Ep. 2191 - SHAKE-UP At The White House

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ben Shapiro Show
Episode: Ep. 2191 - SHAKE-UP At The White House
Release Date: May 2, 2025

In Episode 2191 of The Ben Shapiro Show, titled "SHAKE-UP At The White House," host Ben Shapiro delves into a series of significant political developments, focusing primarily on internal shifts within the Trump administration, foreign policy maneuvers, legislative actions, and cultural critiques. Below is a detailed breakdown of the episode’s key discussions, insights, and conclusions.

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1. White House Shake-Up and Internal Foreign Policy Conflict

Mike Waltz's Transition and Marco Rubio's Expanded Role

Ben Shapiro opens the episode by discussing President Trump's unexpected decision to fire Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor (NSA). This move was initially celebrated by the administration's isolationist wing. Following Waltz's departure from the NSA, Marco Rubio was appointed as the interim NSA while simultaneously holding the positions of Secretary of State, acting head of USAID, and official archivist of the U.S. government.

Internal Proxy Battle Over Foreign Policy

Shapiro interprets this shake-up as indicative of a deeper proxy fight within the Trump administration over the direction of American foreign policy. He references leaked Signal chats that reveal a divide between the hawkish faction, led by figures like Pete Hegseth and Mike Waltz, who favor interventionist strategies, and the isolationist faction, represented by Vice President J.D. Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who advocate for a more restrained approach.

• Ben Shapiro [01:35]: "This is sort of Kremlinology trying to figure out what's going on inside the administration and has some pretty significant ramifications for American foreign policy."

J.D. Vance Addresses Waltz's Transition

In an interview segment, J.D. Vance clarifies that Waltz’s move to UN Ambassador is a promotion rather than a firing, emphasizing the collaborative decision-making process.

• J.D. Vance [07:47]: "It wasn't let go. He is being made Ambassador to the United Nations... We brought Mike on to do some serious reforms of the National Security Council. He is a great guy."

Shapiro’s Analysis of Internal Dynamics

Shapiro speculates on Rubio's stance within the administration, suggesting that Rubio might be aligning with the isolationist wing, thus intensifying the internal conflict.

• Ben Shapiro [07:47]: "This could betray more of that fight. But again, unclear which side of that fight Marco Rubio is on."

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2. Iran Nuclear Negotiations and U.S. Foreign Policy

Rescheduling of U.S.-Iran Talks

Shapiro reports that scheduled negotiations between the U.S. and Iran were postponed for logistical reasons, as stated by both Oman and Iran officials. He critiques Iran’s stance on nuclear development, labeling it unnecessary given the country's rich oil and gas reserves.

Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff’s Positions

During Ben Shapiro's discussion, Marco Rubio outlines the U.S. stance on Iran's uranium enrichment, advocating for stringent inspections and highlighting the threat of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons.

• Marco Rubio [16:55]: "If they take [the opportunity], this is the best opportunity they're going to have... there is no path forward where Iran has a nuclear weapon."

Critique of Steve Witkoff’s Diplomatic Efforts

Shapiro expresses skepticism about Steve Witkoff's effectiveness as a negotiator, citing his solo meetings with Vladimir Putin and criticisms from the New York Post regarding his negotiation strategies.

• Ben Shapiro [12:27]: "If it is not clear to you yet, I am deeply unimpressed with Steve Witkoff's diplomatic record."

Donald Trump's Sanctions on Iran

Highlighting a recent tweet by Donald Trump, Shapiro underscores the administration’s hardline stance against Iran.

• Donald Trump [12:27]: "Any oil that anybody takes from Iran is not allowed to do business in the United States of America."

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3. U.S.-Ukraine Rare Earth Minerals Deal

Details of the Agreement

Shapiro outlines a new deal between the U.S. and Ukraine involving rare earth minerals. This agreement establishes a shared investment fund where both nations contribute resources like oil, gas, and mineral rights licenses sold in Ukraine. Profits are to be split equally, effectively offsetting U.S. military aid with mineral development contributions.

• Ben Shapiro [15:10]: "Instead of this just being pure military aid, we are now getting something in return."

Kremlin’s Response

The Kremlin criticizes the deal, portraying Ukraine as a nation on the brink of collapse, thus undermining Russia's position.

• Dmitry Medvedev [17:30]: "Trump has finally pressured the Kiev regime to pay USA with mineral resources."

White House’s Defense

The White House defends the deal by emphasizing mutual benefits and the strategic partnership aimed at Ukraine’s reconstruction and modernization.

• White House Fact Sheet [16:55]: "This partnership represents the United States taking an economic stake in securing a free, peaceful and sovereign future for Ukraine."

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4. Senate Sanctions on Russia and Legislative Actions

Lindsey Graham’s Sanctions Proposal

Shapiro discusses Lindsey Graham’s initiative to impose new sanctions on Russia and steep tariffs on countries purchasing Russian oil, gas, and uranium. The bill has garnered significant bipartisan support, potentially overcoming a Senate filibuster by gathering over 60 co-sponsors.

• Ben Shapiro [34:00]: "More leverage against Russia is the thing that is going to get them to the table."

Potential Presidential Veto

With the bill’s co-sponsorship crossing the threshold, Shapiro speculates on the likelihood of the Senate overriding a presidential veto, though the White House has yet to comment.

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5. President Trump's Executive Order on NPR and PBS

Termination of Federal Funding

A significant policy change is highlighted where President Trump signs an executive order terminating federal funding for NPR and PBS. Shapiro praises the move, criticizing NPR as a left-leaning outlet reliant on taxpayer dollars.

• Ben Shapiro [33:05]: "President Trump wrote in the order. Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary, but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence."

Rationale Behind the Order

Trump argues that public broadcasting requires no government funding and should maintain journalistic independence without taxpayer support.

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6. Immigration Case and Legal Proceedings

Case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Shapiro examines the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant accused of violent behavior, based on testimony from his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura. The episode includes audio evidence of her pleas for police intervention due to abuse.

• Jennifer Vasquez Sura [28:18]: "I have a lot of police reports... he would just wake up and like, hit me."

Jamie Raskin’s Defense

Jamie Raskin, a Democratic Representative, defends Garcia, arguing that his arrest was based on a misidentification of his tattoo, advocating for due process.

• Jamie Raskin [30:03]: "Had there been any kind of due process fair hearing, he would have been able quickly to explain the government's error."

Judicial Rulings on Alien Enemies Act

Shapiro references a ruling by Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr., who dismissed President Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to detain alleged gang members from Venezuela, emphasizing the need for clear evidence of enemy status.

• Ben Shapiro [29:30]: "Due process according to legal standards ought to be applied and also that the people that Trump is trying to deport are pretty much all people who should not be in the United States."

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7. Termination of DEI Policies

Statements from Caroline Levitt and Stephen Miller

The administration announces the termination of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies across federal agencies, with Caroline Levitt and Stephen Miller emphasizing the move towards colorblind equality and individual merit.

• Caroline Levitt [32:36]: "President Trump stood up for the Constitution's promise of colorblind equality before the law."

• Matt Walsh [35:26]: "Preborn's network of clinics are on the front lines nationwide on standby for women deciding between the life of their babies..."

Shapiro commends this policy shift as a return to merit-based principles and a rejection of divisive identity politics.

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8. Georgia Senate Race and Candidate Quality

Critique of Marjorie Taylor Greene

Shapiro criticizes the potential candidacy of Marjorie Taylor Greene for the Georgia Senate, arguing that her polarizing nature would jeopardize Republican chances in the general election against incumbent Jon Ossoff.

• Ben Shapiro [35:26]: "If Ossoff were to run against Marjorie Taylor Greene, he would win outright by a sheer majority of the vote."

Recommendation for Brian Kemp

Instead, Shapiro advocates for Brian Kemp to run, suggesting his alignment with Trump’s agenda and higher electability would better secure the seat for Republicans.

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9. Canada’s Alberta Secession Movement and Trade War Impact

Alberta’s Push for Secession

Shapiro touches on Alberta’s considerations to secede from Canada, led by Premier Danielle Smith. He explains the constitutional hurdles and the strategic use of referendums as leverage against federal policies.

• Ben Shapiro [35:56]: "Ultimately, Alberta has been considering all of this... she is pushing for concessions from the national government."

Impact of U.S.-China Trade War

The ongoing trade war, particularly tariffs imposed on Canadian goods, is highlighted as a significant factor affecting Alberta’s economy and exacerbating tensions within Canada.

• Ben Shapiro [41:00]: "Statistics show that GDP shrank 0.3%... most of the damage came from soaring imports."

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10. U.S.-China Trade War Economic Impact

Economic Indicators and Corporate Responses

Shapiro discusses recent economic data indicating a contraction in GDP, attributing much of the decline to the tariff war with China. He cites significant increases in imports and outlines the negative impacts on major corporations like GM and McDonald's.

• Ben Shapiro [38:49]: "The economy shrank, first time in three years... What do you tell them?"

Political Responses

Marco Rubio addresses concerns about the economy, while J.D. Vance defends the administration’s policies as a necessary reset from previous deficits and trade imbalances.

• J.D. Vance [39:04]: "We need a reset... protect the jobs that they have right now, and we need to be more self-reliant as an economy."

China’s Stance

China remains firm in its position, demanding the cancellation of unilateral tariffs as a sign of sincerity before engaging in talks.

• Ben Shapiro [39:02]: "China wants some signal from Trump that he's backing down."

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11. Cultural Segment: Matt Walsh’s Review of Revenge of the Sith

Matt Walsh’s Critique

In a lighter segment, Shapiro shares Matt Walsh’s scathing review of the re-released Revenge of the Sith. Walsh criticizes the film’s dialogue, acting, and fight choreography, deeming it one of the worst Star Wars films ever made.

• Matt Walsh [44:13]: "Revenge of the Sith is outrageously, offensively bad. You could make a case that it's like the worst film ever made."

Shapiro’s Rebuttal

Shapiro counters some of Walsh’s points, defending aspects of the film’s plot and choreography while agreeing on certain deficiencies in dialogue and acting.

• Ben Shapiro [45:56]: "I'm not going to disagree with every aspect of Matt's review here. He also ripped into the acting."

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12. Upcoming Segment: Ilhan Omar's Interview

Shapiro hints at an upcoming interview with Ilhan Omar, encouraging listeners to become members to access the full discussion.

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Conclusion

Episode 2191 of The Ben Shapiro Show offers an in-depth analysis of significant political maneuvers within the Trump administration, U.S. foreign policy challenges, legislative actions against Russia, and the economic repercussions of the trade war with China. Additionally, the episode touches on critical domestic issues like immigration policy and cultural battles over media funding and DEI programs. Through sharp commentary and detailed examination of current events, Shapiro provides listeners with a comprehensive conservative perspective on the evolving political landscape.

Transcript

[Ben Shapiro]

Alrighty folks. A lot to get to on today's show, but if you want even more from the Ben Shapiro show on the Daily Wire, it's time to become a Daily Wire plus member. Get member exclusive shows, ad free streaming and early access to our new releases. Watch premium films and documentaries you're not going to find anywhere else. Connect with the community that shares your values, not one that cancels you for those values. Watch anywhere, anytime on desktop, mobile and TV apps. Join the fight right [e-mail] subscribe. Also, do you hear drums in the distance? Yes, you can own a piece of Daily Wire history. A beautiful mini fokahonta [e-mail] shop yes, it's been years in the making. I'm surprised it took us this long. This six and a half inch finely crafted resin statuette is a scale replica of the legendary monument that towers over the Daily Wire set. Word has it she is 1 1024th authentic but 100% hilarious. Perfect for your desk, bookshelf or mantel of your teepee, longhouse or other traditional dwelling. Limited Quantities [e-mail] shop yeah, we're making fun of Elizabeth Warren. They're not Native Americans. All right, so let's talk about what just happened in Washington, D.C. yesterday. So President Trump, in a shock move, decided to fire Mike Waltz is what it looked like originally. And a bunch of people were celebrating this. Mike Waltz is the national Security adviser or was the national security adviser. Obviously, Mike Waltz had been under severe fire since this signal chat screw up in which he accidentally included the Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, who President Trump then gave an interview to. Again, not sure why that happened. In any case, it was a screw up. There's no question it was a screw up. The question was how long Waltz would last over at nsa. Well, yesterday it was announced that Waltz would no longer be at nsa. And cheers went up from the anti Waltz kind of anti traditional Republican isolationist wing of the Republican Party. And then it was announced that Marco Rubio would become the temporary nsa. Walt himself would be moved over to the role of UN Ambassador, a role that originally Elise Stefanik, the congresswoman from New York, had been nominated for. But when it became clear that the Republican majority in Congress was under threat, she was sort of removed from that nomination. So Walt is moving from NSA over to the UN Ambassador role. Rubio is now serving in four positions simultaneously. He's the Secretary of State, the National Security Adviser, temporarily the acting head of usaid, which of course is Bill basically getting zeroed out and the official archivist of the United States government. So he's like that kid in your third grade class who is simultaneously the, the secretary of the student government as well as the Vice President and the treasurer. That, that basically appears to be what's happening with Rubio. Now, there's still a lot of questions about what happened here because people are interpreting this as a proxy fight inside the Trump administration over the direction of foreign policy more generally. And that's absolutely credible. It is certainly plausible that, that there is in fact an ongoing conversation slash fight inside the administration over the direction of foreign policy. We know that because we know those conversations are happening largely from that signal chat that was originally leaked accidentally to the Atlantic in which you had basically on one side in favor of bombing the Houthis, the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, Mike Waltz, the National Security Advisor. It appeared Rubio was on that side. And then on the other side you had Vice President J.D. vance. Now obviously the Vice President and many people associated with his team, including presumably Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, we'll get to in a moment. They have a very different view on American foreign policy. They're very much in favor of a sort of isolationist, laden foreign policy, not a Reagan esque piece through strength. And this is an ongoing conversation inside the administration. This is no great secret by any stretch of the imagination. This move inside could betray more of that fight. But again, unclear which side of that fight Marco Rubio is on. Traditionally, a lot of people in the administration had perceived Rubio to be on the more traditional Republican peace through strength side of that fight. And now, presumably because J.D. vance is supporting Marco Rubio for taking over NSA, maybe that means that that Rubio has sort of moved over to the van side of the argument. Again, a lot of this is sort of trying to read tea leaves as to the direction of the administration. And in the end, the only policymaker who really matters is of course, the President of the United States. President Trump wrote on Truth Social from his time in uniform on the battlefield in Congress. And as my National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation's interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role. Now, there are a lot of reports out of places like Axios that essentially the White House was already turning on Waltz from very early on in the administration that he didn't get along supposedly with the Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, that his foreign policy priors, the things that he actually believed were at odds with people like Vance or like Steve Witkoff, that is what Axios is reporting. Apparently, on a trip to Greenland in March, Vice President Vance counseled Waltz about, quote, working more collaboratively. And people inside the White House said that he didn't work well with Susie Wiles. And then apparently Laura Loomer came in and of course started urging President Trump to fire some of the staffers that Waltz had appointed. Those would be the quote, unquote, neocons. Now, again, the term neocon has basically become a term of universal opprobrium applied to people who clearly are not neocons. Okay, neocon, just technically speaking, these are people who were Democrats in the 1960s and they called themselves liberals. Mugged by reality. They moved over to the right. Many of them during the Bush administration were very interventionist, not just with regard to Iraq, but also with regard to, say, Libya and Syria, which is a sort of better acid test as to whether somebody was a truly interventionist neocon. Because again, Iraq was widely approved by large swaths of the Republican Party, including some people who now count themselves isolationists. It was really the post Iraq conflicts like Libya and Syria, where these divisions started to really emerge between people who are very interventionist in almost Wilsonian style, and people who are not. So a good example of this would be Ted Cruz. Right? Ted Cruz was against the intervention in Libya and against an intervention in Syria as well, by the way. So was I. In any case, the attempt to label everybody a neocon is basically now just an all purpose insult that you throw at anybody who doesn't agree with a more Pap Buchananite vision of American foreign policy. So in any case, a bunch of people who are under Waltz were targeted by Laura Loomer and some of them got fired. That was a couple of weeks ago. In recent days, according to Axios, Susie Wiles began collecting names to replace Waltz, but kept the process and discussion strictly under wraps. Secretary of State Rubio will fill in on an interim basis. Interim. Now, apparently one of the original people who has floated for the job of NSA was Steve Witkoff. Now, I don't think that Witkoff wants the job. And the reason Witkoff doesn't want the job is because the NSA is actually an entire apparatus that you have to run. Witkoff's role so far has been flying off to Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin or flying off to Qatar or flying off to Saudi Arabia or whatever it is. He's sort of a freewheeling agent, the mix operating directly for the President of the United States and seems to have the President's ear on a lot of These negotiations, according to Axios, Waltz, Alex Wong, who is his assistant director of the nsa, and many of the National Security Council staffers who already departed were on the more hawkish wing within the administration, were perceived as quote, unquote, neocons within the MAGA group on Iran. Both Vance and Wyckoff favor diplomacy. Waltz was much more open to the idea of military strikes for now, according to Axios. It seems the restraint wing has won that argument and is generally in the ascendancy within Trump's national security team. And one of the sort of open questions is whether a straight wing is trying to say that the United States should not be involved in a strike on Iran, under what circumstances that would change, or whether they're trying to restrain Israel from a strike on Iran, which is a completely separate question because obviously Israel has a very strong interest in Iran not gaining a nuclear weapon, considering that Iran has specifically stated and has never stopped saying that once they gain a nuclear weapon, they're using it on the quote, unquote, Zionist entity. So JD Vance appeared on Fox News last night trying to explain what exactly had happened inside the administration. Why was Mike Waltz let go?

[J.D. Vance]

So it wasn't let go. He is being made Ambassador to the United nations, which of course is a Senate confirmed position. I think you can make a good argument that it's a promotion. But we brought Mike on to do some serious reforms of the National Security Council. He has done that. I like Mike. I think he's a great, great guy. He's got the trust of both me and the president. But we also thought that he'd make a better UN Ambassador as we get beyond this stage of the reforms that we've made to the National Security Council. You saw the president announce that Marco Rubio is going to step in as interim leader of the National Security Council. So look, I think the media wants to frame this as a firing. Donald Trump has fired a lot of people. He doesn't give them Senate confirmed appointments afterwards.

[Ben Shapiro]

Okay, so one of the things that's sort of fascinating about the way that the Vice President is phrasing that is we. There's a lot of we, meaning that he was obviously involved in the decision making around the movement of Mike Waltz. The alternative read here is that Waltz was on the outs with a lot of members of the administration, particularly again, in these sort of non peace through strength, contingent of foreign policy, and that the president, basically, because he didn't like hurting walls. I mean, Waltz gave up a very solid congressional seat that's now occupied by Randy Fine in Florida order to come into the administration very early back or the President Trump didn't actually want to hurt Waltz, and so he moved him over to the UN Ambassador position, which is in fact a pretty nice position. Okay, so again, all of this is sort of Kremlin ology trying to figure out what's going on inside the administration and has some pretty significant ramifications for American foreign policy, especially because there's a lot of critique of the man who is now sort of leading American foreign policy in a wide variety of areas. And that, of course, is Steve Witkoff. So Witkoff, who I've suggested has not actually achieved any victories that I can see at all in any of the arenas where he has been placed, whether you're talking about Hamas negotiations to free hostages, including an American hostage, Idan Alexander, or whether you're talking about the Iran negotiations where Witkoff doesn't appear to know his ass from his elbow, or whether you're talking about the Russia, Ukraine negotiations where Steve Witkoff has been over there and then gone on TV and started sort of parroting many of the talking points that Vladimir Putin was putting out there. Let's put it this way. If it is not clear to you yet, I am deeply unimpressed with Steve Witkoff's diplomatic record. He be a very nice guy. He may be a business, a good businessman. I, I don't know. I really don't know Steve Witkoff from Adam. I've met him briefly for about 20 seconds one time. I will say that I am not impressed with the results of his negotiating leisure domain at this point in time. And there are a lot of open questions about Steve Witkoff and his competence. The New York Post ran a piece yesterday suggesting that administration insiders are distressed by his approach to negotiating with both Russia and Iran. According to the New York Post report, Woff, who has become President Trump's de facto personal ambassador to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in addition to taking on the Middle east portfolio, takes part in high level meetings alone. He is even relying on Kremlin translators. Okay, that, that is an amateur move. Having somebody who works for Vladimir Putin do your translation for you is not exactly an amazing move if you're negotiating a deal ahead of Woff's most recent meeting with Putin this past Friday, the New York native greeted the Kremlin tyrant like an old friend, with no sign of the usual coterie of advisers, experts and military officers who typically accompany U.S. officials during negotiations. Putin himself did not attend Friday's meeting solo. Instead, he was accompanied by one aide, a guy named Yuri Usikov, and the head of Moscow's sovereign wealth fund. Now, that in and of itself is a little bit weird. I'm not sure why the head of Moscow's sovereign wealth fund was attending a meeting with Steve Witkoff about an end to the Ukraine Russia war. What does the sovereign wealth fund of Russia have to do with any of that? Raises some sort of rather interesting questions. Well, this prompted this New York Post piece which, which prompted a lot of heartburn in inside the sort of Witkoff team. It prompted tweets from Alex Witkoff, his son, who's very close with the administration, And Donald Trump Jr. Who, of course is very close with, with Alex Witkoff as well as his brother. Well, this, this again, kind of comes down to what approach is the administration going to take on foreign policy? And there are a lot of mixed signals coming out of the administration. On the one hand, you have Witkoff, who is going around and attempting to cut deals, deals that, again, do not reflect sort of the traditional Trump 1.0 Peace through strength approach to places like Russia or Iran. And then at the same time, you have President Trump pushing quite hard on a number of sort of pressure points for Russia and for Iran. So, for example, President Trump literally yesterday was pushing more sanctions on Iran, even as he was saying a little bit earlier this week that he was going to cut a deal with Iran. Very unclear whether this is putting on more sanctions to take them off, whether these sanctions are largely targeted not at Iran, but at China, particularly because China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil at this point. Here's President Trump just yesterday, Iran had no money.

[Donald Trump]

When I was president, they were out of money. They were bustling. They had no money. They weren't giving it to Hamas, they weren't giving it to Hezbollah. They weren't giving it to anybody because they didn't have any money. They were just about bust. And in fact, I put sanctions on last night. Any oil that anybody takes from Iran is not allowed to do business in the United States of America.

[Ben Shapiro]

There's more on this in just a moment. First, you know, we're here in Israel for Independence Day. We talked to Mike Huckabee yesterday. Well, Independence day fell on May 1 for the people of Israel. However, the concept of freedom has become intertwined with their ongoing challenge. Massive fires breaking out all over the state, for example, set by terrorists. Many people are facing difficult circumstances. They navigate their daily lives amid uncertainty. During these challenging times, it can be hard to find moments of joy and celebration. The international fellowship of Christians and Jews works to provide essential support for vulnerable populations, ensuring the elderly, the sick, wounded, soldiers and families in need that they receive the care they deserve. Your generous gift to the Fellowship today will help provide vital aid, including medicine, nutritious meals, safety measures and comfort to those who need it most. Show your support for Israel by making a meaningful contribution. Your gift can make a real difference in someone's life. Make your gifts online [e-mail] that's Ben for the Fellowship.org There's a lot going on here in Israel, a lot of people suffering. You can help [e-mail] Again that's Ben for the Fellowship.org God bless and thank you. Also, Tax day may have passed, but for millions of Americans, the real trouble is just starting. If you missed that April 15th deadline or you still owe back taxes, the IRS is ramping up enforcement. Everyday weight only makes things worse. With over 5,000 new tax liens filed daily and tools like property seizures, bank levies, wage garnishments, the IRS is applying pressure at levels we have not seen in years. Increased administrative scrutiny means collections are moving fast. The good news? There's still time for Tax Network USA to help self employed business owner. Even if your books are a mess, they've got it covered. Tax Network USA specializes in cleaning up financial chaos and getting you back on track fast. Even after the deadline, it's not too late to regain control. Your consultation is completely free. Acting right now could stop penalties, threatening letters and surprise levies before they escalate. Call 1-800-958-1000 or visit tnusa.com Shapiro you might have missed April 15th. You have not yet run out of options. Let Tax Network USA help before the IRS makes the very next move. Call 1-800-958-1000 or visit tnusa.com Shapiro that's tnusa.com Shapiro to get started. Okay. Meanwhile, there were negotiations that were scheduled between the United States and Iran for Saturday. Apparently that has now been rescheduled for logistical reasons. Apparently there was never a hard date on the schedule. According to the United States. The Iranians say this is being done for logistical reasons. Oman is claiming that it was logistical in nature. Iran is saying that what they really, really want is a deal that will allow for peaceful nuclear development, which of course is a lie. Iran does not need nuclear development at all. It's one of the most oil and natural gas rich countries on planet Earth. The idea that Iran, which is an underdeveloped economy. They don't. They're not using that energy for AI. Let's put it this way. Iran is not desperately creating nuclear facilities because they are so in hock with the Green revolution. That's not what's happening here. The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Bakai issued a statement describing the talks as postponed at the request of Oman's foreign minister. He said Iran remained committed to reaching a fair and lasting agreement. A US Source said that America had never confirmed its participation in a fourth round of talks. But the source said the US Expects the talks to take place in the near future. So again, there's a lot of sort of mixed signals coming out of the administration with regard to what an Iran deal would look like. The Washington Post, by the way, is cheering the idea of a JCPOA 2.0, an Obama deal 2.0. Although even the Washington Post. I will, I will say it's kind of amazing. The editorial board of the Washington Post is now free to admit that Obama's JCPO deal was really bad, that the Iran deal in 2015 was a bad deal. Now they still want a bad deal. The Washington Post they just want it to be slightly less bad than the Obama deal. Quote, the onus is now on Trump and his team to show they can negotiate a better deal, one that doesn't end up looking like the old one. Well, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State and now interim national Security adviser, he was on with Sean Hannity last night and he discussed what the United States goals in the Iran talks are.

[Marco Rubio]

The only countries in the world that enrich uranium are the ones that have nuclear weapons. Iran is, they're claiming they don't want a weapon, but they would be. What they're basically asking is to be the only non weapon country in the world that's enriching uranium. And the level at which they enrich it is really not relevant per se because really, if you have the ability to enrich at 3.67%, it only takes a few weeks to get to 20% and then 60% and then the 80 and 90% that you need for a weapon. And so that really is the path forward here. Iran, since, simply needs to say, we've agreed to no longer enrich. We're going to have reactors because we want nuclear energy and we're going to import enriched uranium. This is an opportunity for them. If they take it, this is. And this is the best opportunity they're going to have. President Trump is a president of peace. He doesn't want a war he doesn't want conflict. None of us do. And there's a path forward here, but what cannot happen. There's a path forward is to live in a world where Iran has a nuclear weapon.

[Steve Witkoff]

The path forward has been given to them, and now it's a matter of whether or not they're going to take it. And the president was very, very, very clear he would lead the effort to stop them from ever achieving that nuclear weapon. And that would mean that statement was obvious in terms of that he would use military force to destroy those facilities. We have the capacity, obviously, to do it. But back to this question. Would we need American inspectors and American scientists to shut it down? And would that have to be part of the deal? And anywhere, any place, anytime, American inspectors, would they have to agree to that, in your mind?

[Marco Rubio]

I think you would have to allow Americans, as part of. You can send, you know, maybe there will be French inspectors, there'll be Italian inspectors, there'll be Saudis, whoever. But I think you cannot basically say, we will not allow any Americans. You also have to make sure if you really want to prevent a nuclear program and you're not building a nuclear weapon, then you should open all your facilities. You know, one of the failures of the Biden, I'm sorry, of the Obama nuclear deal with Iran is that you could not inspect military sites. Well, if you're making nuclear weapons, you would probably make them on a military site. And by the way, it's been known and discovered that in the past, Iran has had a secret nuclear program that it did not disclose to the world.

[Ben Shapiro]

Okay, so, you know, Marco Rubio, again, taking very strong position on the negotiations, but he's not the one leading the negotiations. Steve Witkoff is leading the negotiations. All these sort of mixed signals are certainly leading to, as I say, a lot of criminology. What exactly is happening inside the administration? Meanwhile, the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, put out a message on Twitter yesterday, quote, message to Iran, we see your lethal support to the Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing. You know very well what the US Military is capable of. And you were warned you will pay the consequence at the time and place of our choosing. So, again, strong messages being sent to Iran via the Secretary of Defense. But the question is, who's in President Trump's ear? What advice is President Trump taking? Who seems to have the upper hand in discussions over how harsh the United States should be these Iran negotiations? And is there really a possibility that the United States would participate in some sort of military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if they don't actually denuclearize entirely. These are all open questions, and frankly, no one knows the answers to those questions except for the President of the United States. Now, meanwhile, the President did cut a very good deal with Ukraine the other day. We talked about this on the program. It's good, okay. This deal between the United States and Ukraine, this rare earth minerals deal, which is something Ukraine should have signed onto in February, they finally came around and they did it, basically. The rare earth minerals deal inked on Wednesday, According to the New York Post, after months of negotiations, created a shared investment fund to which both nations will contribute, including through oil, gas and mineral rights licenses sold in Ukraine. The profits are going to be split 50, 50. So the United States is not taking money and just throwing it into this fund. Basically, we are going to earn credit toward our total contribution equal to the cost of military equipment, technology or training that we send across the Atlantic. So basically, the deal is that additional military aid we provide to Ukraine is going to be counted against whatever we would have had to pay into this fund. So we're trading military aid in some ways for the rare earth minerals development from Ukraine, which, again, we need rare earth minerals because we're not going to get them from China anymore. Presumably, Ukraine requires military aid in order to stand up against the Russian onslaught. It is a good thing, full stop. It is a good thing that President Trump is committing to a free and independent Ukraine. That is an important thing. So the agreement does not preclude the United States from dispatching remaining military aid approved by Congress under former President Biden. It doesn't require the US to sell any military aid to Kiev either. It's not clear how much is supposed to go into the fund, but the bottom line is that instead of this just being pure military aid, we are now getting something in return. And for the Ukrainians, the Ukrainians see this as a way of ensuring continued American support. One source familiar with Keith's strategy originally suggested that they thought that maybe they could leverage the President into a better deal for Ukraine. That did not happen. However, the representative of the Ukrainians has said that this is a good deal for both sides. The Kremlin recognizes the significance. The deal was blasted by Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, who, again, everybody in the Russian government is a cutout for Putin, praised the US Leader for making a deal with a nation that will, quote, soon disappear. Quote, Trump has finally pressured the Kiev regime to pay for USA with mineral resources. Now, the country that is about to disappear will have to use its national wealth to pay for military supplies. So again, that does not sound like a Russia that is ready to come to the table. Again though, the White House itself in its actual explanation of the minerals deal, suggested this partnership represents the United States taking an economic stake in securing a free, peaceful and sovereign future for Ukraine. This agreement will also strengthen the strategic partnership between the United States and Ukraine for long term reconstruction and modernization in response to the large scale destruction caused by Russia's full scale invasion. The language of this agreement is some of the most pro Ukrainian language that has come out under the Trump administration. That is a, that is a positive shift that is necessary if you want Russia to come to the table. The United States can't be threatening to walk away from Ukraine. According to the White House's fact sheet, quote, President Trump envisioned this partnership between the Americans and the Ukrainians to show both sides commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine. So, and by the way, no state, company or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from from the reconstruction of Ukraine, including in participation in projects supported by Fund resources. So good for Ukraine, good for the United States, good for President Trump. Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham is apparently, according to the Wall Street Journal, forging ahead on a plan to impose new sanctions on Russia and steep tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil, gas and uranium. This again is the right approach if you want Russia to come to the table. The only way they are going to do that is through more leverage. And the Trump administration is in fact responding to the reality, which is, as I've said, President Trump is a reality based president. When something goes wrong, he shifts and he moves. And so the idea that he could just pressure Ukraine to the table and Russia would magically come to the table, that didn't materialize. And so President Trump is now shifting and moving, the South Carolina Republican said in an interview. Support for his bill crossed the critical threshold of 60 co sponsors on Wednesday, meaning it has enough votes to overcome a Senate filibuster by the end of the week. According to Graham, the bill will have at least 67 co sponsors, which is enough to even override a potential presidential veto. That list of co sponsors is evenly divided across the aisle and includes the Senate Majority Leader, John Thune. It also includes members of the Senate Republican leadership team, so unclear if it makes a floor vote if President Trump were to oppose it. The White House is not commenting on it so far. But again, more leverage against Russia is the thing that is going to get them to the table. Not sort of the carrots and massages approaches that has been retailed by Steve Witkoff so far. In other good moves from the Trump administration, President Trump has now signed an executive order to terminate federal funding for NPR as well as pbs. That is a positive move. NPR is a disaster area. NPR is a leftist agit prop outlet that is paid for with American taxpayer dollars. There's no reason that NPR requires that level of support. I mean, we operate in the media space, we hear the Daily wire in the private sector. We take no government money. NPR certainly has the capacity to to do the same. President Trump wrote in the order. Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary, but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence. Trump has directed the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to end indirect funding for NPR and pbs, including by ensuring licenses and permittees of public radio and TV stations, as well as any other recipients of CBB funds, do not use federal funds for NPR and pbs. This is a great move by President Trump. It is something that is long overdue. NPR has been again a left wing Democratic agrop outlet for as long as I have been alive. So that is a very positive move by President Trump. So again, a lot of good things happened yesterday, ranging from that Ukraine rare earth minerals deal to the Trump eo. And we'll still have to see the fallout inside the national security establishment because, you know, things remain up in the air. We'll get to more on this in a moment. First, let's talk about that car that you own but you don't use. You know the one in your front yard, the one that, that is you're paying to keep it registered, insured. It just takes up space. It's rusting, not doing anybody any good. Well, let me tell you what you should do about that. You should give cars for kids a call, have them take care of it for you. That's right. Just give them the info. They will come to you as soon as the next day. Take that car off your hands at no cost to you. Even better, they'll turn that car into funds to help kids. They take care of all the paperwork and logistics and you walk away with a tax deductible receipt for the sale price of the car, a vacation voucher and space in your driveway for your new car. Don't wait. Call 1-877-cars4kids or go to carsforkids.org Ben that's cars with a K the number four. To donate now it takes just two minutes. Give them your information. They take over from there. They've done this over a million times. Let them help you as well. Carsforkids.org Ben Remember, that's cars with a K. Carsforkids.org Ben carsforkids.org Ben They've been doing this for years and why not turn a liability into an asset for somebody else and a tax write off? Carsforkids.org sl Ben Also, with Mother's Day just around the corner, I want to share an amazing organization making a real difference for moms in need Preborn. Their network of clinics provides love, support and hope to pregnant women who are feeling scared, alone, pressured about their pregnancy decisions. These choices can affect not just their baby's life, but their own emotional well being as well. When a woman walks into a preborn clinic, she's welcomed with compassion, offered a free ultrasound so she can see and hear the little life growing inside her. And you know what? Most of the time, this powerful moment helps mom choose life. This Mother's Day, you can help both a mom in crisis and her baby. Just $28 provides one ultrasound. $140 covers five. Every dollar goes directly to supporting moms and babies. Plus monthly sponsors receive photos and stories of the lives they've helped to save. Want to get involved? It's easy. Just dial pound250, say baby or visit preborn.comBen Make a Difference this Mother's Day by supporting both moms and their babies. Again, that's preborn.com Ben get involved today if impact generations to come. And meanwhile, with regard to illegal immigration, every day that goes by, the Chris Van Holland senator from Maryland decision to go down to El Salvador and hang out with a suspected MS.13 member looks worse and worse. The newest breaking news on that front is that the wife of this particular illegal immigrant, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, his wife, a woman named Jennifer Vasquez Sura, it turns out that she actually called the cops back in 2020. And there's audio of her doing so. Pleading with a judge for protection from her husband in 2020. Seems like a delightful person to have in the country. Here's the tape.

[Jennifer Vasquez Sura]

I have a lot of police reports and I kept trying to get to the door basement to try to open the door and then like he pushed me. So then when I was able to go outside to get a phone, I call 911 from a disconnected phone. Now they took a long time to get to the house. It was probably like 20, 30 minutes. So I saw a neighbor walking his dog and I opened the door. And I was like, help. And then when he heard me, like, he grabbed me from my hair and then he slapped me. And then the neighbor, like, he didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to react. I have pictures of the evidence, like all the bruises, because is even on Wednesday he hit me like around like three in the morning, he would just wake up and like, hit me. And then last Saturday, for my daughter's birthday party, party, before I went to my daughter's birthday party, he slapped me three times. And then last week, I did call the police. My sister called the police because he hit me in front of my sister.

[Ben Shapiro]

Okay, so he sounds like a delightful person. So I'm glad the Democrats have decided to resonate to him. That apparently includes Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin, who is one of the impeachment leaders, you will recall, who says that actually Joe Biden was great at removing people who shouldn't be here, which is weird because this guy was still here. But in any case, he also adds that Abrego Garcia's knuckles did not show that he was trend Aragua, that he was Ms. 13, I don't understand the necessity for this from Democrats. If you want this guy, this, this person who seems really like a terrible person to have due process, that is an argument that I think people across the aisle should agree with. Due process is in fact, a necessary prerequisite of our functioning of law. If you want to make the case that he's actually like a decent fellow and that everybody's misinterpreting it, this is where Democrats can't help themselves. Why do you always have to say the stupidest version of the argument? Why, here's Jamie Raskin.

[Jamie Raskin]

We know how to remove people from the country who should not be here. President Biden's administration did that. We know how to do it legally. Consistent with the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, he was sent to the dictator of El Salvador because he has a tattoo on his right arm which was mistakenly associated with, with Trent Aragua. In fact, the tattoo is of a soccer ball topped with a crown which signifies his favorite soccer club, Real Madrid. Had there been any kind of due process fair hearing, he would have been able quickly to explain the government's error. And there being no other evidence against him, he would have been released.

[Ben Shapiro]

So I'm just, I'm confused. Why do you always have to defend the bad guys? Yeah, you don't have to do that. Just say that you want due process. Meanwhile, a another federal judge is, is like individual Federal judges across the country signing into chat. Another federal judge, a U.S. district judge named Fernando Rodriguez Jr. In the Southern District of Texas, is ruling against President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies act to detain and support alleged members of a foreign gang. He says, quote, the historical record renders clear that the president's invocation of the AEA through the proclamation exceeds the scope of the statute and is contrary to the plain, ordinary meaning of the statute's terms. This judge, by the way, was in fact, nominated by President Trump during his first term. So the question here as to whether the Alien Enemies act could in fact be invoked in order to deport Venezuelan illegal immigrants because the act gives the President broad powers or citizens of an enemy nation that the United States has declared war against. The question is whether this is a, quote, unquote, invasion in a real legal sense, whether Venezuela is an enemy country that is actively facilitating the entry of these people into the United States. The judge says, that's really not fact in evidence, and so you can't use that authority. Now, is there other authority for deporting illegal immigrants? Sure. I mean, it's just called federal law. But this gives him more plenary power to sort of do so with presumably fewer layers required in order for a deportation to happen. So, you know, we'll have to see how that plays out at the Supreme Court level. Again, you can hold all of these thoughts in your head at the same time that due process according to legal standards ought to be applied and also that the people that Trump is trying to deport are pretty much all people who should not be in the United States. And meanwhile, the President of the United States continues to push back against the DEI regime put in place by Joe Biden and Team Caroline Levitt at the White House yesterday attacked a DEI full scale. It was great. Here she was.

[Caroline Levitt]

President Trump stood up for the Constitution's promise of colorblind equality before the law. So he terminated radical DEI preferencing and federal contracting and directed federal agencies to relentlessly combat private sector discrimination. DEI seeks to divide and pit Americans against each other based on immutable characteristics. President Trump put an end to it. In President Trump's America, individual dignity, hard work, and excellence are the only things that will determine if you get ahead.

[Ben Shapiro]

And that obviously should be the standard. Stephen Miller also stopped by the White House press room in order to explain the destruction of the DEI policies that were being pushed by the Biden administration. One of the most significant crises that President Trump inherited upon taking office was the wave of racial discrimination so called diversity, equity and inclusion policies that have taken over both public sector and private sector entities all across the United States of America. Well, again, he is right about that as well. Now with all this important work happening, the biggest thing, I keep saying it over and over, the biggest thing is that if you want President Trump to continue to unleash successes, you need Republicans not to make stupid mistakes. We'll get to the trade war in a moment. And what the latest is there, but the latest stupid mistake that is possibly on the table here is the possibility of Marjorie Taylor Greene running for Georgia Senate. Let us be clear. If she wins the primary, she will lose the general to Jon Ossoff. That is a deeply winnable seat in Georgia. The polls right now show that if Ossof were to run against Marjorie Taylor Greene, he would win outright a sheer majority of the vote. He would beat her by 15 points, 54 to 39. There is no reason for that whatsoever. 0. Marjorie Taylor Greene is fine where she is. She's going to be in her district. She's popular in district. That's fine. The idea she's going to win a state riot statewide race in Georgia over John Ossoff and that Republicans are going to blow another winnable Senate because they've decided just to nominate a sort of passionate defender, the most passionate defender of Trump. How about this? How about we get a Georgia senator who is in line with President Trump's agenda and actually can sit in the Senate? So right now there's been a lot of talk about the possibility of Brian Kemp running for Senate in Georgia. If he were to run for Senate, he would defeat John Ossoff according to that very same poll. It turns out the candidate quality makes an awfully big difference. And cutting off your nose despite your face for Republican primary voters is a terrible strategy. There's a reason why Georgia, which went for President Trump pretty easily in the last election cycle, has two Democratic senators. And the reason is, number one, because President Trump decided back in 2021 that he was going to intervene in the senatorial election for no apparent reason. And then number two, Republicans nominated some pretty bad candidates in places like Arizona and in Georgia. Have a nominate better candidates and take the Senate seats. That seems to be a much more necessary precondition to the success of President Trump.

[Matt Walsh]

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[Ben Shapiro]

Meanwhile, in other news that's sort of fascinating. Apparently Alberta, which the province of Canada, is now deciding whether or not they want to remain part of Canada. So how exactly does the process work in Canada? I asked our friends and sponsors over at Perplexity what exactly happens under the Canadian Constitution? According to Perplexity, the Canadian Constitution does not grant provinces a unilateral right to secede. The Supreme Court of Canada, In a landmark 1998 Quebec secession reference, clarified secession would require a constitutional amendment, which in turn necessitates negotiations involving the federal government and all the provinces. So basically, you have to have a referendum on whether a province wishes to secede with a clear majority, not clear exactly how much a clear majority is. Then there are constitutional negotiations between the federal government and the provinces. And Alberta has been considering all of this. Apparently, Premier Danielle Smith is introducing legislation to make it easier to initiate a referendum on separation. Again, this is a piece of leverage to be used by Alberta in negotiations with the federal government of Canada. So Danielle Smith is a very conservative leader. She's the premier of Alberta. I've met Premier Smith, very conservative, along wide variety of lines, obviously very pro Canada, very opposed to the tariff regime that President Trump is hitting Canada with, but very, very opposed to the left wing policy promoted by the Liberal Party of Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney. She says, as premier, I will not permit the status quo to continue. Albertans are proud Canadians that want this nation to be strong, prosperous and united. But we will no longer tolerate having our industries threatened and our resources landlocked by Ottawa. So she is pushing for concessions from the national government. Mark Carney is promising some changes. There is the possibility of what is called Wexit. So that was something that was pushed back in 2019, where there was a serious move to take Alberta completely out of Canada. So it'll be fascinating to see how that plays out for Mark Carney. Again, the fact that he won the election is a referendum, I think, on the fact that Canadians hated Justin Trudeau, but also a backlash to President Trump and his trade war and comments about Canada. It didn't solve all of Mark Carney's problems by any stretch of the imagination. Speaking of which, when it comes to the tariffs, again, these Statistics from a couple of days ago show that the GDP actually shrank, and that is almost entirely due to to the tariff war. According to the Wall Street Journal, gross domestic product shrank 0.3% in the first estimate by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Most of the damage came from soaring imports. Imported goods and services rose 41.3% in the quarter. Goods alone by almost 51%. Imports subtracted a startling 5.03% from GDP. A tax increase in production shock as large as Mr. Trump's tariff were bound to do economic harm, according to the Wall Street Journal editorial board. So J.D. vance, vice president, was confronted by Brett Baer on Fox News about the shrinking economic numbers. Here's what he had to say.

[Marco Rubio]

The economy shrank, first time in three years. People are pointing to the tariff policy. There are people looking at their four 1Ks that are worried.

[Ben Shapiro]

What do you tell them?

[Marco Rubio]

Is this going to work?

[J.D. Vance]

So the first thing is when you talk about the economy, this is Joe Biden's economy. And we inherited $2 trillion of debt, the highest peacetime deficits in American history, a $1.2 trillion trade deficit, which fundamentally means we're not making enough of our own stuff. And the President came in and he said, this is not always going to be easy. It would have been very easy for Donald Trump to do what administration's past had done, which is borrow a lot of money and continue fueling the national debt. He said, no, we need a reset. We need American workers to have better jobs, we need to protect the jobs that they have right now, and we need to be more self reliant as an economy, which by the way, will drive down those skyrocketing levels of debt that we've seen. That is what he promised he was going to do. And he came in and we started that process.

[Ben Shapiro]

Okay, so again, the idea here that he inherited Joe Biden's terrible economy and then he had to fix it, and what we're seeing right now as a result of that, once you own the economy, you own the economy. Once you take the signal step of declaring a trade war on the rest of earth, you do in fact own that. That's the reality now. Maybe everything plays out according to script. Maybe it all ends up being fine. Maybe America has a more durable manufacturing industry, the economy recovers and all the rest maybe, okay, right now, the weekly jobless claims have surged to 241,000. That is an increase of about 18,000 from the prior period, higher than the Dow Jones estimate for 225,000 according to the Labor Department, GM, as we've mentioned, faces up to a $5 billion tariff bill in 2025. They've now slashed their outlook. So they had a profit margin that they were projecting that was going to be between 11 billion and 12.5 billion. They've now moved that down to about $8 billion. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out. McDonald's is starting to see a decline in spending, which is pretty fascinating because, again, that's kind of cheap staple food. I mean, unfortunately, but it is for a lot of people. The burger giant posted a 3% drop in revenue in the first quarter. Same store sales in the US dropped 3.6% from the prior year, the steepest decline since 2020. So some of that is, you know, maybe people becoming a little more health conscious, but a lot of that is just a decline in spending generally. The oil industry is taking a beating right now. The reason the oil industry is taking a beating is because of the trade war. There's less demand for American oil. Less demand means the price goes down. Prices going down means that there is less development of oil and natural gas, which runs directly up against some of the stuff that Secretary Doug Burgum is trying to do over Department of the Interior. He's been trying to unleash U.S. energy dominance through deregulation. But if the price of oil drops too low, there's no real reason for people to drill more. There's no real reason for people to develop new energy if there appears to be a glut of supply. Doug Burgum. We actually had reporters who went with Secretary Burgum out into the field over on Morning Wire, which, by the way, you guys should go check that out. It's a great show, Morning Wire, and is now available on video. Totally worth the watch over at Daily Wire. Go check it out right now. But Secretary Burgum has been trying to drive up energy production. Hard to do that when the prices are dropping tremendously. So you know, what exactly is going to be the next step here? Well, China may be starting to waver a little bit. According to the Wall Street Journal, China said it was weighing starting talks with the United States, but only if Washington shows sincerity through concrete measures, such as by canceling the tariffs against Beijing. The ministry spokesperson said China's position is consistent. If you want to fight, we'll fight. If you want to talk, our door is wide open. If the US Wants to talk, it should show sincerity and be prepared to act in correcting its erroneous actions. And canceling unilateral tariffs. So China wants some signal from Trump that he's backing down. President Trump obviously doesn't want to give that signal, so. So it may be that this tariff war lasts a little longer than people are currently expecting, including the markets. Axio says that China is not backing down. In the game of chicken with President Trump, China says it sent around 15% of its exports, worth $525 billion to the US last year, about three times what flowed in the opposite direction. New export orders are already falling sharply, pretending empty shelves and price hikes in the United States. China, of course, does have the unique ability to simply cram it down on its own constituents. I mean, the people who live in China. I mean, it's an unfortunate reality, but it turns out that China is a pretty terrible place and they don't care very much about their citizens. So China's being hurt by the trade war, but can they take more pain than the us? I mean, typically speaking, yes, because tyrannies can take more pain, at least on a policy level, than democracies can. Alrighty folks, it's a Friday and that means it's time to do a little bit of nonsense with regard to the culture. So my friend Matt Walsh, he he did a review apparently of Revenge of the Sith. I know it's a little weird because Revenge of the Sith originally came out in 2005, but the 20th anniversary means that it was re released in theaters recently and and Matt was very upset. He took his kids to see it and he did not like the movie. Now my own opinion on Revenge of the Sith is that the first half has some flaws and the second half of Revenge of the Sith is actually quite great. There's some rough dialogue for sure, but basically everything from the execution of Order 66 on in revenge of the Sith is really good canon. Like it's good Star wars canon. Now Matt didn't like it very much at all. Here's some what he had to say.

[Matt Walsh]

Whether through some sort of genetic anomaly or more likely through pro Star wars brainwashing from their mother who my kids are now Star wars fans and they really wanted to see the third film in the prequel series in theaters which has just been re released and and so I agreed. And after suffering again through the entire nine hour runtime or what felt like it, I can confidently say that Revenge of the Sith is even worse than I remember. Like a lot worse. I remember it as a boring, miserable film, but I guess I had blocked out many of the details, subconsciously attempting to save myself from reliving the trauma. This movie is outrageously, offensively bad. You could. And I'm not. I don't just. I'm not saying this for effect. You could make a case that it's like the worst film ever made. And sad to say, it's competing with more than one other Star wars title for the top of that list.

[Ben Shapiro]

I mean, no, I'm sorry, Matt. First of all, they're way worse Star wars films, namely the entire last trilogy that they did, the entire Rise of Skywalker trilogy. Not good at all. Like, serious problems. We reviewed all of them. The first two movies in the prequels, way worse than Revenge of the Sith. Now, again, I. I think that some of Matt's criticisms here I'm going to agree with, at the same time, the sort of overall idea, this is the worst movie ever made or one of the worst movies ever made. He needs to see more movies. I've seen a lot of truly awful films. Truly, truly awful films. I mean, has he ever seen the Shape of Water? Complete stinker. Anyway, here is Matt going off on the dialogue. And again, I'm gonna agree with some of these critiques. I will admit, first of all, as.

[Matt Walsh]

Many people have pointed out over the years, but I must reiterate, the dialogue is atrocious. George Lucas, it would seem, has never heard humans speak. He writes dialogue like I imagine an alien would write dialogue if the only thing he knew about the human race he learned by watching daytime soap operas. There is not one moment where the script reaches even like a C grade. It is the worst dialogue I've ever heard in a mainstream Hollywood film. It is shockingly bad. Last summer, my kids used one of our phones to make a. A movie, as they called it, where they pretended to be pirates or something. And the dialogue, the dialogue in their three minute pirate movie was better than anything George Lucas came up with. So just to give one infamous example, in a scene early in the film, Anakin, played with the charisma of a metal folding chair by Hayden Christensen, goes up to Padme, played by Natalie Portman, and says, you're so beautiful. And then Padme responds, that's because I'm so in love. To which Anakin says, no, it's because I'm so in love with you. That is actual dialogue in this movie. It commits every sin of bad script writing. It is clunky, it's on the nose. It doesn't sound natural at all. Humans do not speak this way. Even humans in galaxies Far, far away. Unless they're living on planet Cheeseball in the lame dork galaxy, this is not how humans or any other species of sentient life forms speak. Or would speak.

[Ben Shapiro]

Okay, I can't disagree with that part. That part I agree with Matt. I'm sorry. And actually, that's not even the worst dialogue in the film. The single worst piece of dialogue in the film. There are multiple nominees there. There's the part where. Where Anakin and Obi Wan are arguing, and he said. And he's talking about how only a Sith deals in absolutes, which is, in fact, an absolute. So, I mean, there's all sorts of problems. I think my favorite bad line is when Yoda, who obviously has some sort of syntax problem because he's constantly putting his verbs where they should not be. There's one point where Yoda is trying to convince Obi Wan not to look at the security tapes of. Of Anakin murdering a bunch of children. And he says, if into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find. It's like, oh, no, that is not good. So, again, I'm not going to disagree with every aspect of Matt's review here. He also ripped into the acting.

[Matt Walsh]

And to make matters worse, the acting is uniformly bad. In some cases grotesquely bad. Now, granted, the actors were given the impossible task of delivering George Lucas dialogue, which is the modern film industry equivalent of like pulling the sword from the stone. There may be some actor out there in the world who can make this crap sound good, but he's never stepped forward. His existence is only a legend. Maybe Daniel Day Lewis could do it. I'm not sure. But I do know that Hayden Christensen can't. Neither can Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson, who are all terrible in this film. Even R2D2's performance fell flat and uninspired. Reportedly, I read this that George Lucas wanted to cast Tupac in the role that ultimately went to Samuel L. Jackson, which makes Tupac's death perhaps a blessing in disguise. At least he was saved from the embarrassment of being in this movie.

[Ben Shapiro]

Okay, so the acting is not uniformly bad. Natalie Portman is quite terrible in the whole series, and Hayden Christensen, who actually turns out to be a pretty good actor in some other stuff. Like if you ever watch Hayden Christensen in the movie called Shattered Glass, he's actually pretty great. There's no question that George Lucas has some problems with actors. He doesn't get the greatest performance, but. But the general plot line of what leads to the takeover of the galaxy by the Empire is definitely. It's interesting. Now. He rips on the choreography of. Of some of the fight scenes in here. He's. I'm. I'm sorry. Like, no, he's just wrong on this.

[Matt Walsh]

This movie doesn't have good action scenes. The action scenes are long and busy and lots of things happen in them, but they. They are not good. I mean, the fight choreography is. Is terrible. It's clumsy and nonsensical and uninspired. Many of the Jedis who are supposed to be like intergalactic ninjas, like the Karate Kids of the cosmos or whatever, have shockingly bad reflexes. I mean, re. Revenge of the Sith features some of the. Some of the. The slowest fight scenes I've ever seen. There's a scene where Emperor Ovaltine or whatever his name is, is who. Who I guess is not an emperor yet in this, but he.

[Ben Shapiro]

He.

[Matt Walsh]

He fights off a group of Jedis who came to apprehend him. And the actor who played Ovaltine was in his mid-60s and. And he moves like it. And yet, despite swinging the lightsaber with all the speed and vigor of a retiree playing softball, he still easily dispatches, like, multiple Jedi warriors who are supposed to be, you know, the. The greatest warriors in the universe. And in it, just with a. With a casual, you know, flick of the lightsaber, they're dead. That's it. And the fight scenes are also funny because they use stunt doubles or CGI to have the Jedis do flips and random, like, midair360 corkscrews like Simone Biles for no obvious strategic reason. But for the rest of the time, they have the actual actors, I guess, doing the moves. So we're treated to the spectacle of fighters who can jump and flip like Olympic. Olympic gymnasts, but when they're not jumping, they move like these clumsy old dudes.

[Ben Shapiro]

Oh, come on. I mean, seriously, come on. Like that. Like, that's not. There's never been stunt doubles ever in the history of movies. Matt, really, like, the last fight scene between Obi Wan and Anakin is a good fight scene. Some of the stuff involving Count Dooku is. Is pretty good. And this is not the movie that has the worst fight scenes. And by the way, the movie that actually has maybe the best Star wars duel is the original Phantom Menace. The original Phantom Menace. It turns out that the.

[Matt Walsh]

What?

[Ben Shapiro]

The Darth Maul is actually the best of the various fighters. Okay, finally we have Matt on the storyline here. Again, he's not totally off base here, guys, but it's the entire gestalt of the movie. Am I saying Revenge of the Sith is, like, the best movie? I'm not saying it's the best movie ever made. But this. I could do what Matt is doing with virtually any movie. Not virtual. With many movies that are considered classics, you could definitely rip them apart along many of the same lines. Here. Here is Matt.

[Matt Walsh]

Could we possibly say that although the acting is bad, the dialogue's bad, the action's bad, at least the story was good? Well, no, we can't, because unfortunately, this ship hit multiple massive narrative icebergs. So that by the end of the thing. The end of the end, the thing was so riddled with holes that it could just barely stay afloat. So let me give you just two examples, both from the end of the movie in the climactic battle sequence between Anakin and Obi Wan Kenobi, which takes place on a lava planet. For some reason, I don't. I don't remember why they went to a lava planet. Maybe there was a good reason. Okay, why would anyone go to a lava planet? If there are thousands of planets and you can go to any of them faster than the speed of light, why would you ever choose the lava planet for any activity? What possible activity could. Why would you ever go to it? Why would anything ever happen on. Is it because Anakin was evil? So when you turn evil, you suddenly develop an affinity for lava? You know? Yeah, that's. That is it. That's. That's. George Lucas is writing for you. Well, he's evil, so he must like lava. Anyway, so they were on the lava planet fighting, and they were leaping from one piece of floating debris to the next. Because that's how it works, right? Never mind the fact that if you jumped onto a piece of metal that was floating in lava, you would quickly burn to death. But that's not the point. The point is that this scene ends with Obi Wan Kenobi jumping off of one of the lava rocks and onto a gently sloping hill. And he turns back to Anakin, who's still floating on the lava, and says, it's over. I have the higher ground. The fact that Obi Wan Kenobi is slightly elevated over Anakin is supposed to somehow mean that he automatically wins the fight. Except that Anakin just five seconds earlier had leapt, like, 30ft in the air with effortless ease. So even if the higher ground is decisive, he could easily just jump higher than Obi Wan Kenobi was standing.

[Ben Shapiro]

Mm. Mm. I mean, that last point about the high ground is true. As far as why they're on Mustafar, the answer is the separatist leaders were in Mustafar and they were in this crappy planet as a hiding place. That's the actual reason why they end up on Mustafar. And also, yeah, because Anakin turns evil and Lava's cool. I mean, is it okay just for Lava to be cool? Can that be okay once in a while? And Matt is so cynical about things that he turns me into the optimist. Pretty impressive stuff. Alrighty, guys. Coming up, Ilhan Omar has a bit of a tete. A tete with a reporter. Remember, in order to watch, you have to be a member. If you're not a member, become a member. Use code Shapiro at checkout for two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us.