Americans had groomer. And then half of the face is that and half the face is a Nazi saying jugend Verderber, the original German. Okay, well there's only one problem. As it turns out, this person who was deeply worried, Darren Bell, deeply worried about Republicans and their anti grooming efforts. It turns out that he was just hit with an arrest on accusations of being in possession of. Wait for it, wait for it. Child pornography. Oh, you mean the person who was laser focused on opposing anti grooming efforts was in fact allegedly grooming children like was allegedly, according to the allegations, in possession of child pornography? No. You shock me, sir. You mean the very people who are most likely to want Drag Queen Story hour might have a propensity toward some activities that are not particularly valuable for children? I mean. No, no. Detectives said they recovered images and movies depicting child sex abuse material believed to be computer generated content that, that until January 1st by the way, was not illegal. They knew he had this stuff on his computer for a while, but now they know that it was illegal. So that's what, what, what a sad and yet absolutely predictable story. Speaking of grooming, the UK has now announced a rapid review into the scale of the child sexual abuse grooming gangs in an attempt to avoid the blowback from Elon Musk naming and shaming members of the UK government. Britain's government on Thursday, according to the New York Times, vowed to pressure and announced new investigations into child sexual exploitation and abuse. Speaking in Parliament, Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary said she commissioned a rapid three month audit into the current scale and nature of gang based exploitation across the country that would examine data on the ethnicity of perpetrators. She also said the government would support and help fund up to five local inquiries into the issue of so called grooming gangs. Apparently there's going to be, I've heard, a sort of grooming Gang lottery, in which they determine, almost by lottery, which cities are audited for grooming gang. So it will not, in fact, be a nationwide audit of the grooming gang scandal, which is one of the great coverups in all of Western history. Grooming gangs represent a fraction of the total number of recorded cases of child sexual abuse in England and Wales, says the New York Times, attempting to cover for the fact that, yes, child sexual abuse exists in pretty much every race, in pretty much every culture, but when you have organized gangs of men of one particular race and culture who are engaged in a thing, that is a different thing. They are organized. They are gangs. It is a different thing. Well, the London mayor, Siti Khan, was actually asked about grooming gangs in London. He pretended he never heard of the issue. I asked you this question last week and you found every which way, but not to answer it. Just how many grooming gangs have we got in London? The one in a misunderstanding. Can she define what she means by that? Yes. If you look at what's gone on in Rotherham in where there are people.
- [41:50]
Andrew Klavan
Taking young girls, grooming them for sex.
- [41:54]
Michael Knowles
That is what I'm talking about. Well, we, we know in London there are issues about exploitation of young people, but they're not as defined by the member in her definition of what those types of gangs are. So are you saying we haven't got the same sort of gangs that are in Rotherham, Bradford and lots of other places in the country? Just fully. What's a misunderstanding? What does she mean by that? You know full well what I mean by that. It's all over the television. You know exactly what I mean by that. Right. What he's trying to do is bait her into saying these are Pakistani men who are gathering together to exploit white girls, which is the actual truth. And then if she says that, he's gonna call her an Islamophobe. Right. That is the stupid game that Sadiq Khan is playing. I think those days are over. And if the government insists, like Sadiq Khan, on insisting, that these gangs don't exist for purposes of political correctness and promoting the lie that multiculturalism is the strength of a country rather than assimilation into Western values, then I think the Labor Party is doomed for failure in Britain and that will be quite well deserved. Joining us online is Senator Tim Sheehy. He's a brand new senator, one of the excellent senators added to the Republican roster. I had the privilege of campaigning with Senator Sheehy in Montana during the last election cycle. I wanted to have him on to talk about what's going on in D.C. plus what's going on in California because he founded Bridger Aerospace which was an aerial firefighting and wildfire management company. Senator Sheehy, great to see on the program as an actual sworn in senator.
- [43:18]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah, it's great to be here. Thanks for all your support.
- [43:20]
Michael Knowles
So let's talk about what you are expecting next week, the inauguration. What is the first job of the Senate as the new administration begins?
- [43:28]
Ben Shapiro
Well, the first job is really what we're already doing which is pretty, pretty incredible. That Leader Thune's got us on an aggressive schedule which is get Trump's nominees confirmed, get them in place so we can be operational moving forward on the agenda. And I think we've got 12, we've already had 12 hearings and appointments go through this week alone through committee. And that's fantastic. That's an awesome pace. I mean the President's not even sworn in yet and we're already making hearing incredible progress towards getting his cabinet confirmed and in place. So that's the top priority. That's what we have to focus on. Because to get all the trickle down effects of the America first agenda which won decisively in November, we have to get the executive agencies turned over and ready to execute on that day one. So that's what we're doing.
- [44:07]
Michael Knowles
So obviously you were on the panel that was questioning Pete Hegseth as the possible Secretary of Defense. I think that he's gonna fly through with flying colors given his performance, which I think was excellent. I wanted to get your opinion. You had a pretty colorful exchange with Pete about the number of genders, about the sort of military specs on various operational systems and all the rest. What did you think of Pete's performance? How do you think his vote's gonna go?
- [44:31]
Ben Shapiro
He did a fantastic job. He really did. And listen, I mean it's the confirmation here is the advising consent role is very important. So I don't think any of us expect this to be easy. No one expects these hearings to hey, we just walk on through. But they're supposed to be tough. We gotta ask tough questions. But you know, there's tough questions and there's just smear, smear crap. And that's what we saw with Pete, same thing we saw with Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas a long time ago. I mean this is the Democrats tactic is if they don't want someone to get the job, they just smear them. You know, they did my campaign, they do it to these nominees and we don't need that. I have no problem with Them asking tough, pointed questions about the ability of this person to do the job. You know, what they're doing is just trying to smear his character and make him look bad. But he held up fantastically well. He did a great job pairing these ridiculous attacks away and staying focused on his message, which he did. And I agree with you. I think he's gonna be just fine.
- [45:20]
Michael Knowles
So, Senator Sheehy, one of the big questions going forward is gonna be sort of the strategy of the Senate in terms of getting President Trump's agenda through. Obviously, while we won a big victory, we, meaning conservatives, won a big victory over the course of the election cycle that only resulted in a 53 seat majority in the Senate, which means you really can't lose a lot of, a lot of votes on any sort of bill. Which means also that the filibuster comes into play. Reconciliation means probably there's only one or two big bills that get this year. How do you think that plays out?
- [45:46]
Ben Shapiro
No, I think you're right. I mean, it's obviously not a 60 seat majority. We always knew we were not going to have that. So, I mean, we're going to have to compromise. The Senate's built that way. So I think we all wish we could just say, damn the torpedoes, do what we want. That's just not the way. That's not the way it works. And for good reason. The framers designed it that way. And I'm a constitutionalist and respect that deeply. So, you know, there's certain things we're going to be able to get done through reconciliation and hopefully make the tax cuts and job deck permanent. A handful of other things, obviously border legislation. The good news about border legislation is it's been such an abject disaster that like you saw with Lake and Riley Act, I mean, there's been a lot of Democrats realizing, you know, I need to be behind this. Not only do I need to be, I should be, because this is a crisis we have to fix. So I think that really, the key things that folks are going to be focused on, like the border, like getting the economy sorted out. I think we can actually probably pass those with Democrat support. But you're right, you know, after that, it's gonna get a lot tougher.
- [46:40]
Michael Knowles
Senator Sheehy, I also wanted to ask you about the California wildfires. Given your history in aerial firefighting, wildfire management, you've been watching this disaster unfolding in California, you know, being on the inside of the industry, having founded a very successful company in that industry, what is the thing that Americans don't know about firefighting that maybe they need to know to understand what policy screw ups were made in California.
- [47:01]
Ben Shapiro
Well, there's no national standard for wildfire response time or ability. You know, if you dial 911, where you're sitting right now, NFPA and the National Fire Protection association mandates that there'll be a fire truck and a fire crew at your house in about five minutes. That's a national standard. And that was founded after the great fires of the 19th century, the great Chicago fire, Kansas City, when entire cities would burn down. These firestorms, folks came out of the ashes, those and realized we can't keep letting our cities burn to the ground. We need to come up with a way, with a code to build buildings, to respond to fires and to create fire departments that can promptly respond to fires. And as a result of that adoption of those codes, you know, structure, firefighter and civilian deaths have dropped over 80% in the last few decades. Because we focus on response time and having firefighters and aircraft ready to go. You go to wildfire. There is no requirement nationally to respond to a wildfire in a certain amount of time. None. And what happens is, you know, imagine in your community there if there hadn't been a fire in a week and the mayor said, you know what? We haven't had a fire, a house fire in a week. We're going to fire the firefighters, sell the fire engines and rent out the fire station because obviously there hasn't been a fire. We don't need them. That's what we do with our wildland firefighting community. We lay off our firefighters. We don't pay them like the professionals they are. We send the airplanes and the helicopters home. And then when a fire starts, like in la, like in Texas last, last spring, like in New Jersey in November, we are not ready to launch on these incidents in the same fashion that we would for structure fire. So we need to adopt far more aggressive national codes. And of course, as we're seeing in California, environmental policies, as well intentioned as they may be, have consequences. And when you decide that you're going to prioritize an endangered species, spotted owl, you know, the smelt fish, the Eurasian snailfish, whatever the hell you want to list today, when you prioritize that over the safety of your communities, there are impacts. And now we're seeing what those impacts are. So I think it's a wake up call. I wrote an op ed in December, and I hate to be right on something like this, but I wrote an op ed in December that literally and many of us have been. I wrote a book called Mudslingers where all the proceeds go to wildland firefighters. But it talked about this exact scenario that we are not ready for. The big one. It's coming. And America's gonna have a very rough wake up call when they realize we cannot fight wildfire at the level we need to. Lahaina, Maui was burned off the map. 100 people killed a year and a half ago. You know, obviously we're watching LA burn today. Texas had the largest fire in their history last year. We're not ready for this. And this is America First, Ben, is when people say, well, America first is machismo, nationalist, isolationist. No, not at all. What America first means is it's not too much for our people to ask that our government will put their interests first. America first means common sense that the first role of government is to keep their people safe.
- [49:52]
Michael Knowles
Safety.
- [49:52]
Ben Shapiro
That's it. And when you can't protect people from and the whole city's engulfed in a firestorm, something's gotta change.
- [49:59]
Michael Knowles
Well, that's Senator Tim Sheehy again, amazing addition to the United States Senate. Senator, Congratulations on becoming a sworn senator and we're looking forward to seeing what you do in dc.
- [50:08]
Ben Shapiro
All right, thanks, Ben. Keep going. Appreciate it.
- [50:10]
Michael Knowles
Well, meanwhile, the world of Hollywood has been rift torn apart by a brand new controversy. This is the controversy between a human named Justin Baldoni and another human named Blake Lively. Now, you've probably heard of Blake Lively because she's an actress who's married to Ryan Reynolds. Justin Baldoni is significantly less famous, but they did make a movie together called It Ends with Us. The log line for that film is, quote, when a woman's first love suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with a charming but abusive neuroassertion is upended, and she realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future. So it sounds totally awful. I, of course, have not seen a film like that because I have testicles. So that's not a man movie. That is a movie that is made for. In any case, this film became the subject of a thousand think pieces and two massive lawsuits because as it turns out, Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni were the stars of the film and Baldoni directed it. They didn't get along, apparently. Rumors of a feud began during their promotional tour in August 2024. There was speculation that Blake Lively had actually brought in her husband, Ryan Reynolds, to help take over creative control of the film. And Baldoni wasn't showing up at press events. And then Balzoni hired Johnny Depp's crisis management NPR professional, a person named Melissa Nathan, to represent him. Lively herself was doing some kind of strange things during her press tour. She was criticized for her tone deaf approach to the movie, which is supposedly a fairly serious movie about abuse and all the rest. Here, for example, she was doing a strange interview. But for people who see this movie.
- [51:42]
Ben Shapiro
Who relate to the topics of this.
- [51:44]
Michael Knowles
Movie on a deeply personal level, they're really going to want to talk to you. This movie is going to affect people and they're going to want to tell.
- [51:50]
Jeremy Boren
You about their lives.
- [51:51]
Michael Knowles
So if someone understands the themes of this movie, comes across you in public.
- [51:56]
Ben Shapiro
And, and they want to really talk.
- [51:57]
Michael Knowles
To you, what's the best way for them to be able to talk to you about this? How would you recommend they go about it?
- [52:01]
Jeremy Boren
Like asking for like my address or.
- [52:03]
Andrew Klavan
My phone number or like my location share.
- [52:06]
Jeremy Boren
I could just location share you and then we could.
- [52:11]
Michael Knowles
That's weird. He's literally asking, what would you say to somebody who is talking about abuse? And she's like, you want my phone number? Like, what is happening right now? Then apparently an interview with a journalist named Kirsty flah resurfaced from 2016 in which she was being very, very weird with her co star from a movie called Cafe Society, which was a Woody Allen film. First of all, congrats on your little bump.
- [52:35]
Jeremy Boren
Congrats on your little bump.
- [52:37]
Michael Knowles
What about my bump?
- [52:40]
Jeremy Boren
You've got two nice ones and these.
- [52:43]
Michael Knowles
They are kind of bumps, aren't they?
- [52:45]
Jeremy Boren
No, not bumps. The lovely lady lumps. Check it out.
- [52:49]
Michael Knowles
Thank you.
- [52:50]
Jeremy Boren
Thank you.
- [52:51]
Michael Knowles
Do you like the movie? Are you a Woody Allen fan? I love most of his movies and this one was so like visually amazing.
- [52:57]
Jeremy Boren
Yeah, it's gorgeous.
- [52:59]
Michael Knowles
Did you guys love wearing those kind of clothes that you. Yeah.
- [53:03]
Jeremy Boren
And you know, working in digital, no one wants to talk about the clothes, but I wonder if they would ask the men about the clothes.
- [53:08]
Michael Knowles
I would.
- [53:09]
Jeremy Boren
I love Jesse's. That's what I'm saying. His wardrobe was beautiful. For his wardrobe, of course, those high waisted pants.
- [53:18]
Michael Knowles
He's so great.
- [53:19]
Jeremy Boren
I would wish men wore high waisted pants still. Or the father with his tank top. Oh, that's so good. It's just like you feel it.
- [53:29]
Michael Knowles
Look at the interview. The interview's like, what's happening right now?
- [53:34]
Jeremy Boren
There's so much warmth of everything, you know?
- [53:36]
Michael Knowles
Yeah.
- [53:37]
Jeremy Boren
It's not just the women that have the clothes. Period piece of the conversation. But it's like every detail with everybody. Yes. It was amazing to look at.
- [53:46]
Michael Knowles
Okay, so, I mean, first rule of Hollywood actresses are very largely weird. I'm just gonna put that out there. Also, I didn't realize that Parker Posey had done a movie since Coyote Ugly and realized that she was still a working actress. In any case, in December, Blake Lively filed a legal complaint against Baldoni's Wayfarer studio. She claimed sexual harassment, retaliation, failure to investigate or prevent harassment, aiding and abetting harassment, breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, false light, invasion of privacy, interference with prospective economic advantage. And Lively had set forth a list of 30 HR related demands to be met by Baldoni and his production company. Those demands included no more showing nude videos and images to Lively or her employees. No mentions of Baldoni's pornography addiction or discussions of personal sexual encounters. No more inquiries about Lively's religious beliefs or weight, and all intimate scenes to be highly choreographed in advance. Well, as we will explore in a moment, many of these accusations are taken wildly out of context. And because you hear that initially, you're gonna be sympathetic to the actress who's accusing and director of that sort of activity. But it turns out, not so much. Well, she then apparently went to the New York Times, and the New York Times did a giant propaganda piece on her behalf talking about how dare Justin Baldoni defend himself with the PR campaign. The New York Times says, quote, she claimed Baldoni had improvised unwanted kissing and discussed his sex life, including encounters in which he said he may not have received consent. Mr. Heath, the producer, Jamie Heath, had shown her a video of his wife naked, she said, and he had watched Ms. Lively in her trailer when she was topless and having body makeup removed, despite her asking him to look away. She said both men repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding. And then the hit piece had a bunch of text messages and emails between Baldoni and his PR team. Baldoni ended up being dropped from William Morris Agency, which one of the biggest agencies in the world. Lively claimed that she missed hosting SNL because of the Baldoni smear campaign. And then Baldoni is now counter suing. He sued the New York Times for $250 million. He claims that Ryan Reynolds aggressively berated him. Lively then sued Baldoni officially. And yesterday, Baldoni sued Lively and Reynolds for $400 million. While joining us online to discuss the details of this salacious story is my friend Megyn Kelly, journalist and host of the Megyn Kelly Show. Okay, Megan, so I need you to walk me through the Blake Lively Justin Baldoni scandal here because I will be frank with you, until my producers put this on my agenda, I literally had no idea this was happening because I've not seen a movie with either of these people, I think maybe ever. So explain.
- [56:20]
Jeremy Boren
Okay, here's, here's the top line. It's a dispute between two Hollywood actors that's, you know, on every one of the tabloid magazines, etc. And effectively what I think has happened here, and the reason I think people are interested in, interested in this is because she has made herself into the new Amber Heard and he is the new Johnny Depp. That's what's caught people's attention. She had a round of negative publicity when this movie she did, it ends with us about domestic violence across from which she starred from Justin Baldoni, who was the male actor lead and was also the director and producer of the movie. So they starred in it came out. She suffered through a round of somewhat negative press because as often happens when these stars drop a movie, people start digging around for other interviews of them, etc, and it was just sort of a course of, well, like she seems like kind of a jerk. Wow, she's like kind of a bully. She's rather mean and to people who are less powerful than she is, less well known than she is and so on. Let's not forget she's married to Ryan Reynolds, who's one of the biggest stars in the world. His fame dwarfs hers. But the point is she's a part of, part of a power couple. And whatever, it kind of passed. It was over. But like a lot of thin skin skinned Hollywood types, she couldn't stand the fact that it was still lingering in any way out there. And she decided to file a complaint with the California Human Rights Division. But that was really, I believe, and it is alleged by Justin's lawyers now, just a setup so that she could give the New York Times cover to do a huge hit piece on him and attempted rehab of her saying, oh, that wasn't an organic round of bad press really. It was Justin Baldoni and his PR team trying to hurt her. And the reason he allegedly did this is because she'd accused him during the filming of the movie of sexual harassment. So she's a MeToo victim, he's a villain. And all the negative press you saw about her was astroturfed. Okay, that was her opening shot. Well, Justin Baldoni did a very smart thing and he hired Brian Friedman, my lawyer who represented me in My fight with NBC. And let me tell you, you could ask for no better. He knows how to fight, and he. He will find where all your bodies are buried, you know, on the other side. And there are a lot of bodies for Blake Lively. So he's first filed a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times for their totally irresponsible report about this matter in which they made mistakes. So egregious mistakes. I mean, intentional errors. You could argue about this. A case that showed, for example, a text showing how Justin and his PR team were out to smear poor, innocent Blake, conspiring, saying, look, I look at this article in the Daily Mail saying, she's terrible and she's about to be canceled. And the other PR hack writes back, you're that good? And the first PR hack writes, yeah, can you believe me? This is part of their evidence against the evil Justin team. And then Brian Friedman and his lawyer, in his legal complaint against the Times shows you the whole text exchange, which the Times had, we presume, in which they use a sarcasm emoji. And the woman saying, I did it explicitly says, except I didn't do it. And they're lamenting that they, you know, they didn't do it, but everybody's going to think that they did do it, but they didn't. That's one piece of it. Now in this lawsuit that he just filed. Again, this is the second lawsuit by Brian Freeman on behalf of Justin. This is against Blake, Ryan Reynolds, and their PR hack. And what they're alleging is that they had nothing to do with that negative round of press that Blake suffered last summer, that it was organic, but that they did have internal PR meetings about what they might have to do because this woman, Leslie Sloan, who works for the Ryan and Blake, was dropping hit piece after hit piece on Justin. And that Blake had spent the entire prior year trying to rest control of this movie away from Justin Baldon. It was his film. He was the director. He's a producer. He's the one who found the book and got the idea for it. And she was such a brat that she wanted to control every scene, wanted to see all the dailies, wanted to do her own cut, and did her own cut of the movie. All this is very unusual for just an actress in the film, even if she's the lead, and that she's now tried to turn this whole thing into a PR victory for her to get past what appears to be the fact that she is an egotistical bully.
- [60:41]
Michael Knowles
So what about the sexual harassment allegations when he first Read those. I read that New York Times piece, and the allegations, just the way the Times reported them seemed pretty bad. It was like, oh, he's showing her. One of the producers is showing her naked pictures of his wife. He's talking about pornography. They walked in on her while she was breastfeeding, even though she'd said not to. But it turns out that on, like, any level of examination, a huge percentage of this seems to fall apart. Correct? Correct.
- [61:03]
Jeremy Boren
Yes. So Brian Friedman, in that first lawsuit against the Times, produced the text messages, and I've seen them all, and it shows that. Take the two that you alleged. The alleged pornography that they subjected poor Blake Lively to was by Justin's business partner, who is a producer of the film from Wayfair, that's the name of their company, who. She has a birth scene in the movie and he showed her a still shot from his wife's delivery of their child, which I've also seen. You can't see any R rated parts at all. It's actually a really lovely artistic photo of a husband with his arms around his wife in a bathtub and the baby on top of the wife. There's no vag, there's nothing.
- [61:45]
Michael Knowles
Right.
- [61:45]
Jeremy Boren
It's like. It's not pornography by any stretch of the imagination. But poor Blake was subjected to this picture, which is just an example of how she loves to play the victim. And then the one about, oh, he burst on in on me uninvited when I was breastfeeding my child, that she says we should run lines together. He's like, anytime. And she's like, come on over. I'm breastfeeding the baby in the trailer, but come on over. So it's like it's written there, black and white. She invited him in. And a lot of women are comfortable having someone around when they breastfeed. So it's not so weird, especially out in Hollywood, for him to assume. Yeah, I guess she's fine with this because she did let him in. Ryan Reynolds comes off terribly. He had them over to their penthouse in New York and Taylor Swift was believed to be there, according to this latest complaint. Who's Blake Lively's BFFs. BFF. And. And what they allege is that they blacked out a lot of names, but we think it's Taylor, that the three of them sat there and they berated Justin for, you know, things that were going on in the set that they didn't like. They took control of the script. Blake personally, with Ryan's help, rewrote scenes again. Not. Not within the purview of an actress. And then after that, they have text messages in which Blake tells Justin, this is in the latest lawsuit. You know, I know you've never watched Game of Thrones, but when you get around to watching it, you'll realize I'm Khaleesi and these are my dragons, and I have the best dragons in the business, right? Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Swift. And what they're alleging is that none of us has ever heard of Justin Baldoni before this whole thing. I mean, who the hell is he? I guess he's in some small thing I never saw. But she's saying, F with me and we'll crush you. My dragons and I, the biggest movie star, one of them in the planet. The biggest pop star in the planet, and I will hurt you unless I get my way. So her sexual allegations have fallen apart, and her. I was not really a bully. I was just targeted. Allegations have fallen apart, and now he's going full Johnny Depp on her to show that she was the bully. She was the one harassing him. And this guy who had, you know, comparatively very little power was forced now to come out and tell the truth about Blake Lively.
- [64:01]
Michael Knowles
So, I mean, this is all more fascinating than I thought it would be, to be honest with you. And. And I have to say that the blowback to Ryan Reynolds, I think, is going to be pretty severe because his whole image is this cool guy who's very easy to get along with, friends with, everybody, jokey, jokey. But if it turns out that he's standing sort of in the wings and the shadows ready to go after anybody who crosses Blake Lively's bizarre machinations, that's not a great look for him.
- [64:25]
Jeremy Boren
No. And by the way, good luck to Blake Lively in getting hired again, because all of her diva antics are coming out and the way she behaves behind the scenes. And now this with the lawsuit and the New York Times thing, because she's now filed against him as well. So it's a terrible move by her and them PR wise. But Ryan Reynolds, one of the things he allegedly exploded on Justin Baldoni over was alleged fat shaming of Blake because I guess when she was shooting this movie, she was postpartum and she was trying to get back into shape. Well, now they've produced the text messages Baldoni and team in this latest lawsuit against her saying, showing Justin being like, don't worry about any of that. We can shoot any scenes that require, you know, exposure toward the end of the movie when, you know, you feel Better about things. This is the last thing you should have to worry about. I got you right. The alleged fat shaming that Ryan Reynolds went off on him over. That's all over her lawsuit that he's been excoriated for in the press, the left wing press was when he went to the tr. It was either his trainer or her trainer or the trainer on the set. And he asked how much Blake weighs and that it was like, how dare he. Right? How dare. Turns out Justin Baldoni, this has been documented, has serious disc issues and was actually in the hospital for like two months after this film wrapped because of his disc issues and was worried because he had to pick her up in a scene like, you know, officer and a Gentleman style. And he was very concerned about his discs. He didn't want to go to her and be like, hey, how much do you weigh? Because no man wants to do that. So he goes to the trainer to say, can you let me know? He didn't give to.
- [66:04]
Michael Knowles
He's.
- [66:04]
Jeremy Boren
You see the text with him and Blake being like, please don't worry about this at all. I got you. It's just the picture they're painting of him is so gross. It's another Amber Johnny situation, in my opinion.
- [66:15]
Michael Knowles
Wow. That is it. That is a wild story and I appreciate you sharing all those details with me that I certainly would not have read on my own. Meg Kelly, you got me. You got me. I'm interested in this now, which is why you have to listen to the Megyn Kelly show. Everybody go tune over to Megan's show. She does a great job with all the issues, including this one. Megan, really appreciate the time and congratulations on next week. Next week will be awesome. Inauguration week, you got big plans.
- [66:36]
Jeremy Boren
Oh, wow. Congratulations to us all.
- [66:39]
Michael Knowles
Yeah. Really?
- [66:41]
Jeremy Boren
Yeah. Can't wait. It's going to be a big one. And God bless, because I think those executive orders we're going to get before he even finishes the inaugural ceremony are going to have us celebrating, cheering and then going to start changing the country immediately.
- [66:53]
Michael Knowles
Your mouth to God's ears. Appreciate it. Megan, good to see you.
- [66:56]
Jeremy Boren
See you, my friend.
- [66:57]
Michael Knowles
Alrighty, folks. Coming up, the Supreme Court has in fact upheld the ban on TikTok. If you're not a member, become member. Use code Shapiro. Check out for two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us.