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Here's a topic most people avoid planning for the inevitable. Death comes for all of us. I know a dark thought, but that doesn't mean that you have to leave chaos behind. Our sponsor, Trust and Wills online estate planning helps you get your affairs in order. If you got kids, you own a home or you're caring for aging parents, it's time to think about estate planning. You're not alone in putting this off. 43% of Americans admit they haven't gotten around to making a will yet. We all procrastinate, even on important stuff like naming a guardian for your kids. The good news, Trust and Will lets you create an estate plan in about 30 minutes. And even if you're not sure where to start, their online platform guides you through every step. And you can get one on one help from attorneys in your state if you need it. Worried about the cost or think you don't have enough assets? Everybody has something worth passing on. Trust and Will believes estate planning should be accessible to everyone. So they've made it affordable today and valuable when it matters tomorrow. Don't wait until it's too late. Protect your loved ones today, tomorrow and beyond with Trust and Will, the most trusted name in online estate planning. Go to trustandwill.com and get 20% off. That's trustandwill.com Shapiro to get your 20% off. Trustandwill.com Shapiro well folks, America's allies are finally ready to step up to the plate after years of dithering on the Iranian threat and now weeks of Iran firing off missiles and drones at America's allies. Those allies are ready with all their combined strength. Germany, France, the uk, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Japan. They are firing on all cylinders with urgency and and resolve and action. Yes, that's right. Our allies who have been reliant on our largesse and mutual defense for decades, they finally announced that they are going to help us, their patron state, the United States, with a very strongly worded letter. The reality is our allies are doing what they do best. They are saying things. At some point the question has to be asked, who actually are our allies? Who is actually stepping up to the plate? Who is, who is merely judging from the sidelines. Welcome back to the Ben Shapiro Show. Now folks, you should subscribe over@dailywire.com subscribe because we have constant real time interaction with you. When you do, you get to be part of our team and part of the mission. So go check it out right now. DailyWire.com subscribe well, in lieu of any real World support. Our valiant allies have now issued a strongly worded letter. Here's what the letter says. Quote, we condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces. We express our deep concern about the escalating conflict. We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks, and other attempts to block the strait to commercial shipping and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817. Ooh. The UN Security Council.
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Ooh.
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We call for an immediate, comprehensive moratorium on attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations. We call on all states to respect international law and uphold the fundamental principles of international prosperity and security. Whoa, dude, harsh stuff. Iran must be quaking in its boots. Our allies are saying things. Whoa. The Europeans, Japan, they're expressing. Wait, wait. Deep concern. Not just like regular concern, deep concern. They are calling on Iran to do things and to stop being so mean. But wait, isn't there some sort of commitment to action in the letter? Well, the statement does say this. Quote, we express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning. That sounds good, right? Well, what does appropriate efforts mean? Who decides what is appropriate? According to Axios, all of this is just mushmouth nonsense. Quote, On Thursday morning, NATO head Mark Rudy and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and convinced him to lift his opposition to the political statement of support, while leaving the discussion on the practical steps for later. Now, to be fair to Mark Rudy, there's not much he can really do. He's ahead of NATO, but he can't just deploy force. He certainly recognizes the Iranian threat, and he would like to not alienate the United States. We all agree, as we always did, that it was crucial for Iran not to get his hands on a nuclear capability, a ballistic missile capability. And what the US Is doing at
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the moment is degrading that capability of Iran.
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And I think that's very important. This is important for European security, for the Middle East. It is vital for Israel itself. Well, the Japanese are also paying lip service. Here is the Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takeaichi. I firmly believe that it is only you, Donald, who can achieve peace across the world. And to do so, I am ready to reach out to many of the partners in the international community to achieve our objective together. So what are our allies actually committing to well, nothing. Now listen, this sort of stupidity is nothing new for our allies, who are quite fond of empty verbiage as a substitute for credible threat of force. Go all the way back to 1919, when the Covenant of the League of Nations was integrated into the Treaty of Versailles. That attempt to form a family of nations. Well, it was not a success in 28. In 1928, actually, just a few years later, 15 countries came together to sign what was called the Kellogg Briand Pact. It outlawed war. Yeah. Did you actually know that that war was outlawed in 1928? The signatories included France, the U.S. the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Italy and Japan. 47 more nations joined in as well. And then three years later, in 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria and nobody did anything. And then by 1941, every single nation that had signed the treaty, with the exception of Ireland, which basically stayed out of the war and sided with Germany, was enmeshed in World War II. So, yay, empty verbiage. Well, the same thing holds true today. For decades, our allies have pretended to oppose the Iranian terror regime while doing pretty much nothing to hold them accountable. They've done some rather minor sanctions targeting specific officials. Unless the United States has pushed them into broader sanctions, we've had to do all the hard work as per our usual arrangement. So here's the deal. If we're going to do all the work and undertake all the sacrifice and spend the blood and spend the treasure, then we ought to reap the benefit. There's been a lot of talk about what the United States ought to do next with regard to Iran. The most obvious move, and one I've been advocating for, is the United States should seize Kharg Island. President Trump is clearly thinking about it. We'll get to President Trump's considerations in just one moment. First, today's episode is sponsored by our friends over at American Beverage. Think about all the iconic drinks you grew up with and you still love today. Whether it's a soda, a sparkling water, a tea or sports drink, the companies behind those beverages, Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi products, they've always made them right here in America. So while there's a lot of talk about bringing jobs back, America's beverage companies never left in the first place. These are American companies making American products with American workers in America's hometowns. 275,000 men and women across all 50 states who show up every day, do the work and help keep the country moving. We're talking good paying jobs. The kind of jobs you can raise a family on. For more than 100 years, these companies have been part of the American story and they're still here, still investing, still building. Learn more about how they're keeping america strong@wedeliverforamerica.org Again, that's wedeliverforamerica.org all those drinks you got in your fridge, they're made by the folks@wedeliverforamerica.org learn how they are helping to bring American jobs back and grow@wedeliverforamerica.org okay, now folks, will get more in a second. First, remember, you only get your questions answered in the daily wire live chat. You actually have to be a member. Join today. Savvy? Do we have any early questions? We do. So a member's asking. Could you expand on the role of Iran's assembly of Experts in selecting and overseeing the supreme leader? And from a US Foreign policy perspective, should Washington treat that body as strategically significant when dealing with the regime? So the Iranian assembly of Experts is basically a group of mullahs who get together and they, quote, unquote, appoint the next supreme leader. They haven't really been super important up till now because it's really the ayatollah who's been running the show. The reality is that, yes, the United States should treat them as strategically important. We probably should take them out because obviously they are the people in charge of selecting, I don't know, the next non dead leader because Moshtaba still has not been seen. This would be the gay possible pirate whose leg may have been blown off, maybe in a coma, maybe dead ayatollah's son. They actually had to change a fatwa that you're not supposed to allow your children to succeed you. But yes, I mean, do they have sort of final power? They have some power, but it's kind of like the College of Cardinals. They have power only for like a brief moment in time. And then they don't really have so much power anymore. Okay, back to Kharg Island. So my recommendation is that we should seize it. President Trump has been suggesting for a while that this may happen.
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We can take out the island anytime we want. I call it the little island that sits there so totally unprotected. We've taken out everything but the pipes.
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We left the pipes. Well, here's the thing. Kharg island is the location of Iran's oil refineries. 90% of Iranian oil comes through Kharg Island. The Iranians have already shut the Strait of Hormuz in large part, they've already upped the ante in terms of attacks on surrounding gas and oil facilities. So the US doesn't have tremendous downside here. Like, what's Iran going to do? Attack more oil facilities? We ought to seize control of the oil, and then we ought to let American companies keep pumping it, and then we ought to send it to its final destination, China. China would then know that we are in charge of the spigot. Iran's terrorist government would be deprived of their monetary flow. What about the Europeans? Well, if the price of oil rises, they can buy it from us, not the Iranians. And if they're not gonna join us as allies, they can pay our companies for oil. This, by the way, is the sort of thing President Trump might well do. That is because Trump is not bound by the stupidity of Wilsonian neoconservatism, the sort of strange belief that the best way to justify war is if the United States gets nothing out of it. This was the line that you used to hear about Iraq, Afghanistan, that basically, sure, we had interest there, but the real interest was in liberating the Iraqi people. The real interest was in liberating the people of Afghanistan. That we, the way you knew America was moral is we got nothing out of it, that there were no resources to grab. President Trump is like, you know what? When we go into a conflict, we should get paid for it. Here's President Trump back in 2017 talking about what we should have done in Iraq. You said we should have kept the
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oil, but, okay, maybe we'll have another chance.
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What did you mean by that? Well, we should have kept the oil
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when we got out. And, you know, it's very interesting.
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Had we taken the oil, you wouldn't have isis, because they fuel themselves with the oil.
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That's where they got the money.
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So you believe we can go in and take the oil?
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We should have taken the oil.
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Okay, so we'll get into why he is right about that in a moment. This has been his model in Venezuela, of course. What are we going to do with the oil that we have?
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Going to do with what?
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The oil that has been seized. The United States seized 1.9 million barrels of oil on December 10th.
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We're going to keep it.
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Where's it? Are we going to sell it or put it in the strategic.
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Maybe we'll sell it. Maybe we'll keep it. Maybe we'll use it in the strategic reserves. We're keeping it. We're keeping the ships. Also,
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President Trump was right about Venezuela and He is right about Iraq and he is right here too. The truth is, if you go back historically, if the United States and Great Britain had simply maintained American and British ownership of the oil resources in the Middle east that we developed, you know, the oil companies that we built that drew the oil out of the ground in the first place, none of the terrorist regimes of the Middle east would have been able to turn themselves into serious threats. Not a single Middle Eastern regime found its own oil. Not one, not a single one pumped it originally or even built their own original infrastructure. The so called Seven Sisters. These would be the big oil companies built the entirety of the Middle East's oil industry. In Iran. It was the Anglo Persian Company, later British Petroleum, that unearthed the oil in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It was Standard Oil of California, now Chevron and the Texas company, Texaco, which has now become Chevron, and Standard Oil of New Jersey and Standard Oil of New York. Now ExxonMobil in Kuwait it was Gulf Oil, now Chevron in Iraq, Qatar, uae. It was Royal Dutch Shell, which is now shell. In the 1970s, all of these countries began moving toward nationalization of resources they did not find or build. That would be Saddam Hussein in Iraq, who is the power behind the throne. Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, the Mad Colonel, the Shah in Iran started this process, but it was consolidated by the Ayatollahs in Iran, among others. The United States government, which had in fact resisted similar moves successfully in the 1950s, went totally wobbly in the 1970s. During the nationalization of oil resources, the United States had not developed its own domestic production infrastructure well enough so it could be held hostage. The political class was significantly more interested in spending money domestically than in protecting our oil assets overseas. So the result was a Middle east dominated by potentates who are independently wealthy and also capable of spreading their terrorism and toxicity both at home and abroad. And it has not gone amazingly well. So here is the question. Why precisely should we allow the Iranian government to threaten the region with oil we found, developed and pumped while they oppress and impoverish their own people at the same exact time? Why not instead seize Kharg island and force the Iranian government to its knees? If the Europeans don't like it, they could send us a strongly worded letter. See, here's the thing about our erstwhile allies. If they wish for a post war global order to hold the one they're constantly talking about, they have to do their part. Free riding turns them from allies into strategic partners and, and strategic partners might be on our side. Sometimes, but they don't get to help formulate shared policy together. This was President Trump's rather hilarious point. Yesterday, in a meeting with Japan's new prime minister, he was asked why he had not told the Japanese about what he was gonna do in Iran. One question. Why didn't you tell US allies in Europe and Asia, like Japan, about the war before attacking Iran? So we are very confused about we Japanese citizens.
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Well, one thing, you don't want to signal too much. You know, when we go in, we went in very hard, and we didn't tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Okay. Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Okay. Right.
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I'm sorry. It's funny. There's nothing you can do about it. It's really, really funny. Tough. So who are our allies? The people who stand with us, the people who are willing to take actual action alongside us when they adjudicate in the same way that we have, that a threat emerges. It's not as though these European countries don't know Iran is a threat. They know full well that Iran is a threat. It's not as though they have no interest in the Strait of Hormuz. In many ways, they have significantly more of an interest in the Strait of Hormuz than we do, because LNG needs to get to Europe in a way that we don't need here in the United States. So if they want to be our allies, they could actually be allies instead of useless hangers on who only show up like the little red hen's friends when the cake is already baked. It's bad enough that we have allies who are basically useless in this fight. Then there are countries who are mouthing off in support of Iran. Take, for example, Spain. Here is the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, who is despicable. Europe is with multilateralism and is with international law.
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And we are against this war.
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We are against this war because it is illegal. There's no reason behind it. And it's causing a lot of damage. Civilians, of course, refugees. And the economic consequences that the whole
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world,
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the schmuck, has declared solidarity, by the way, with both the Hamas in Gaza as well as Iran. Yes, that's right. The prime minister of a country that historically colonized the entirety of south and Latin America, as well as half of North America, as well as Cuba and the Philippines and a bunch of other places. He thinks it's super bad that the US Is not colonizing Iran. It's liberating it. Well, he can Take his advice and shove it up his gulata. And for good measure, perhaps maybe we should just go ahead and recognize the state of Baskets. I don't know. Maybe. Then there are pro Iran friends here at home. Their goal domestically is to seize the reins of Trumpism away from Trump. As I have explained over and over and over again, their agenda seems to mirror strangely that of the mullahs or Russia's Alexander Dugin. Very strange. In fact, our anti American contingent is so strong we can easily play a game. It's called who Said It? So let's play that game in just a moment. But first, the data are in. If you are not sleeping well, everything else in your life gets worse. Your productivity, your health, even your decision making, they all take a hit. For years, like a lot of you, I was dealing with mediocre mattresses. I'd wake up stiff, overheated, not nearly as rested as I should have been. Then we switched on over to a Helix mattress and that changed. Helix has a sleep quiz that uses your preferred sleep position, firmness and other factors to match you with the right mattress for you. Which is a far more rational system than wandering around a showroom and laying on random beds. It's incredibly comfortable. It keeps me cool at night. I've noticed a deeper, more consistent sleep that makes it a lot easier to tackle an actually busy schedule. My Helix mattress again, it was made just for me. I'm sleeping well because of it. Helix is an award winning mattress brand reviewed by outlets like Forbes and Wired. They ship directly to your door in the United States with free shipping, a 120 night sleep trial and a limited lifetime warranty meaning you can test it risk free, send it back if it's not right for you. I bet the founders of Helix, they're awesome people that make truly great product right now. Head ON over to helixleep.com BEN for 20% off site wide. That's helixsleep.com BEN for 20% off sitewide. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you. That's helixleep.com Ben Savvy? Have we updates? We do. Landon Core Ben, could the US start our own UN with people who like us, like Israel, Argentina and Japan? Maybe El Salvador, Hungary? Yes we could. And I think we should. I think we should pull out of the U.N. i think we should blow up the building, salt the ground and build a Trump tower on it. I think the United nations is a joke. The idea that there is a family of nations that has Shared priorities whereby China and Russia and the United States are somehow on the same page is absolutely ridiculous and counterproductive for sure. By the way, if you want your questions answered live on air this way, you do need to become a member over@dailywire.com subscribe. Okay, so back to the game. I promised. Who said it? Members of the grievance party or a literal terrorist? So here's our first quote. So now the strange hypothesis that Zionist killed Charlie Kirk doesn't seem weird at all. Who said it? Candace Owens or Alexander Dugan? If you guessed Candace Owens, you are wrong. It is Vladimir Putin's brain, Alexander Dugin. And he's saying this sort of stuff in order to divide Americans. Okay, let's try another quote. Here's a quote. Zionist thugs like you who push the cheering of the killing of innocent human life is the enemy of our nation and the world. Who said it? Kerry Prajan, newfound super Catholic, or former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar? The answer is Carrie Bridgeon. Although to be fair, we cheated a little. If we'd included a key phrase, you would have gotten it. She said that Ted Cruz pushes, quote, an Antichrist end times fantasy. Gotta slide some accusations of Christian heresy in there. Just gotta be in there. Okay, who said this one? Quote, Trump betrayed diplomacy and Americans who elected him? Was it Marjorie Taylor Greene or Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arahi? Oh, no, sorry. It was Abbas Araki. I know that. That was a really hard one. Cause Marjorie Taylor Greene says kind of exactly the same thing. Which is the point. Okay, one more. The neocons will try, quote, manufacturing another 911 style terror attack on US soil. Tucker Carlson or Ayatollah Khamenei before his untimely demise? That's Tucker. You knew that one. Okay, okay, one last one about the Jews Gold is their pagan history. Candace Owens or Adolf Hitler? Sorry, no, that was Candace Owens. Even Adolf Hitler would likely have looked at Candace Owens latest rants with a bit of embarrassment these days. But you know whose historical material Hitler would probably have enjoyed? Tucker's. His takes on history. Spot on. Yesterday, Tucker Carlson explained once again for the 100th time, that in World War II, the bad guy was Winston Churchill. This time because of the jailing of one Oswald Mosley. Here's how Tucker Carlson describes it. Winston Churchill, who I know were required to deify, presided over the imprisonment of his opposition party during the entire length of the war. And their families and their wives, they were rotting in prison, away from their little kids, in some cases their infants. And their crime was being the Opposition party and being disloyal and unpatriotic, they weren't. The opposition party was led by a First World War war hero who fought not just as. As a pilot in the sky, but and in the trenches, like one of the great war heroes, former member of Parliament the country ever produced. And he and his wife and his compatriots and their wives were interned without charges by Winston Churchill for the duration of the war. And that happened in Britain, which is, like, much more humane than a lot of places. FDR interned the Japanese, including American citizens. That stuff happens during war. And so I think we should be on guard. Hmm. So this is total crap. Oswald Mosley was not the leader of the Opposition. Clement Attlee of the Labour Party was. And Clement Attlee was part of the coalition war cabinet. Later, he would succeed Winston Churchill as Prime Minister. Mosley was the leader of a group called the British Union of fascists, which held 00 slots in parliament. As Douglas Murray notes today in the New York Post, he was, quote, a traitor to his country. He married his second wife, like him, a fascist and friend of Hitler. In Berlin in 1936, they married in a small private ceremony at the home of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. One of the only other people to attend the wedding was Adolf Hitler, who gave the newlyweds a silver framed photograph of himself. It's not a giant wonder that Tucker is now an Oswald Mosley apologist. Mosley explained in 1934, quote, what they call today the will of the people is, Is nothing but the organized corruption of press, cinema and parliament ruled by Jewish finance. I mean, sounds kind of like that. I mean, Tucker might have. By 1939, Mosley had, wait for it, recast himself as a peace campaigner, blaming, you guessed it, the nefarious Jews for swiveling British sentiment against Hitler and campaigning on, wait for it, Britain first. Sounds a little like an Alp Edel podcast host. We know Mosley actually was allowed to live in a small house with his wife during his internment, with a small garden as well. He was released in 1943, controversially on health grounds. So are we supposed to believe all these people who you cannot distinguish from Alexander Dugin or in some cases, Adolf Hitler, are America First? Like how? If so how? When is the last time they said something that was actually pro America? It seems to have been a while. Which brings us to current status in Iran. Well, the Iranians are running out of government figures, like, literally running out of them. The expiration date on new appointees to top levels in the Iranian government is sooner than that bag of cheese you bought on discount a week ago. This is a chart of the Iranian leadership killed. Wow. Okay, so this is from the New York Times. And as you will see, in the defense establishment, everyone is dead. Everyone. So not just Ali Khamenei, who is, of course, the head of the regime. His son is probably, at this point, likely dead as well. We have not seen him in weeks. At the very least, he's in a coma. The entire defense establishment, every single human dead. Ali La Rajani, who's a top member of the inner circle and sort of the guy who is seen as running the country, is dead, basically. The only major figures in Iran who are still alive are Masoud Pezeshkian, the president, who is widely seen in international circles as kind of a weakling. He is not one of these sort of hardcore mullahs. And then the speaker of Parliament, a man named Mohammed Khaliba, and then the head of the judiciary, like a couple of stray figures. And every single day, there is news that a person who has relieved another person as head of the Basij has been killed. So the United States and Israel are doing an extraordinary job of just devastating the leadership class in Iran. When you hear this dumb nonsense about how every time you kill a terrorist, you make 1,000 new terrorists, well, that's weird. Cause, you know, we killed a lot of our enemies over the course of American history, and that's kind of how you win. My favorite part about that logic is the catch 22. You must leave your enemies in place to grow stronger. Because if you kill them, they will grow stronger. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth pointed out how rough it is being a replacement Mueller's little helper these days. The last job anyone in the world wants right now, Senior leader for the irgc or besiege. Temp jobs, all of them. And to borrow a page from Admiral Ernest King In World War II, we've decided to share the ocean with Iran. We've given them the bottom half. Well, with all of that said, the Washington Post reports that the Pentagon is now seeking resupply on our stocks of weaponry. Given the current war, which makes sense, we should always be stocked up. The Washington Post reports, quote, that number. It's like $200 million. $200 billion, rather, would far surpass the cost of the administration's massive airstrike campaign to date and instead seek to urgently increase production of critical weaponry expended as US And Israeli forces have struck thousands of targets over the past Three weeks, according to three other people familiar with the pack and with the matter who confirmed the Department of Defense is seeking packages of that size. So the media are trying to say that if you want to fill in the gap, that is support for the Iran war, but that's actually not the point of the funding. We are already expending resources in Iran. So your choice now is to leave the larder empty. That is your choice. The reason you want additional funding is to maintain our preparation. Again, the cost of the war right now is about a billion dollars a day, not $200 billion. The reason you need $200 billion is to not only restock the larder, but to prepare for the possibility of future conflict and to push your enemies off ball. Regardless of what you think about the action in Iran, having an empty cupboard is really terrible policy. This is the point that Pete Hegseth was making yesterday. $200 billion. I think that number could move. Obviously it takes money to kill bad guys, correct? The worst thing we could do right now is leave that cupboard empty. President Trump is changing the geopolitical map in real time in ways that will benefit Americans who for generations to come. Imagine for a second a Middle east that is not a draw on American resources because the cancerous Iranian regime can't spread terror anymore. Imagine a barrel of Brent crude down basically permanently in the $40 to $50 range. That's what we're talking about. Because if we open up Iranian production, say with American companies, then we will be making more money and the price of oil will dive. And imagine the Chinese government having to tiptoe around American interests because guess who controls their flow of oil from the Strait of Hormuz. And imagine the Russian government pressed because of that drop in the price of oil. Remember, they make more money when the price of oil goes up. And imagine the Russian government losing money and its sway in Syria and the caucuses as a result of the downturn of Iranian power. It takes an awful lot of dislike of American power in the world to oppose our military having the resources that they require in a time of war. But then again, you can leave it to Democrats and presumably Rand Paul to try. So, by the way, where is the American public on all of this at the moment? There's a brand new poll from Politico breaking it down, believe it or not, and you should believe it, 43% of Americans overall, that's Democrats, Republicans and Independents are in favor of the US Israeli strikes on Iran, including killing Khamenei and striking nuclear sites, compared to only 33% against. Among Maga.
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Right.
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The people, we're told, are breaking and leaving. Among MAGA Republicans, that number is 81% approval, 7% disapproval. Among non MAGA Republicans, 61% approval, 19% oppose. And imagine how much better those numbers would be if you didn't have the relentless drumbeat of anti Trump, pro Iranian propaganda. The question here is not whether America is going to win. We already are winning. We have destroyed pretty much everything there is to destroy in Iran, except for their desultory capacity to. To fire off cruise missiles and ballistic missiles at a wide range of countries in the surrounding areas and to fire off some drones at shipping. That's pretty much the last tactic there. The reason they're upping the ante today, they were firing ballistic missiles at the old city of Jerusalem, presumably an attempt to spur some sort of region wide conflagration in case they should hit, say, the Dome of the Rock. Well, the only way we lose is if we quit. The only way we lose here is if people in the United States undermine us. Because what President Trump is doing here is, again, one of the bravest and great foreign policy decisions I've ever seen in my lifetime. In just a second, we're gonna jump into what I think is one of the stupidest talking points coming from the Democratic Party. First, the legacy media hold Americans like us in contempt. Coverage on any issue, from immigration to crime accuses you, not the criminals, of being the ones who are truly at fault. My friends at Prageru don't stand for that nonsense. They promote American values with content they like to call edutainment. That means they teach what matters most in new and creative ways through videos and more. If you ever thought of supporting Prageru, now is an amazing time to do it. Every dollar you give right now is triple match for maximum impact. But time is running out. That match opportunity ends March 31st. Some of you may know I've worked with Prageru many, many times. In fact, they're kind of a sister company to us. We know Prageru. We know firsthand their resources are worth it. Prageru can help you win over your family, friends, neighbors, anyone else who might be too trusting with what they see on social media. If you haven't already, you owe it to yourself to regularly check out their powerful, patriotic, awesome content. Prager U somehow offers all of it for free. They don't take a dime of taxpayer money. Prageru relies on supporters like you to shine a light for everybody. So help equip PragerU do not let the lights go out on this beacon of American freedom. Visit prageru.com DW& and support its important work before it's too late. Okay, before we go into the Democrats savvy, have we questions from our subscribers? Yes. A sub is asking what should we do about America haters in our own country? I mean, ignore them, argue against them. No one's talking about silencing any of these people. Literally no one. One of my favorite gambits that is used by the Grievance party is this idea. We're not allowed to. We're not even allowed to talk about Israel or we're not even allowed to talk about. You're allowed to talk about all of it. In fact, many of you are making really good buck off of spewing nonsense on all of this. The answer is that you show that what they're saying is nonsense. That's the actual answer. And that you grow.
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Right.
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It's one of the reasons we need our subscribers and we need your help. Because if you would like to see pro America messages prevail, then you should support the places that actually promote those. I think that's what we're doing here at Daily Wire. Just another reason for you to become a subscriber. Any. Any more questions? There's having to do one more. Let's do one more. If Iran is no longer a threat to the Middle east, do you think that Saudi would still be interested in normalized relations with Israel? Or would the elimination of the biggest threat remove the need for both to normalize? It's a good question. My guess is that normalization would not be on the table, but further economic development between the two parties would be. The Saudis kind of like to play both sides. They are afraid of their own population and so they are afraid of full normalization with Israel, recognition of Israel and all the rest. Because. And many of these potentates, let's say the crown is not on the same page as the quote unquote Arab Street. With that said, would you see additional economic cooperation and security cooperation? Probably you would. Probably you would. Then again, Saudi again likes to play both sides. They've been attempting to forge common cause with the Turks. The real next sort of threat in the region is NATO member Turkey, led by Recipe Tayyip Erdogan, who's truly an awful and dictatorial leader. Alrighty, let's jump into the next segment. It is sponsored by Balance of Nature. Democrats are trying to maintain that they are just trying to rein in spending. This is their Big complaint about the Iran war. Why are we spending the money? We can't spend the money over. We have to spend it here now. This is truly one of the dumbest talking points Democrats put out there that we have to skimp on spending on our military so we can, quote, unquote, spend it at home. Democrats have never had any problem with wild fiscal irresponsibility. They only seem to draw the defense at, you know, national defense. Fraud and stupidity are the story of the day in California where Nick Shirley again, a dude with a camera, has been reporting from the ground, uncovering what he says amounts to at least $170 million in fraud. Here are some of his original video. Word got out that I was inside of the plaza and all the fraudsters started hopping in their cars, leaving the scene. Excuse me. Let's see if they can just answer our questions really quick. Hello, can we ask you a quick question? Driving out in a brand new M8, they can't get out that easy. How can I get an M8 as well? Should I open up a hospice? Driving out in a brand new M8 BMW M8 competition. Listen to this thing. This is the sound of hospice money. We have Angels of Haven, Angels of Peace, Light of angels, yet the BMWs. One right here, one right there. Two brand new Mercedes over there. It just is unbelievable the amount of money that these people are making and they're not even trying to hide it. Don't believe Nick Shirley. Well, here is a letter from California State assembly member Alexandra Macedo, who just investigated an address in Van Nuys, California. Quote, in January, I personally visited a dilapidated building in Van Nuys. While the exterior of the building did not have a wheelchair ramp or accessible parking, it did have strings of party lights on the rooftop. California public records reveal a staggering reality. 197 hospice agencies are registered at this single address. This ground zero for hospice fraud is not an isolated anomaly. It is a symptom of a systemic collapse in oversight in California. We are witnessing fraudulent actors who exploit our most vulnerable seniors and their families by license. Flipping, creating shell agencies and then selling licenses. Ghost patients enrolling healthy seniors, often without their knowledge to build care for millions. Neglect of care, providing zero actual medical services. Meanwhile, the state of California is also spending a lot of bucks on a crossing for mountain lions above the freeway. I wish I were joking about this. I'm not joking about this in the slightest. Look at a picture of this. This is an image from February of 2026. It is literally just an overpass on a freeway. There are no ramps up to the overpass. I'm not sure how the animals are supposed to get up there, but the idea is that they are going to walk across the freeway using this overpass. Now, California's projected budget deficit for 202627 is almost $3 billion. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office projects an $18 billion deficit for the same period. Taking into account the potential for tremendous loss of revenue in the tech sector, it is not hard to see why California has a deficit. They spend on stupid nonsense literally all the time. So that right there, that $54 million wildlife crossing project, $54 million. That was the original cost. Now it is costing 114 million. A bridge for animals that literally just looks like cement over a freeway with some bushes. So Chris Ruffo reports for Manhattan Institute. Why has a project primarily consisting of a bridge for animals cost over $100 million? One reason is that Newsom and WAWC's philanthropic supporters apparently don't mind it becoming a patronage program. As the WAWC endorsing Wildlife Crossing Fund notes, citing the California Department of Transportation's estimated for every $1 billion spent on wildlife crossings, 13,000 jobs are created. Some of the jobs included in the boondoggle include helping hire a nonprofit which champions its hiring of indigenous team members to help steward the plants that will vegetate the bridge. Experts hired under Expert experts hired include a fungiwiz must be a fungi who periodically scrutinizes root samples under a microscope for a bridge over a freeway. Gavin Newsom apparently wanted to, quote replicate projects like this all up and down the state. Well, this makes it a little awkward that Newsom's wife wants to set up a California public financial literacy education program here. She was announcing that Yesterday, starting in 2027, but already in the works. Every California public high school student will be provided financial literacy education because every kid deserves the tools to make every dollar count. I mean, if you're going to learn financial literacy in California, where better to learn it from than members of the aft, the NEA, and the California government? Financial literacy from California government. They're going to teach it. Well, the problem is no better in New York City or San Francisco or la. Data analyst Charles Smerkley has an amazing thread on X running down how much these major cities are spending per homeless person. So according to his thread, New York City is now spending more per homeless person than the median New York City household earns 81,007, $705 per person in fiscal year 2025. And that's the floor that doesn't include supportive housing. About 500 million bucks a year. Mental health response teams, NYPD and GET encampment costs. They're now projecting almost $100,000 per homeless person per year in fiscal year 2026. And by the way, the population of the homeless increased. As Smerkley points out, spending per homeless person since 2019. New York City plus 187%. San Francisco plus 190%. Louisiana, 480%. Homeless population over the same period up 13%. Spending up 320%. Problem up 13%. Great job, everyone. You have done an amazing, amazing job. Well, it's a good thing then that taxpayers aren't leaving all of these places. I mean, there's so much that has to be paid for by these tax dollars. So it's a good thing. Nobody is leaving. Oh, wait. Now Governor Kathy Hochul is begging people not to leave for Florida. I need people who are high net worth to support the generous social programs that we want to have in our state right now. There are some patriotic millionaires who stepped up. Okay, cut me the checks if you want to be supportive, but maybe the first step should be go down to Palm beach and see who you can bring back home. Because our tax base has been eroded. Well, I mean, I wonder why it was eroded. Can you imagine? I mean, it's. She's the governor of the state. The tax base is eroded because he kept taxing people, providing them fewer services, and then demonizing them. Maybe people or were willing to listen to schmucks like Bernie Sanders running around yelling at them when at least their lifestyle was good. But when the lifestyle declines and they can move, they leave. But at least Democrats can still feel good having this geriatric socialist loon bag as their leader. Here was Bernie Sanders yelling at Elon Musk again yesterday.
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B
60% of our people have been paycheck to paycheck.
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And one guy, Elon Musk or owns
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more wealth than the bottom 53% of American households. Think maybe that might be an issue
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A
that we should be talking about. I love that Bernie Sanders thinks he has a right to everybody else's money and somehow this makes him the altruist. There's nothing like your first Mac. Here's what people online are sharing. Rhain says everything is just so smooth and fast. I still can't get over it. Syncing stuff between my phone and this is just chef's kiss. Rincredible488 says Apple Silicon basically cures low battery trauma. That's how they felt with their first Mac. How will you introducing the all new MacBook Neo, an amazing Mac at a surprising price. Find out more on apple.com Mac okay, well, speaking of communists who are not doing well, Cuba is having some real problems right now. The Trump administration believes that Cuba, the Cuban communist regime is basically on its last legs. Joining me on the line to discuss is Carlos Antonio Jimenez. He represents the people of Florida's 28th congressional district, encompassing all of Monroe county and the southwest portion of Miami Dade County. He was elected in 2020. He's the only Cuban born member of Congress. Congressman, thanks so much for taking the time.
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B
My pleasure. Thank you, Ben. And also remember that I used to be the mayor of Miami Dade county. So I know a little thing about municipal government and what Madame is doing to New York, it's amazing how incompetent he really is. But he's a communist and he's gonna do to New York if he stays in there long enough what the communists did to Cuba.
- [41:40]
A
Unfortunately, the only benefit for Florida is kind of the same as the benefit to Florida that happened thanks to the Castro regime, which is a lot of productive people actually came to Florida. A lot of productive people moving down from New York to Florida right now. So, so you're looking at what's going on in Cuba now. What do you think the timeline is? What does the future look like in Cuba? They effectively have no economy to speak of. They have no Venezuelan oil to prop them up. You're seeing protests emerge in the streets. What do you think the next steps look like over there?
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B
Well, I think that the next steps should be continuing the pressure here, which is the pressure really is don't give them anything and don't give them a lifeline. Don't give them any oxygen. They will die on it, on themselves, by themselves. And so that's what's happening. You know, right now. There's, there's island wide blackouts every single day that you may get power maybe one or two hours a day if you're lucky. No food, no medicine, no basic necessities. And it's all due to the incompetence, the corruption of this communist regime that has basically driven this beautiful island that used to be known as the jewel of the Caribbean right into the ground.
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A
Well, one of the things that's being talked about by the Cuban government is some sort of deal to be cut with the Trump administration whereby they would allow private investment dollars to flow back into Cuba, the renewal of private property in Cuba. What do you make of that offer, what should the Trump administration do about it?
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B
They should do nothing. They should absolutely say no. But also, the Cuban government also is asking the Cuban diaspora around the world. So, yeah, let's go ahead. You can start investing in Cuba now. You can own property, you can own businesses and all that. And don't worry, we won't expropriate them again like we did before, you know, because we're such, you know, we keep our words. Look, the Cuban government has never kept its word to anybody. The. They borrow billions of dollars from around the world. They never pay anybody. The only reason that it was able to be sustained this long is because they got subsidies from around the world, from Russia, China and Venezuela. Now that Venezuela has been cut off and Mexico is not doing the same things it used to, that's why it's finding itself in the position that it is. It's like $50 billion in debt to the rest of the world, and they don't pay their bills. And so when they announced this, I think on Monday, and I went out right away and said, anybody who invests in Cuba right now is insane with this regime. Okay, we need total regime change. We need a new government, new laws, new constitution. And then you can start investing in Cuba. Then you can start restoring Cuba to what it used to be. It had the second highest standard of living in the Western Hemisphere. It was a jewel of the Caribbean. It was beautiful and very prosperous, but not with this regime. You gotta wait for a new government to take hold.
- [44:31]
A
So, Congressman Jimenez, one of the questions that's been asked is how precisely that would happen. My understanding is that the Cuban government, because they are so repressive, because so many people have left, that how organized is the opposition on the island? What is the possibility of there being some sort of organized uprising to. To push the regime out of power? Or is what's more likely to happen something like what happened in Venezuela, where the US Government basically throttles the current Cuban government and forces them to. To engage in some sort of gradual change?
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B
You know, we can talk about Venezuela. I mean, I have some differences of opinion too, about what's going on in Venezuela, but what's happening right now in Cuba is every day more and more Cubans are coming out their streets and they're demanding change, and they're getting less and less scared of the regime. What I'd love President Trump to do is to do is issue some kind of same warning that he did in Iran, although in the Cuban case, kind of follow up with it is that he's not going to stand by while this regime oppresses and slaughters its own people, not in our hemisphere. And if he did that, I think you'd see more and more demonstrations happen and it would be more organic within Cuba itself. It's already starting. Every day. You see at night thousands of Cubans hitting the streets. They're doing with pots and pans and they're shouting for food and they're shouting for freedom. And so every day they're growing less and less scared of the regime. And so to me, just keep the pressure up, keep the pressure up. Don't give any oxygen to the regime. And this regime will eventually fall on its own.
- [46:10]
A
Congressman Jimenez, obviously Miami is heavily Cuban because all the expatriates who arrived after the rise of the communist regime or in the midst of the communist regime, the. So what does this mean for Cubans in Miami to watch what's going on right now?
- [46:24]
B
We here in Miami are very heartened by what's going on. We were optimistic. I think our level of optimism is as high as it's ever been, higher than it's ever been that this regime is finally on its last legs. I was born in Cuba. I came here when I was seven years old. The dream of my parents, unfortunately, they never got to see that dream come to life because they passed away way is that Cuba would one day be free and democratic. And again we can restore Cuba to what it once was and even greater. And so, yeah, there's over a million Cuban Americans here in this town. The politics of the western hemisphere is the talk of the town. And so what's happening in Venezuela? What's happening in Cuba right now? The Venezuelans that are here, the Cubans that are here, are hoping that, you know, we're gonna see a brand new day for both Venezuela and for Cuba.
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A
Well, Congressman Jimenez, really appreciate the time and the insight. Thanks so much.
- [47:26]
B
It's my pleasure. Have a great one.
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A
Alrighty, folks, the show doesn't stop here. There's more show. I'm gonna answer all your questions again if you want to have your question answered. If you wish to be part of the club, to hang out with us and be part of the cause, you know, to fight the crazies. Become a member. Use code shapiro at checkout. Head on over to Daily Wire.com subscribe. You get two months for free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us. Quick break. One useful thing to share. I thought TikTok was just dances. Turns out it's where I learned how to save money, fix stuff and get real tips. Short videos, real people download TikTok now.