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Ep. 2264 - Democratic Party BLEEDING Voters! - The Ben Shapiro Show | Wave AI Podcast Notes

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Ep. 2264 - Democratic Party BLEEDING Voters!

The Ben Shapiro Show

Thu Aug 21 2025

Summary

The Ben Shapiro Show – Episode 2264 Summary

Title: Democratic Party BLEEDING Voters!
Date: August 21, 2025
Host: Ben Shapiro (The Daily Wire)

Episode Overview

In this fast-paced, opinionated episode, Ben Shapiro unpacks a growing crisis in the Democratic Party: a significant decline in voter registration numbers across the country. He details how recent data, including from the New York Times, shows Democrats rapidly losing ground to Republicans, examines the party’s faltering strategy of relying on a multiracial coalition, and highlights figures like Gavin Newsom who are taking an increasingly performative and radical approach in anticipation of future races. Shapiro draws connections from political trends to broader questions of culture and policy, touches on economic anxieties, and closes with sharp critiques of corporate rebranding efforts (e.g., Cracker Barrel). Throughout, he punctuates his analysis with statistics, quotes, and a skeptical tone toward Democratic messaging and solutions.

Main Themes and Purpose

Exposing the Democratic Party’s ongoing voter registration crisis and what it signals for the 2024 and 2028 elections.
Analyzing the failure of Democrats’ identity/coalition politics and the party’s shift toward “authentic” radicalism.
Assessing the political maneuvering of Gavin Newsom and responses from Republicans.
Critiquing attempts at corporate branding changes as symptomatic of broader cultural shifts tied to DEI.
Weighing the implications for economic policy, the Fed, and party platforms as America faces political and fiscal uncertainty.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Democratic Voter Registration Crisis

[04:54–11:12]

Data-Driven Decline:
- New York Times reports a "voter registration crisis" for Democrats; the party has lost about 2.1 million voters between 2020–2024 across 30 states that track registration by party, while Republicans gained 2.4 million.
- Democratic edge over Republicans has fallen from 11 points on Election Day 2020 to 6 points in 2024.
Geographic Breadth:
- The decline is not isolated—affecting battleground, red, and blue states alike (examples: AZ, NV, NC, PA).
Demographics Shifting:
- The Democratic “multiracial coalition” strategy is failing, particularly among working-class non-white voters, young people, and men.
- Ben notes:
  
  "[Democrats] have a massive problem because that multiracial coalition is now growing on the Republican side of the aisle." – Ben Shapiro [08:10]
Expert Commentary:
- Michael Prime, Decision Desk HQ:
  
  "I don't want to say the death cycle of the Democratic Party, but there seems to be no end to this... This is month after month, year after year." – Ben quoting [07:23]
- Maria Cardona, DNC:
  
  "You can't just register a young Latino or young black voter, assume they're going to know it's Democrats that have the best policies." [08:35]

2. Identity Politics Backfires

[11:12–13:35, 21:24–22:30]

Democratic Strategy:
- Party leadership is responding to losses by doubling down on ethnic coalition politics and radical messaging instead of moderating policies.
- Shapiro criticizes this, calling the approach “racialist,” arguing that identity politics is not yielding electoral or policy success.
Radical Messaging Examples:
- Rep. Delia Ramirez (IL):
  
  "Deporting illegal immigrants is unconstitutional, which is insane." [10:58]
Authenticity vs. Radicalism:
- Democratic strategists believe being “always on” and radical projects authenticity (Amy Parnas: "[Newsom] is always on with our ideas and our values... It will project authenticity and who we really are." [20:40])

3. Gavin Newsom as the Party’s Stand-In and the Role of ‘Performance’

[13:35–20:40]

Newsom’s Political Tactics:
- Newsom criticized for both his performative radicalism and calculated moderation, especially online:
  
  "He is trying to present as radical to his base, while going to donors and saying, actually, I’m kind of a political moderate... It’s really inauthentic, but it is smart." – Ben Shapiro [14:35]
- He mimics Trump’s performative style but from the left, focusing on social media trolling and “smash mouth” tactics ("When they go low, we go low. And backed by lots of AI generated slop, end up high in the algorithm." [13:35])
Memorable Newsom Quote:

"We need to stand up to this authoritarian. We need to stand up at this moment. It is foundational. Again, it is not about Republican versus Democrat. This guy is an invasive species. He's completely different." – Gavin Newsom [13:35]
Response to Corporate Flight:
- Bed, Bath & Beyond declines to reopen stores in California, citing an “over-regulated, expensive, and risky environment.” Newsom’s response is mockery rather than engagement ("He’s interested in the trollery that he thinks is going to lift him to the 2028 nomination." [17:32])
- Corporate America is voting with its feet, moving to business-friendly states like Tennessee and Florida.

4. Republican Messaging and Contrast

[27:51–30:00]

Crime in DC:
- Trump administration figures stage an appearance at DC’s Union Station, drawing protests (mostly “old, primarily white people with luxury beliefs”—Shapiro’s phrasing).
J.D. Vance’s Multiracial Appeal:

"It's kind of bizarre that we have a bunch of old, primarily white people who are out there protesting the policies that keep people safe when they've never felt danger in their entire lives." – J.D. Vance [29:08]
Democratic ‘Luxury Beliefs’:
- Shapiro, citing Rob Henderson, suggests Democratic policies amount to “luxury beliefs” that appeal to urban elites but are out of touch with working-class concerns.

5. Redistricting and Racial Politics

[37:09–44:42]

California’s Redistricting Move:
- Newsom seeks a referendum for mid-decade redistricting to counter Texas’ GOP moves. Democrats frame their case as “lifting up” minorities, while attacking Texas for “harming” them.
Ben’s Critique:

"Look how, as the New York Times mentioned, you cannot use race as a proxy for voting anymore. You can't. And the Democrats keep doing it." [41:12]
Barack Obama’s Endorsement:
- Obama backs Newsom’s redistricting, calling for a “fair fight,” but Shapiro accuses him of partisan hypocrisy and setting radical precedents.

6. Economic Anxiety and Federal Reserve Politics

[44:42–58:30]

Fed Policy Under Pressure:
- Trump administration is reportedly pressuring the Federal Reserve for aggressive rate cuts and considering personnel shakeups (threatening to fire or prosecute board members, e.g., Lisa Cook, if they resist).
- Ben warns that politicizing the Fed undermines economic stability and investor confidence.
Potential Bubbles:
- The market is marked by tech sector overvaluation and rising unemployment claims, setting the stage for caution.
Ben’s Economic Warning:

"What you don't want is the feeling that a president who is, in fact, quite variable on his economic policies is actually manipulating the Fed or pressuring the Fed into doing things." [50:14]

7. Corporate Culture Wars: Cracker Barrel’s New Logo

[58:30–End]

Critique of Rebranding:
- Cracker Barrel’s shift to a more generic, DEI-focused brand is used by Ben as a broader symbol of cultural and corporate “blanding,” echoing earlier brand purges like Aunt Jemima.
- Shapiro questions the move’s logic, suggesting:
  
  "It is sad that so much of the IP of America is just getting more and more generic." [59:31]

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

On Democratic decline:

"The Democratic Party is hemorrhaging voters long before they even go to the polls." – Ben Shapiro [05:00]
On party strategy:

"Their plan is to be radical but ethnic." – Ben Shapiro [09:30]
On Gavin Newsom:

"He’s trapped in the glass box. But talking about politics." – Ben Shapiro, mocking Newsom’s gestures [14:35]
On luxury beliefs:

"These are luxury beliefs, as Rob Henderson has suggested." – Ben Shapiro [11:25]
On corporate flight:

"We literally took our company Daily Wire from California to Nashville and Florida in order to have a better business environment." – Ben Shapiro [17:08]
On political performativity:

"Basically Gavin Newsom is Sandwich Guy." – Ben Shapiro [36:43]
On corporate rebranding:

"When you lose that local flavor, you probably will lose some sales as well." – Ben Shapiro [59:31]

Timestamps for Key Sections

Democratic Voter Registration Crisis/Data – [04:54–11:12]
Identity Politics Critique – [11:12–13:35; 21:24–22:30]
Gavin Newsom: Tactics and 2028 Positioning – [13:35–20:40]
DC Crime & Republican Messaging – [27:51–30:00]
Redistricting & Obama’s Influence – [37:09–44:42]
Federal Reserve and Economic Issues – [44:42–58:30]
Cracker Barrel Logo/Corporate Culture – [58:30–End]

Conclusion

Ben Shapiro’s August 21, 2025, episode paints a portrait of the Democratic Party at a crossroads, bleeding voters and losing its narrative grip. He skewers the party’s embrace of identity politics, calls out the performative radicalism of figures like Gavin Newsom, and warns against economic and regulatory instability as key risks to American prosperity and to Republican success. Shapiro wraps up with a cultural critique of rebranding in corporate America, tying it all back to a sense of identity in flux. The overall message: If Democrats want to recover, they must abandon failed coalition strategies and root their solutions in broad, substantive appeals, not just surface “authenticity” or resistance performance.

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Transcript

Ben Shapiro (0:00)

Mama Papa mi cuerpo crece a un ridmo alarmante.

Michael (0:03)

Il arro PA que me comprenora muy pequena.

Ben Shapiro (0:15)

Packages by Expedia. You were made to occasionally take the hard route to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We were made to easily bundle your trip Expedia made to travel flight inclusive packages are atoll protected. These are questions that take cultures thousands.

Michaela (0:33)

Of years to answer.

Ben Shapiro (0:34)

During Answer the Call, I take questions from people just like you about their.

Michaela (0:38)

Problems, opportunities, challenges, or when they simply need advice.

Ben Shapiro (0:42)

How do I balance all of this grief, responsibility? How do you repair this kind of damage?

Michaela (0:48)

My daughter Michaela guides the conversations as we hopefully help people navigate their lives.

Ben Shapiro (0:54)

Everyone has their own destiny. Everyone. A new study shows the Democratic party absolutely bleeding voters. Plus Gavin Newsom is making his 2028 run and for some reason Cracker Barrel is changing its logo. But first, right now on Daily Wire plus stream brand new episodes of the Secret Vatican Files. Be here for the premiere of the Isabel Brown show on September 8th. And don't miss the decade of the Daily Wire anniversary special coming soon. Plus so much more. Here's why you should do it now. You'll save 40% on new annual memberships when you join today. Use code summer@dailywire/com well, President Trump has basically broken the Democratic Party at this point. And that is not just a matter of opinion. That is a matter of actual voter registration fact. There's a fascinating new piece out from the New York Times by Shane Goldmacher and Jonah Smith, all about the Democratic Party facing what they are calling a voter registration crisis. Now, of course, the New York Times, a very left wing publication. But when even the New York Times is noting the Democrats have a massive voter registration problem, that means a massive voter registration problem. And the data here is good data. According to these columnists, the Democratic Party is hemorrhaging voters long before they even go to the polls. Of the 30 states that track voter registration by political party, Democrats lost ground to Republicans in every single one between 2020 and 2024, often by a lot. That four year swing toward the Republicans adds up to 4.5 million voters, a deep political hole that could take years for Democrats to climb out from. So where is that happening? Well, it's happening everywhere. Battleground states, blue states, red states, according to a new analysis of voter registration data by the New York Times. Few measurements reflect the luster of a party's brand, says the New York Times, better than voter registration. And right now, the Democrats are losing it for the first time since 2018, more new voters nationwide chose to be Republicans than Democrats last year. Now, I know that the tendency on the part of the right for this sort of stuff is to be incredibly celebratory. It should be remembered that in 2018, Republican registration outpaced Democratic registration, and then Republicans didn't do amazing in the 2018 midterms, and then they lost the 2020 elections. So things can shift fast. But Democrats are in trouble. All told, Democrats lost about 2.1 million registered voters between 2020 and 2024 in those 30 states, and Republicans gained 2.4 million. There are still more Democrats who are registered nationwide than Republicans because California allows people to register by party. Texas does not. But the trajectory is really, really bad. So, for example, Election Day 2020, Democrats had an 11 percentage point edge over Republicans, and now that is a 6 point edge in 2024. Michael prime, who does data science for Decision Desk HQ, says, I don't want to say the death cycle of the Democratic Party, but there seems to be no end to this. There's no silver lining. There's no cavalry coming across the Hill. This is month after month, year after year. This is true in battleground states like Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Top Democratic strategists say the party's nationwide registration decline is hidden in plain sight crisis that has to be reversed before 2028. In 2018, Democrats accounted for 34% of new voter registrations nationwide. Republicans were only 20%. By 2024, Republicans had overtaken Democrats among new voter registrants. Now, one of the big problems here for the Democrats is that they banked on a multiracial coalition in opposition to basically white Americans. That was the way they did voter registration. If they were doing a voter registration drive, they would go into heavily minority areas, just sign up everybody and assume all of those people were going to be Democrats. And it's not working anymore. That's not according to me. That's according to the New York Times, quote, For years, the left has relied on a sprawling network of nonprofits which solicit donations from people whose identities they need not disclose to register black, Latino and younger voters. Though the groups are technically nonpartisan, the underlying assumption has been that most new voters registering would vote Democratic. Trump has upended that calculation with the inroads he made among working class non white voters. According to one expert, Maria Cardona, who's a longtime member of the dnc. She says you can't just register a young Latino or young black voter. Assume they're going to know it's Democrats that have the best policies. So what exactly are they to do? Again, they have a massive problem because that multiracial coalition is now growing on the Republican side of the aisle. This, by the way, is one of the reasons why the Republican Party should not move in the sort of identitarian direction that is being pushed by some on the right. Because it's, it's very bizarre. As the Republican Party turns less identitarian in terms of its voting base. There are people in the Republican Party who want to turn more identitarian in terms of the Republican ideology, which makes zero sense at all. Picking up Hispanic voters in Florida and Texas is a good thing. And driving those Hispanic voters away by sort of ethnic based appeals to white voters is really dumb. I don't think that's what President Trump is doing. I don't think that's what the Republican Party broadly is doing. But there are certain people in the Republican Party who are doing this routine and it's really stupid. I mean, forget about being morally wrong. It is also incredibly politically dumb right now. According to the New York Times, the Democratic Party has diminished appeal to men and younger voters. In 2018, Democrats accounted for 66% of new voters under the age of 45 who registered with one of the two major parties. By 2024, that number had dropped to 48%. So Republicans went from roughly one third to newly registered voters under 45 to a majority in the last six years. Male voters particularly are falling out of the democratic orbit. Nearly 49% of men newly registering with a major party chose the Democrats in 2020. By 2024, that figure was down to 39%. And by the way, it's happening among women as well. So what exactly should Democrats do? Well, it seems that their plan is to be radical but ethnic. They're not going to moderate in any way. They're not going to move away from these sort of left wing sociology professor politics that they've embraced for so long. But they're going to pretend that it's just a messaging problem, not not an actual policy problem. They're going to slap some sort of ethnic face on the radicalism and hope that that works. This presumably is the logic of people like philanthropist Elizabeth Simons, who's the daughter of the late billionaire hedge fund investor Jamie Simons, who just donated 250 grand to the pro Zoran Mamdani Super PAC New Yorkers for lower costs. So you've got scions of billionaires who are giving money to ethnically diverse Wild leftists. Now again, these are people who grew up in wealth, are now trying to, I, I assume alleviate their socialistic guilt by giving money to again, another scion of privilege and wealth, Zaran Mamdani, who pretends that what he's really about is the little people. Mamdani, of course, has said there should not be billionaires, but he is happy to take money from them. Apparently. In just a moment we will get to the Democratic Party how they shifted from a party of sort of broader ideas to an ethnic solidarity party. It's not working for them. It's broken now. Speaking of things that are broken, your cell phone, it's kind of broken because over time the battery life fades, the processor can't keep up. It's fallen in the toilet perhaps. Is that what you did? I know you did, didn't you? Fortunately, thanks to Pure Talk, your cell phone is something you can replace without feeling guilty when you switch on over to Pure Talk. This month they're going to give you a Samsung Galaxy A36 for free with a $35 qualifying plan. Just 35 bucks a month for talk, text, data and free Samsung phone with scratch resistant Gorilla glass and a battery that lasts all day long. All on America's most dependable 5G network. That network is great, by the way. I go all over the country. I'm constantly traveling and I'm constantly using Pure Talk for my calls. I value my calls. You value your calls. You should be using Pure Talk. Why? Well, you win by cutting your cell phone bill in half and they win by hiring more Americans and helping more veterans make that switch in as little as 10 minutes. Go to PureTalk.com Shapiro get your free phone today. Again, that's PureTalk.com Shapiro switch on over to my wireless company, America's wireless company, Pure Talk. Great network, great coverage, excellent phone. And again, you get that special deal. Go to PureTalk.com get your free phone today. That's PureTalk.com Shapiro also, you know, feeling safe really, really important to me. I used to think that good locks and a loud alarm were enough. Well, then it turns out that real security is about preempting threats, preventing them in the first place. That's why I use SimpliSafe for proactive protection that keeps our studio and employees secure before anything can happen. Most security systems only spring into action after someone's already broken in. 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Visit simplisafe.com Shapiro claim 50% off a new system with a professional monitoring plan. Get your first month for free at simplisafe.com Shapiro there's no safe like SimpliSafe. Meanwhile, again, the goal for the Democratic Party is to continue to say radical things, but apparently they believe that ethnic identity and ethnic solidarity are more important than actual ideas. And so you have Mayor Karen Bass, who's out there calling the homeless in Los Angeles unhoused Angelenos. But of course, she's a member of an ethnic minority and therefore what this sounds better coming from her than it would coming from an upper class white liberal lady. It doesn't. By the way, to the residents of Los Angeles, the weather service has issued the extreme heat warning in the region beginning Thursday through Saturday with temperatures expected to reach as high as 108 in the San Fernando Valley. These, these temperatures could be dangerous, especially for our most vulnerable residents. Children, pets, people who work outside, unhoused Angelenos and those with certain health conditions unhoused Angelenos. I mean, this is the kind of radicalism Democrats have continued to embrace. Or how about Democratic Representative Delia Ramirez from Illinois? She actually makes the claim that deporting illegal immigrants is unconstitutional, which is insane.

Ben Shapiro (11:25)

Again, this sort of radicalism does not play. These are luxury beliefs, as Rob Henderson has suggested. So what are Democrats going to do? Well, if they're smart, what they are going to do is they're going to campaign among the base as radicals and then they're going to swivel toward the middle in terms of policy. And that seems to be the approach of Gavin Newsom. Gavin Newsom is an incredibly calculating politician. Again, I think that his affect is, is quite smarmy. I think that when it, when it comes to the way that he presents to the world, it is lizard person. However, what he's doing right now is smart. He is trying to present as radical to his base while going to donors and saying, actually, I'm kind of a political moderate. Again, that's a smart play. So what has he been doing? Well, he's been posturing mostly. Apparently he's determined to troll his way to the top of social media simply by ripping on President Trump. He understands that for the Democratic base, the thing that matters most is yelling at Trump. It's not policy, it's not trans issues. It's yelling at Trump. According to Politico, with an inescapable smash mouth, all caps laden, meme filled, ex account, California Governor Gavin Newsom is holding a mirror up to maga. And MAGA doesn't like what it sees. There's Newsom on Mount Rushmore. There's Newsom getting prayed over by Tucker Carlson, Kid Rock and an angelic winged Hulk Hogan. There's Newsom posting in all caps, saying his mid cycle redistricting proposal has led many people to call him Gavin Christopher Columbus Newsom because of the maps. Thank you for your attention to this matter. So Steve Bannon, who of course is always quoted by the media, you can always count on Steve to find his way into a political article. For somebody who supposedly despises the legacy media, that dude gets quoted by the legacy media routinely. He is on speed dial for them. Quote, he's trying to mimic President Trump. He's no Trump, but if you look at the Democratic Party, he's at least getting up there. And he's trying to imitate a Trumpian vision of fighting. Right. He looks like the only person in the Democratic Party who is organizing a fight that they feel they can win. Michelle Obama famously advised Democrats to live by addiction. When they go low, we go high. Newsom has approached it a bit differently. When they go low, we go low. And backed by lots of AI generated slop, end up high in the algorithm. So Gavin Newsom was asked about this, actually, and he explains why he shifted tactics from going high to going low.

Ben Shapiro (14:35)

Trump is an invasive species, he says, and he's doing all the hand motions to show you how invasive President Trump is. It's pretty wild. He's doing some, some really good mime hands there. He's trapped in the glass box. But talking about politics. In any case, Gavin Newsom is again doing this performative nonsense for the Democratic base, hoping it's going to jazz up the Democratic base and then watch. He's going to swivel in the actual election to a supposed moderation in policy. It's why with his other hand, he's been doing interviews with right wing influencers in an attempt to pose as moderate. Again, this is smart. I'm not sure it's going to work because it's really inauthentic, but it is smart and it is a recognition for the Democrats that they do have a problem with the broader American public. Their base wants Zoran Mamdani. The rest of the American public does not. As I pointed out in the last election cycle, over and over and over again, Donald Trump sees the middle ground on every single issue, ranging from entitlements to foreign policy. He sees the middle ground on issues like social issues like abortion and trans. And Democrats simply gave it away. Well, they're going to have to move back toward the middle on policy, but they first going to have to pose a lot. They're going to have to do a lot of revolutionary posing. And that is what Gavin Newsom has been doing in some pretty awkward ways, honestly, but it's the best Democrats have at this point. One manifestation of that yesterday, Beyond Inc. Which is the company that owns Bed, Bath and Beyond, put out a statement from Marcus Lamanis, who's the executive chairman of Bed, Bath and Beyond. So Bed, Bath and Beyond used to be a giant chain. They started losing money. They had to close a lot of their shops. They went bankrupt. I remember my wife and I used to go to a Bed, Bath and Beyond pretty regularly. It was located, I believe, the corner of Ventura and Whitsett, if I recall correctly. In any case, their new statement is, quote, we will not open or operate retail stores in California. This decision isn't about politics, it's about reality. California has created one of the most over regulated, expensive and risky environments for businesses in America. It's a system that makes it harder to employ people, harder to keep doors open, harder to deliver values to customers. The result, higher taxes, higher fees, higher wages that many businesses simply cannot sustain. And endless regulations that strangle growth even when the state announced a budget surplus. It's built on the backs of ordinary citizens who are paying too much and businesses who are squeezed until they break. At Bed, Bath and Beyond, our responsibility is to our customers and our shareholders. We will not participate in a system that undermines both. Instead, we are investing in a California strategy that works. 24 to 48 hour delivery and in many cases, same day service. Californians will continue to get the products they leave they love through Bed, Bath and Beyond. Com, but without the inflated costs created by an unsustainable business model. We're taking a stand because it's time for common sense. Businesses deserve the chance to succeed. That's why Bed, Bath and Beyond will serve California customers directly through their website, on our terms, with their best interest at heart. Now they are reopening stores in places like Nashville. So how does Nick avenues and respond to that? Because that's obviously a rip on his garbage business environment, which it is a garbage business environment. We literally took our company Daily Wire from California to Nashville and Florida in order to have a better business environment. So I know exactly what Bed, Bath and Beyond is talking about. So what was Newsom's response? It was trollery, of course. He tweeted out the company that already went bankrupt and closed every store across the country two years ago. Okay. And then his press office is where he does most of his trolling. Put out a statement, quote, after their bankruptcy and closure of every store, like most Americans, we thought Bed, Bath and Beyond no longer existed. We wish them well in their efforts to become relevant again as they tried to open a second store. So just ridiculous. I mean, I'm sorry. Just ridiculous. You were one of the factors leading to them having to close stores and now you're celebrating that they're not opening stores in California. So Marcus Lamanis then responded quote Dear governor Gavin Newsom, I thought that your post would suggest we bring business leaders together to understand how to improve the four pillars friction of business and find a way to make it better. 1. Streamline regulation consistent simplified compliance rules across state and local levels. 2. Balanced labor environment that's good for employees and employers. 3. Litigation reform reducing abusive lawsuits while keeping protection for workers. 4. Competitive tax and cost structure incentives to come as opposed to disincentives to leave. Also, we bought the IP over two years ago and have built Bedbath and Beyond.com into a billion dollar online business. We'll target opening 300 small to mid sized neighborhood stores through our Kirkland's investment. You are a smart man. I know the post below is out of frustration, okay, but again, Gavin Newsom is not interested in doing business with Bed Bath and Beyond. He's interested in the trollery that he thinks is going to lift him to the 2028 nomination. According to Amy Parnas, writing for the Hill, Newsom has taken a page from Trump's playbook, mirroring everything from the president's rants to his social media habits. In recent days, the California governor has touted his own beautiful midterm redistricting proposal and his beautiful rally to boot. Needling Trump's braggadocious ways, Newsom has started to write his social media posts in all caps, just like the president. And he's come up with his own Trumpy nickname for the president. Taco, short for Trump, always chickens out, an acronym that originated on Wall street reaction to President Trump's moves on tariffs and is designed to annoy the White House. And meanwhile, Democrats are really, really happy about that because again, the idea. It's funny, whenever a party loses, the idea seems to be from the party that they don't have to shift positionally. It's all about the attitude that if you if you're just stronger and and the resistance is stronger, then you're going to if only you had more passion, then you'd win. Well, if you are losing in secular fashion across the country, perhaps the reason for that is because your policies aren't popular across the country. But Democrats, again, they are. They're more interested in the excitement than they are in the actual political change. Maybe at the end of this, after he wins the nomination or something, Newsom shifts to the middle in an attempt to win a general maybe. But right now that's not what Democrats are excited about that's not going to get their voter registration numbers up. But again, I think they are waiting for some sort of white knight to save them here. Eric Swalwell, last scene with Chinese spy Fang Fang. He says that he loves it. He's super into it.

Ben Shapiro (22:30)

And so, you know, it's going to be fascinating to see if the Democratic Party can somehow recover from this death spiral that it is in. The first thing they need to do is abandon their racialist approach to American politics. It has been a disaster for them. Again, the Democratic Party took the wrong path in 2012 when Barack Obama won reelection. He won in 2008 in his original election, based on the idea that all Americans ought to be treated similar. No. No white Americans, no black Americans, just Americans. No red Americans, blue Americans, just Americans. We're all Americans. And then by 2012, it was, we're black Americans and we have some interests. And then we're gay Americans, they have some interests, Latino Americans have. Will give each of you something from the goody jar, and then we'll have a coalition. And that was the basic idea of 2012. And then he won. And the Democratic Party ever since has been unable to shake the belief that demographically, they were going to win if they just kept appealing to growing minorities in the United States. And then President Trump came along, and it turns out that none of that held. Now, we should have known that that wasn't going to hold forever, because demographics are not, in fact, destiny in the United States. Huge blocks of ethnic voters have moved from one party to the other over time. Blacks used to be Republicans in the early 20th century. Then they moved over to the Democratic party during the FDR tenure. And then even further during the 1960s. You saw the same thing happen with Irish voters, German voters, Italian voters, Jewish voters. Actually, you've seen massive shifts based on the politics of the various parties. Ethnic voters don't vote as blocks. Typically, they vote over time as individuals. The most important thing in this respect has been the shift in the Latino vote that happened over the course of the last couple of election cycles toward President Trump. Can Democrats shake the idea that simply by making ethnic appeals, they will win? I don't know if they can. I don't know. It's a real problem for them. The first thing they're going to have to shake if they want to do that is the sort of inside the Beltway luxury belief culture that they have cultivated. And that means, for example, that they should probably let go of the idea that fighting crime is somehow bad already. Coming up, the Trump administration is just owning the libs when it comes to the crime issue. But in other news, here's the reality. You're not getting enough fiber. I know it seems like a non sequitur, because it is, because it's just that important. You aren't. You aren't getting your fruits and veggies. 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So yesterday, there was a situation in which a bunch of members of the Trump administration headed on down to Shake Shack inside Union Station in order to presumably get lunch. Now, let's be clear what's going on here. The reason the Vice President decides to go to Shake Shack is because they know the protesters are there. Ok? This is not like this idea that suddenly the VP and the Defense Secretary and the White House Deputy Chief of Staff all decide to go out for lunch at Shake Shack, of all places, in Union Station. They went there because they wanted to be heckled, because they knew it'd be a good photo and, you know, good for them, because the more you can demonstrate that the left has these luxury beliefs where fighting crime is somehow bad, that the more you can demonstrate they're out of touch with ordinary people. According to the Wall Street Journal, as these three members of the Trump administration met with National Guard personnel, they were at times drowned out by nearby protesters who shouted, Free D.C. miller said, we're going to ignore these stupid white hippies. We'll need to go home and take a nap. Here was Miller going off. Stephen Miller is. He does not pull punches. That much can be said for Stephen.

Ben Shapiro (30:00)

I mean, we can actually try to count all the white people in the protest. We have some footage of the crowd that was booing Vance and Hegseth as they entered DC's Union Station to not just get lunch, by the way, go visit the National Guard troops over there. Here's what the video looked like. Z. Here comes Vance. Here comes Hexad. And that is indeed a lot of old white people, some reporters, a lot of white people doing a lot of yelling. In fact, the. The only black person I see in this entire picture is a cameraman. So, yeah, I mean, again, if the Democratic Party's idea is old white people scream at J.D. vance or Donald Trump or Pete Hagseth, good luck to you. Now, it is worth noting that the Democratic Party has basically decided that resistance to Trump is more important than actually solving problems. There's polling on what Trump is doing in DC, and according to the Washington Post, Washington, D.C. residents overwhelmingly oppose President Trump's decision to take over the D.C. police order, federal law enforcement and the national guard onto district streets. 65% don't think his actions will make the city safer from violent crime. According to a Washington Post Post char School Poll, 31% of district residents say crime is an extremely or very serious problem in the city. That's down from 50% in May and 65% in spring of 2024. Presumably that's because some people are are coding that question as, do you approve of what Trump is doing about crime? Now, residents do show agreement on only one view. Just under half think increasing punishments for convicted teenagers would reduce violent crime, which is a President Trump policy aim, obviously. So again, it is. It is fascinating. In Washington D.C. it is certainly true that the politically driven are less interested in solving problems than in yelling at President Trump. For sure, for sure. According to the polling, by the way, as of Aug. 17, 54% of D.C. residents who are polled here say that crime is getting better in D.C. 17% say worse. If you go back to just May, 29% said better and 28% said worse. As far as how many people were worried about being victims of various crimes in their day to day life, the answer is 39% were worried about being carjacked, 43% were worried about a theft in a public place. 36% were worried about physical assault. Those are actually very, very high numbers, like truly high numbers in most of the country. The answer is very low. Asked whether people that they knew have been victims of particular violent crimes, 27% said yes, that someone they knew, a close friend, had been a victim of violent crime. Another 14 said a member of their immediate family. Ten percent said they themselves have been a victim of violent crime in Washington D.C. and it is true that the National Guard soldiers are certainly more visible. According to that polling, 55% of the people polled said that they have seen and noticed federal law enforcement officers in Washington D.C. but 61% said it's made them feel less safe, which is just a lie. I'm sorry, that that is people using that question as a proxy for do you approve of President Trump or do you not approve of President Trump? Now again, you can take the hatred of President Trump as your guiding star. If you're a Democrat, you can. Is that going to solve the problem, the underlying problems that are causing more and more people to register Republican? The answer is no. Listen, D.C. is never going to vote Republican. With that said, the Democratic Party voter registration problem is present in places like Washington D.C. they're not going to lose the city, but they certainly could lose parts of the city in terms of the demographics to President Trump. And it is amazing that Democrats in the city refuse to actually solve their problems instead of just yelling it at President Trump. Washington, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser was asked about crime stat manipulation in D.C. he says don't worry, don't worry, we're not manipulating the crime. Stats are going down.

Ben Shapiro (34:45)

Okay, so again, they're just going to continue, I assume to falsify those crime stats. Meanwhile, because of the resistance to Trump and this explains everything that Gavin Newsom is doing, he thinks he's going to win voters like this. Apparently you remember just last week there was that rather girly throwing person in the polo shirt who chucked a sandwich Chuck de Hoagie at one of the National Guard soldiers, then got his ass arrested. It turns out he worked for the DOJ and you know, now got fired. Well, now apparently the sandwich has become a sign of resistance. By the way, this is just a demonstration of a totally unserious country. When throwing a sandwich at a National Guard officer, is it like in actual countries with actual tyranny? Signs of resistance involve standing in front of tanks in Tiananmen Square, for example. In unserious countries, signs of resistance involve throwing a hoagie at National Guard member and then getting out on bail. But according to 51st, which is a DC centric website like almost everyone else, Lorraine Hughes saw the footage as it rocketed across social media last week. A man clad in shorts and a pink shirt angrily gesticulating in front of a federal officer on U Street Northwest before throwing an uneaten sub sandwich at his chest. A brief chase ensues and the man known by the Internet as sandwich guys apprehended. Inspiration quickly struck for the hobbyist printmaker. She started carving a design into a linoleum block, rolled red paint along the elevated edges and pressed the block into a piece of paper. I love the DC flag. It's an awesome clean design, she said. Something about the sub fitting right in for the bars seemed like a good substitute, who posted a picture of the resulting print on the Reddit channel for Washington, D.C. it prompted thousands of likes and requests for copies of the print. She spent the weekend furiously taking orders for pins, tote bags and T shirts bearing the new design. First of all, capitalism always wins, gang, she said. I realize subsandwich Hard is a very specific cultural moment, but again, this has become like the rallying point. So basically Gavin Newsom is Sandwich Guy. I assume he throws better than Sandwich Guy, but it is demonstrative of where the left is. Basically, they are now. They are now relegated to throwing sandwiches as people at people in the desperate hope that this will win them back political popularity. Now there are only a couple of things that can win them back political popularity. One of them would be shifting their position, which it seems like they're not going to do. The other could be an economic downturn. I keep warning about this because again, political policy makes an awful big difference. I do not like corporatism. I do not like unpredictable tariffs. I am concerned. I think the economy continues to sort of froth and bubble. But to More on this in just a moment. First, when we started the Daily Wire, we did it to bring truth to America without that leftist bent. And then after Harry's Razors pulled their advertising from us for saying that boys are boys and girls are girls and not that boys can be girls or anything, we launched Jeremy's Razors to be the sole company in the industry to deliver a great shave that isn't afraid of biological reality. Well, right now you can try Jeremy's razors for just 799 and behold, I have for your perusal this. It is indeed a razor, barber grade blades, moisturizing aloe strip, a weighted handle and a Damn good shave. Only 7.99. It's our lowest price ever. Join the hundreds of thousands of daily wirelessness who use Jeremy's Razors go to Jeremy's razors.com Ben today join the fight for sanity. That's Jeremyrazors.com Ben also, quick question. Do you have the Daily Wire plus app on your phone or TV? If not, you should. Because when you tap follow under my picture you'll get notified the second I go live or drop a new episode. Need to step away? No problem. You can jump right back in where you left off if you want something fast. Watch my shorts, the clips everybody sharing on social media right there on the app. And with the Explore tab, every show, every episode is all in one easy to find place. This is where our community actually lives. Chatting live during shows, sharing ideas, debating big questions. And since it's our app, we can't be canceled, filtered, censored. Don't just listen. Join us Download the Daily Wire plus app now in the App Store, Google Play, Roku, Samsung and more. Speaking of the radicalism in the Democratic Party again a Gavin Newsom sort of take here is the redistricting in California in violation of the California Constitution. Now he's trying to get a referendum passed in November that will allow for a one time redistricting in response to Texas Republicans redistricting. And again, notice the racialist sort of tenor of so much of this Democratic Representative Aguilar, California 33rd. He's arguing that California. Pete Aguilar, the Democratic caucus chair, he's arguing that California needs to redistrict. Why? Because California is helping minorities, whereas Texas is. Is somehow harming minorities by creating, I think, more majority Hispanic districts. This is a temporary measure to answer what Donald Trump is trying to do across this country. It is. It is temporary and it is considerate of the Voting Rights act, which is something that Texas does not care about. They are splitting communities of color. We are doing everything we can in this map to lift up those communities of interest and protect the Voting Rights Act. We honor and at. Look, lift that work up again. It is amazing. So if Texas redistricts, it's harming minorities. If California redistricts, it's somehow helping minorities. First of all, I was unaware that one man, one vote is supposed to not apply based on your race. I think it's precisely the. The opposite, actually. But again, this is the, this is the idea that is being promoted by Democrats across the aisle, you know, all across the spectrum. Eddie Glaud of MSNBC, he says redistricting in Texas is somehow racist. 4.3 million black people live in Texas, the largest number of black folk in any state, in any country in the union. And third, look at that districting map. How are their voices going to be represented? So I want us to understand what we're seeing, not only in Texas, but around the country, as a part of racial gerrymandering, as part of the racialist and racist agreement agenda of the Trump administration. I know we want to talk about it simply in terms of politics, but there's something insidious underneath it all. And by the way, look how they cannot get out of their own way. Look how, as the New York Times mentioned, you cannot use race as a proxy for voting anymore. You can't. And the Democrats keep doing it. They're using race as a proxy for how you should draw the voting districts, because they believe that they can draw districts simply based on the race of the people in them and that that will somehow guarantee a Democratic win or a Republican win in a particular district. That isn't true. Meanwhile, Barack Obama underscoring his own radicalism. So President Obama has been speaking out a lot more lately. That is presumably because his party is on the skids. And it turns out the Obama movement was a giant fail. Everything that has happened since Barack Obama became president in 2008 has not been good for the country. It has not. Barack Obama is, I think, the single most transformative president of my lifetime in the negative direction. Now, President Trump may end up being most transformative president in my lifetime in the. In the other direction. But that too is a reaction to the excesses of Barack Obama. The idea that Barack Obama is somehow still touted as a bizarre Democratic moderate is beyond. It's beyond speech. It's so stupid. If you remember back to the Obama era, Barack Obama was a radical left winger in the Senate. He was a radical left winger as president. It's the reason he was unpopular going into 2012. And then he was even more radical in his second term. He set the predicate for all of this. I'm just going to pick up my pen and pick up my phone. I don't need Congress. He's going to unilaterally just do things. It was Barack Obama who set all the groundwork for all this. Well, now he is green lighting the California redistricting effort. He says, I wanted just a fair fight between Republicans and Democrats based on who's got better ideas and take it to the voters and see what happens. But I want to be very clear. He always wants to be very clear here from Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House. I love that that Barack Obama is, is now suggesting that Donald Trump was the head of a partisan White House. Barack Obama's IRS literally targeted conservative nonprofits. Barack Obama's regime legitimately went after the little sisters of the poor. He went after nuns to get them to subsidize abortion care. Barack Obama suggesting that he was somehow a nonpartisan president is insane. Anyway, he says given the Texas is taking direction from a partisan White House that is effectively saying gerrymander for partisan purposes so we can maintain the House despite our unpopular policies. Ridiculous. Right in the middle of a decade between censuses, which is not how the system was designed. I have tremendous respect for how Governor Gavin Newsom has approached this. I, I have a feeling that he could find a way to justify any redistricting by any Democrats at any time. Actually, I, I don't believe him when he says that. That's only a response to Texas. If California decided to redistrict to stop Trump's agenda just on its own, he would do that as well. But for the Democrats, again, you can see Gavin Newsom taking advantage of all of this. Is it going to be successful? I don't know. It might not be in the state of California. Even if it is, is he going to be able to reverse the fact that demographics are cutting against Democrats, that voter registration is cutting against Democrats? No. But all Gavin Newsom wants out of this is the 2028 nomination. And what that, what does that mean? Means performative resistance. And it means a lot of cursing. Here we go.

Ben Shapiro (44:12)

So much verbal grind. It's like a teenage girl in a man's body. Take a lozenge, my friend. And meanwhile, as I've said before, the. The biggest obstacle to continued Republican success is it is not, in fact, President Trump's immigration policy or his crime policy or his foreign policy, all of which are excellent. The biggest obstacle is the possibility of an economic downturn. And as I've said a thousand times, what do investors want from the Trump administration? What do they want? They only want a few things. Deregulation, we're doing that. Lower taxes, we're doing that. Predictability, we're not doing that at all. Every investor I know is kind of holding his or her breath waiting to see what President Trump is going to do on a day to day basis. And that's also true when it comes to the Fed. So there is a widespread sentiment that the Federal Reserve is very likely to lower the interest rates 25 basis points at their upcoming meeting. And that's probably what needs to happen, given the fact that inflation has really not popped in the way that many people thought that it would immediately after the tariffs. Now, it's also possible that there will be some inflation that bleeds into the economy. But even if that were true, the kind of inflation that's being produced by tariffs tends to be transitory. Why? Well, because if you temporarily increase the prices of goods and services through tariffs, then demand lowers, and when demand lowers, then the prices go back down. Now, that does mean more economic stagnation, and theoretically, you can counteract some of that by subsidizing easy money policies via the Fed, which I think is what President Trump is calling for at this point. However, there was apparently broad Federal Reserve support for keeping those interest rates steady last month. According to the minutes from last month's meeting, almost all officials supported the decision, implying that apart from two dissenting officials, it was backed by the remaining 16 officials who participated. According to the Wall Street Journal, the decision followed a period of intense political pressure on Fed chair Jerome Powell by the White House to lower interest rates. Officials maintained their benchmark policy rate in a range between 4.25% and 4.5% as they weighed how importers, retailers and consumers were split the cost of higher duties on imports. The written accounts of the meeting, released with a customary three week lag, suggested officials were divided over when they could be confident higher import costs wouldn't lead to a period of broader rolling price hikes. Some officials said a great deal could be learned in coming months. Others said it would not be feasible or appropriate to wait for complete clarity on the tariffs effects on inflation before adjusting the stance of monetary policy. Now again, there are a lot of people who are suspicious that Fed Chair Jerome Powell has basically now staked his own political reputation on saying no to Trump. That that includes people, by the way, who are not on the right side of the aisle politically. People like Mohammed El Erian of Alianz. He has suggested that Jerome Powell needs to go simply because of the sort of patina of politics that now resides and hovers over Jerome Powell. Since that meeting, economic data have strengthened the argument of so called doves who favor rate cuts because job growth in May and June was revised lower. Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, who last month dissented in favor of a cut, have argued officials shouldn't react to price increase from tariffs because those aren't likely to be repeated. That is the argument I was making which is that these inflation arguments are transitory. Now again I have to say that I think central bank driven artificially low interest rates tend to lead to bubbles. This is what happened during the Greenspan years and then happened again during the Jerome Powell early years. Easy money policies tend to lead to bubbles. We already have an extremely high PE ratio on Wall street that is particularly driven by the insane out of whack price to earnings ratios of the big tech companies which are now trading at in some cases over a hundred times price to earnings. So you really need to have an earnings ramp up to justify that, that sort of investment. So I'm suspicious that we are already in a bubble. I know that a lot of people are hesitant to say that. I know there's a lot of cross currents in the economy right now, a lot of confusion in the economy. But if you look at how the stock market is going right now, what you are seeing is that investors are pouring money into the tech companies because they look scalable and they are not pouring money into any other part of the Stock market. Well, why does this matter? Well, what you want from the Federal Reserve, when I talked about predictability, what you want on the Federal from the Federal Reserve is a feeling that they are in fact dispassionate, that they are going to look at all the economic factors and then make the best decision for the future of the economy. What you don't want is the feeling that a president who is in fact quite variable on his economic policies is actually manipulating the Fed or pressuring the Fed into doing things. You know, we saw already the President fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he didn't like the last jobs report. And as I said at the time, I thought that was a negative. I didn't think there was a real upside to that. Why? Well, because the head of the BLS just takes in the stats and then churns out whatever the outcome of the stats is. You can argue with the methodologies that are used, you can change those methodologies, but you're not going to simply fix the jobs numbers by replacing the person at the head of the bls. And all that's going to do is underscore the idea that now the data that you're going to get are actually being pushed by the Trump administration particularly. I'm not in favor of that. Well, meanwhile, the President has been exerting pretty open pressure, not just on Jerome Powell, but now on another member of the Federal Reserve. Governor Lisa Cook. Now may not agree with Lisa Cook on economics. In fact, I probably don't. I may think that that Lisa Cook tends to be politically left. Okay. That that does not change the reality for investors, which is the more perception there is that the central government of the United States is pressuring the Federal Reserve in one direction or another, the less certainty there is going to be that the Federal Reserve central banking policy of the United States is geared toward most sane outcome rather than most politically palatable outcome for the administration. According to Axios, the Trump administration is pursuing wholesale changes at the Federal Reserve with a ruthlessness and creativity few Fed watchers could have imagined. The President's demands for lower interest rates are not just rhetoric. His attacks aren't limited to the insults against Chair Jerome Powell. Rather, the administration is pursuing a sophisticated multi front war to try to install loyalists atop the Fed much faster than normal turnover would allow. Now, remember the way that it works over at the Federal Reserve. It's not that Jerome Powell unilaterally gets to make a decision about what the interest rates are. He is not a one man show over There, the way that it works is that there's something called the Federal Open Markets Committee. And the Federal Open Markets Committee decides exactly how this goes. It consists of 12 members, the seven members of the Board of Governors, the president of the Federal Reserve bank of New York, and four of the remaining 11 Reserve bank presidents who serve one year terms on a rotating basis. So the current 2025 committee members include Jerome Powell. It does include Lisa Cook. It also includes people like Chris Waller, who was on Trump's side in the last debate. Now, as for Cook, she's a professor of economics and International relations at Michigan State University. She was a research associate at one point at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She was at the faculty at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. But again, she leans left. She was a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisors under President Obama. So there's a reason why President Trump wants her gone, I would assume. With that said, is that going to be enough? I mean, if the idea is that Trump is going to radically remake the FOMC to back his economic priors, that is not going to make investors sort of more eager to invest. It's going to make them less eager because what they will figure is that the President of the United States is pushing people into doing things they wouldn't otherwise do. Bill Pulte is the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. He posted on X a letter to the Attorney General saying it appears Lisa Cook, quote, has falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statutes. She took out a mortgage on a Michigan house represented to be her principal residence. And then shortly thereafter, she took out a loan on an Atlanta condominium that was also described as her principal residence, according to Pulte's letter. Now, she hasn't actually defaulted on either loan, actually. And Pulte has been going after both California Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James on similar grounds. Well, now President Trump is posting that Cook must resign. And apparently Wall Street Journal is reporting he's considering a firing Cook for cause. So he has a nominee who's going to be up? Stephen Moran, who had joined Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller as Trump appointees on the seven person Board of Governors. With another vacancy, Trump appointees would then attain a 4 to 3 majority. And that would give Trump appointees power over the Fed system's budget, staffing and selection of Reserve bank presidents. So it could rig the system for the next couple of years. Right now, Cook's term is not scheduled to expire until 2020 38, which is extremely long, by the way. The Board of Governors has to vote to approve reappointment of everybody who is on a five year term because the 12 presidents of the Reserve bank serve five year terms. They're all scheduled to expire at the end of February. So theoretically, if President Trump were able to gain a 4:3 majority on the board of Governors, he could then stack the FOMC just a few months from now in February. Now, is this likely? Maybe he'll get the rate cuts that he wants out of that. Let's assume that Trump gets best of all possibilities for him. He gets the rate cuts that he wants. Big rate cuts. We go all the way down to, you know, interest rates in the threes, for example. Again, like real cuts. We're all the way down to 275. Are investors going to simply bet that the economy booms based on that, or are we just going to get gigantic bubbles? This is the problem with central bank policy. As a general rule, I'm more in favor of floating interest rates without the central bank setting these sorts of rules. Great book called the Price of Time, all about interest rates. That suggests that actually artificially low interest rates are just as damaging as very, very high interest rates. In their own way, they lead to this delay effect where the bubble bursts and then everybody pays the price. According to the Wall Street Journal's editorial board, this is nasty business. Jerome Powell does not have the authority to remove Ms. Cook. Why would he know anything about her mortgages? The context for Mr. Pulte's accusations is relevant. President Trump is angry the Fed hasn't cut interest rates. Cook voted with Powell to stand pat at last month's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. So the Trump administration is trying to bludgeon Cook into supporting a rate cut under threat of removal and criminal prosecution. The FHFA's job under Pulte is to ensure Fannie and Freddie don't take on too much risk so taxpayers don't have to bail them out. Again, has happened between 2008, 2009. But instead, PTI is going after people that President Trump doesn't like. So again, this is, this is. At the very least, do I think that this is going to be a good thing for the economy? Probably not. Meanwhile, The S&P 500 has fallen for the fifth consecutive day because Walmart put out its earnings and its shares dip more than 4% because they beat the quarterly sales estimate. But they missed their earnings expectations. That's the first time that Walmart has missed its quarterly earnings expectations since May of 2022. And again, we are still waiting to hear from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday in Jackson Hole where he could actually explain what the hell he is thinking here. The market this week, according to cnbc, has been pressured by a heavy bout of selling. Investors took profits from high flying names including Nvidia, Palantir and Meta. Adam Criso, founder of Vital Knowledge, said there just hasn't been much conviction behind the recent bout of tech selling and most people assume it will be over relatively soon. This mindset suggests a dangerous degree of complacency. It means the pain trade will be for the tech underperformance to continue. And again, an enormous amount of of what is going on right now has to do with variable economic policy. It does. According to the Labor Department that put out a report Today, jobless claims total 235000 for the week ending August 16th. That is up 11000 from the prior period, higher than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 225 000. It was the highest level since June 21. Continuing claims rose to 1.97 million. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia's manufacturing index for August posted an unexpectedly weak reading of negative 0.3%. That is down 15.9 from the prior month and below the estimate for 7.0. So again, I've been saying all along that I do not think that classical economic theory is wrong. I just think it takes a while for everything to materialize. And my great hope for President Trump is that he watches the numbers. I know that he does and that while watching the numbers, the President of the United States starts to make the kinds of policy changes that are likely to lead to long term and short term economic boomed. Meanwhile, speaking of corporate America, Cracker Barrel is now under fire. Why? What did Cracker Barrel do? Well, they changed their logo. Their, their logo used to be, I thought, rather charming, is kind of a middle aged farmer, white guy sitting on a chair leaning against a barrel with, with a logo that said Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. And it was kind of charming, it didn't look generic. And now their new logo is basically just like they kept the same letters for Cracker Barrel, the same font and everything. But they just got rid of the dude leaning on the barrel and the chair and the old country store and they just made it into like a yellow block that kind of looks like you're driving into it a Carl's Jr or something I. I don't. I do not like, I guess, that the shape is supposed to be in the shape of a sideways barrel, but, I mean, you'd have to kind of think about that, I guess. It's a bad. It's a bad move. It's a very bad move. It is getting rid of historic IP in favor of something absolutely and ridiculously generic. So when it first opened in 1969, apparently Cracker Barrel had a logo with just text. In 1977, it updated its logo to have that dude who is resting by the barrel. The restaurant says the new logo is now rooted even more closely to the iconic barrel shape and wordmark that started it all. Apparently, it also noted that farm fresh scrambled eggs and buttermilk biscuits were the inspiration behind the color palette in the new campaign. All right. I mean, sure, I guess, whatever. The new updates are part of the company's all the More campaign that positions the iconic American brand for the future. So apparently here is Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felse Messino trying to explain why they. Why they just mutilated the logo this way. What if all the customers are coming at you hard enough about the look of the restaurant and they want to go back to the old way? Would you do it?

Ben Shapiro (59:31)

So, you know, again, this is reminiscent. Not. Not in the same sort of way. This is very reminiscent of that time that you remember there used to be Angel Mima syrup that was. That was in your refrigerator, and now it's Pearl Milling Company. You don't know that it's called Pearl Milling Company. By the way, that's the first that you've heard about this. It just looked like the same color. So you picked it up at the grocery store. And during the great racial reckoning of 2020, they decided they had to redo the entire logo for Andema's pancake flower and. And all the rest, which, again, is. Is kind of bizarre because the actual story of the woman who was Anima is a fascinating story. Her name was Nancy Green and according to ABC News, she was born into slavery in Montgomery County, Kentucky. She moved to a deeply divided Chicago. She became a strong voice at Olivet Baptist Church. And apparently Green is the essential worker. You know, she, she was seen as an like one of the key part. Many people's kitchens were sort of integrated this way. And ABC actually found a descendant of this woman who said that actually he was kind of sad that they, that they got rid of this. Apparently said she was the trusted face back then. Anybody who would look at an African American woman cooking, they knew they could trust her cooking, that she could cook and they got rid of it anyway. And this is supposed to make the country better. Obviously this has fixed everything. So I'm, I'm not sure what Cracker Barrel is, is doing here. It doesn't make a lot of sense. Cracker Barrel does of course have many DEI initiatives. If you take a look at their corporate website, they have the LGBTQ + + divided by sign alliance. They have a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging department. In other words, they do all of the usual sort of left wing tropes. They have a, a group inside the company called Be Bold to cultivate and develop black leaders within the Cracker Barrel organization, utilizing allyship, mentorship and education to create a path to continued excellence. Blah blah, blah, blah blah blah. They have the Cracker Barrel Neurodiverse collective which is interesting. They have Hola, which is the group inside Cracker Barrel that promotes Hispanic and Latino culture through hiring, developing and retaining talent within Cracker Bar. So basically they're just a generic New York based kind of company. I suppose it seems like that's what they're doing. Well, my, my guess is that when you lose that local flavor, you probably will lose some sales as well. We'll find out. It is kind of sad that, that, that so much of the IP of America is just getting more and more generic. I mean I'm old enough to remember when, when McDonald's had the big golden arches outside and now they've decided to, to dump that in so many places and, and they, they've instead gone with this very generic logo. I don't know this kind of stuff. I'm, I'm not a big fan of. Alrighty folks. The show continues for our members right now. We'll get to the latest on Ukraine. It seems like Vladimir Putin not up for a deal. Not particularly shocking. Remember, in order to watch you have to be a member. If you're not a member, become a member. Use code Shapiro Checkout for two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us SA.