Ep. 2131 - Trump and Musk Bring The CHAINSAW

Summary

Summary of Ep. 2131 - Trump and Musk Bring The CHAINSAW | The Ben Shapiro Show

Release Date: February 4, 2025

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1. U.S. Trade Relations: Canada, Mexico, and China

Ben Shapiro opens the episode by discussing President Trump's aggressive trade strategies. He highlights how Trump's proposed 25% tariffs on Canadian goods led to Canada easing its stance by committing to appoint a fentanyl czar, labeling cartels as terrorists, and deploying 10,000 personnel to the northern border to combat organized crime and illegal immigration. This move mirrors Mexico's earlier concession of sending 10,000 National Guard troops to the U.S. southern border for similar purposes.

“In any trade war between the United States and Canada, Canada is going to lose.” [00:00]

Shapiro contrasts the retaliatory measures from China, which include a 10% tariff on various American goods and a 15% tax on certain coal and liquefied natural gas products, with the relative impact these would have on the U.S. economy. He asserts that the U.S. can mitigate these tariffs by sourcing materials from alternative markets, thereby minimizing economic damage while exerting greater pressure on China, deemed a geopolitical adversary.

Ben Shapiro:

“The United States, if we need those sorts of materials, can go elsewhere for those sorts of materials.” [02:15]

2. Reformation of USAID and Government Efficiency

A significant portion of the episode delves into President Trump's overhaul of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Shapiro criticizes USAID for its alleged corruption and alignment with left-wing NGOs, arguing that its original purpose of countering communism has been subverted to promote social leftism globally.

“USAID has been transformed into trans pride flags in Africa... kept up an entire employment line for people who are out of power.” [04:00]

Elon Musk is introduced as a key figure in this reformative process, being deployed to USAID by President Trump through the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE). Musk acknowledges USAID's shift towards radical leftism but supports its initial concept.

Elon Musk:

“I love the concept of it. Yeah, sure, I love the concept. But they turn out to be radical left lunatics.” [05:25]

Shapiro commends Musk's efficiency in dismantling the corrupt aspects of USAID, drawing parallels to Musk's management style at companies like X. The aim is to purge waste, fraud, and abuse, aligning USAID's missions with national interests.

3. Political Backlash and Defense of Reforms

The episode explores the backlash from Democratic figures opposing the shutdown and restructuring of USAID. Ilhan Omar criticizes Musk's authority within USAID, questioning the legitimacy of non-elected officials wielding significant power.

Ilhan Omar:

“A billionaire that hasn't been vetted... should not be telling American employees that they cannot access the building they work at.” [25:03]

In response, Shapiro defends the executive branch's authority, emphasizing that the President, having been elected, possesses the necessary power to reorganize agencies to reflect his administration's priorities.

“Representatives from DOGE are already working at the Education Department headquarters and seeking access to agency records.” [13:34]

4. Broader Government Reforms and Department Shutdowns

Shapiro outlines the Trump administration's broader strategy of "moving fast and breaking things" across various federal agencies. This includes the imminent shutdown of the Department of Education, a long-standing Republican objective, aiming to dismantle what he describes as a "gravy train" for the left.

“It is beyond repair. That's exactly what they have done with the university systems in the United States.” [07:53]

Marco Rubio, acting as the head of USAID, emphasizes the need to align USAID's functions with national interests, distancing the agency from left-wing influences.

Marco Rubio:

“USAID is not an independent nongovernmental entity. It is an entity that spends taxpayer dollars, and it needs to spend it... in alignment with the policy directives.” [13:34]

Shapiro also discusses the freeze ordered by Treasury Secretary Scott Besant on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), highlighting efforts to rollback left-leaning regulatory actions.

“Treasury Secretary Scott Besant has ordered a freeze to work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.” [47:47]

5. Foreign Policy: Israel, Iran, and Middle Eastern Stability

The discussion shifts to U.S. foreign policy, particularly the strong alliance with Israel under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Shapiro addresses the ongoing hostage situation with Hamas and the potential threats posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions.

“There's no way that Hamas can be allowed to run the Gaza Strip.” [41:26]

New intelligence reports suggest Iran is advancing toward a crude atomic weapon. Shapiro argues that with Iran's weakened state and lack of air defenses, a strategic airstrike could effectively halt their nuclear program temporarily.

“A single sortie of airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities would end their nuclear program for the moment.” [41:26]

He emphasizes the importance of supporting Israel with necessary weaponry to neutralize Iranian threats without prolonged American intervention.

6. California Wildfires and Government Inefficiency

In a candid conversation with Adam Carolla, Shapiro explores the devastating wildfires in California, attributing their severity to state government mismanagement and excessive bureaucracy. Carolla shares personal anecdotes of losing homes and the arduous process of rebuilding amidst stringent regulations.

Adam Carolla:

“I lived in Malibu, I fled, evacuated, cannot go back. My place made it.” [44:23]

Shapiro criticizes California leaders like Governor Gavin Newsom and Secretary Karen Bass for their bureaucratic approaches that hinder quick recovery and rebuilding efforts.

“We gotta build as fast as possible.” [48:16]

He predicts a mass exodus from California as residents face financial strain and insurmountable regulatory hurdles, further weakening a state he views as a stronghold of left-wing policies.

7. Democratic Resistance and Constitutional Arguments

Democratic lawmakers like Chris Murphy and Senator Andy Kim voice concerns over the executive branch's restructuring of agencies, labeling it a constitutional crisis. They argue that President Trump's actions overstep legal boundaries.

Chris Murphy:

“It is illegal, unacceptable to have a president try through executive power, be able to reorganize or remove USAID.” [29:55]

Shapiro rebuts these claims by affirming the President's authority over executive agencies, emphasizing that such actions reflect inherent flaws within the administrative system established over decades by Democrats.

“The problem is that the USAID infrastructure has been hijacked by the radical left.” [07:12]

8. Government Overreach and the "Deep State"

Shapiro introduces the concept of the "deep state," accusing Democrats of establishing a permanent bureaucratic structure to funnel taxpayer money to allies and perpetuate their political influence. He positions President Trump's reforms as dismantling these entrenched systems.

“What Democrats are claiming is that USAID is going to be completely shut down.” [07:53]

He underscores that the Trump administration's swift actions are designed to eliminate the bureaucratic support for Democratic agendas, effectively disrupting the "gravy train" that supports left-wing initiatives.

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Ben Shapiro:

  “In any trade war between the United States and Canada, Canada is going to lose.” [00:00]

  “Elon Musk is actually running places like USAID the same way that he actually ran X.” [18:21]

  “President Trump's winning continues. But in order for you to win at life, you have to plan.” [18:58]

• Ilhan Omar:

  “A billionaire that hasn't been vetted... should not be telling American employees that they cannot access the building they work at.” [25:03]

• Marco Rubio:

  “USAID is not an independent nongovernmental entity. It is an entity that spends taxpayer dollars...” [13:34]

• Chris Murphy:

  “It is illegal, unacceptable to have a president try through executive power, be able to reorganize or remove USAID.” [29:55]

• Adam Carolla:

  “It's charred on the ground. I lived in Malibu, I fled, evacuated, cannot go back.” [44:23]

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Conclusion

In this episode, Ben Shapiro fervently defends President Trump's administration against Democratic criticisms, particularly focusing on the restructuring of USAID and other federal agencies. He portrays these reforms as necessary actions to eliminate corruption, waste, and left-wing influence within the government. Shapiro also addresses significant foreign policy issues, advocating for a strong stance against Iran and solidifying alliances with Israel. Additionally, he critiques California's handling of wildfires as emblematic of broader governmental inefficiency. Throughout the episode, Shapiro underscores the administration's commitment to prioritizing American interests, economic efficiency, and national security.

Transcript

[Ben Shapiro]

Well, President Trump's leverage play continues to work. Canada has now caved. President Trump tried to push a 25% tariff against Canada. Canada immediately suggested that they were going to tariff American goods. That would been much worse for them than for us. In any trade war between the United States and Canada, Canada is going to lose. Instead, Justin Trudeau has bent the knee to President Trump. He announced that Canada would appoint a fentanyl czar, list cartels as terrorists, and launch a joint strike force with the United States to combat organized crime, fentanyl trafficking, and money laundering. Also announced that he would be deploying 10,000 personnel to the northern border as well. So yesterday, as we talked about, Mexico caved and said that they would send 10,000 National Guard troops to America's southern border to police for fentanyl and to police for illegal immigration. And now Canada is doing the same instead. The sweeping tariffs that Trump was proposing have been put on hold for 30 days, presumably to reach a further agreement. Meanwhile, Beijing is attempting to figure out how to end around the tariffs that President Trump just put on them. He put a 10% tariff on Chinese goods. Beijing is hitting back by announcing a, quote, unquote, broad package of economic measures targeting the United States. The fresh duties were announced by China's Ministry of Finance. They levy a 15% tax on certain types of coal and liquefied natural gas, and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, large displacement cars, and pickup trucks. Now, the problem with all of that is that China is not a massive consumer, for example, of American crude oil. We have plenty of markets all over the world are perfectly willing to take our liquefied natural gas. The Ministry of Commerce and China's Customs Administration also announced new export controls immediately effective on more than two dozen metal products and related technologies, including, for example, tungsten, a mineral typically used in industrial and defense applications, as well as tellurium, which can be used to make solar cells. This, according to cnn. Now, here is the thing again. The United States, if we need those sorts of materials, can go elsewhere for those sorts of materials. There's not a lot of sting in these Chinese retaliatory measures. So the notion that this is going to radically alter the American economy in any way is unlikely. Prices will go up in certain areas of the American economy. But unlike tariffs on, say, Mexico or Canada, where Mexico and Canada, Canada's an ally and Mexico is at least titularly an ally, China is an actual geopolitical enemy of the United States. And so actually having a trade war with China, even if it does Some economic damage to the United States will do much worse economic damage to China. So will President Trump get some sort of concessions that allow him to walk back the tariffs? We'll find out, but they're gonna have to be some pretty significant concessions. And President Trump is moving faster than any president of my lifetime to do things. It is astonishing. Astonishing. I've never seen an administration move this quickly to do as many different things as the Trump administration is doing right now. Whether you're talking about walking back support for the unrwa, whether you're talking about ending support nationwide for the transing of the children, whether you are talking about ending DEI initiatives all over the country, whether you're talking about reconstituting the Defense Department. By the way, recruitment immediately has skyrocketed since the appointment of Pete Hegseth to Secretary of Defense. We were talking about getting wins at the Panama Canal, where the Panamanian government has now announced it is not going to take place in the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative anymore. This administration is pushing so hard, so fast on so many fronts that it's very, very difficult for any opposition to truly form around any one issue. The best the Democrats have done so far is trying to mobilize around the end of usaid. Now, USAID is an agency that was originally brought into being by foreign aid initiatives of Congress and then put into power by an executive order by JFK all the way back during the middle of the Cold War. And USAID, which is designed originally the U.S. agency for International Development, which was designed essentially as a way of spreading America's foreign policy tentacles all over the world. I mean, that was the explicit purpose. It wasn't just to do nice things. It was to do nice things and also to support institutions in various countries that were going to be a bulwark against communism. That's what USAID was for. And since the end of the Cold War, USAID has been transformed into trans pride flags in Africa. USAID has been turned into boondoggle projects that are designed to pay millions or billions of dollars to left wing NGOs both in the United States and outside the United States, and keep up an entire employment line for people who are out of power. So when Republicans are in power, USAID is still paying a bunch of blue organizations to keep the trains running on time and to make sure that the money continues to flow to various organizations abroad that are willing to spread social leftism, not just anti Chinese or anti Russian or anti America's enemies Moves, as you might expect if you were pursuing Actual hard nosed American foreign policy. Again, soft power can be a very good thing. The idea of USAID is not wrong. The idea that you want to find nongovernmental organizations in, for example, countries that are teetering between China and the United States and support those non governmental organizations to make that country more pro America, that's not a bad idea. The problem is that the USAID infrastructure has been hijacked by the radical left. This is a point that President Trump made yesterday, slamming USAID and saying, listen, it didn't have to become a cutout for left wing ideology, but it did. And that's not my fault. That's your fault. The first term, though, USAID was something that you liked in some respects.

[Elon Musk]

I love the concept of it. Yeah, sure, I love the concept. But they turn out to be radical left lunatics. And the concept of it is good, but it's all about the people.

[Ben Shapiro]

So he is right about that again. The fact is that what the left has done with so many institutions, and USAID is just one of them, is taken the original purpose of the institution and then gutted it and worn the face around like Hannibal Lecter. That is exactly what they have done with the university systems in the United States. They did it with the objective press in the United States, and they did it with usaid. USAID has been participating in so much waste and fraud over the course of time. As Daniel Greenfield of the David Horowitz Freedom center points out, USAID has sent $9.3 billion to Islamic terror states collectively responsible for killing over 3,000American soldiers. There's an enormous number of terrible organizations supported by usaid. That was a point that was being made by Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary. Here she was yesterday talking about examples of waste and abuse inside usaid.

[Caroline Levitt]

Here's the reason why Elon Musk and others have been taking a look. Because if you look at the waste and abuse that has run through USAID over the past several years, these are some of the insane priorities that that organization has been spending money on. $1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia's workplaces. 70,000 for a production of a DEI musical in Ireland. 47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia. 32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru. I don't know about you, but as an American taxpayer, I don't want my dollars going towards this crap. And I know the American people don't either. And that's exactly what Elon Musk has been tasked by President Trump to do to get the fraud waste and abuse out of our federal government.

[Ben Shapiro]

Of course, she is totally right about all of that. Now, I will say that there is a wing of the Republican Party that, that wishes to use the fact that these institutions have been so thoroughly corrupted to basically go totally isolationist, which again, as I said yesterday, is a mistake. Two things can be true at once. USAID has become a totally corrupted institution. Also. That doesn't mean that the best strategy for the United States is to retreat from the world entirely and simply grant that vacuum to, for example, the Chinese or the Russians or the Iranians. With that said Elon Musk, who had basically been put in temporary charge of the usaid, he said yesterday that there basically is nothing left at USAID that's worth saving.

[Peter Morocco]

As we dug into usaid, it became apparent that what we have here is, is not an apple with a worm in it, but we have actually just a ball of worms. There is no apple. You've just got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It's beyond, it's beyond repair. So really none of this could be done without the full support of the President. I went over it with him, you know, in detail, and he agreed with that we should, we should shut it down. I actually checked with him a few times. Are you sure? Like, yes. So we're shutting it down.

[Ben Shapiro]

So the budget of USAID is somewhere between 40 and 50 billion dollars. It is a very, very large governmental program. So when people say things like, well, it's only 1% of the American budget, that's true, but that's just because our budget is way, way, way too large. That doesn't mean we should be wasting tons of money on interests that are antithetical to American interests abroad. Again, the spreading of social leftism in Zimbabwe should not be the goal of American foreign policy. Flying pride, progress flags outside the Vatican should not be a goal of American foreign policy. And neither should supporting left wing NGOs that are also supported by people like George Soros abroad. That is a bad use of taxpayer dollars. Whether or not it is a waste of taxpayer dollars is actually secondary to the fact that it's counterproductive for American interests abroad. We should not be wasting tons of money and you should not be giving all of your information to your Internet service provider. 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Well, the President deployed Elon Musk and doge, the Department of Governmental Efficiency, to go into the headquarters over at USAID and begin digging through the personnel files and trying to figure out who was a waste of money, where was all the money going? And the acting heads of USAID tried to resist. So President Trump fired them. Now, a bunch of people on the left very, very upset about all of this. They're upset for a couple of reasons. One, they're upset because they actually like the Pride Progress flag being flown in far flung African nations with American taxpayer dollars. They want America funding abortion abroad. Right. It's this sort of stuff that they are interested in. So, number one, on an ideological level, they support precisely the things the American taxpayers don't wanna do. But there's something else going on too, and that is usaid, like so many other federal government programs, is an absolute gravy train for Democratic allies. That's what it is. It is a bunch of money that is being spent on various constituencies that Democrats cultivate and then use as the incoming State Department officials. For example, if Democrats win office. It is not a coincidence that so many Democrats, both elected and unelected, worked at places like USAID or places funded by usaid. This giant grab bag of cash which has essentially become a handout mechanism for the left wing. Of course they're angry that it is going away or at least being radically minimized. So what happened? Apparently on Sunday, two senior USAID officials were suspended for blocking Doge officials from a restricted area as after the agency's website went offline and Elon Musk posted to X that USAID was beyond repair and needed to be shut down. This is according to the UK Guardian, which of course is a very left wing source from Great Britain. Well, now Marco Rubio has said that he is now the acting head of usaid, which of course makes sense. One of the kind of points that the Democrats were making is Elon Musk has never been appointed to a government position. He's sort of operating as an outside government advisor. He doesn't take a salary from the government, he doesn't work for the government. We don't know if he has a security clearance. So instead, Secretary of State Rubio, who was overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate and of course has passed. Every security clearance needs to sit in the Senate. He says, listen, I'm the acting head of USAID now, and we're going to go through and we're going to make sure that all of the priorities of this administration are aligned with the spending at usaid.

[Marco Rubio]

I'm the acting director of usaid. I've delegated that authority to someone, but I stay in touch with him. And again, our goal was to go in and align our foreign aid to the national interest. But if you go to mission after mission and embassy after embassy around, you will often find that in many cases, USAID is involved in programs that run counter to what we're trying to do in our national strategy with that country or with that region. That cannot continue. USAID is not an independent nongovernmental entity. It is an entity that spends taxpayer dollars, and it needs to spend it, as the statute says, in alignment with the policy directives that they get from the Secretary of State, the National Security Council, and the President.

[Ben Shapiro]

Okay, this is all perfectly obvious. And basically what President Trump did is he used DOGE as the crowbar to pry open usaid. And then once all of the rot was spilling out into the hallway, then he said to Rubio, ok, you go in and you take all the rot and you clean it out. So what Democrats are claiming is that USAID is going to be completely shut down. Of course, Musk had said that you don't have to shut down the agency in violation of statute in order to achieve the same purpose. You can simply clean it out, and that would be the best thing to do. Again, the strategy seems to be from the administration, move fast and break things. Basically, all of these cuts, all of these attempts to bring a chainsaw to the party. That's exactly how Musk ran, for example, X. When Musk took over X, he fired pretty much everybody in the building. He called in everybody, he fired them, and that broke a bunch of the systems. And then he rebuilt and fixed the systems. And that's precisely what he's doing. He's actually running places like USAID the same way that he actually ran X. So, for example, he brought in with him when Doge went into USAID, he brought in with him, according to Wired, six young men between the ages of 19 and 24 who, quote, have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in doge, tasked by executive order with modernizing federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and progress. The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE and at least One appears to be working as a volunteer. Now, this, of course, is an issue of supposed consternation to the left. Oh, my God, all these young people, young, brilliant people who are highly technologically qualified, making cuts and checking the work. No, of course, if these people are on the left, it would be an unmitigated good. It would be the next generation taking over, getting involved in public service. But when it's people who are on the right, then of course, they're evil nerds in the back closet, probably incels or something. Even though what you're really seeing is a bunch of very effective young people who are doing a bunch of scut work that other people aren't willing to do. The six men, according to Wired, are one part of the broader project of Musk allies assuming key government positions. Already Musk's lackeys, including senior staff from Xai, Tesla and the Boring Company, have taken control of the Office of Personnel Management and General Services Administration and have gained access to the Treasury Department's payment system. So what exactly is the problem? There seems to be a kind of missing link here in democratic logic. And the missing link is this. All of these people, all of them work for the President of the United States. Trump can fire Elon Musk at any time. He can fire any of the people who are working for Elon Musk at any time. He can simply stop granting them access to any of the government buildings. He's the President of the United States. President Trump can appoint Secretary Rubio the head of usaid. These are executive branch agencies. The way an executive branch agency works is everyone serves at the pleasure of the President of the United States. That doesn't mean the President can violate statute, but he's not violating statute when he puts his own people in place at these agencies to ensure that his priorities are enacted via the statute. Now, if you don't like that, there's a way that this could have been avoided, and that would have been not to create a massive administrative bureaucracy since the beginning of the 20th century. The Democrats, in other words, centralized extraordinary power over the course of a century and a half in the executive branch. And now they're just mad that the person in charge of the executive branch is using that power to carve away all of their permanent substructures. What we are watching is a sea change in the way that government is done. Not because Donald Trump is, quote, unquote, dictatorial or authoritarian, but because he is using precisely the same power every Democrat has used in order to carve away the Permanent root of the Democratic Party. Again, all these programs at usaid. Not all. Most of these programs at USAID are boondoggles that are designed to help out Democratic allies and promote Democrat blue priorities even when they're not in the government. You want to look at something that's. That is the definition of the deep state, a continuing, never changing bureaucracy that consistently floods taxpayer money to a bunch of allies of the Democratic Party. And Trump is saying, no, we are not going to do that. Here's President Trump backing Elon Musk's program here and saying, listen, he's good at cutting things. That's why he's there.

[Elon Musk]

He's a very talented guy from the standpoint of management and costs. Elon can't do and won't do anything without our approval. And we'll give him the approval where appropriate. Where not appropriate, we won't. But he reports in and he. It's something that he feels very strongly about and I'm impressed because he's running, obviously a big company, has nothing to do if there's a conflict, that we won't let him get near it. But he does have a good natural instinct. He's got a team of very talented people. We're trying to shrink government and he can probably shrink it as well as anybody else else, if not better.

[Ben Shapiro]

Again, notice some of the things that Trump is saying there. He's saying, listen, if Musk proposes a cut and we don't want to do it, we just won't do it. If we think that Musk is conflicted out on a particular issue, he won't be involved. Right. He's saying, musk worked for me. I'm the president, Musk is not the president and he works for me and he's doing good work and he's cutting. And if that means some things get broken that we then have to patch back up, then that's what it will be. Marco Rubio put out a note to senior Republican and Democratic lawmakers saying, quote, the Department of State and other pertinent entities will be consulting with Congress and the appropriate committees to reorganize and absorb certain bureaus, offices and missions of the usaid. The White House put out a statement saying, quote, under President Trump, the waste, fraud and abuse ends right now. Now, again, Rubio has put in charge a person named Peter Morocco, who's the head of the State Department's Foreign Assistance Office and also an unnamed person expected to be the USAID deputy administrator to review agency activities and operations. The review could eliminate certain aid programs or lead to the closure of certain missions around the world. But many of these programs will indeed remain. In fact, some of the humanitarian programs are already being preserved by the Trump administration. So this idea that all of this is simply going away is not true. Many of the programs are going to remain if they are useful to the United States. But there are many things that are not useful to the United States, and there is no reason we should be funding them. So the turmoil, in other words, is a. You cannot shrink an agency that is a permanent part of the political substructure without turmoil. That's just the way this is going to work. Now Democrats are freaking out about all of this. Atul Gawande, who of course is a, an American surgeon, writer, is sort of a famous Harvard professor and who has worked pretty closely with usaid, he put out a statement via Jen Griffin over at Fox News and quote, this is a gift to our enemies and competitors. This pause is not a pause. It's a destruction of the agency. Two weeks ago, I was combating diseases. We had 21 serious outbreaks at the time worldwide. Three are serious now. An Ebola outbreak in the capital of Uganda. Bird flu has broken out in 49 countries. Our efforts to contain them have all been shut down. We were on the verge of ending hiv, TB, and malaria. That has all ended with this pause. It is a gift to our enemies and competitors. We're funding demining operations in Vietnam to allow farmers to get back to their fields so people can farm. Now, here's the thing. Do you think that all of these things are going to go away? Do you think Marco Rubio wants headlines or Trump wants headlines about how AIDS spikes in Africa because USAID funding has ended? I have a feeling that Trump doesn't actually want those headlines. So what is this going to be in the end? It's going to be the same as all the other Trump programs is going to be designed to achieve victories and to minimize defeats and costs. He is utilitarian. Everyone seems to be making the mistake at every aspect of this administration that Donald Trump is some sort of ideologue, that he's going to do tariffs, not because he, he actually wants to pry concessions out of America's opponents or out of America's erstwhile allies, but that he's doing tariffs because he's ideologically wedded to tariffs. And he will ride that bomb all the way down into the ground like rip torn in Dr. Strangelove. Well, that's not the way he works. And the same thing is true of usaid. And the same thing is true of everything else. 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In just 15 minutes, you can set up your account, start issuing virtual and physical cards. Whether you have five employees or 5,000 and now get 250 bucks. When you join RAMP, just go to ramp.com/shapiro. That's ramp.com/shapiro. R A M p.com/shapiro. Cards issued by Sutton bank member FDIC terms and conditions do apply. Again, that's ramp.comshapiro to get started. The caterwauling from the left is not about the loss of HIV programs in Africa. That is not what this is about. It is about the fact that the plaything of the Permanent Democratic Party, the administrative bureaucracy they built and have lavished with trillions of dollars over the course of decades, is now being redone by the Trump administration. And they are freaking out about it. And I gotta tell you, when some of the worst people freak out about a thing, I tend to like the thing. So, for example, Representative Ilhan Omar, she was out there yesterday complaining about the cuts to usaid. And all I can say is Vilhel Omar is against it. I'm for it.

[Ilhan Omar]

A billionaire that hasn't been vetted, has not gone through confirmation, has not been elected by the American people, who we still do not understand what in the world he's doing, should not be telling American employees that they cannot access the building they work at. What kind of country is this man turning our country into? What kind of country are we becoming? It is embarrassing to read the headlines about Free America where one man is walking around like he is the boss of all of us and we don't know who put him in charge.

[Ben Shapiro]

Well, you know, who put Donald Trump in charge of the executive branch of the government? We had an election and Trump won. And now a bunch of people who work for Trump are doing the things that Trump wants them to do inside the executive branch of government. You know who USAID does not actually work for is Ilhan Omar. Ilhan Omar is part of the legislative branch. That legislative branch approves budgets. And then when it comes to the actual spending on these particular projects, that happens in the executive branch, where the President and Secretary of State have enormous authority because Marco Rubio was confirmed and Donald Trump was elected. Ripping on Elon for being Trump's hatchet man is just a way of avoiding the reality, which is you lost the election. You lost. And the reason you're really angry is not, of course, because Donald Trump is making cuts to usaid. What you're really angry about is that the thing you guys have counted on forever, an endless funnel, fire hose, gushing, damn breaking river of money is now being stopped from going to your friends while you're out of power. That's why you're really, really angry. Democratic Representative Johnny Olzewski of Maryland. He's trying to make the claim. It's hilarious. They know that most Americans don't actually wanna spend the money that USAID is talking about spending, and they don't like these projects. So what is he saying? He's saying, well, actually, if they come after usaid, what will they come after next? They're gonna come after your freedom. I'm gonna need a logic here that connects cuts to USAID to, quote, unquote, your freedoms. We will do all that we can in Congress, but we need you, America, to listen and to act. Because today it's usaid, tomorrow it's our health care, it's Social Security, it's our livelihoods, it's our freedoms. So stand up for USA Today, USAID today, so that we can stand up for all of our freedoms in the days ahead. Okay, first of all, I do love the fact that Democrats label Social Security a freedom when it is actually an entitlement. Second of all, Donald Trump is not touching entitlements. He has said this over and over and over again. In fact, he's trying to save money abroad so he can spend the money at home. Chuck Schumer had, I think, the funniest take. He's like, no, what if they shut down the irs? I don't know. What if they shut down the irs, Chuck? I mean, obviously, the American people do love the irs. If there's one agency of the American government that the people just adore, it is the Internal Revenue Service that audits their restaurant receipts. We also know this is just the beginning. If DOGE attacks USAID today, then you can be sure they'll move on to another target tomorrow. Who knows, Maybe it'll be the Postal Service or the IRS or even the Social Security Administration. They could be next. Or maybe our national security agencies. Not our. Not. Not the irs. No. That would be terrible. Meanwhile, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut. I do love when Democrats scream and cry about constitutional crises after they literally located all power in the Executive branch and cheered as Joe Biden violated the Constitution repeatedly. Now they're very upset about the Constitution. So we will use every power that we have in our disposal in the United States Senate. My colleagues will do the same thing in the House. This is a constitutional crisis that we are in today. Let's call it what it is. The people get to decide how we defend the United States of America. The people get to decide how their taxpayer money is spent. Elon Musk does not get to decide again. Elon Musk works for. Wait for it, wait for it, wait for it. The President of the United States who was elected, he was elected and he actually has pretty significant plenary power over the defense of the United States. That is one of the things that is most located inside the executive branch. Chris Murphy. Meanwhile, Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey doing the same routine, so outraged, so outrage, saying, I wanted to get in the USAID building and I couldn't. They wouldn't let me in. Well, I have a question. Do you work for the executive branch? Because I noticed that you are a senator.

[Chris Murphy]

I certainly hope Congress takes action because what is happening here is illegal. It is illegal, unacceptable to have a president try through executive power, be able to reorganize or remove usaid. The fact that these employees are being demonized, you know, the fact that they're being called, you know, it's a criminal organization from Elon Musk, you know, the fact that they're being told not to show up, that the federal aid is being frozen, I mean, it's just such disrespect. They deserve better. They are public servants. They swear an oath to serve this country. And right now, they are being treated as if they're the criminals.

[Ben Shapiro]

Well, I mean, they actually work inside the executive branch. If your boss doesn't want you there, you don't work there anymore. The real reason for this, the gravy train has stopped flowing now. Meanwhile, hilariously, the federal government, as we know, put out a notice, an email to federal employees, millions of federal employees, saying to them, listen, if you want to come into work, you want to work for the president's agenda, you want to be a member of the executive branch, great, we'd love to have you. If not, here's a buyout offer that pays you until September, apparently. According to Axios, about 20,000 federal workers have taken the buyout offer. That is about 1% of the federal workforce. The White House is targeting 5 to 10%. The offer is open through Thursday, so it could rise despite the unions attempting to sort of cudgel everybody to stay the official. According to Axios, as, quote, we expect more to come. If you see what's happening at usaid, it's just one piece of the puzzle. In other words, many of these people are going to lose their jobs anyway. So either take the buyout or you may find yourself on the breadline. Regardless, the buyout offer entitles federal employees to stop working immediately and continue to be paid through September 30th. The federal workforce's normal attrition rate is about 6% a year. So perhaps some of those people were meaning to leave anyway. But again, people are quitting because they are seeing that the cuts are coming with the chainsaw. Speaking of which, according to Politico, President Trump is about to finalize an executive order to shutter the Department of Education, which has been a longtime Republican goal. Again, one of the things about Trump that is truly an amazing, amazing thing. There's so many promises that various politicians have made for decades. Ronald Reagan pledged to shut down the Department of education in the 1980s, like about the time I was a baby. And Donald Trump is actually trying to do it. He's actually taking seriously the promises that he made to the American people. According to Politico, the Trump administration is finalizing plans to dismantle the Education Department through an executive order that would build on the president's campaign promise to hammer the longtime conservative target. The order was expected to lay out a two part strategy for shuttering the agency. According to two people familiar with with the plans, it would direct the department to craft a plan to wind down its functions using its existing administrative authority. But the order was also expected to call for the agency to inventory a complex set of laws needed to delegate the department's powers to other agencies and then shut down the department. So in other words, many of the functions of the DOE would move outside the doe, but the department itself would be shut down. That would require some sort of legislative help, presumably, according to a third person granted anonymity. Representatives from DOGE are already working at the Education Department headquarters and seeking access to agency records. So again, right now, Linda McMahon is up for Secretary of Education. There will be a Senate confirmation hearing. One of these sort of open strategy questions here is whether it would have been better to wait until she was confirmed in order to actually do this sort of thing. With that said, the fact that Trump is taking this so seriously is yet another indicator that he was serious about the things that he was promising. What exactly does the Department of Education do? Well, it's number one spending priority in fiscal year 2024. According to USAFacts.org the U.S. department of Education spent about $161 billion on federal student aid. So that would be, you know, like Pell Grants and paying for people to get their degrees in lesbian dance theory and all the rest. Another $83 billion was spent on elementary and secondary education, which are basically block grants that are given to various states. Education should be a local consideration. Education should be controlled by the state, by the localities, by local school board. Ideally we'd have vouchers so people can actually go to the school that they want to go to. There is no question the Department of Education is yet another gravy train for the left. One of the biggest gravy trains in America. The university system is a giant apparat chick for the left producing machine. It is a giant machine designed to churn out left wingers with worthless diplomas. Unless you're in the STEM fields. That is what it is designed to do. And by the way, if you're in the STEM fields, you can certainly get a private loan to study engineering at mit. The reality that the reason Democrats are very, very in love with these agencies is again, because they are permanent structures that are designed to pay all of their friends. Some of the biggest graft agencies in the history of mankind are happening via the Department of Education. Speaking of the education, higher education, by the way, a group representing white and Asian high school and college students filed a complaint Monday in federal court against the University of California claiming that nine of its campuses are still using racial preferences and admissions in violation of federal anti discrimination laws. And that is almost certainly true. Many of these universities have vowed that they would essentially do affirmative action under another name. And now the lawsuits are coming fast and furious. The best way to stop all of that is to make Linda McMahon the Secretary of Education and allow her to go to work and to unleash Harmeet Dhillon over at the civil Rights division of the DoJ to go after all of these universities that are acting in violation of law. I have no doubt that all of that is going to happen. All right, coming up, the cuts don't stop there. It's February, which means the usual crowd is claiming we don't do anything for Black History Month, which is complete nonsense. We literally have the number one documentary of the decade covering race in America. It's called Am I Racist? It was the surprise box office hit of the year. And shocker, it's not exactly what the left was looking for. Now exclusively on Daily Wire. Plus, we're pulling back the curtain with the making of Am I Racist? Where Matt Walsh, director Justin Folk and the team show how it all came together. Watch it [e-mail] and meanwhile, the cuts don't just stop at the Department of Education or usaid. Scott Besant, who is the new Treasury Secretary, is ordering a freeze at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was always Elizabeth Warren's baby. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is basically just a way of blackmailing various businesses with regulatory oversight. That's what it always was. It is independently funded. So it actually does not even come from the legislature. The legislature does not appoint separate funding. This is actually the subject of the Supreme Court case. The question was whether it violated the separation of powers for Congress to set up a mechanism that was then funded directly from the Federal Reserve, which is how the CFPB works. Well, the only problem, again, Democrats, if you put all the power in the executive branch, what happens if people you don't like take over the executive branch? Well, now you're finding out you did all of this in the assumption that even if a Republican was elected, the Republican would never touch your precious. Well, it turns out the Republicans are touching all of the things that you built and they are taking control of those levers and using them in ways you didn't like. And this is the story of Lord of the Rings. If you don't want somebody you don't like controlling the ring, don't create the ring in the first place. But Democrats created it and now they're very upset that the powers of the ring are being used by people they don't particularly like. Well, now Treasury Secretary Scott Besant has ordered a freeze to work at the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. In an internal email on Monday, Bessant's office directed CFPB staff to cease much of the bureau's work, including enforcement actions and decisions about active litigation. The email directs staff to suspend the effective dates for rules that had been completed but aren't yet in effect. Besson's appointment is the beginning of what is expected to be a rollback of many of the agency's actions under the Biden administration, which included rules capping overdraft fees and banning the use of medical debt by credit reporting companies. Biden appointee Rohit Chopra was ousted on Friday. Trump hasn't named a candidate to lead the CFPB on a permanent basis yet. But Bessant is looking forward to getting rid of the dead wood at the cfpb, which again has become a left wing organization designed to hinder business in the United States. Senator Ted Cruz said last week that he would advance a proposal to cut the CFPB's funding entirely, which would effectively kill the bureau. Meanwhile, Senator Elizabeth Warren, who built this thing, this is her legacy, aside from her her legacy of wigwams and teepees. She said, quote, if President Trump and the Republicans decide they're just going to bend the knee to Wall street billionaires and try to destroy that agency. They're going to have a fight on their hands. Well, they don't have to have a fight on their hands. Remember, Elizabeth, you're the one who set it up so it's independently funded, outside the legislature. All that has to happen is Scott Bessing comes in and just freezes everything. Congrats to you. Genius level stuff happening over at the Congress of the United States. And again, because Trump is moving so fast, it is very, very difficult for Democrats to consolidate around any one line of argumentation. And meanwhile, President Trump welcomed his first foreign leader to the White House yesterday. That first foreign leader is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There are all sorts of outstanding issues that the United States and Israel are working through. Those include the currently ongoing hostage deal with Hamas that eventually is going to come to an end. There is no way that Hamas can be allowed to run the Gaza Strip. That is not me saying that. That is Secretary of State Rubio, that is Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, that his National Security Advisor, Mike Walls. The entire leadership of the United States knows that this is not a real possibility, which means Israel will, in fact, have to go back in. Other outstanding issues obviously include the possibility of a Saudi deal and what happens with Iran. New information suggests that Iran, of course, is trying to race toward a bomb, figuring that they're on their last legs that regime, and that the Trump administration is not going to be handing them pallets of cash worth billions of dollars. Unlike the Biden or Obama administrations, they're rushing toward a cheaper, uglier form of the nuclear bomb. According to the New York Times, new intelligence about Iran's nuclear program has convinced American officials a secret team of the country's scientists is exploring a faster, if cruder, approach to developing an atomic weapon if Tehran's leadership decides to race for a bomb. The intelligence was collected in the last months of the Biden administration and relayed to President Trump's national security team during the transition to power. Now the reality, again, is that effectively, a single sortie of airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities would end their nuclear program for the moment, for a significant period of time. They have no air defenses. It turns out that all of their proxies are unbelievably weak. Israel completely destroyed Hezbollah's capacity to make forward war at minimum cost to itself. Israel hit Hezbollah so hard that its ally Assad fell in Syria. Hamas is no longer an offensive powerhouse. The Houthis have been largely quieted. Israel is doing heavy work in Judea and Samaria to shut down Iranian proxies in places like Janina Nablus. And so what that means is that Iran is uniquely vulnerable to things like an airstrike right now. All that the United States really has to do is give Israel the weaponry and get out of the way. And that would basically end the threat of an Iranian nuclear program for the moment. As the New York Times points out, Iran has never been weaker than it is today. In the view of American and Israeli officials. Hamas and Hezbollah have lost their leadership and their ability to strike Israel. Syria's leader, Bashar al Assad, has fled to Moscow. His country is no longer an easy route for Iranian weaponry.

[Adam Carolla]

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[Ben Shapiro]

Apparently Trump is indicating he's in no hurry to get into a direct conflict with Iran and is open to a negotiation. But the question is gonna be what that negotiation looks like. I don't believe that President Trump is gonna give away the store the same way that Biden and Obama were going to. And what verification measures could actually be taken to keep Iran from diving for a nuclear weapon. The Saudis certainly don't want it, and the Saudis are another American ally aside from Israel. That the Trump administration is quite close with. It seems like the precondition for any sort of actual Abraham Accord deal between the Saudis and the Israelis is largely dependent on a forward move against the Iranian nuclear facilities. It'll be interesting to see where this goes. President Trump yesterday gave a nice little geographic disquisition on the state of the Middle East. Here he was.

[Elon Musk]

It certainly is a small. It's a small country in terms of land. I take Cedars penned is wonderful pen. My desk is the Middle east and this pen, the top of the pen, that's Israel. That's not good, right? You know, that's a pretty big difference. I use that as an analogy. It's pretty accurate, actually. It's a pretty small piece of land and it's amazing that they've been able to do what they've been able to do. When you think about it, there's a lot of good, smart brain power, but it is a very small piece of land. No question about it.

[Ben Shapiro]

He's right about that. Obviously. President Trump told reporters, I have no assurances that the Gaza truce will hold. I have no guarantees the peace is going to hold. Which of course is exactly correct. It is not America's job to ensure that, quote, unquote, the peace holds. Is America's job to ensure that American hostages get out. It's America's job to ensure that its allies have the wherewithal to destroy terror threats. That's all good for the United States. And President Trump, I believe, is going to do all of those things and more. Okay. Meanwhile, the catastrophic fallout continues in California from those devastating wildfires, the most damaging wildfires in American history. I had the opportunity to sit down with my friend Adam Carolla to talk about all of that. Here's what it sounds like. All right. Well, Adam, you escaped California, but only after half the state burned down. I mean, you can't say that you weren't mourned since I did warn you many, many times that this was going to happen. And not that I'm a prophet or anything, but plagues were unleashed upon the state of California. But it's a pretty serious topic. Obviously you've been really vocal about the failings of the California state government. First of all, what's it like on the ground over there right now?

[Unknown]

It's charred on the ground. I lived in Malibu, I fled, evacuated, cannot go back. My place made it. Most the places around me did not make it all the way down pch, which is weird for people who don't know the topography. You see people up on the hill burn like a brush fire, but you've never heard of an ocean fire. Cause they don't have them on the other side of Pacific Coast Highway. But it's very rare. Well, I'll tell you how rare it is. Many of those buildings were from the 50s, some from the 40s, the structures on the ocean side of PCH, and they're all gone. And most the places up on the hill are gone. I somehow got spared, but I can't go back cuz there's no power and no electricity. Sorry. No plumbing and no gas, nothing. No utility.

[Ben Shapiro]

Well, what's been the reaction of people in California to this? I mean, they voted for this. I mean, not for the fire, but for all the policies that lead to the exacerbation of fire to the failures of the local government, to the failures of the state government. Has there been any sort of great awakening happening in California over this?

[Unknown]

I think there has been. And I think you can chart it all through Bill Maher. And the reason I'll say Bill Maher is not exactly for the reasons you're thinking, but obviously he's come over to our side incrementally over the past maybe five years, eight years. He's been sort of moving, he seems to move further toward a conservative point of view in like the last three years, even more so. So I used to be a contractor. I used to be a builder. And I had to deal with the city and I had to pull permits and I had to deal with that bureaucracy, plan check, regulation my whole life. Cause that was my job before I got into show business. And I would say to everyone all the time, you don't get who these people are. And everyone would go, oh, who cares? And I would say, you live in a rent control apartment in Santa Monica and you don't care. But wait till you buy property and try to build something and then you have to deal with the city and the bureaucracy. You will start thinking like me And Bill Maher tried to put solar up at his place about three or four years ago and ran headlong right into the bureaucracy. And he started looking around, going, why is it taking two years to get a permit for a solar shack? And a guy had to come out and inspect my garage door. What do I need an inspection for my garage? And he tried to pull a permit. He saw firsthand. And now he knows. And that's what turned Bill Maher. That's why he started coming our direction. And what the fire is going to do is turn a bunch of people into Bill Maher. So these are Malibu, you know, progressive blue, leftist Palisades, progressive blue, left, Santa Monica. You know, this Santa Monica's. This is some of the bluest cities in America. And they're gonna start going with me and Bill now because they're gonna start dealing with the bureaucracy and the bureaucracy that got their house burned down. That's one mismanagement. Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass, the House is down because of the bureaucracy and mismanagement. But now they're trying to pull a permit to rebuild and they're gonna run right into it.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah, well, I think that's one of the great ironies. Is suddenly Gavin Newsom and Karen Basser turning into Republicans, apparently. The emergency waivers. Now you don't have to wait. We have to build as fast as possible. And the question is, well, why? I mean, if it was good policy in the first place, what made a bad policy all of a sudden? And the answer is, it was always bad policy. Yeah, it's just there was no cost to the bad policy because they were actually helping a small coterie of environmental activists at the expense of everybody else. And everybody else was basically complacent enough to let them get away with it.

[Unknown]

Yeah. Well, all right, a bunch of thoughts. One is, yeah, they did. Well, that's what happened with COVID It's like people just didn't want to get into trouble. And the day Gavin Newsom shut the beach, we all should have rushed the beach that day. But instead, we went one at a time and got picked off. So we all should have rushed the guard tower at once. Some are going to get hit by the machine gun bullets, but we'll get out. You know what I mean? So, yes, people are complacent. Newsom and Karen Bass. It's always funny when they go, we cut all the red tape. We're gonna cut all the red tapes. And I'm like, who put all the red tape? Why is there so much red tape? And so if there wasn't a fire and we're just individually trying to put a deck on your house in the Palisades, let's just say no fire. Then you gotta deal with the red tape. Or you wanted to do something in Malibu, then you have to deal with the red tape. It's a lot. I'll tell you what it is. When you go, they sound like Republicans, by the way. They sound like Republicans. That's like dressing up as a Republican for Halloween for them. They're coming right back to their Birkenstocks the next day. Believe me. They're kicking off the wingtips and putting on the Birkenstocks the following morning. But here's what it is. It's like they had a lot of productions flee Los Angeles, right? So Hollywood, Los Angeles, production capital, World, right? Then they start with the red tape. Then they start with the money. Then they start with the taxes. Then they start with all what they do, right? And so what happens? All the productions, Canada, Atlanta, Prague, gone, right? They all leave. And then at some point, the people in power notice that there's nothing coming in because they chased off all the productions. Runaway production. So what do they do? Then they make an announcement, hey, fellas, guess what? We decided to make a few alterations on some of our big ass, lower it down sound Like a Republican and see if we can get you guys to come on back and do a little work here in town. And it's the same thing with the building and the rebuilding. It's like, oh, oh, maybe a little too much red tape. We're gonna sound a little like this and see if we can't lure you back.

[Ben Shapiro]

On a personal level, how long do you have to be out of your house? Because it's not obviously just a problem for people whose houses were lost. The entire area, as you say now charred.

[Unknown]

Yeah, well, they don't have clear answers on that. The power is not back up yet. Utilities need to come back on. And then the question of the bureaucracy, because is a site contaminated? Is it a hazmat? You know, you set a futon on fire, it's gonna leave behind some sort of chemical footprint. And everything turns out, causes cancer in California. So there's a sticker on every gas pump, There's a sticker on every window of every liquor store about what you enter this 711 you will get. Cancer is basically what the. Now everyone ignores it because you have to pump your own gas. And so what. But technically there's some benzene in the soil. You know, they will find one part per billion benzene particles in the soil. And then they'll say, you need to have a hazmat team and remediation team and blah, blah, blah. So that's how they do it. They could tie everybody up and say, you can't just get a bobcat in here and start scooping this stuff into a dumpster and truck it off to a landfill because there's dangerous levels of benzene. Well, they decide what the dangerous levels of benzene are. They're always dangerous levels. They're always gonna be higher than what's acceptable to the coastal commission. And so they could tie this stuff up for years if they wanted. You know, a small thing that like, people don't think about. But as a builder, I was like, oh, yeah, everything's on septic in Malibu, and all the places along the ocean are on septic. Now. These are $20 million homes and maybe 12 million on the low end and maybe 80 on the high that are gone. But a lot of these places are from the 60s, 50s, 70s. They're on an old septic system. The city's not going to let them just rebuild and use the old septic system. They need a new septic system. And their septic system was from 1963. It's 20, 25 now. That is a different septic system. They have to build a seawall so that the water won't, you know, the ocean won't erode the septic. But you could be millions of dollars into the septic system before you pull out your first two by four and start framing.

[Ben Shapiro]

How many people are actually going to end up going back? I mean, because it's. There going to be a lot of people. Number number one, many of the actual insured values of the homes are not up to par with the actual value of the homes. I mean, people lost, not just their homes. Many of these people, whether you talk about the richest people or many who are not nearly as rich, lost pretty much everything. And the fire insurance situation in California is a disaster area. So a lot of these people just don't have the money to rebuild. Many of them are gonna say, why do I wanna take 5, 10 years to rebuild in Malibu and I can just take my money and go somewhere else. How many of these people do you think just leave?

[Unknown]

Well, you know Suzanne Summers and Alan Hamill, famous couple of 50 years or so. Suzanne was a friend. Alan's still a friend. Susan passed recently. They would come back to Malibu all the time from Palm Springs, and we'd go out to dinner with them and they'd go, oh, man, we love Malibu. We used to live in Malibu. We love Malibu so much. But now they live in Palm Desert, you know. And I'd go, well, why'd you ever leave Malibu if you love it so much? And Alan and Susan would say to me, oh, we had this beautiful spread, like three acre, three lots wide, right down on the ocean. And it burned.

[Ben Shapiro]

I burned the house.

[Unknown]

Yeah. Burned to the ground. Oh, yeah. And said after about year seven of dealing with the Coastal Commission, he said, screw it, we're too old. And we packed it up and we just moved to Palm Springs. And there's gonna be like, life is too short. A lot of people, like, you know, a lot of these people, first off, these aren't 22 year old new couples that are living on PCH in Malibu and a $17 million house. Some of these people are old and it's old money. And when you're 71 years old, do you have 11 years to rebuild your house or do you just move to Nashville?

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah. So it seems to me that you have two choices. I mean, you have your house there, which you may never go back to, depending on what the California Coastal Commission has to say. So you either have to run for mayor of LA yourself or you have to leave. These seem to me, the two most obvious options. Which one is it, Adam?

[Unknown]

I don't know. I think obviously Karen Bass has to go because she's just there. We do ceremonial mares, but we don't do actual people who do stuff. We just go. We like the idea of a black woman in this position. It's like we cast them like they cast a judge in a crime show. You know what I mean? The judge should be a black.

[Ben Shapiro]

Black woman.

[Unknown]

Why is this better? Does she know anything about law? It's just a show. She doesn't need to know anything about law. Just make sure she gets the gown right.

[Ben Shapiro]

We did that with the supreme court, as it turns out. But yeah.

[Unknown]

Anyway, we're doing a lot of just casting in movies now. You know, Rick Caruso is a developer, is a commercial. I mean, Rick Caruso is basically Trump in that. Developers, especially big project commercial developers. And that's Trump. And I know it, cuz it used to be my business. These guys are always in a hurry. They're like, why is it taking so long? What's going on? And then they're going, well, we gotta get the guys come in and form and pour the concrete slabs. Like, why is it taking so long? Well, cause in their world, the foundation has to be poured and then the framers can come in and start framing. And when the framers are done, then the drywallers can come in. When the drywallers are done, the roof can come in. And so everything's like, what's taking so long? You know, like, they're in a hurry. And you saw in that press conference, like Mayor Bass is like, you know, we want to rebuild, but we want to do it safely. When you hear safely, that just means more paperwork. Yeah, we wanted to go through Covid but safely. That's why they locked the schools down for a year and a half. That's the way they locked the beaches, why they shut down outdoor dining. That's why you got screwed in the workplace. Because when you hear safety, that means you're about to get screwed hard for a long time. But it sounds good, right? Like safety.

[Ben Shapiro]

Oh, yeah.

[Unknown]

Who's not for. So she's sitting there going, we gotta rebuild, but we gotta do it safely. And he's like, two days is too long. Get it going. I know guys who'll be up there with a flathead shovel right now scooping ash into a can right now. And so Trump's like, hurry, hurry, hurry. And she's like, slow her down, slow her down. So if we could get a Rick Caruso, who has the commercial building and developing behind him. All those guys are just gonna be like, our problem is we take people who've never been in business, and we put them in charge of policy, and they're career bureaucrats, and they don't have a metronome that's like, come on, let's go. And there's no precision. You need a background of commercial airline pilot or developer or engineer. Guys like that are, let's go. Let's do it. We take a bunch of people, you know, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Karen Bass, Gavin Newsom. Just pie in the sky idiots who sit around and pontificate, but nothing comes out the other end.

[Ben Shapiro]

Well, Adam, it's great to see you. I'm sorry it's under these circumstances that you're in Florida, but, you know, when you return to the blighted land of my former home, then, you know, I hope that things are better for you there.

[Unknown]

I think between you and Dave Rubin's shame, that'll expedite my process of leaving California because I get a lot of it from both you, and.

[Ben Shapiro]

As well you should. Well, good to see you. All righty, guys. Coming up, New York is fighting back against President Trump in a unique way. 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.