Ep. 2236 - Democrats DEFEND Illegal Immigrant Child Labor On Pot Farm?!

Summary

The Ben Shapiro Show: Democrats DEFEND Illegal Immigrant Child Labor On Pot Farm?! (Ep. 2236)
Release Date: July 11, 2025
Host: Ben Shapiro | Publisher: The Daily Wire

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Introduction

In Episode 2236 of The Ben Shapiro Show, Ben Shapiro tackles a contentious issue surrounding a recent ICE raid on a Southern California pot farm accused of employing illegal immigrant children. Shapiro critically examines the Democratic Party’s stance on such matters, highlighting what he perceives as performative outrage from the left. The episode also delves into the dynamics of the New York mayoral race and critiques the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) handling of radical elements within the party.

ICE Raid on Southern California Pot Farm

Shapiro opens the discussion by detailing a significant ICE operation targeting a large cannabis farm in Camarillo, California. According to DHS spokeswoman Trisha McLaughlin, federal agents executed criminal search warrants, resulting in the arrest of multiple individuals, including 10 juveniles, eight of whom were unaccompanied and in the country illegally (02:30).

Ben Shapiro [04:00]: "Rodney Scott, the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said on social media 10 juveniles, eight of them unaccompanied, were found at one of the facilities raided on Thursday."

Shapiro underscores the severity of the raid, emphasizing that illegal underage labor in the cannabis industry is a clear violation of both federal and state laws. He criticizes the media’s portrayal of the event, arguing that it downplays the illegality and moral reprehensibility of using child labor in drug production.

Media Representation and Public Reaction

The host scrutinizes the media's narrative, suggesting that outlets like the New York Times have misrepresented the nature of the raid by focusing on protesters rather than the criminal activities being thwarted. Shapiro presents footage showing ICE agents employing tear gas and crowd control munitions to disperse demonstrators attempting to obstruct the operation.

Trisha McLaughlin [04:35]: "This is happening at Wood and Laguna. And you now see the military vehicles advancing despite those protesters trying to make a stance and trying to stop the military vehicle from continuing on."

Shapiro ridicules the protesters’ actions, highlighting instances such as a woman with a Mexican flag attempting to poke at ICE vehicle tires. He further intensifies his critique by referencing an incident where a protester allegedly fired a gun at federal agents (05:34).

Ben Shapiro [05:56]: "You are no longer a protester, you are now an attempted murderer."

Performative Outrage and Political Implications

Shapiro argues that the left engages in performative outrage instead of addressing legitimate concerns. He cites California Governor Gavin Newsom’s tweet about children running from tear gas during the raid as an example of this behavior.

Ben Shapiro [06:30]: "With that sort of performative outrage, that dude might win half a primary in the presidential race for the Democratic nomination in 28."

He questions the presence of children at such raids, implying that parents should face severe consequences for involving minors in illegal activities. Shapiro contends that the media and Democratic leaders like Newsom are exaggerating the impact of ICE operations to fuel anti-immigrant sentiments.

New York Mayoral Race and Zoran Mamdani

Transitioning to the New York mayoral race, Shapiro focuses on Zoran Mamdani, labeling him as a "socialist jihad-friendly candidate". He criticizes Mamdani’s rhetoric, which Shapiro associates with extremist and violent ideologies.

Ben Shapiro [26:39]: "How much are you willing to do it... it's all jihad, it's all ibadah, and so the conversation of doxing... it's the left has been incentivizing jihadi violence for quite a long time."

Shapiro warns that Mamdani’s ascendancy threatens the Democratic Party by shifting it towards radicalism, potentially endangering its mainstream appeal. He discusses polling data showing Mamdani leading with 35% support, yet acknowledges possible voter consolidation around other candidates like Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams.

Ben Shapiro [34:39]: "As far as Curtis, Curtis should look for a position within the administration of somebody else."

Democratic National Committee’s Big Tent Strategy

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to critiquing the DNC’s big tent approach, which Shapiro argues allows extremist elements to dominate the party’s agenda. He references Ken Martin, the DNC Chair, and his defense of Mamdani’s position, accusing the DNC of compromising its core values to include controversial figures.

Ken Martin [31:10]: "We win by bringing people into that coalition."

Shapiro contends that the DNC’s strategy dilutes its effectiveness by embracing a wide array of ideologies, including those he deems harmful, thereby undermining the party’s integrity and public image.

Republican Party’s Internal Challenges

Shapiro shifts focus to the Republican Party, highlighting struggles with candidate selection and internal dissent. He discusses the tumultuous Texas Senate race, particularly the candidacy of Ken Paxton, who faces corruption allegations and personal scandals, including his wife’s recent divorce filing citing adultery.

Ben Shapiro [36:00]: "Ken Paxton is significantly less likely to win a general election than John Cornyn is in the state of Texas."

He laments the Republican Party’s pattern of nominating flawed candidates, which has led to the loss of several Senate seats in traditionally Republican-leaning states like Georgia and Arizona.

Interview with Joe Piper

In a later segment, Shapiro interviews Joe Piper, the subject of the upcoming Daily Wire documentary Journey to the UFC. Piper shares his inspiring journey from an abusive home and homelessness to achieving a successful career in the UFC.

Joe Piper [54:08]: "I think the testimony as to how big MMA is getting is simply because you are as hard as you work... you can always turn your life around."

Shapiro commends Piper’s story as a testament to meritocracy and personal resilience, contrasting it with what he views as the left’s narrative of victimhood.

Closing Remarks and Future Topics

As the episode concludes, Shapiro touches on various other topics, including EPA policies under Lee Zeldin and ongoing UFC’s role in American culture. He reiterates his promotion of the Journey to the UFC documentary, emphasizing its release date and relevance.

Ben Shapiro [60:15]: "You’re not going to want to miss it."

Key Takeaways

• ICE Raid Critique: Shapiro condemns the use of illegal immigrant child labor in the cannabis industry and criticizes media and Democratic responses as mere performative outrage.

• Media and Narrative Control: He argues that the media misrepresents ICE operations, obscuring the criminal aspects to garner sympathy for protesters.

• Democratic Radicalism: The rise of Zoran Mamdani is portrayed as a shift towards extremist positions within the Democratic Party, threatening its mainstream viability.

• Republican Struggles: Internal issues within the Republican Party, particularly candidate selection, are highlighted as reasons for recent electoral setbacks.

• Meritocracy vs. Victimhood: Through his interview with Joe Piper, Shapiro juxtaposes the values of hard work and personal achievement against what he perceives as a culture of victimhood promoted by the left.

Notable Quotes

• Ben Shapiro [05:56]: "You are no longer a protester, you are now an attempted murderer."

• Ken Martin [31:10]: "We win by bringing people into that coalition."

• Joe Piper [54:08]: "You can always turn your life around."

• Ben Shapiro [34:39]: "As far as Curtis, Curtis should look for a position within the administration of somebody else."

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Note: This summary focuses solely on the content-heavy segments of the podcast, omitting advertisements, intros, outros, and non-substantive sections to provide a clear and comprehensive overview of the episode’s key discussions and insights.

Transcript

[Ben Shapiro]

Welcome to Ben After Dark, the show where I say all the things I probably shouldn't, welcome celebrity guests to play games and answer weird questions sent to us by weird people. I hate hot chicken. It's sarcasm. It's chaos. Not that big of a deal. It's the only show where I can destroy something, not because it's wrong, but just because it mildly annoys me. It's everything I've always wanted. The show airs on Friday night, 7:30pm Eastern. I know, not exactly late night, unless you're Joe Biden, in which case it's three hours past mandatory pudding. Only on Dailywire. Plus only for members. Ben After Dark. Alrighty, folks, as you can see, I am back in my studio. Shout out to the subscribers who are wondering where the heck I was. Plus, just word of warning, tomorrow my Superman review will be out. I did go and watch that last night. Tons happening in the news. We'll get to an insane resistance to the immigration raid in California on a pot farm that was using illegal immigrant underage labor. And somehow the left has decided that the Trump administration is wrong. We're bringing the latest from the New York Zoran Mamdani race. But first, it has been a massive week at the Daily Wire. On Monday, we added Isabel Brown to our roster. And today we've got something special. We're debuting the first look at a new Daily Wire plus documentary, Journey to the ufc. The true story of Joe Piper, who went from an abusive home and living on the streets to breaking bones, breaking odds and earning a UFC contract the hard way. It premieres July 25th at Daily Wire Plus. A little bit later on in the show, the man himself, Joe Piper will join me on the show. So stick around. Here's the trailer. I don't care what you did in.

[Joe Piper]

Your career the last five years.

[Ben Shapiro]

What are you gonna do tonight? Be fired up to fight? Try to finish the fight. If you want to get into the.

[Joe Piper]

UFC and this is where you want.

[Ben Shapiro]

To be, be Joe Pifer. Piper left home at 16. He spent the next few years homeless, bouncing around the pain that I know that kid went through and overcame. If you want to beat him, you gotta kill him.

[Joe Piper]

The second you lose, everybody forgets you. I wasn't ready to be forgotten.

[Ben Shapiro]

You guys are really going to love this documentary. It's because of you we can keep bringing you this kind of awesome stuff. Become a member today. Get stuff like this, the Ben Shapiro show and more. Completely ad free. Join [e-mail] Also, my brand new book, lines and scavengers is now available for pre [e-mail] it's a rallying cry against lies poisoning our culture. Trust me, the scavengers, there are many of them, will not like it. Again, pre order lions and Scavengers. My first book is in, I think five years [e-mail]. well, we've reached the point now where the entire leftist program is performative outrage. It's performative outrage all the way, even at things that actually they should not only not be outraged by, they should actually be on the side of. So, as today's example, I give you this raid by ICE at a large pot farm in Southern California. So, according to the New York Times, federal agents raided a large cannabis farm in Southern California on Thursday, clashing with protesters and arresting multiple people. Okay, so that sounds like these are just normal people. Yeah, sure, they're illegal immigrants, but they're picking the pot that America needs. First of all, let's point out, they're not raiding a tomato farm. It's a pot farm. A pot actually is quite a damaging product on the American market. And if you don't believe me, visit la, visit Denver, visit any major American city where cannabis has become recreationally heavy. Footage taken by local news media from helicopters showed the agents firing tear gas and crowd control munitions during the operation. And Camarillo, California, the agents were executing criminal search warrants, According to Trisha McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. So what exactly were they doing there? Well, Rodney Scott, the Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said on social media 10 juveniles, eight of them unaccompanied, were found at one of the facilities raided on Thursday. All of them were in the country illegally. So this would have been illegal underage labor. This was a pot farm using illegal underage labor. It's hard to think of a place where is more deserving actually of a federal law enforcement raid than a pot farm that is engaging in illegal underage labor. I mean, seriously, like, like pick a place of work in America that deserves a raid more than that one. Not a granary, not a. Not a normal vegetable farm, but we are talking about a cannabis farm that produces what is still a federally illegal drug and does so with illegal treatment, child labor. And the left was protesting. The left freaked out. So protesters showed up because they heard that ICE was showing up. And basically this is the way that things now work. If ICE shows up at a place, the protesters get together and decide that they're going to then obstruct ICE from doing its job. So here is some of the video of some of these pathetic folks trying to obstruct an ICE vehicle.

[Trisha McLaughlin]

This is happening at Wood and Laguna. And you now see the military vehicles advancing despite those protesters trying to make a stance and trying to stop the military vehicle from continuing on. And there's cameras rolling, cell phone cameras rolling. And this group of people are really trying to get this military vehicle to stop. And they.

[Ben Shapiro]

I like the large pink haired lady who keeps trying to poke the wheels with the Mexican flag. Good luck with that. That's a Humvee. You're not exactly holding an IED over there. She's literally taking a flag pole with a Mexican flag on it and trying to poke at the tires fee in the attempt to stop ice. So great job there. But it wasn't just idiots who showed up with Mexican flags trying to poke at the tires of ICE vehicles. It was also at least one person who showed up with a gun and then actually fired at an ICE agent is what it appears to be in this particular video. Here is, here's the person spotlit here.

[Trisha McLaughlin]

Take a look at this video right here. It appears a protester fired some kind of gun at federal agents. This happened this afternoon. It was a really chaotic scene at the time. A lot of smoke was being launched at the protesters. And again, it appears a protester fired back with that weapon. It looks like he fired at least a couple of times. We have not heard about any agents being hurt.

[Ben Shapiro]

Okay, so you are no longer a protester, you are now an attempted murderer. If you fire a gun at a federal agent and treating this as though this is sort of normie protest, of course, is untrue. Well, the, the video that was then put out and went viral on social media was not the video of the so called protesters shooting a gun or the idiots who are attempting to stop an ICE vehicle using flag poles. It was children protesters running from tear gas. Because it turns out that ICE fired some tear gas in order to disperse the crowd so they could get the job done of, you know, raiding the pot farm using the illegal immigrant child labor. Here, here's what it looked like. There's a woman with kids running away. Do not panic. Do not run. So you can see, you can see the, the tear gas and, and people kind of walking away. Half of them are wearing sandals. These are not people who are all getting arrested or being brutalized or something. You know, when they, when they say children are running away, number one, they should point out that some of the children who are running away were presumably Brought there as protesters because if they were there as child labor, the parents should be in jail. It's a violation of both federal and state law to use your small children as child labor at a cannabis farm, we should point out. But this caused Gavin Newsom. Again, we're talking about performative politics. This caused Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, who desperately wants to run for president of the United States, to tweet out, quote, kids running from tear gas, crying on the phone because their mother was just taken from the field. Trump calls me new scum, but he's the real scum. Wow. Wow. With that sort of performative outrage, that dude might win half a primary in the presidential race for the Democratic nomination in 28. Kids running away from. What are they doing there in the first place? What are kids doing at an immigration raid? Why are they there? I mean, that would be the real question. Why have you and the left incentivized parents to bring small children to protest immigration raids at a cannabis farm employing underage labor? Right. That's question number one. Question number two is he's suggesting that kids are crying because mom is being taken away. That the only person on tape I can see who's crying about this appears to be a young man whose mom was taken away. We don't know the details of why she was arrested or what her immigration status was or anything like that, but this is the way that the media have covered all these illegal immigration raids. They are covering it as though ICE is randomly showing up at Home Depot and just driving people away on a, on. On a. On an overall basis. It's happening all the time. The problem is that the numbers don't actually justify that. Right now, the Trump administration is actually not doing heavy removal. According to NBC News, ICE agents last month arrested the most people in at least five years. But deportations are still lagging far behind what President Trump has promised and even those in the Obama administration. According to data obtained by NBC News, the discrepancy between arrests and deportations highlights the challenges the Trump administration faces to make good on President Trump's Inauguration Day vow to deport millions and millions of illegal immigrants. According to ICE data, the agents arrested roughly 30,000 immigrants last month, the most since monthly data was made publicly available in November 2020. By. By the way, I love how NBC News. I'm adding the word illegal here. NBC News just calls them immigrants. Quote. According to ICE data, its agents arrested roughly 4,30,000 immigrants last month. Well, what. Why would they be able to just arrest immigrants if you're a legal immigrant, the administration is not going to and cannot arrest you. You have to have violated the law in some way that calls for your deportation in order for them to pursue the arrest. So they're just obscuring the actual story by ignoring the actual story in the media, and they keep doing that. This entire article just refers to everyone being arrested as an immigrant, not even undocumented, not even kind of the mush words that they like to use. The number of immigrants deported in June, illegal immigrants, more than 18,000, amounts to roughly half the number of arrests, according to internal figures obtained by NBC News. So again, this kind of idea that ICE is going around and then randomly arresting mass numbers of illegal immigrants at Church, for example, there's pretty much no evidence that that is happening at the moment. In fact, there's so little evidence that that is happening that many in the MAGA base are quite upset with President Trump because they believe that he might amnesty farm workers. President Trump has mentioned the idea of providing some sort of temporary shield for illegal immigrant farm workers and hospitality workers, people working in hotels, for example. He's insisted there will be no amnesty, but also suggested that some workers might be allowed to stay if their employers take responsibility for them. That's according to Axios. He said, what we're doing is getting rid of criminals. We, but we are doing a work program, he said at a Cabinet meeting this week. So again, that the policy that the media are saying that Trump is pursuing is not actually the policy that he is pursuing, but because the media are fibbing about the actual policy and because there are people on social media who are able to blow those fibs up into full fledged stories. Because of that, you end up with violence against ICE agents, people showing up en masse to stop what are clearly legitimate law enforcement raids. People are telling lies about ICE all the time. Here, for example, is the acting ICE director, Todd Lyons, who points out that Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, who keeps claiming that members of ICE aren't showing id, he's like, that's false. That's not even true.

[Joe Piper]

Well, I mean, data you can see from all the video too, right? They say that ICE agents, they don't. They're not properly marked. You see them in their tactical gear, in their vest, where, you know, you see, blatantly see FBI, atf, ice, hsi ero, whoever's out with us. So the marriage claims that just totally false. And what she's doing is making people afraid of us.

[Ben Shapiro]

And that, by the way, is true. It's why the violence against ICE agents is dramatically up. Because when you retail false narratives about any entity, like truly false narratives about any entity, you are raising the temperature with regard to that entity and the people who staff it. And that is particularly true with regard to ice. And again, this is the sort of false narrative that is being retailed by the entire media. So there's been a lot of coverage, for example, of Alligator Alcatraz. That, of course, is the holding facility for criminal illegal immigrants in Florida. And the suggestion is that basically the Trump administration and the state of Florida have decided to take normal illegal immigrant farm workers, drag them out to the Everglades and toss them in with the alligators for dinner, which of course, is not what is happening. What you have is a Runway that is sometimes used by law enforcement that's being converted into a temporary holding facility where. With air conditioned vehicles there. Right. Big trailers that people are being held in. Who is actually being held there? Well, the media are suggesting that, again, it's. It's Abuela. The reality is that it probably is not Abuela. Bill Mulligan, reporting for Fox News, points out that the people being held at all Alligator Alcatraz include multiple murderers, including a Cuban man who slit the throat of an elderly woman in Florida and set her house on fire, a Venezuelan alien wanted for murder and aggravated robbery in Venezuela, a Honduran MS.13 gang member known as Satan, who's convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in New York, and a Cuban alien convicted of sexual assault in Texas. Jeremy Redfern, who's the Attorney General of Florida's communications director, said the left wing press continues to spend their time amplifying false reports. The reality is there are monsters awaiting deportation within Alligator Alcatraz far worse than the monsters lurking in the surrounding Everglades. This group of murderers, rapists and gang members are just a small sample of the deranged psychopaths that Florida is helping President Trump and his administration remove from our country. Hey, well, I mean, that all sounds reasonable to me, but that is not the way that the story is being told. That is not the way that the story is being told at all. And again, the performative outrage is the entire shtick here. For the left, it's all performative outrage. Can you find a point of opposition to President Trump that allows you to push back? Because, frankly, the left has been relegated to really terrible arguments with regard to President Trump. President Trump's policies thus far have been extraordinarily effective. Even the policies I don't particularly like, like his tariff policies, he has mostly backed off a lot of those tariff policies and is now trying to massage those into something more palatable to the economy. Overall. This has been a highly successful first several months of the Trump second term. So the Democrats, the left is now relegated to more and more ridiculous performative resistance. Alrighty. Coming up, somehow the left has found the most bizarre way to attack President Trump I've ever heard. No, truly, ever. And it's been 10 years of attacks. First, feeling overwhelmed by back taxes. Well, you're not alone. Maybe you missed that April deadline or your financial records are all over the place. Whatever the situation, don't put it off any longer. The IRS isn't getting any friendlier. And those penalties, they pile up super fast. We're talking 5% every month you don't file maxing out at 25%, which adds up pretty TFS. Here's the thing. 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Let Tax Network USA handle your tax issues again. That's Tax Network USA. Go check them out right now. Get started and get yourself out of the hole with the irs. Also, you know how most children's vitamins out there are basically candy? With that vitamin label, they're loaded with two teaspoons of sugar, artificial ingredients kids really don't need. Well, this is where Haya comes in. They've created an amazing chewable vitamin kids actually love. Zero sugar, but still totally delicious. Even the pickiest eaters would approve. They've packed in 12 organic fruits and veggies, plus 15 essential vitamins and minerals. We're talking vitamin D, B, 12C, zinc and more. All the good stuff kids need for healthy growth and they've thought of everything. It's non gmo, vegan, allergen free, thoroughly tested for safety. Which means you and I can both feel confident giving our kids vitamins made to this high quality standard. Are you tired of battling with your kids to eat their greens? 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And that is a piece in the Washington Post titled Donald Trump is not a Clown. I should know. I am a clown. I'm not even kidding. That's it. That's an actual real piece in the Washington Post. Tim Cunningham, board president of Clowns Without Borders, wrote this piece, quote, allegations that President Trump is a clownish figure are not hard to come by. Political strategist James Carville, revered to Trump's administration as the Clown show after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gave an incorrect definition of habeas corpus during a Senate hearing. But none of this qualifies Trump for such a title. I am a clown and board president of the nonprofit Clowns Without Borders and I'm here to set the record straight. Honk honking. Oh my gosh. This is what they're relegated to. They're relegated to Trump isn't the clown because real clowns make children laugh. Quote, I have performed as a professional clown for 24 years. Clown Capital C is a valuable and varied art form. Pantomimes, acrobats, magicians, dancers, stand up comedians, vaudeville artists, and jugglers are all examples of artists who incorporate clown into their work. Whether you know it as clown or not, you've likely seen it from stage clowns such as Bill Irwin to the characters of Cirque du Soleil created by masters such as Michelle Matlock and Mookie Cornish. From pedagogical ensembles such as Pig Iron or Spy Monkey to healthcare clown organizations such as Laughter League and Healthy Humor. Clown is huge. Clown demands years, if not a lifetime of study. And he just goes on talking about the magic of clown. But here is the here's the key point. All clown shares the common values of healing, empathy and reflection. Our work touches people in need of joy everywhere. Clowns are more than children's birthday party performers. We help people relax, heal, and prompt others to think differently about the world. Let's find a better metaphor to despise and depose fascism. Keep clown out of Trump comparisons. And for that matter, all politics offer clown the respect it deserves. I will admit this clown is making me laugh. He is making me laugh. That is a funny clown. That is some funny clown right there. But again, the entire left wing response to President Trump is not to promote good policy is to be performatively angry. That is why you have Gavin Newsom putting on his angry face. Or Cory Booker popping in the angry eyes and speaking for 25 hours. Or why you have Hakeem Jeffries doing a seven hour speech. Yay, Hakeem. You talk for seven hours and everybody, oh my gosh, look at that resistance. Look. So much resisting. Well, the latest iteration of this is Jasmine Crockett. So Jasmine Crockett is not a smart human and I'm sorry, she just isn't. I have seen no evidence of Jasmine Crockett ever saying anything halfway intelligent. She wants to run for Senate in Texas now, which, like, please do it, do it, cannot wait. Apparently if she does run, according to the polling, she would be at the forefront of likely Democratic voters preferences in the race for that U.S. senate seat in Texas. Now we'll get to the Republican response in Texas, which is a bit of a mess in terms of who is running. It should be John Cornyn, who is the current senator. Ken Paxton, who's the attorney general of the state of Texas, also would like to run, but he has a bunch of skeletons in his closet. He's kind of a mess. In any case, Crockett led with 35% support among surveyed Democratic voters, ahead of Colin Allred, who you remember ran for Senate against Ted Cruz and lost. He's a 20 Beto O'. Rourke. Beto might want to make a comeback. Bong, rip, kick, flip. Beto. I want him back because I, I can bring back the, the Beto Stoner voice, which I, I really did enjoy for, for several years there. And we missed Beto. He's been out in the New Mexican desert eating dirt in order to find his spirit animal or something. And Texas Representative Joaquin Castro are both at 13%, according to a survey conducted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. So would be fascinating to see if Crockett also jumps in. Crockett was the top choice for shared values among likely democratic voters, garnering 30% support. So if she jumps in, I mean, good luck again. The reason she's become famous is because she is a newer, fresher aoc. AOC was so fresh, so face at one point, but she is no longer so fresh, so face. She is slightly withered. And so Jasmine Crockett is the freshest of the faces and also says many curse words and uses incredibly evocative language. And, and thus she has become famous for being a resistance hero because we can't have nice things in this country. We just can't. In any case, here was Jasmine Crockett literally yesterday, claiming that Joe Biden was totally fine during his entire term. Good luck to you guys, you Democrats. You know, I had none. Now, granted, I didn't see Joe Biden every single day, but I did have an opportunity to interact with the President. I never had a concern. If there's anyone that I am concerned about their mental acuity, it is the current occupant. Oh, well, she's not concerned with the mental acuity of Joe Biden, who is on a beach somewhere with a feeding tube in him. She's really concerned about Donald Trump. Run her for Senate. But again, this is the entire shtick for the Democratic Party. The more performative you are, the more you are beloved. I'm not going to pretend this doesn't exist in the Republican Party too, but there are some forces pushing back in the Republican Party. I see zero forces of any weight or size pushing back against this in the Democratic Party. It's a disaster area for them and for the country, because the Democratic Party is a major party, which means if these performative schmucks ever gain power, what comes next for the country is truly horrifyingly ugly. Speaking of which, over in New York, there's new polling out surrounding the mayoral race. Democratic nominee Zoran Mandani, the socialist jihad friendly candidate of New York. I say jihad friendly because he literally rapped about wanting to release the Holy Land five who were put in jail for funding Hamas. So that is, that is said with full understanding of what that means. He holds a 10 point lead right now in the New York City general election for mayor. Now, it is important to recognize here that he's at 35%. This dude is not at 50%. He is not at 70%. He's at 35%. Andrew Cuomo, who just lost his Democratic mayoral primary to Mamdani, is at 25%. Curtis Sloa, who is the Republican nominee who's now run several times. I know Curtis. I like Curtis. Curtis has done cool things with the Guardian Angels. He's not going to be the next mayor of New York. It's not happening. So what really should happen is consolidation behind an anti Momdani candidate. SLU is at 14%. Adams is at 11%. Which means that if you combine the support of Cuomo, Sliwa, and Adams. Right, everybody who is not Mamdani here, you are talking about a 50 to 35 race against Mamdani. So apparently one third of the voters in New York support Mandani in New York City. And the other two thirds are, like, not so much. Thirteen percent of respondents said they weren't sure. One percent picked another candidate. If you say you're not sure about Mandani, hard to read. That could mean that there's some shy momdani voters, people who actually want to vote for him but don't want to say so out loud. Could be that people don't want to say they don't want to vote for Mamdani because they're afraid of being labeled Islamophobic or whatever. Eric Adams should not be the consolidation candidate. He should not Eric Adams. Again, I have nothing against Mayor Adams. The man has more baggage than an entire trailer car from Anna Karenina. I mean, the dude just has skeletons in his closets like pirates of the Caribbean. And. And the voters of New York don't like him, period. His net approval rating is at negative 34. 28% of respondents are favorable. 62% unfavorable. Cuomo is at negative 2. So listen, I think Andrew Cuomo is a schmuck of schmucks. I think that Andrew Cuomo is awful. I think he was a terrible governor of New York. I think he is pathologically cruel in his politics. I. I don't think he's a good candidate. I also think he's going to do better Eric Adams is going to do if Cuomo drops out of the race. Some of that support goes over to Eric Adams. Some of those people stay home, probably. Some may even move over to mi. And as far as Curtis, Curtis should look for A position within the administration of somebody else. Because, again, he is not going to be the next mayor of New York. It's not going to happen. I wish it would. He'd be a great mayor of New York, but it's not going to happen. Adams trails Momani and Cuomo among even black voters. Mamdani currently leads at 35, followed by Cuomo at 32, Adams at 14, and Sliwa at 3. So, again, it is possible to stop Mamdani, but not within the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party is perfectly fine with Mamdani. Again, they are constantly doing this thing in the Democratic Party where they find the craziest members of their caucus and then they pat them on the head, they hug them close, and they try to use them as jet fuel. They never seem to understand that when you feed the revolutionaries, eventually you're first to the guillotine. That feeding AOC didn't lead to AOC becoming mainstream. It led to AOC's radical philosophy becoming mainstream. And now she's endangering Chuck Schumer in a Senate race in New York. That's what always happens when you feed the alligator. The alligator doesn't actually eat you last. It actually eats you sometimes first. And that is what's happening right now inside the Democratic Party. And let's be clear about how radical Zoran Mandani is. You can tell by many of the people that he was associated with and continues to associate with. So, for example, here is a former Mandani intern named Hadika Arzum Alik openly calling for jihad the other day.

[Unnamed Protester]

How do we, you know, we don't want to get doxed, and we don't want to get suspended and we don't want to get arrested. How gangster are you? That's just my question.

[Ben Shapiro]

How.

[Unnamed Protester]

How much are you willing to do it? And I know everyone has their own risk level, but at the end of the day, that's a question to ask ourselves. How committed am I to this? To what extent of my personal material gains am I willing to sacrifice for this bigger noble cause? And subhanallah? I truly believe that when your heart is in the right place, if you get suspended, if you get doxed, because it's bound to happen when you're doing a righteous cause and when you're doing something for the sake of Allah here in the west, it will never, ever be in vain. And the true believer does not fear that, because the true believer knows that the Akhirah is a promise. And the true believer knows that none of this is in vain that this is all jihad, that this is all ibadah, and that this is all counted for by Allah. And so the conversation of doxing, the conversation of getting arrested and suspended, I think it's time for Muslims to start to say, all right, all right, so what? Do what you want. I'm going to do what I got to do. Because that's. It's. It's about time to do that. And I know everybody has their own families and has an education and everything. Just a question and a question that I think, inshallah, we can all go home with and to self reflect and ask ourselves, what are, what are we willing to give for this cause?

[Ben Shapiro]

Okay, so just going to point out, this person was a former intern for Mandani. Now, not all interns speak for the person, but that is reflective of a large strain inside Mandani's philosophy. He speaks about this sort of stuff in similar cadences fairly frequently. I mean, there's a reason the man won't denounce the globalize the intifada stuff because he would love to globalize the intifada. And he doesn't mean in the jihad is an internal struggle way. The left has been incentivizing jihadi violence for quite a long time at this point, from college campuses to the Middle East. And so this is not a shock, but the DNC has no capacity to separate off from it already. Coming up, Michelle Obama is still somehow complaining about her life. I just don't understand how this is real. All right, Real talk. You think you're listening to a commercial. You're not. You're already in one. Because this isn't just about a car donation service. This is about you. Specifically that second car you haven't touched in, what, six months a year? Let's be honest. You keep saying you're going to sell it or fix it or give it to a cousin who might need it, and yet there it sits, like a driveway time capsule. Look, no judgment, but that car's not going anywhere. And frankly, neither are you in life until you do something about it. Here is the deal. Go to carsforkids.org Ben, that's cars for kids with a K. They will come get it for free. Doesn't matter where it is or if it runs. You'll get a tax deduction. They use the proceeds to fund real programs for real kids. Mentorship, education, summer camps. You know, the kind of impact that actually matters. And, yeah, you already know the jingle. You've known it since forever. 1877, cars for kids. Oh, you know it, so make it count, don't just hum it. Donate your car [e-mail] Ben that's cars with a K. Cars for kids.org Ben do something good with that car you've been ignoring. Go check them out right now. Carsforkids.org Ben Cars with a K also. This just in from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Right now the situation across Israel remains fragile and urgent. Israeli neighborhoods were destroyed during the last Iran Israel war. Dozens of people are dead until more are injured and the threat still remains, whether in peacetime or at war. Israelis know that ballistic missiles could fall at any moment when the sirens sound. If you're the closest to, for example, the Gaza border, you may have just 15 seconds to reach a bomb shelter. But Israelis don't have enough bomb shelters, especially in Tel Aviv and Israel's north. And that's where the Iranian attacks were concentrated. That's why the Fellowship is working around the clock to build in place hundreds of concrete reinforced bomb shelters ready when the next rocket strike occurs. The fellowship is deploying 60 new bomb shelters, including 10 immediate placements and 50 upgraded models with blast resistant steel doors to protect vulnerable Israeli communities from future threats. IFCJ does amazing work throughout Israel, helping out Jews, Christians, Druze, everyone. To learn more about IFC J's lifesaving work, visit Ben for the fellowship.org again that's been. For the fellowship.org go check them out right now Ben for the Fellowship to learn more about the ifcj. The Democratic National Committee's Ken Martin, who is just a mess, I mean just a complete mess. He says that, you know, Mamdani's refusal to condemn globalize the Intifada, that's fine. We're a big ten party. A big ten party that includes people who, you know, like Hamas and also people who only sort of like Hamas.

[Ken Martin]

There's no candidate in this party that I agree 100% of the time with, to be honest with you. There's things that I don't agree with Mamdani that he said. But at the end of the day, I always believe as a Democratic Party chair in Minnesota for the last 14 years and now the chair of the DNC, that you win through addition, you win by bringing people into your coalition. We have conservative Democrats, we have centrist Democrats, we have labor progressives like me and we have this new brand of Democrat which is the leftists. And we win by bringing people into that coalition. And at the end of the day for me, that's the type of party we're going to lead. We are a big tent party. Yes, it leads to dissent and debate and there's differences of opinions on a whole host of issues. But we should celebrate that as a party and recognize at the end of the day, we're better because of it.

[Ben Shapiro]

Oh, they're better because they have people who are kind of warm toward jihad in their, in their party. Obviously, I mean, that, that, that obviously is what makes a party stronger. See, this sort of idea, and it exists, I will say, across the political spectrum that the big tent is bigger than the small tent. Well, Grover Norquist once said the problem with the big tent is you let in a lot of clowns. You know, I don't mean to, you know, again, bring up the clown, offend clown guy, but the problem with a big tent is that you have to have some limits to who you let in your tent. Otherwise you let in some pretty evil people into your tent. And that's what the DNC is doing right now. The Democratic Party is studiously avoiding the consequences of bringing in people who believe, like Zoramdani believes into the Democratic Party. Hakeem Jeffries is too much of a coward to even answer questions about Zoram Hamdani. Here he was avoiding the question the other day, asked whether Mamdani thinks those House incumbent challenges should happen. His press secretary, Tulsi, and then he.

[Joe Piper]

Was declining to comment, at least for now.

[Ben Shapiro]

How do you respond?

[Hakeem Jeffries]

I have no idea what these people are talking about. We are going to continue to focus our efforts as we did on the House floor in connection with Donald Trump's one big ugly bill, on pushing back against the extremism that has been unleashed on the American people. It's clear to us as House Democrats, it's clear to us as members of the New York City delegation that the problem is Donald Trump and House Republicans who have launched this unprecedented assault on the American way of life, an assault on health care. They're ripping food out of the mouths of children, veterans and seniors. They're exploding the national debt. They're unleashing mass agents on law abiding immigrant communities. It shouldn't be too difficult for some people to figure out who the problem is in the United States of America.

[Ben Shapiro]

I noticed that you avoided the question, sir. Meanwhile, the other Democrats, you know, good hearted Democrats, people like Richie Torres, right, Democratic representative from New York, he is trying to defend his party from the predations of Mamdani. So what does he do? He tries to say, well, the real Reason that Mamdani won is because he focused on affordability, not on all these other issues. Again, I wish that were true. The reality is that Mamdani didn't just talk about affordability. He did talk about all of the virtue signaling radical points in the Democratic Party platform. That was his goal. Right. His goal was to virtue signal about things like the Gaza Strip, to virtue signal about spending money to trans the children. Those were not drawbacks to his campaign. They were helpful to his campaign among the radicals in the party. And, you know, I think Ritchie is doing his best with this, but this is. This is not factually accurate.

[Richie Torres]

I acknowledge your point on the. About Israel, but Mamdani did not run on Israel. He did not even run on Defund the Police. In fact, he ran away from it. He ran on affordability. And the fact is, there is a generation of young voters who are struggling with the crushing cost of housing and higher education and health care and who want to hear candidates speak to their anxieties about the affordability crisis. And so that, to me, is the greatest lesson learned, is that we as Democrats have to create an agenda that speaks to the affordability crisis.

[Ben Shapiro]

Okay, but let's be clear. He didn't just run on those things. He didn't just run on those things. And even if he ran on those things, shouldn't the Democratic Party be like, okay, so you're right about affordability, but you're wrong about Hamas. Right. You're wrong about transiting the kids, but the Democratic Party can never seem to do that. Scott Jennings at CNN made that point to Richie Torres saying, like, the people who are attacking you are attacking you because you support Israel. Are you, Are you being honest when you say you don't know why they're targeting, that you know why they're targeting you? Oh, no, I'm not. I know why they're targeting you know why, but I don't.

[Richie Torres]

I don't care that they're targeting.

[Ben Shapiro]

Well, so why don't you say it? You know why they're targeting.

[Richie Torres]

I think they're targeting me because I'm Pro Israel.

[Ben Shapiro]

That's 100.

[Richie Torres]

Yeah, that's the issue.

[Ben Shapiro]

So are you saying they're targeting you and all of these other individuals? Yvette, Clark, Hakeem?

[Richie Torres]

I mean, I, I think I have. I am specifically targeted because of my position on Israel.

[Ben Shapiro]

He is right. He is correct. He is targeted because of his position on Israel in the Democratic Party. That is exactly, exactly right. And the Democratic Party is not going to do anything about that. Chuck. Schumer, coward of cowards. He says, you know, I will meet with Zormandani. We'll do that really soon. Actually, it's been about a month since.

[Ken Martin]

The New York City primary.

[Ben Shapiro]

You have yet to endorse the Democratic nominee. What is holding you back and what will it take for you to get to that point?

[Joe Piper]

I'll be meeting with him soon and.

[Ben Shapiro]

Well, I'm sure you will because again, the Democratic Party cannot divide itself off from the performative, cosplaying, radical leftists. They cannot. Well, there are a few Democrats who are attempting to fight back against this, but they are in short supply and they are being ripped up by their own party. So John Fetterman, the senator from Pennsylvania, is a great example of this. Apparently the only last reasonable Democrat in the Senate or at least one of the very few. And basically the Democrats turned on him not when they believed that he actually had a serious issue of serious brain issue when he was first elected. They turned on him when it turned out that he wasn't a full scale nut job in line with Pooh poohing Zaramdani and company. Here's John Fetterman saying Mamdani isn't even a Democrat. What are we doing here? I'm not, I'm not a voter in the new, in New York City. And so I have no dog in that fight. And everything that I've read on him, I don't really agree with virtually any of it politically. So that, that's just, just where I'm.

[Hakeem Jeffries]

At as a Democrat.

[Ben Shapiro]

I mean, so is he's not even a Democrat, honestly. Good for Fetterman. But again, this puts him on the outs with his own party, which is trying to make nice with Mamdani because again, every legit party always tries to make peace with its revolutionaries and then the roof revolutionaries end up eating them. Now there is sort of a last ditch effort to try and get somebody to drop out. Nobody's dropping out of the New York race right now. Some of New York's wealthiest financiers, according to the Wall Street Journal, are trying to build out a network of outside groups planning to go to war against Mamdani. But unless there is some sort of consolidation around somebody who is not Mamdani, the vote's gonna get split and Mamdani is gonna end up being the mayor of New York. So they're trying to raise $20 million for, for this sort of thing. And I, I don't think that that is going to be the key factor. Negative campaigning will work against Mamdani if people have an alternative, but if there are several alternatives and nobody likes any of them, then that is going to be a major, major problem. But again, speaking of the Democratic Party, what is the sort of jet fuel for the Democratic Party? The jet fuel is an unending victim ideology, an unending sense of perennial victimhood. No matter how successful you are, you are a victim. And if you're not a victim, you're speaking on behalf of the victimized. And this is again why you see the coalitional scavengers when I talk about my new book, Lines and Scavengers, available at the Daily Wire Store, signed for pre sale right now. When you're talking about the scavengers, the people who spend their lives complaining about how rough they have it and how rough everybody has it, who's a member of a quote unquote marginalized community while they sit there in their air conditioned studios being worth tens of millions of dollars. These are the people that we are talking about. Because frequently the people who lead revolutions are not, in fact, the people who grow up dirt poor come from nothing. That's, that's sort of a movie trope. The people who tend to lead revolutions are generally somewhat privileged members of the middle or upper middle class who then rise to fame and fortune on the back of complaining about their societies. This is true of pretty much every revolutionary, every serious revolutionary in modern history. It doesn't come from the people who are the poorest. It's a point made by the philosopher Eric Hoffer. But Michelle Obama is just a beautiful example of this. So Michelle Obama did not grow up dirt poor. She went to Princeton University. She then went to Harvard Law School. She then married Barack Obama and got a bunch of cush jobs at places like the University of Chicago Health Care Board. And then she was first lady of the United States. So this is not someone who has been suffering at the traumatic hands of a deeply rooted evil in American society. But she spends all day just complaining. It's just what she does for a living. She just whines. More on this coming up. Well, if you're in any profession that involves a lot of mailing and shipping, stamps.com takes at least one tedious task off your plate. Stamps.com lets you focus on what you do best by handling all the logistics for you. You can print stamps, shipping labels or certified mail forms in seconds and schedule free package pickups all from one convenient place and save up to 89% off USPS, UPS and other carriers. While you're at it for over 28 years. More than 4 million customers have trusted stamps.com to simplify their shipping and mailing needs. Whether you're running a small business or selling online through major marketplaces, stamps.com gives you access to all the USPS and UPS services you need right from your computer or phone. 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I'd convince myself that that's how sleep was as you just get older. Then I tried Helix Sleep and now my life is transformed. Now I easily fall asleep in minutes, even when the current news stories are continuously demanding my attention. What makes Helix different is they're not just selling you a random mattress, they actually match you with the perfect mattress for your body and sleep style. Whether you're a side sleeper, back sleeper, somewhere in between, they have you covered. They make it so simple to get your best night's sleep every single night. All you have to do is take their sleep quiz and get matched with a custom mattress based on your body type and sleep preferences. Trust me, when you find the right match, no wonder how you ever slept on anything else. I ordered a mattress that came directly to my door. It's firm but breathable, which is exactly what I need right now. Helix is offering an incredible sale so you can get the mattress you need. Visit helixsleep.com ben get 27 off site wide that's helixleep.com ben for 27 off site wide, make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you again. Just visit helixleep.comBen for this exclusive offer. That's helixleep.comBen to get 27% off site wide. And make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you. So here she was recently on her podcast complaining about how tough life is just, it's so difficult. It just, it's so rough being Michelle Obama.

[Michelle Obama]

Women, we have so many landmines and barriers and don'ts and limitations. It's, you know, I mean, Craig, you're the guy at the table. But I think it's important for all guys listening, especially men raising daughters, to realize that, that, that difference, you know, and that, that thing that in inadvertently as you are loving and raising these beautiful girls. There are so many rules that make us small baked in without our knowing it.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah. You know, so, so many, so many rules that women have to pay as opposed to rules for men. There are so many rules for women. It's so brutal and difficult. In fact, Michelle Obama is very, by the way, she's talking with Julia Louis Dreyfus, you know, like the very, very famous and wealthy actress, complaining about how rough life is for women in a beautifully turned out studio drinking from porcelain mugs. I just, I, I, I can't with these people. I can't. Here she was talking about how she doesn't have the certainty of maleness. Women don't have the certainty of maleness.

[Michelle Obama]

We're always hedging, you know, because in the back of our minds we weren't raised with the certainty of maleness. That, you know, kind of the confidence that young men in their 30s have, which they haven't earned. They just have it. You know, we don't start feeling that and owning that until our 50s and 60s at a time when we start to be treated as invisible in society.

[Ben Shapiro]

You don't have the certainty of maleness. It's true. Men face such great certainty as opposed to women who face tremendous uncertainty. Okay, so I asked our friends and sponsors at Perplexity a couple of easy questions. What percentage of women versus men graduate from college and from graduate school? Who is more likely to die young, men or women? Answer, Women are more likely than men to graduate from college in the United States. In 2024, the six year graduation rate for women at four year colleges was 67% compared to 60% for men. Among adults aged 25 to 34, 47% of women have a bachelor's degree compared to 37% of men. The gender gap is consistent across all major racial and ethnic groups. Women also outpace men in graduate study completion. Women earn about 54 to 56% of all doctoral degrees and 62 to 67% of all master's degrees. Who is likely to die young, men or women. In the United States, the life expectancy for men is about five to six years shorter than for women. A larger percentage of men die before age 65 compared to women. 31% of men who died in 2023 were under 65, versus only 19% of women. Men have a higher mortality rate from nearly all major causes of death, including accidents, heart disease, suicide, and drug overdoses. So when we're talking about women don't have the certainty of. Of maleness. If by this you mean testosterone gives people a greater feeling of risk taking, that of course is true. But that's a biological rationale. That is not a societal construction. Testosterone makes people more confident. It does. It makes people more aggressive. That's what the hormone does. Estrogen does not do those things. So is that the fault of society? Or is that just the way that biology, human biology, works? Like, if you feel less certain, is that because society is mean to you specifically? Or is that because reality dictates that the hormones that you have in your body are making you less aggressive than that heavily muscle dude down the hallway who works out twice a day and eats nothing but red meat like that? Biology has something to do with this. But again, this idea is that you're victimized. You're victimized. And the reason Michelle Obama is talking about this is not because she believes that you're victimized by biology. She believes that you are victimized by the deep rooted evil of American society that somehow makes women less than, that somehow throws obstacles in the way of women. Now, never in human history has there been a group of women as privileged as American women in 2025. It just does not exist. Again, you can make the argument that men had it better than women do in 2025, a hundred years ago. But the argument that women of today are the deeply suffering class in American society is not statistically true. That is not to denigrate the struggles of any specific woman, is not to denigrate the fact that women have to make life choices that men don't have to make because of their biology, including when to have kids, when not to have kids, how to balance career and kids. All that is of course true. That's just natural to human biology. The question is not women compared to men. It's women compared to women of the past, or women compared to some ideal of what womanhood should be. What choices are unavailable to women in 2025 in America? Please name them. Really name the choices that women do not have because they are women, not based on biology, but based on societal restriction. You can't. They don't exist. And if you say abortion, that is not about the woman, that is about the protection of the child growing inside the woman. That is a completely separate issue. By the way, we will still mention that abortion on demand is available in New York and California, for example, in Massachusetts and a wide variety of other states across the country. But this perennial victimhood ideology spreads out beyond the boundaries of just womanhood. You hear it with regard to dei, sort of. It's about blackness or brownness or gayness or whatever the subgroup may be. You declare yourself a member of a marginalized community, and then you suggest the entire superstructure of power is designed in order to put you down. And then you can join with all the other people who consider themselves marginalized in order to tear down the system. That is the only coalitional point. It's a point JD Vance made beautifully the other day at Claremont Institute. When you have a consolidated group of people who disagree with each other on pretty much everything except the idea that the system must be torn out by its roots, this is what you end up with. And everybody becomes a victim. Michelle Obama is a victim, supposedly. Mahmoud Khalil is a victim. Mahmoud Khalil is, of course, the person who basically immigrated to the United States in order to become a protest leader on behalf of terrorism. And then the federal government arrested him and was going to deport him because of his, his associations and deep involvement with the violent Columbia protests. And then a federal judge ordered him freed. And now he's suggesting that he wants to sue the federal government for $20 million in damage. They're alleging that he was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an anti Semite. I'm afraid that you were not smeared, my friend. All you did was hang out and stand for a group that promotes the most vicious anti Semitism in American life. Well, here is Mahmoud Khalil again, victim of American society.

[Richie Torres]

Today we filed for $20 million in damages against the Trump administration because of the unconstitutional and unlawful arrest and all these conditions that I was put under. It's clear to me it's either the 20 million or an official apology from the administration. Because ultimately my goal is not self enrichment. I don't want this money just because I need, I need, I need money. What I want is actually accountability. Real, real accountability.

[Ben Shapiro]

So if President Trump apologize, would you accept that?

[Richie Torres]

If it's a formal apology? That of course would reverse his, his fascist agenda. Then definitely I would accept that.

[Ben Shapiro]

Now, again, this, this idea that he is some sort of moderate immigrant to the United States who just wishes to live the American life. No, he's not. He's a victim, just like everybody else. He's. We should not import people who believe that they are part of a gigantic coalition of victims directed at tearing down Western institutions. It's just not a good idea. It's not a good idea. But this is why the left is in favor of illegal immigrant child labor at pot farms in California over ice. This is why they are in favor of Zoran Mamdani over even what used to be a mainstream Democrat. This is why. Because of all of this. Because of all this. Now, how are Republicans responding to this sort of stuff? Well, President Trump has responded by actually pursuing a wide variety of successful policies. However, polarization is a two party game. And one of the things that's happening in terms of our performative social media driven politics is that if the left comes up with performative politicians and figures, then so does the right. And that performative politics is now making its way to the Texas Senate race. So Ken Paxton, who takes an awful lot of very loud positions as the Attorney General and of the state of Texas, some of which I agree with, some which I don't, Ken Paxton wants to run for the Senate in Texas in a primary against John Cornyn. Well, that dude has a lot of skeletons and a lot of baggage, as we've talked about. Some of that baggage includes an impeachment in the Texas House. He was then acquitted by the Senate, an impeachment in the Texas House on charges of corruption in which he was effectively alleged to have directed government monies toward particular sources who are then providing employment for a woman, not his wife, with whom he was having an affair, for example. And there's some other allegations surrounding Ken Paxton. And now, Ken, let's put this way. Ken Paxton is significantly less likely to win a general election than John Cornyn is in the state of Texas. And Republicans cannot afford to lose Senate seats at this point. They have a very narrow majority as it is. Well, yesterday, Angela Paxton, his wife, who is a Texas state senator herself, announced that she had filed for divorce from Ken Paxton. Quote, Today, after 38 years of marriage, I filed for divorce on biblical grounds. On biblical grounds. The euphemism for he's committing adultery. I believe marriage is a sacred covenant and I have earnestly pursued reconciliation. But in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or can to remain in the marriage and move forward with complete confidence that God is always working everything together for the good of those who love him and who are called according to his purpose. He then released his own statement pointing blame at countless political attacks and public scrutiny. Now again, he he was impeached for corruption allegations in the Texas House of Representatives, accused of using his position help a real estate developer who allegedly was providing work to a girl who he was having an affair with. So again, this sort of stuff. Is this where Republicans want to go? How many Republican Senate seats have now been lost to bad Republican Senate candidates? The answer is a lot. Okay, there are at least four Senate seats that should be in Republican hands right now that are in Democratic hands. At least four, probably more, but at least four. Two in Georgia, two in Arizona. Those are both states that Donald Trump won running away in the last election cycle. And both states have two Democratic senators because Republicans keep running idiots for these various seats or people who at least are not able to translate their appeal to the base into a general election appeal. So my guidance for the Republican Party, at some point, put your foot down and actually say, who can win? See, I, I like winners, not losers, as the president might say. And I'm fond of actually achieving policy goals rather than the performative. Well, folks, we do have some exciting news here at Daily Wire. Plus, a brand new documentary titled Journey to the ufc. It's the true story of Joe Pifer, who went from an abusive home and living on the streets to breaking bones, breaking odds, earning a UFC contract the hard way. That documentary, journey to the UFC, premieres July 25th on Daily Wire plus, and Joe Peifer joins us on the line right now. He's racked up to 14 and three pro record with nine wins by knockout, three by submission. And again, he's subject of that new Daily Wire documentary, Journey to the ufc. Joe, thanks so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it.

[Joe Piper]

Yeah, thanks for having me. This is a cool opportunity, going from watching the show to now being on the show.

[Ben Shapiro]

Well, thanks for watching. So let's talk about what UFC means to so many young men. Your story is a great story of why UFC has become such an iconic part of American life. So much so the President of the United States is going to hold UFC fights at the White House. Actually, what is your story? How did UFC play into that?

[Joe Piper]

Yeah, my, my story starts out super young. You know, I started jiu jitsu at 4 and a half years old. Abuse happened in my family pretty early on, so it was definitely a difficult learning introduction into mma, and I never let go of it, you know, no matter how bad my home situation had gotten. Running away from home, dealing with abuse from an abusive father to, you know, still pursuing this, going into a wrestling career with high school, and then, you know, immediately fighting out of high school. So it's been a long journey. And, you know, I think. I think the testimony as to how big MMA is getting is simply because you are as hard as you work, you know, whatever your work ethic is. And no matter, no matter the circumstances of your life, as long as you put some effort into something that you're willing to get better at any time of the day, you know, you can always turn your life around. So I would say that's what I've done with my career, you know, avoiding a lot of the big details in your question. But, yeah, I mean, I essentially fought back from circumstances I wasn't supposed to win against.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah. And I think that that is the key to the UFC's popularity, is that, in essence, it's a pure meritocracy, and it happens to be a sort of anti woke meritocracy because Dana White has done a really good job of keeping himself out of the politics. You know, he says, listen, I don't agree with much of the stuff that my fighters say. My fighters are. They're fighters and they get to say what they want to say. I don't have to agree with it, but as long as they're in the ring fighting, well, that's, that's what they're supposed to do. Now, how do you prep, what is your day like? Because obviously having a job of fighting people is a pretty difficult job. What, what does that look like for you?

[Joe Piper]

Yeah, I mean, so my day will start out pretty early. I'll go and I'll hit a training session. And I trained in Philadelphia at Marquez mma, my lead coach being John Marquez. And we have some other really top UFC guys up there, like Sean Brady, who's on his title run at 170. But yeah, I'll go, I'll hit a training session from 9 to about 11, come home, eat, sleep, wake up, go do it again. And in between that, sometimes we'll get a run, or we'll get an echo bike workout, but that's six days a week. And then obviously diet, we count our macros, everything like that. Especially, you know, I used to make fun of it because I usually did not like counting the things I was eating. I would eat healthy. But it really is at this level, man, if you want to make a real title run, and you want to be one of the best in the world, you really have to do those extra tiny details, which is counting macros, going to sleep, you know, tracking your sleep, things of that matter. So it's definitely hard on the body, it's definitely hard on the mental health, especially being in a training camp. You don't have a life, you don't get to go out with friends, you don't get to enjoy a summer, but, you know, it's all worth it, man. And to go back to what you were saying as far as, like, I guess, a censorship with the ufc, that's why I also chose this sport. I'm. I'm a very blunt, outspoken person, and I like having the freedom of speech. There's been some things that I have said that they weren't happy with, but, you know, nonetheless, I still have a job, and they keep me. But I will say this. What they didn't like, I understand, but I didn't tell a lie.

[Ben Shapiro]

So, you know, let's talk about what it means to young men, the ufc. So the left has sort of tried to portray UFC as the embodiment of toxic masculinity, I think. Not really understanding that. What makes UFC popular among young men is that far from it being a sort of emblem of male uselessness, it actually is telling men that they ought to go out and achieve. That they actually ought to go out and do something. When you describe your daily schedule and the stuff that you're doing, that is, as you say, unbelievably hard work, I mean, that is stuff that the vast majority of humans can't do. And if you want to be the best at a thing, you really have to throw yourself into it and put yourself into a situation, a risky situation, where you might even get hurt in order to achieve. What do you think is the connection between UFC and what young males, particularly young males who may have been sort of abandoned by the culture, are looking for?

[Joe Piper]

Yeah, I mean, I think it. Look, they're looking for a way to come up. I mean, there's a way to get paid while doing what you love. I mean, I don't think people understand that. There's. There's boxing training, there's wrestling training, there's jiu jitsu training, there's shooting, strength and conditioning training. And if you are missing any of those, then you're probably not going to make it. Right? So this isn't just for anybody to pick it up and go and make the ufc. You know, I Tried to make the ufc and my elbow broke. Things like that. I had to come back. I was out two years. I had no money, Right. And I had no family support. I had. I was taken in by my wrestling coach so I could be able to make it to this level. And so, you know, it's a relentless work ethic and sometimes the margin for error at this level is so small, but even trying to get to this level is very, very difficult in itself. So for anybody that, you know, thinks that this is toxic masculinity, this is a sport like any other, that you are going to train aimlessly to achieve perfection and you never will. So it's a never ending goal. And it's just. It's a little crazy to me. I just think that the. I just think that there's too many soft people that think their feelings matter, and not everybody's feelings matter, in my opinion, especially when it's not life changing. So, yeah, this sport is giving me a way, look at my situation. It's given me a way to have my freedom with my own life and my own choices where I don't have to get answered to a boss every day. I get to train and go fight and do my best and get paid. I live a pretty quiet life outside of fighting, you know, So I love it and it's. It's a blessing to be able to do it.

[Ben Shapiro]

Well, that's Joe Piper. He's the subject of the new Daily Wire documentary, Journey to the ufc. You're not going to want to miss it. It comes out July 25th over at Daily Wire. Plus, Joe, thanks so much for the time and good luck in everything.

[Joe Piper]

Thanks, man.

[Ben Shapiro]

Okay, meanwhile, I'd say credit to Lee Zeldin. Lee Zeldin is the head of the epa. So obviously on the heels of the Jeffrey Epstein non revelation or quasi revelation or the. The Jeffrey Epstein DOJ FBI letter that basically said no evidence that he was an intelligence agent, no evidence that there was a blackmail scheme, no evidence that he was trafficking young girls to third parties, and that was kind of the end of it, which is a very bad approach. Ok. Even if you believe the government when they say that. And again, I've laid out my reasons for believing that, including Dan Bongino is the person who's the deputy director of the FBI who's overseeing this case in large part. And I don't think Dan is lying to me. And I do think it would behoove many of the people who keep claiming that there's a conspiracy and that people in the Trump administration are lying to just say out loud what they actually want to say. If you want to say that the Trump administration is now complicit in a pedophile cover up, that Donald Trump, J.D. vance, Cash Patel, Pam Bondi, Dan Bongino and all the rest are actually now part of a child rape gang and covering up for it, or at least covering for it or providing excuses for it, or using the mechanisms of law to let them off. If you want to say that, just say it out loud. I find it kind of cowardly. You know, there's some people who will say it out loud, right? The Nick Fuentes is of the world will just say it. Okay, well, at least, at least he's being honest. There are a bunch of people who will simply imply it without just saying it because they're afraid of pissing off the Trump administration while effectively calling them publicly complicit in pedophilia. If you want to say it, just say the thing. Seriously, just say the thing and stand by the courage of your own convictions. In any case, Pambani has handled this just in a horrible fashion, building up and building up and building up expectations and then immediately cutting the legs out from underneath her own expectations without even a press conference. Pampani has handled this just horribly. Somebody who's handling this sort of stuff better would be the head of the epa, Lee Zeldin. So Lee Zeldin yesterday put out a video in which he said, listen, I understand that people have a lot of questions about geoengineering and contrails. And instead of just sort of hand waving that away, you should go to our website. We've put together all the information. Here's what Lee Zeldin had to say.

[Joe Piper]

The American public deserves and expects honesty and transparency from their government when seeking answers. But for years, people who ask questions in good faith were dismissed, even vilified by the media and their own government. That era is over. The Trump EPA is committed to total transparency. As a result, I tasked my team at EPA to compile a list of everything we know about contrails and geoengineering for the purpose of releasing it to you now, publicly. That means anyone who reads through this information will know as much about these topics as I do as EPA administrator.

[Ben Shapiro]

And many people on the left were upset with Zeldin for putting this out. Oh, you're giving steam to the. The opposite. He is saying, listen, you have questions. Instead of just dismissing the questions, let me give you the answers to your questions. And when you go over to the epa website. It legitimately lays out all the information that we have about everything on contrails and geoengineering. How do contrails form, how long do they last? What are chemtrails? What is the, the sort of relationship between contrails and chemtrails and all the rest? Just good, solid, scientific. That is the way, by the way, that the Trump administration should approach the Epstein case from here on out. Pam Bondi, Cash Patel, Donald Trump, somebody needs to go out on Monday, later today, hell, and do a two hour press conference where they just field questions, that's it. And answer the questions. Because again, I don't think that Dan Bongino is part of a child rape cover up conspiracy and I don't think Cash Patel is and I don't think Pam Bondi is. I think this is retailed like crap. But I don't think that that's what's happening here. I think what happened is a bunch of people who had the same suspicions that many of the people today who are crying conspiracy had until five minutes ago, saw all the evidence analyzed all the evidence, went through the videos that none of the speculators have seen, went through the documents that none of the speculators have seen, went through all the evidence that none of the speculators have seen and then came to another conclusion because those are the only two possibilities. The two possibilities are that either they are now complicit in a cover up of a child rape gang or they're telling the truth about what they found, but they should answer the questions anyway because again, public disclosure is a better strategy than sort of putting out a two page memo and declaring the whole thing dead. And meanwhile, the Trump administration is still seeking a way forward with regard to Russia and Ukraine. Marco Rubio had a meeting yesterday in Malaysia with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He did convey the White House's disappointment and frustration at the continuation of the war. After a 50 minute conversation with Lavrov, Rubio said he would tell President Trump about a new and different approach to peace talks that was raised in the meeting. Here's what the Secretary of State had to say.

[Ken Martin]

I would say that the overwhelming majority of defense, of military aid that the United States provides Ukraine has never been.

[Ben Shapiro]

Paused and continues along the same schedules that it's been.

[Ken Martin]

I think there's a broader issue unrelated to the pause and that involves the defense productive capabilities of the west, not just us but of Europe as an example.

[Ben Shapiro]

He's saying we need to ramp up our own production. He also said we're going to send some more weapons, president Trump said. We'll send some more weapons. We have to, because they have to defend themselves. The question is whether this is just another Russian gambit to waste time. Until I see otherwise, I'm going to assume that's what it is because again, the Russians have demonstrated no actual interest thus far in pursuing an end to this war at all. Well, the good news is that the US Is now taking the defense production problems fairly seriously. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Pentagon is making a big investment in rare earth magnets, striking an unusual deal with a private sector company aimed at undercutting China's dominance. This is smart. MP Materials, America's largest rare earths miner, said Thursday it has reached a deal under which the Defense Department will take a 15% stake in the company. The government is committed to spending billions of dollars investing in MP Materials and purchasing its output. The deal calls for MP Materials to build a new factory to make rare earth magnets at a scale that vastly exceeds current US magnet production is expected to come online in 2028. The company shares surge around 50% after the deal was announced. Now, do I love the idea of the Defense Department or the Pentagon directly owning firms? I'm not a big fan of this, this sort of activity generally. With that said, anything that ups our production of rare earth minerals and magnets, that is a national security issue at this point. Like a major national security issue, it's used in all of our defense tech. And so anything that gets us off the Chinese supply chain is a worthwhile thing. A better alternative might be to simply sign a long term guaranteed contract. I think one of the reasons that the Trump administration is doing this is because they are hopeful that if a Democrat ever takes over, if the government owns 15% of the company, they're going to fulfill their contracts. They just don't want the government walking this stuff back. In a deal with MP Materials, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Defense is guaranteeing a price floor for rare earth minerals and magnets. This means the company is protected against a scenario in which China fully withdraws its restrictive export policies and the minerals flood into the market, thus lowering global prices. The government will guarantee all magnets produced at the new magnet making facility will be purchased either by the government or by commercial consumers. So again, this is, I think, a smart move. I think it's necessary, unfortunately, because of where these rare earth minerals are mined and, and good for the Trump administration along these lines. Now, meanwhile, President Trump, the anniversary is coming up of the Butler assassination attempt against President Trump. On the back of that attempt, the government has now suspended six Secret Service agents without pay based on the attack last July. The disciplinary action took place in February, according to the Secret Service, which confirmed the news because the Senate report is set to be released any day now. No agents were fired because the entire agency failed, not just the specific agents in this particular case, but the agency came under heavy criticism as well. It should have, given the fact that there was a man lying on a roof shooting a gun directly at the head of the next president and former president of the United States, and that they had not cleared the roof. Here is President Trump recalling what happened during the Butler assassination attempt.

[Joe Piper]

Well, it was unforgettable. I didn't know exactly what was going on. I got a whack, there's no question about that. And fortunately got down quickly and people were screaming and I got down quickly, fortunately, because I think they shot eight bullets. Then one got me and one got. Got another one and one got another one and one killed. Corey the firefighter, great guy.

[Ben Shapiro]

So, again, it was a moment that changed American history forever because that bullet moves half an inch one way and all of American history has changed in a much, much darker direction. Thank God. Thank God the president of the United States survived that assassination attempt. Alrighty. Coming up, we'll jump into economic measures that President Trump is pursuing. Some good, some not so good. Remember, in order to watch, you have to be a member. If you're not a member, become a member. Use Coach Shapiro at checkout for two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us.