← The Ben Shapiro Show
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2156 - Trump SLASHES AND BURNS Through Department of Education!
00:52:05
The Trump administration slashes half the workforce at the Department of Education; the Trump negotiation team says Ukraine has accepted a 30-day ceasefire; and the stock market continues to tumble. Click here to join the member-exclusive portion of my show: https://bit.ly/3WDjgHE Ep.2156 - - - Facts Don’t Care About Your Feelings - - - DailyWire+: We’re leading the charge again and launching a full-scale push for justice. Go to https://PardonDerek.com right now and sign the petition. Now is the time to join the fight. Watch the hit movies, documentaries, and series reshaping our culture. Go to https://dailywire.com/subscribe today. Get your Ben Shapiro merch here: https://bit.ly/3TAu2cw - - - Today's Sponsors: Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine that searches the internet to deliver fast, unbiased, high-quality answers, with sources and in-line citations. Ask Perplexity anything here: https://pplx.ai/benshapiro ExpressVPN - Go to https://expressvpn.com/ben and f...
Loading summary
Transcript58 lines
- [00:00]
Ben Shapiro
Folks, as you know, tons going on in the news, everything from tariff wars to the Department of Education being slashed and burned first. You've seen the headlines. I'm sure the Daily Wire has stirred up the usual nut job leftist voices on CNN and MSNBC talking about our new effort to attain a pardon for Officer Derek Chauvin. No matter how much the new Trump administration works to undo the damage caused by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris over the last four years, the woke movement in American politics won't be over, truly, until this injustice is righted. Derek Chauvin was railroaded to appease a mob. President Trump does have the power over the federal part of Chauvin's charges to relieve those charges. But he does need to hear from you. Go to pardonederek.com right now, sign the petition. When we fight, we win. With your support, we'll do it again. All right, so President Trump is winning big victories. His big victory of the day is slashing and burning his way through the Department of Education. So according to CNN, the U.S. education Department announced on Tuesday it is cutting nearly 50% of its entire workforce. President Trump, of course, has proposed eliminating the agency altogether. Now, people don't seem to understand what it is that the Department of Education actually does. They seem to believe that all public schools all over the country are paid for by the federal government. That is not true. The vast majority of public school spending is state and local spending, as it should be, because there is legitimately no reason why a taxpayer in Florida should be subsidizing the public school education of a student in California. At least in the main. The truth is that the vast majority of spending that happens via the Department of Education is federal student aid on college loans. In other words, what you have seen is the cost of college skyrocket because of the gigantic subsidies that are paid for by your taxpayer dollars to the colleges that are then churning out good little left wing apparatchiks. If you look at the Department of Education by subcomponent for fiscal year 2025, what you find is by far, by far the largest outlay is the Office of Federal Student Aid. You can see that their total budgetary obligations, $68.77 billion just on that federal student loan aid. Remember, Joe Biden wanted to radically expand that. Why? Because those are all his friends. They're all his friends. When you talk about the pipeline of dollars flowing from permanent employees in the federal government to permanent staffers in the blue infrastructure around America, the number one place this happens is in higher Education, which is in fact subsidized by the American taxpayer. It should not be. This could all be done privately, all of it. And it would be better if it were done privately. I've made this case before. The reason it would be better is because then you would actually be forced to consider whether you need a degree in lesbian dance studies, as opposed to simply taking the money from the federal government, subsidized over the course of 30 years to go get a degree in lesbian dance studies. We've artificially inflated the necessity for a degree in this country. There are many, many jobs in this country that now require a degree that didn't before. Why? Because when you increase the number of people going to college, well, then you increase the expectation that people will have gone to college. There is a signal category error in higher education in the United States that was made back in the 1960s. The Dunderheads in the federal government looked at the stats and what they saw is that college grads made more than high school grads. Their conclusion was not that college grads make more than high school grads because they were going into professions that made more money. Their conclusion was that this was a lack of opportunity in general for high school grads and that if we could artificially boost the number of high school grads who are going into college, that that would somehow boost overall income in the United States. Well, all it did was it pushed everybody up one level. So now grad students make a lot more money than college students who make a lot more money than high school grads. We just prolonged the time before entering into the workforce. So a bunch of people who don't need a college degree to do the job they are currently doing spend four years incurring 100,000, $200,000 in debt on the tax paradigm, subsidized before they get to go to a job they certainly could have done when they were 18 years old and they could have just gone into the workforce. It is a scam. It is a massive, massive scam. That doesn't mean everything in our universities is a scam. As I've talked about before, we when you are talking about specific career paths, university can be great. If you're talking about science, technology, engineering, math, the STEM fields, all that stuff, you are going to need a degree because it is preparing you for a higher level job that requires higher levels of training. And I know that there are a lot of people who believe that colleges and universities should be a sort of prereq to entry into public life because somehow they create good citizens that died long ago. The argument for liberal arts colleges died with the takeover of those liberal arts colleges by the left. It used to be that universities and colleges in the United States inculcated a sense of virtue and citizenship. You still see the occasional college or university that does that. Some of them are sponsors of the show, others are startup universities, some of them are Christian universities. They are few and far between. The reality is the vast majority of colleges and universities instead taken high school students. They turn out left wing thinkers or people who are apathetic about politics with a degree that cost them a lot of money subsidized by taxpayer dollars. So cutting the Department of Education has in fact been a Republican item on the agenda since the 1980s. But only President Trump is actually taking that seriously and all credit to him. Linda McMahon, the newly approved Secretary of Education, is going to take over a department that has already been cut by something like 50% many of the proper jobs of the Department of Education. Things, for example, like the Office of English Language Acquisition, which is designed presumably to get people to actually learn English in the country. There are certain parts of the DOE that you might want to maintain. Okay, fine, you shift those out of that department and you kill the department entirely so that it can't be rebuilt from within by the left. This is one of the most bloated parts of the federal government, the Department of Education. The total budgetary resources of the Department of Education amount to something on the order of $103 billion. Somewhere in that neighborhood, all of that can be caught. The left, of course, is muling over this, screaming over this. Hundreds will be laid off, according to cnn, starting on Tuesday evening, in addition to those who voluntarily take buyouts. Those actions would cut the department's workforce of about 4,100 at the start of the Trump administration in half. Education secretary Linda McMahon put out a statement, quote, today's reduction in force reflects the Department of Education's commitment to efficiency, accountability and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most to students, parents and teachers. I appreciate the work of the dedicated public servants and their contributions to the department, she said later. The reductions are the first course of action in shutting down the agency entirely. CNN reported last week the White House was preparing an executive order directing Linda McMahon to begin the process of dismantling the department. By the way, huge credit to our friend Chris Ruffo, who's been pushing in serious ways for this for a very long time. Hard to think of a more effective advocate journalist than Chris Rufo. Over the course of the last five years in the United States. The roughly 1300 employees notified of their layoff will be terminated in 90 days, according to senior agency officials. Senior officials told reporters the cuts will not impact federal student aid in any way, shape or form. I would hope that they do. I understand that it's not popular view with some who believe that federal dollars should just keep flowing willy nilly. But again, one of most bloated parts of the federal government is this thing. The laid off employees will begin their telework beginning Wednesday until March 21. Unions, of course, are just freaking out about all of this. They are freaking. And by the way, that is a good sign you want the unions to freak out about all this. So, for example, Randy Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the most loathsome figures in American public life, a person who kept kids out of school for two years to get her constituents, union members paid to effectively do nothing, wrecking kids for a couple of years on the basis of pseudoscience. Randi Weingarten, the far left advocate for every bad policy you can imagine, she was on with Molly Jongfast, who's the only, the only notable thing about Molly Jong fast is her, her hair color changes on sort of a random basis. In any case, here was Randy Weingarten going off and saying, I love this. She was saying, you know what's gonna happen here? What's gonna happen is this is gonna boost funding for school choice. No, you mean the most popular civil rights policy of our era might be boosted that. You know, parents might have the opportunity to take their kids out of failing public schools, for example, and put them in better private schools or competitors. Oh no, Randy Weingarten, that sounds rule of thumb. Anything Randy Weingarten is against, we should all be for.
- [08:38]
Caroline Levitt
So we know, for example, what Texas would do, right? They'll use it for vouchers. So they won't give it to the kids who have it now. They'll just give it for vouchers. Catholic schools, religious schools, or and frankly what we're seeing in all the programs that are now extinct stamped in terms of vouchers. They don't work for kids. They basically go right now. It becomes a tax credit for people who already are sending their kids to private schools. So it's, it's income redistribution.
- [09:11]
Ben Shapiro
It's income redistribution. School vouchers. School vouchers are a way to let parents remove their kids from schools they don't want to send their kids to. And she Says this is somehow bad. Of course it's bad for her, because her entire shtick is taxpayers should fund me, Randy Weingarten, and my schmucks over at the AFT to indoctrinate your kids or keep them out of school entirely. All of this is very good. It's a big win for the Trump administration and we hope that it continues. Obviously, this also ties into a broader level move against the educational establishment in the United States. So President Trump is utilizing the fact that major universities around the country have violated the civil rights of their Jewish students in order to essentially crack down on federal funding of these universities. Good for him. Good for him. Again, let me point out, if you are against all anti discrimination law, you're fully libertarian. I sympathize with that position. The idea that it should not be up to the federal government to discriminate against particular types of speech or particular types of attitude and anti discrimination laws do that. So you're against. Okay, that's fine. But the reality is the Civil Rights act does in fact ban in federal spending discrimination. Any place that receives federal aid is not allowed to discriminate on the basis of race, on the basis of sex, on the basis of other immutable characteristics, for example. And that also applies to Jews. It applies to blacks, it applies to whites, it applies to everyone. It applies to Jews. And these universities have basically decided it does not apply to certain subgroups who are too successful, particularly Jews and Asians. Well, folks, there are bad people in the United States, some who support terrorism, and there are bad people out there. And here's the thing. You don't want any of those bad people or any of their friends or any people like them with control over your Internet data. That is not a thing that you want. If you own any Internet connected device, there are thousands of companies that might know you better than you know yourself. These are data brokers. They make billions tracking everything you do online. Plus there are hackers, plus there are all sorts of identity thieves. Here's the thing. They can track the stuff you do. Every purchase, every location, every conversation, your most personal beliefs. They can then package that stuff into a profile if they're a data broker and sell it to marketers, activists, politicians looking to influence you. Or you could go off the grid online by using ExpressVPN. These companies track you through your IP address digital fingerprint. ExpressVPN gives you a new IP address in a location you choose, making you virtually untraceable. With ExpressVPN, your connection is encrypted and rooted through secure servers. Even your Internet provider can't see your activity, which is pretty important because they are actually legally allowed to sell your data to whomever they want. Every time you go on public wi fi, by the way, you're putting yourself at risk. So if you're at an airport like I am so frequently, or at a hotel or something like that, you're putting yourself at risk. Unless you do what I do and use Express VPN, you can download it with just one click and activate it with another. Right now, get four extra months of ExpressVPN for free. Go to expressvpn.com/Ben and learn more. That's Xpress vpn.com/Ben to reclaim your privacy today. Also, did you know that your home could be stolen right from under you without you even realizing it? The FBI calls this house stealing. It's a growing scam targeting homeowners across America. Here's how it works. Scammers only need to forge your signature on one document, add a fake notary stamp, pay a small filing fee, submit it to your local recorder's office, and just like that, your home title gets transferred out of your name. Well, once they have control, they can then take out loans against your equity. They could even sell your property behind your back. And the worst part is, you might not know about anything until the collection notices or foreclosure warnings start randomly showing up in your mailbox. So when was the last time you checked your home title? If the answer is like most people, the answer is never. That's what scammers count on. That's why so many people, including senior video editor Adam Trust Home Title Lock. Their million dollar triple lock protection helps keep your home and equity safe. And here's what you get. Immediate 24. 7 monitoring of your property. Urgent alerts if there are any changes. If fraud should happen, their US based restoration team will spend up to a million bucks to fix the fraud and restore your title at no additional cost. Here's the best part. I've teamed up with Home Title Lock to give you a free title history report so you can find out if you're already a victim and access to your personal title expert, a $250 value just for signing up. Head on over to so hometitlelock.com, use promo code SHAPIRO250 or click on the link in the description below. And of course make sure to check out that million dollar triple lock protection when you get there. That's hometitlelock.com, promo code SHAPIRO250. Get the protection and peace of mind you deserve. Hey. Well, over the course of the last year and a half, we saw massive upticks in anti Semitism, basically greenlit by major American universities. And now the Trump administration is saying, well, you don't get your money, then you don't get American taxpayer money. And this is having some real strong side effects that are, I think, beneficial. According to Commentary, Seth Mandel, writing for Commentary magazine, the administration last week canceled $400 million in federal funding to Colombia and announced it was undertaking a review of billions more in grants. Finally, we had an answer to a lingering question. Would there be any tangible consequences for schools that allowed their campuses to descend into prolonged bouts of anti Semitic hysteria? Universities clearly took President Biden's passivity as a reason to bet against being held to account for their flagrant violations of Jewish students civil rights. If they were right, that meant the only students they had to placate were the anti Zionists. There was no reason to protect Jewish rights or Jewish safety on campus because the Jews would never cause anywhere near the same level of trouble for them. But now the playing field has changed entirely. A source at Columbia told journalist Steve McGuire the Trump education Department's threats weren't empty. Quote, grand cancellation notices flowing in now, labs shutting down, layoffs imminent, faculty apoplectic at Katrina Armstrong for letting it get to this point. She has to fix this fast. She of course, is the university president over at Columbia, replacing the disgraced Minut Shafiq. So again, this is not just Columbia. It turns out that the Trump administration is cracking down on 60 other schools. The list of five dozen schools includes colleges from red and blue states, includes Brown and Yale. It includes Arizona State University and the University of Tennessee, smaller institutions like Muhlenberg College and in Allentown, Pennsylvania. And all of these universities are screaming to the high heavens about all of this. And the answer is, maybe you shouldn't have made yourself dependent on federal aid if you didn't want any of this attached. And two, maybe you should have, you know, cracked down on the Tentifada nut jobs who took over your campus. I am amused by the way, at the consistent attitude of Democrats toward anyone who hates Jews in Israel. And it is a pretty consistent attitude. So this of course brings up the pseudo controversy around the deportation of Mahmoud Khalil, who's a green card holder, who's an open terror sympathizer. See, here's the thing. If you hold the green card, you don't have a right to be in Our country. If you. If you support terrorists. That's all. That's all. If the. If the argument is that you have the free speech right under free speech, somehow to pass out flyers with Hamas insignia on them and lead up groups that call for armed revolution against the West, I'm wondering what exactly our immigration standards are at all. At all. So President Trump had the right response to this yesterday. It is almost impossible for President Trump not to take iconic photos. It's just an innate quality he has. Yesterday he did a bit of a showpiece for Elon Musk about Tesla. He bought himself a Tesla. And so he was standing in front of a series of Teslas next to Musk, and he was asked about Mahmoud Khalil. And here was his response.
- [16:11]
Donald Trump
I think we ought to get them all out of the country. They're troublemakers, they're agitators. They don't love our country. We ought to get them the hell out. I think that guy, we ought to get him. I heard his statements, too. They were plenty bad. And I think we ought to get them the hell out of the country. I watched him. I watched tapes. Specifically, I watched tapes. And you can have them. Okay, you can have them.
- [16:35]
Ben Shapiro
By the way, you know who agrees with that? Everyone. Everyone. This is not a controversial proposition in America. Everybody who. I will say it's a very weird agglomeration of people who are suddenly very interested in the quote, unquote, free speech rights of green card holders. I've noticed on the right, it includes many people who are deeply exercised over H1B visas for Indians coming here to do tech, but they really don't want the Indians coming here to do tech. But they must. They must maintain the rights of a green card holder who supports terrorism. Very important. So long as that that person's attitude is anti Jewish. I noticed that. Just the thing I noticed, very strange juxtaposition. We hate all immigrants and they should be out of here. Except for this guy who really, really hates Jews. Notice, it's weird. It's a little weird. In any case, this is not a free speech case. As Andy McCarthy over at National Review points out, when you openly support terrorism and when you take over buildings to openly support terrorism in a way that amounts to a threat, which is what he actually did as the head of this organization at Columbia University, you have now violated the law. Andy McCarthy has a good rundown on this over at National Review. He says it's not clear how old Khalil is or when he began matriculating at Columbia. He came to the United States to study at Columbia after receiving his undergrad degree in computer science at the American University of Beirut. Apparently Khalil he worked for the British government as an intern at its embassy in Beirut and for an NGO called Jasour, which is Arabic for bridges. But apparently he also worked as a public affairs officer for the UN rwa, which is basically a terrorist front group for Hamas. Last spring, at the apex of the pro Hamas agitation at Colombia that followed the October 7 atrocities, Khalil reportedly told the Verge, quote, I am here on a foreign visa. That's why for the past six months, I barely appeared on the media. That's why I'm not suspended. I did not participate, fearing I will be arrested and ultimately deported from the country. So does he have a student visa? Does he have a green card? Not totally clear at this point, but again, a permanent green card holder can be deported if that person espouses terrorist activities. Section 1182 of Federal Immigration law controls the categories of aliens who may be excluded from the United States. In the category of national security, the statute mainly targets aliens who have engaged in terrorist activities activities. But there's additional latitude an alien may be excluded if he has endorsed or espoused terrorist activity. That includes violent attacks in the planning of such attacks. So if you support Hamas, you have now violated that. Under the law, once an alien has entered the United States and then has residential status, then they have some additional rights. However, the claim should fail because when it comes to support for terrorism, our law does not privilege green card holders over other classes of. Of aliens. So, yeah, again, the reality is that Secretary Rubio is correct. An alien, even a green card holder, has no right while in the United States to join with groups that endorse or espouse terrorist activity. So all the government has to do is show that Khalil was in a campus group that endorsed or espoused Hamas atrocities. And as we talked about yesterday on the show, he did that like a lot. Like a lot. And he didn't hide it. And yet you see people who are out there defending Mahmoud Khalil on, again, the bizarre right and the entire left. The Senate Judiciary Democrats put out a tweet yesterday saying free Mahmoud Khalil. I noticed they didn't have a similar tweet saying free Idan Alexander, the actual American hostage still being held by Hamas in terror tunnels. In any case, Caroline Levitt was asked about this, and here was her answer.
- [20:08]
Caroline Levitt
Yesterday, Mahmoud Khalil was an individual who was given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation's finest universities and colleges. And he took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege, by siding with terrorists, Hamas terrorists, who have killed innocent men, women and children. This is an individual who organized group protests that not only disrupted college campus classes and harassed Jewish American students and made them feel unsafe on their own college campus, but also distributed pro, pro Hamas propaganda flyers with the logo of Hamas.
- [20:48]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, so again, you want to defend that, go for it. Seriously, it's all you. And we all know, by the way, that if this person had been on campus handing out, as an immigrant, handing out Ku Klux Klan flyers, that person would be deported and it wouldn't be anybody batting an eye. We all know this to be the fact. It is only that there are certain subgroups in the United States, particularly on the left, who are seen as too successful to be determined as, quote, unquote, minority groups. That's what's going on here. So another win for the Trump administration. Speaking of wins for the Trump administration, obviously the talks between Ukraine and Russia have been incredibly fraught. There are no direct talks between Ukraine and Russia. Yesterday there was a meeting in Saudi Arabia between representatives of the United States government, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, both of whom are excellent at their jobs, both terrific appointees by President Trump. And they met with the Ukrainians. They then put out a joint statement. The joint statement suggested one that Ukraine would agree to a 30 day ceasefire, conditional on Russia's reciprocal implementation. The US would resume intelligence sharing and security assistance during the ceasefire. Ukraine would propose a prisoner exchange, the release of civilian detainees, and the return of Ukrainian children. Delegations would establish negotiation teams to work toward a lasting peace. Ukraine wanted Europe involved in the process. And the President's agreed to move quickly on a critical minerals deal to strengthen Ukraine's economy. So this is, this is a win. It is a win for the United States. It's also a win for Ukraine because now the ball is in Russia's court, because Ukraine has now agreed to a ceasefire without any other preconditions. The restoration of aid and intelligence is good because, again, this is what Ukraine needs. They need American support so that if Russia does not come to the table, UK Ukraine doesn't collapse here. Rubio and Waltz explaining, Yesterday, today we.
- [22:35]
Mike Waltz
Made an offer that the Ukrainians have accepted, which is to enter into a ceasefire and into immediate negotiations to end this conflict in a way that's enduring and sustainable and accounts for their interests, their security, their ability to prosper as a Nation, I want to personally thank, we both want to thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, His Majesty, for hosting us, for making this possible. They've been instrumental in this process and we're very grateful to them for hosting us here today. And hopefully we'll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope that they'll say yes, that they'll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court.
- [23:08]
Ben Shapiro
And you know, again, this is a good move by Ukraine, it's a good move by the United States. The ball is in Russia's court and Russia needs to be held accountable for not coming to the table now because Ukraine is at the table and it took some cudgeling, it took some pushing, it took some shots. Ukraine is at the table, that's all. They've accepted the ceasefire deal. Now Russia needs to do the same. Early indicators, by the way, say that Russia is not going to do the same, that Russia is too interested in pushing forward. According to the Wall Street Journal, the cease fire plan, which is contingent on Russian acceptance, envisions opening negotiations between Kyivan Moscow on halting the war. According to that joint statement, President Trump reinforced that message at the White House. He said, now we have to go to Russia and hopefully President Putin will agree to that and we can get the show on the road. We want to get that war over with. Now it'll be interesting to see whether Vladimir Putin actually comes to the table, whether he futzes around, whether he lies. President Putin is not famous for being particularly truthful in his foreign negotiations. The national Security advisor, Mike Walsh, said that his talks with the Ukrainians did involve discussions on, quote, how this war is going to permanently end, what type of guarantees they're going to have for their long term security and prosperity. He said, we're going to really look at what's going to, it's going to finally take to end this, the horrific fighting. So it's unclear exactly what the United States role in that is going to be, which is presumably why the Europeans want to be involved in. Zelensky wants the Europeans involved. Zelensky, for his part, said yesterday that the conversations in Saudi Arabia were good and productive. Our delegation has just reported on the meeting with the American team in Saudi Arabia. The discussion lasted most of the day. Today. It was a good discussion, constructive. Our teams managed to cover many details. Our position is absolutely clear. Ukraine has been seeking peace from the very first second of the war. And we want to do everything to ensure that, that peace is lasting. That is Zelensky's take. So Again, the administration has moved the Ukrainians. Now it's up to the Russians to move the other way. Folks, earlier on the show we talked about failing educational institutions. Let me give you one that actually is not one of those institutions. 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 create 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. Private, Christian, affordable Visit gcu. Edu that's gcu. Edu again. This is actually a college that is worth your time. Gcu Edu Also the IRS is ramping up its enforcement efforts in 2025. April 15 is approaching, and time is running out. If you're facing back taxes or unfiled returns, delaying action only compounds that problem. Every day you wait makes your tax situation more difficult to resolve. Do not let another tax deadline pass you by. While taking immediate action is crucial, attempting to deal with the IRS alone can be a costly mistake. This is where Tax Network USA's expertise becomes invaluable. What sets them apart? Well, unlike other tax resolution firms, Tax Network USA maintains privileged access to the IRS through their preferred direct channels. This means they know exactly which agents can help resolve your case effectively. Whether you owe ten grand or ten million bucks, their team of attorneys and negotiators bring proven strategies to settle your tax issues favorably. With over $1 billion in tax debt already resolved, they have the experience and expertise to handle your situation. So talk with one of their strategists. Today, it's free. Stop the threatening letters. Stop looking over your shoulder. Protect yourself from property seizures and bank levies. Do not let the IRS control your future. Call 1-800-958-1000 or visit tnusa.com Shapiro April 15 is just around the corner. Act now before the IRS acts first. Meanwhile, Democrats are distracted with the most bizarre issues. So yesterday, the biggest blow up of the day happened in the House of Representatives, where there was a House committee that was meeting one of the members of that House committee where a person formerly known as Tim McBride, who is a biological male, who says he is a female and calls himself Sarah McBride. Representative Keith Self of Texas referred to McBride as Mr. McBride, because, of course, Sarah McBride is man. And all hell broke loose.
- [27:48]
Donald Trump
I now recognize the representative from Delaware, Mr. McBride.
- [27:53]
Alyssa Slotkin
Thank you, madam Chair.
- [27:55]
Ben Shapiro
Ranking member Keating, also wonderful.
- [27:57]
Mike Waltz
Chairman, could you repeat your introduction again, please? Yes, it's a. It's a.
- [28:03]
Donald Trump
We have set the standard on the.
- [28:05]
Mike Waltz
Floor of the House.
- [28:06]
Donald Trump
And I'm simply.
- [28:08]
Mike Waltz
What is that standard? Mr. Chairman, would you repeat what you just said? You introduced a duly elected representative from the United States of America, please?
- [28:18]
Donald Trump
I will. The representative from Delaware, Mr. McBride.
- [28:23]
Mike Waltz
Mr. Chairman, you are out of order. Mr. Chairman, have you no decency? I mean, I've come to know you a little bit, but this is not decent.
- [28:33]
Donald Trump
We will continue this.
- [28:34]
Mike Waltz
You will not continue it with me unless you introduce a duly elected representative the right way.
- [28:42]
Donald Trump
This hearing is adorned.
- [28:45]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, so I will notice here that the Congressmember who is chiding Keith Self right there, and Representative Bill Keating, the one who's losing it on him from Massachusetts, when he says, have you no decency, sir? Right. That is a paraphrase of something that was said by a Boston lawyer back in the McCarthy era to Joseph McCarthy, when McCarthy was going after people for supposedly being communists. He said, have you no sense of decency? So just to commit right now, the thing that the Democrats are most concerned about is that a man must be called a woman, even if he is not a woman. You geniuses. You slow clap for you guys. You're really on the ball these days, really doing great. Meanwhile, Alyssa Slotkin, who for some reason the senator from Michigan, is being promoted as a sort of new hot face of the Democrats. I'm not sure what the supposed skill set is that elevates her to this position, but she appeared on that great presidential testing ground. The view. Total IQ 72. I mean, total, like for all the members. And. And there she proceeded to insult Americans, which is always a great idea.
- [29:49]
Alyssa Slotkin
I don't think there's anyone who feels like what's going on right now is normal. Even if you voted for Trump. Right. I think there's a feeling in the country, and I often say this, you know, we're. We're about to turn 250 years old. Right. We're still pretty young for a country. These are our angry teenage years. Right. We are going through this push and pull where we're happy, we're sad, we want this, we want that. And what do you do when you have a teenager who's threatening themselves and others? You just try to get them through this period alive so that their brain can fully form and you can come back to kind of what the country.
- [30:23]
Ben Shapiro
I'm talking about Trump.
- [30:24]
Alyssa Slotkin
No, I'm talking about our country. We're a pendulum swinging. We're a pendulum swinging. And so for me, I think that this. I don't think there's a single American who feels like this is normal.
- [30:36]
Ben Shapiro
No, no. It doesn't feel like. We're just a bunch of angry Americans. Angry teenagers. Angry teenagers. And we don't know what's coming next. Just great. I'm so glad that you've characterized the American people this way. This is definitely the way to win them back. Now, meanwhile, the reality, as I've been saying for a while here, is that the only way Democrats are able to get back into power, given the their dedication to some of the world's worst causes, truly some of the worst causes, from the pro Hamas niks to the idea that men are women, the only way for them to gain power again is if the economy slows or goes into recession. That is the only way for them to regain power. Which is why I am quite wary of what has been going on in this ongoing sort of tariff war that President Trump has now declared. So President Trump yesterday was asked about the tariff war, and again, the tariff war is escalating. According to the Associated Press, the European Union on Wednesday announced retaliatory trade action with new duties on US Industrial and farm products. Responding within hours to the Trump administration's increase in tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%. The EU measures will cover goods from the United states worth about $28 billion. They're not just targeting steel and aluminum products, but also textiles, home appliances and agricultural goods. Motorcycles, bourbon, peanut butter and jeans will be hit. Now, of course, this also happened during President Trump's first term. This is more an early indicator. It's not like these tariffs in and of themselves are going to destroy the American. The American capacity to export or something. These are relatively small in the grand scheme of things, but they're sort of a shot across the bow. According to the ap, the EU duties aim for pressure points in the United States while minimizing additional damage to Europe. The tariffs primarily target Republican held states hitting soybeans in House Speaker Mike Johnson's Louisiana, but also beef and poultry in Kansas and Nebraska, as well as Alabama, Georgia and Virginia. Ursula von der Leyen put out a statement saying that they will always remain open to negotiation. She said, as the US are applying tariffs worth $28 billion, we're responding with countermeasures worth 26 billion euros, which is the same amount. She said, we firmly believe in a world fraught with geopolitical and economic uncertainties. It is not in our common interest to burden our economies with tariffs. And she said, jobs are at stake. Prices will go up in Europe and in the United States. President Trump tried to lay out his defense of the sort of tariff wars that he is now declaring here he was yesterday.
- [32:45]
Donald Trump
What I have to do is I have to get the workers back. I have to get the factories open. We have 90,000 factories and plants are closed from what you had just prior to NAFTA, which is not very long ago. 90,000. Think of it, 90,000 factories and plants are closed from what it was. And it's just not right. So. And we gave it away. Presidents before me gave it away. And I could name every one of them, but they gave it away. And we're taking it back. Back. We're taking our jobs back.
- [33:19]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, I. I should just point out at this point that actually manufacturing in the United States, in terms of its actual gdp, in terms of its actual output, has risen dramatically, dramatically from its low point in about 2010. So manufacturing employment has dropped. It's been rising steadily since 2010. Actually, manufacturing employment, however, the output has risen dramatically. What does that mean? It means manufacturing got more efficient. One of the things nobody wants to talk about in manufacturing is that the reason we lose jobs in manufacturing or not generating more jobs in manufacturing is because manufacturing in the United States via union employees, is so expensive that people simply replace the employees with capital machinery, with robots. In other words, the real reason why manufacturing is not more of a thing in the United States than it currently is is because of the high cost of doing business in the United States. In the manufacturing arena, it is cheaper to do business elsewhere. You can relieve all that. You can fix all of that through tax cuts and deregulation, as opposed to tariff regimes that really kind of subsidize bloated industries. Now, the actual thing that is happening is manufacturing as a share of America's employment has dropped. But in absolute numbers, the number of manufacturing employees actually has risen somewhat substantially over the course of the last ten years or so. So this kind of notion that we need to re industrialize and the way to do that is tariffs. You can re industrialize and have more factories, but it's gonna cost you, it's gonna cost the consumer, it's gonna take money from certain parts of the economy to subsidize those parts of the economy. Again, if you wanna do that for national security purposes, I get it. But if this is just a redistributive mechanism that harms the American economy, forces investors not to invest, rips away people's 401ks, that is not going to be a good, that is not going to be a good and beneficial thing for the American consumer or for Trump's agenda. Because if the economy tanks now, President Trump may have a long term vision of what he wants the economy to look like, but it turns out that the American electoral cycle is two years and whichever party is in power when a recession happens gets absolutely hammered. If you want to see Trump's agenda actually win, what you need is for the Republicans to retain power and actually grow their power in the next round of elections in 2026. Again, one of the indicators I think that the market is taking away from what President Trump is doing is that he just likes tariffs in general. And this has been the big question for the market when it comes to President Trump's economic policy. And my take for a very long time has been that he uses tariffs as leverage, that he uses tariffs as a way to get other countries to do things that he might want to protect. Certain national security based industries and all that is fine and dandy. But if the market takes away one, high levels of uncertainty, right? People switching their mind every moment or two, that President Trump has a generalized actual like for tariffs and he's willing to undergo quote unquote pain in order to enforce those tariffs, that could be a problem. The reason that the rubber has hit the road when it comes to Canada is because everybody looks at Canada and they say what in the like, why Canada? Seriously? So I asked our friends at Perplexity, prior to the current tariff war, what was Canada's average applied tariff rate to US Goods under the the usmca? Again, the search was sponsored by our friends over at Perplexity. Perplexity is a great service. You should use it. Here is what they say. Prior to the current tariff war, Canada's average applied tariff rate to US Goods under the usmca again, that is a deal negotiated by President Trump was relatively low. According to World bank data, Canada's trade weighted average tariff rate in 2022 was 1.37%. This rate was actually lower than the United States average tariff rate of 1.49% for the same year. It's important to note that while Canada did have some higher tariffs on specific products, particularly those protected under its supply management system, those were the exceptions rather than the norms. When you hear, for example, that dairy products faced huge tariffs ranging from 200 to 300% or poultry and eggs had high tariffs, these were on specific products that really did not impact the overall tariff rate. In fact, among the 137 nations analyzed by the World bank for trade weighted tariff averages, Canada ranked 102nd, indicating its own tariff regime was relatively open compared to many other countries. And again, there were a lot of goods that were traded under the USMCA duty free between the United States and Canada. So basically we're banging on one of the countries we had already the lowest tariff rate with. Also worth noting, we had a trade surplus with Canada. Okay, the only area we did not have a trade surplus with Canada was in oil. That's it. That is the only area other than that we have a trade surplus with Canada. So why are we banging on the Canadians other than they're kind of annoying and say a lot. It's bizarre to smack Canada. They're our number one trading partner. They are peaceful. They're a bunch of people who can't spell the word color. But we like them generally. They are not exactly a wartime threat. So all the talk about. Listen, I'm amused as well. But my amusement turns to be amusement when it turns out that all this sort of talk sends the Dow Jones Industrial Average spiraling. Then the fun and games come to a bit of an end. Yesterday the White House Press Secretary, Caroline Levitt, she again suggested that Canada should be the 51st state. When we keep saying this. Okay, we started off as a joke. I'm in. I like jokes about Canada the same as anyone else. You know, they would make a fine 51st state. Although frankly, I think that we could leave certain parts of Canada in Canada. I don't think, for example, that we necessarily need Vancouver or Toronto. But in any case, the question of should they be the 51st state is driving Liberals at the ballot box in Canada. As I mentioned, Pierre Poliev needs to be the next Prime Minister of Canada, cuz he's great. We don't want the leader of the Liberal Party to be the next Prime Minister of Canada to just replace one Justin Trudeau with a slightly less good looking Justin Trudeau. And yet when you repeat this kind of stuff, sure, it's kind of fun in games for the online trollery of it. Does anyone actually think that Canada is going to be the 51st state? Like really? Really? Again, the memory is fine, the jokes are fine. I like a JD Vance weird face morphing meme on X as much as the next guy. I just don't understand why is this actually like, what, what's, what's the goal here? What's the goal?
- [39:22]
Caroline Levitt
Canada is a neighbor. They are a partner. They have always been an ally. Perhaps they are becoming a competitor now. But as the President also laid out in his Truth Social post today, he believes that Canadians would benefit greatly from becoming the 51st state of the United States of America. And I actually looked into some of the research about the cost of living in Canada, and the cost of living is much higher than it is here in the United States of America. The average cost of a home in Canada is much higher. In Quebec, the highest tax rate for an income of a home, 150,000 or more, is 53.3%. More than half of Canadians incomes they are being taxed on. So the President has made it clear that he believes Canadians would be better served economically, militarily if they were to become the 51st state of the United States of America.
- [40:14]
Ben Shapiro
So why, like just why? Okay, like at a certain point the joke starts to actually have real world consequences. And so I'm just, I don't understand, like, what, what is the goal? What is the goal? So yesterday this all broke out into the open because the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, who is not actually like a far left winger, Doug Ford, he's the leader of Canada's most popular province, told reporters in Toronto that he was going to be issuing an export tax on electricity. He was going to do that in retaliation for the tariffs that are being levied against Canada. So here he was yesterday saying, listen, we love America, but could you please stop attacking us with tariffs? And if you do, then I'm going to start increasing the price of electricity shipped down into the northeastern United States.
- [41:00]
Mike Waltz
I start every interview with saying we love Americans. I love Americans, spent 20 years of my life there and I know Canadians love Americans and vice versa, in saying that we will not back down, we will be relentless. I apologize to the American people that President Trump decided to have an unprovoked attack on our country, on families, on jobs, and it's unacceptable.
- [41:24]
Ben Shapiro
Let's work together, let's get to the.
- [41:25]
Mike Waltz
Table if he has issues and let's Sort this out.
- [41:31]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, so he says that President Trump then retaliates by bashing Canada for denying America electricity. He put out a statement saying, why would our country allow another country to supply us with electricity even for a small area? Who made these decisions? And why? Can you imagine Canada stooping so low as to use electricity that so affects the life of innocent people as a bargaining chip and threat they'll pay a financial price for this so big it'll be read about in history books for many years to come? Okay, so then he escalates, and he says that he is going to increase the tariff on Canadian metals from 25 to 50%. Doug Ford then held a call with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, during which they agreed to scrap the electricity surcharge in exchange for relaxation of the steel and aluminum tariffs. That's the United States basically saying, okay, fine, you know, we don't want to pay more for electricity. We're going to back off some of these tariffs. What is the goal of all of this? Seriously, I don't. I don't understand. What is the. What is the. What is the goal that I want President Trump to succeed? If President Trump is to succeed, we need a thriving economy. Declaring a trade war on Canada under the terms of the usmca, which he himself negotiated in Trump term one is not going to be a productive move for his administration. And there's more to come, by the way. I mean, President Trump is expected to issue a bunch of new tariffs come April 2nd. I mean, he openly said that in the State of the Union address. If there is a plan here, the markets would love to hear it. Because, again, the markets are simply looking for some sort of predictability here. The markets are simply looking for some sort of understanding of what's coming next and why it's coming next and what the plan is. Caroline Levitt was asked about this a lot at the White House yesterday. Here she was defending President Trump's tariffs. When President Trump last addressed the brt, when he was on the campaign trail, his big push was on tax cuts. He's going there today as he's proposing tax hikes in the form of tariffs.
- [43:22]
Caroline Levitt
And I'm curious, he's not doing that.
- [43:24]
Mike Waltz
But why he's prioritizing that over the tax cuts.
- [43:27]
Caroline Levitt
He's actually not implementing tax hikes. Tariffs are a tax hike on foreign countries that, again, have been ripping us off. Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people. Well, I'm glad you brought up workers, because that's exactly who President Trump is looking out for with his America first trade policy and his America first economic agenda. And if you look, look at there's great indication to be optimistic about where the economy stands and the American people, investors, CEOs, small business owners, but most importantly, workers should bet on President Trump because his tariff policies. What he envisions is reciprocity fair trade practices where American workers are put first and are no longer ripped off by foreign countries all over this world.
- [44:15]
Ben Shapiro
Again, I'm gonna need some clarification as to how this is actually going to in the short term, medium and long term benefit Americans. We can talk about other countries ripping us off as much as we want. And again, if the goal here is to lower the tariffs by getting other countries to lower their tariffs, then great, I'm all in. Makes sense. But if the idea is the tariffs themselves enrich the American people, that is against pretty much all economic knowledge for the last couple of centuries or so. So maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it'll turn out to be great. Or maybe the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been speaking over the course of the last couple of months and it disagrees.
- [44:51]
Caroline Levitt
Psoriatic arthritis symptoms can be unpredictable I.
- [44:55]
Ben Shapiro
Had joint pain and I couldn't move like I used to. I needed relief.
- [45:01]
Caroline Levitt
I got Cosentyx.
- [45:03]
Mike Waltz
It helped me move better. Cosentyx Secukenumab is prescribed for people 2 years of age and older with active psoriatic arthritis. Don't use if you're allergic to Cosentyx. Before starting, get checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur like tuberculosis or other serious bacterial, fungal or viral infections. Some were fatal. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms like fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough, had a vaccine or planned to or if inflammatory bowel disease symptoms develop or worsen, serious allergic reactions and severe eczema like skin reactions may occur. Learn more at 1-844-cosentyx or cosentyx.com.
- [45:46]
Ben Shapiro
Ask your rheumatologist about Cosentyx. The reason this matters Again, the reason this matters is because what President Trump is actually trying to do in so many areas is so important. We cannot have the agenda Founder on the rocks of misbegotten tariff wars and there's so many other areas where the economy is opening up. So for example, the new Federal Trade Commission chair, Andrew Ferguson held a meeting with a group of big business CEOs on Tuesday and he said he's no longer going to let proposed deals die on the Vine. He said that if a merger is gonna hurt the American consumer, then he would stop it. But if we don't believe that it's gonna hurt consumers, we'll get the hell out of the way. I mean, that is a complete reversal of the way that the FTC was working under the ex scribble Lina Khan, who basically got in the way of any merger, any deal that she could in the name of social justice, not in the name of consumers, but in the name of her perverse views about how businesses should run. President Trump is doing a number of wonderful things. Again, it's really important that he succeed. And the number one obstacle, success, is an economic downturn. It is by far the. The number one obstacle. And I think President Trump knows this, which is why, of course, the Republicans last night in another. Speaker Johnson has been much maligned. He has been ripped up and down. He has been told by the. By the right wing of his contingent that he's not strong enough. He's been told by the media that he's incapable of holding together such a narrow coalition. But time after time, he seems to somehow emerge with a political victory. Yesterday, the House did pass with only one Republican vote lost. That would be, of course, Thomas Massey votes no on everything. Did pass a continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown. That is a good thing. It is a good thing for President Trump. It is a good thing for Speaker Johnson. It is a good thing for the Republican agenda, because if the continuing resolution did not pass and you got a government shutdown, Democrats would make hay. They would look properly at the Republicans and say, you're the majority, so what are you doing? So good for Speaker Johnson. Again, there's so many good things happening. Don't get in the way. Don't get in your own way here. Do not get in your own way. Meanwhile, the big photo op of the day was President Trump did a photo op with Elon Musk featuring Tesla at the White House. Presumably that has something to do with the fact that, that Elon Musk's company has taken some major hits since he signed on to do all the work that he's been doing at Doge. Again, I'm a big fan of what he's been doing at Doge. Tesla stock was trading at a high of like 480 bucks a share almost in December of 2024. Is now trading at approximately half that. So been a pretty major knockoff. And Tesla's an amazing company. I own a Tesla and Tesla's great. Here's President Trump promoting Tesla yesterday at the White House. Hello, President Trump, Are you looking to buy or lease today?
- [48:26]
Donald Trump
I'm going to buy. And I'm going to buy because number one, it's a great product, as good as it gets. And number two, because this man has devoted his energy and his life to doing this. And I think he's been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people. And I just want people to know that you can't be penalized for being a patriot. And he's a great patriot and he's also done an incredible job with Tesla.
- [48:56]
Ben Shapiro
Okay. Meanwhile, Elon Musk said that he was going to be working on doubling vehicle output. There's been a serious problem for Tesla in the past is that the demand for Tesla has not been supplied because there's been bottlenecking in the process. Here he was yesterday. As a function of the great policies.
- [49:11]
Donald Trump
Of President Trump and his administration, and.
- [49:14]
Ben Shapiro
As an act of faith in America, Tesla is going to double vehicle output in the United States within the next two years.
- [49:24]
Donald Trump
And by the way, he makes one car. This one I don't understand, this one I don't want. But that's okay without a steering wheel. It comes out next year, right? Explain that, please.
- [49:33]
Ben Shapiro
Yes, well, the, the cybercap starts production in Texas next year and it's self driving. We have so much confidence in the.
- [49:43]
Donald Trump
Self driving nature of it that it'll.
- [49:44]
Ben Shapiro
Actually not have a steering wheel, it will not have pedals. It'll either self drive or not drive at all, but it'll self drive and.
- [49:50]
Donald Trump
I'm gonna pass on that.
- [49:54]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, so again, President Trump's very funny and, and this is a nice warm embrace here from President Trump for Elon Musk and the car. President Trump also said there's been a bunch of violence at Tesla dealerships and he says, I'll label this domestic terrorism, which again, if you're like blowing up particular stores in the name of politics, kind of definitionally domestic terrorism.
- [50:13]
Donald Trump
Mr. President talks about some of the violence that's been going on around the country at dealerships. Some say they should be labeled domestic terrorists. I will do that. I'll do it. I'm going to stop. We catch anybody doing it because they're harming a great American company. You know, I've stuck up for the NFL. I've stuck up for a lot of American companies and other companies, but American companies, I did a very big favor for the NFL. I do favors for all. When you heard an American company, especially a company like this, supplies so many jobs that Others are unable to do. When you do that, those, those people are gonna go through a big problem when we catch them.
- [50:53]
Ben Shapiro
So again, this is quite proper. Now, as I say, the big flaw here is if the economy goes south, Bernie Sanders is waiting in the wings. He is waiting for the economy to go south because then what he's gonna claim is that the oligarchy sent the economy south to hurt you. This is going to be the next take. If the economy goes south, mark my words, the Bernie Bros will be back and stronger than ever because they're going to claim falsely that the economy going south is not the result of bad economic policies, like, for example, tariff wars, but it's actually the result of evil predatory capitalism. Bernie's waiting for it. He's rooting for it. Here he was yesterday.
- [51:27]
Mike Waltz
These are, you know, the scariest times in my lifetime. That's all. I mean, I think that's objectively the truth. You know, it is not just they want to give tax breaks to billionaires and cut programs for working people. Frankly, that's happened before. But you combine that with the power of the oligarchy in general. You combine that with Mr. Musk owning Twitter and able to send out his messages to hundreds of millions of people. You combine that with the fact that people like Bezos, the second wealthiest person in the country, fired or got rid of most of his editorial staff and is going to convert them into a right wing thing. Combine that with the fact that Trump is suing major media outlets and is threatening to investigate PBS and npr. So it's not only the power of money, it's also combined with that, the movement toward authoritarianism.
- [52:28]
Ben Shapiro
Again, this is going to be the pitch. And so long as things are going well, it's going to fail. That's why things have to keep going well. Already coming up, we're going to jump into the vaunted Ben Shapiro show Mailbag, answer some of your questions. If you want your question answered. By the way, you have to be a member. If you want to be able to see things like our all access Live where I hang out and answer your questions live. If you want to be able to view our amazing films from people like Matt Walsh. Am I racist? What is a woman? If you want to be able to access the mailbag and Backstage Live, you need to become a member. 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.