← The Ben Shapiro Show
Loading summary
Transcript104 lines
- [00:00]
Ben Shapiro
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 SL Shapiro and get 20% off. That's trustandwill.com Shapiro to get your 20% off. Trustandwill.com Shapiro American farmers and ranchers have been feeding our families for generations through droughts, recessions and wars. Celebrate America turning 250 by supporting the hard working Americans keeping our nation fed and healthy. Get 100% American meat delivered to your door@goodranchers.com Take it from me, Good Ranchers hits the mark every time. They're easy to tasty and reliable. Use code wire for an additional $25 off your first order. That's wire for $25 off when you subscribe. Goodranchers.com American meat delivered folks, here are some things you can do and still not get waved from your team in the NBA. You can wield a gun while drunk at a strip club. You can knock up every woman in a four mile radius of every NBA stadium. You can get arrested for alleged felony assault after conviction, concussing and strangling your girlfriend. What is the one thing you absolutely, positively cannot do, especially during Holy Week? I'll explain in a moment. Welcome back to the Ben Shapiro Show. All right, so Jaden Ivy, NBA guard out of Purdue. He used to score about 17 points, grabbed 4.9 rebounds as a sophomore so he was drafted fifth overall in 2022 by the Detroit Pistons. And he's a good player. He posted 16 points and five assists and four rebounds in his rookie year. And then in his second season, he scored 16 points per game, and then he was up to almost 18 points per game. And he got hurt in his third season, and then he was traded to the Chicago Bulls. And that is where the trouble began. So this week, Jaden Ivy posted a video about the NBA's Pride Month. This, of course, is the month where the NBA and pretty much all the NBA teams have nights and dedicated to LGBTQ plus minus divided by sign. And Jaden Ivey got himself in trouble because he posted on Instagram a video talking about NBA's pride month. He is a converted, newly religious Christian.
- [02:58]
Jaden Ivey
They proclaim Pride Month, and the NBA, they proclaim it. They. They show it to the world. They say, come, come, come join us for Pride, for Pride Month to celebrate unrighteousness. They proclaim it.
- [03:24]
Ben Shapiro
So that seems like fairly traditional Christian belief right there, that you should not actually celebrate pride in what is considered a sin by the vast majority of the religious world. Well, the immediate response of the Chicago Bulls was to can him. They announced that they had waived him due to conduct detrimental to the team. Apparently, it was very, very bad for the team that he put out an Instagram video proclaiming the same thing that churches all over the country say all the time. The Chicago Bulls head coach, Billy Donovan, was asked about all of this. It was suggested that Ivy seems to be spiraling. Now, Ivey has reported depression in the past. It is unclear whether he is in the midst of some sort of mental issue or not. But if you're gonna cite evidence of a mental issue, this is not the best evidence. And him just saying traditional religious belief that you shouldn't celebrate pride in what is considered a sin, that is not a spiral. Here was the Bulls head coach trying to explain, I know some of the things that were put out there. You know, I think it's a situation for him where it's on his own personal. I don't want to get into what he put out there, but certainly I hope for him, you know, he's okay. I don't know. You know, like, I've had conversations with Jaden and stuff, and he's been always about rehab in his knee and trying
- [04:48]
Arthur Brooks
to get what you want to play.
- [04:51]
Ben Shapiro
But I think organizationally, there's certain standards I think we want to have as an organization and try to live up to those each and every Day. And so, again, not a ringing rebuke that there from the coach. Nonetheless, the Bulls let him go because, of course, you cannot say anything that violates the precept of full scale wokeness on these sorts of issues. So Jaden Ivey then went to Instagram live to defend himself. He was at the airport.
- [05:18]
Jaden Ivey
They said, my conduct is detrimental to the team. Right? Why didn't they just say, we don't agree with his stance on lgbtq? Why didn't they say that? But how. How is it. How is it conduct detrimental to the team? What did I do to the team? What did I do to the players? I did nothing. But, but. But practice with them, play with them, pass the ball to them, good teammate to them, said, good job, good shot. I said. I said, good job, good job, good pass. Way to. Way to play, bro. Right? I said these things to my teammates, was never detrimental to them. So why is it that the NBA and the Chicago Bulls say that I'm detrimental to the team?
- [06:05]
Marco Rubio
How?
- [06:07]
Jaden Ivey
Because I believe in the truth. Because I know Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
- [06:15]
Ben Shapiro
I mean, again, he has a point. The team could have just said, we disagree with his comments. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. By the way, in the ufc, this happens all the time. And Dana White routinely says this about people that he disagrees with in UFC who say things that are actually quite morally bad. And he will say, you know, you're allowed to say what you want to say. I disagree with it, but it's not my job to sort of police the speech of other people. But the Bulls just cut Ivey. They just waved him, which is kind of incredible. Ivy also went off on Steph Curry, and the reason he's going off on Steph Curry is because Steph Curry is frequently brought up by critics of traditional Christianity in the league, apparently as sort of the example of what Christianity should look like. Meaning that you sort of cite the Vegas verses from the Bible while ignoring actual sort of traditional moral practice. So here's. Here is Ivy talking about Steph Curry.
- [07:05]
Jaden Ivey
That's why you got Steph Curry. And he. He not even surrendered. And y' all believe he's a Christian. Y' all believe he's a Christian because he. He wrote Philippians 4:13. Y' all think he's a Christian, but he cursing just like the world. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. He's friendship with the world. He don't know Jesus. And I pray he comes to the truth that him and his family will be saved in Jesus name, because all that stuff is not going to matter on Judgment Day. Autumn rings he got.
- [07:45]
Ben Shapiro
Now, again, I'm just wondering precisely what Ivy said here, that Merit's being waived. I mean, let's. Let's be real about this. If you were saying the opposite, that Pride Night is the best. In fact, if he came out as gay today, he would be celebrated by the league. He would be touted as one of the most important basketball players alive if that happened. The NBA has a political bent, without doubt, and they are putting at risk an entire Christian audience and traditionalist audience that look at this and say, hold up. You get waived for saying that you don't believe that Pride Night ought to be celebrated not even because you did anything wrong, just because you said that you don't agree with the league's stance on these issues. Back in January 2025, Ivy talked about how he had become a Christian. He sort of explained the story. And again, here he was giving his testimony.
- [08:34]
Caller
My testimony is that, you know, when you're away from Jesus, when you're not. When you're not close to him, when you have a relationship with him, you're gonna, like, Satan is there. He wants to just steal, kill, and destroy. That's all he. He comes here to do. He doesn't want to give you peace. He wants to make your life hell. And that's what I dealt with, you know, most of my life. And when I. When I came to know Jesus, my life. My life changed, like, did a whole360. And. And I have that peace. I have that joy and that I, you know, been searching for my entire life.
- [09:23]
Ben Shapiro
Now, again, recall that the NBA had to have an entire controversy engulf it surrounding whether they should have a night honoring a strip club in Atlanta. Remember this? And that required the NBA to actually step in after weeks of consternation about whether or not that should happen. But apparently, the minute you sound off and you say, hey, Pride Night, it's got. It's got some connotations that are anti Christian. The minute you say that, gone. That's an insane tactic from a league that wants to maximize its fan base, not minimize it. And again, during Holy Week for Christians, it's a kind of astonishing stance by the league. I'm hopeful that some other team will give Jaden Ivey another chance, because, man, the Chicago Bulls really screwed up here in a major, major way. In just a second, we'll get to a domestic terror attack. As we now know that it was a. Not only a terror attack, but a foreign driven terror attack. And we'll get to the latest on the war in Iran. Plus, Bishop Barron will stop by to talk about the Pope and about Holy Week. First, picture this. You print out your entire browsing history. You sign your name at the bottom. You nail it to your front door for every neighbor to see. That would be a crazy thing to do. Well, that's kind of what you're doing every day, unless you're using our sponsor, ExpressVPN. So here's the reality. Your Internet provider can see all the things you're doing online. Every website, every link, all the dumb questions you've ever asked Google, even in incognito mode. Worse yet, in the US they can legally sell that data to whomever they want. That is correct. You are the product. But there is a solution. ExpressVPN. It encrypts your Internet traffic before your provider ever sees it. That means your online activity turns into total gibberish. It's a big bowl of data soup that nobody can actually read. Whether you're on your phone, your laptop, your tablet, just tap one button and boom, you are now protected. Personally, I use ExpressVPN because I care about my privacy and my data, and I don't think anyone should get ahold of it. Whenever I'm at a hotel, I'm using public WI fi or if I'm in an airport, I don't need hackers looking at my email. So stop leaving your front door wide open to your ISP or anybody else. If you'd like to join me in fighting for the rights of privacy, now is a great time to do it. ExpressVPN is now available at just 3.49amonth. And if you use my special link, you can get four extra months of service at expressvpn.com Ben that's E-P-R-E-S-S-V-P N.com Ben for four extra months of service. This breaking news, by the way, is brought to you by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Visit benforthefellowship.org so, speaking of breaking news, yes, there are, in fact, internationally driven terrorists who are living among us. They're living in the United States. They're ready to commit acts of violence against Americans. There's new information that is now emerging about a terrorist named Ayman Ghazali. That would be the radical Muslim who attacked the Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan on March 12. So, according to 6abc, apparently Hazali, 41, of Dearborn Heights, sat in the parking lot for a few hours on March 12 before smashing his pickup through closed doors and into the hallway of an early childhood education area, striking a security guard. And then he exchanged gunfire with another guard and then he shot himself. That's what the FBI said at the time. That Ford F150 was stocked with commercial grade fireworks and jugs of gasoline. And of course it caught fire during the confrontation. Well, Here is the FBI's Jennifer Runyon, the head of the Detroit Bureau, describing the video that Ghazali left before the attack in which he basically acknowledges full scale that he is a member of Hezbollah or at least an adjunct member of Hezbollah.
- [12:40]
Isabel Brown
Approximately 10 minutes before the attack, he sends his sister two final videos. In Arabic. He records himself saying with this screenshot, this is the largest gathering of Israelis in the state of Michigan in the United States. I have booby trapped the car. I will forcibly enter and start shooting them. God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can. He sends a quick three second video with the same screenshot shortly after and types the message, a special operation.
- [13:13]
Ben Shapiro
Now again, we know that his siblings in Lebanon were in fact members of Hezbollah. And remember, the entire media on the left and some people on the horseshoe right reported that he was only doing this because his family had somehow been victimized in Lebanon. His family were literal members of a terrorist group. James Gorgon, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, he says, listen, this was not some guy who was self radicalized or something. He was a Hezbollah agent.
- [13:41]
James Gorgon
Do not be misled. This terrorist acted on behalf of Hezbollah and he intended to kill others, not just himself. He could have done that in a garage or in his basement. He did not need to plan for days, arm himself and try to take dozens of Jewish American children with him. His death was just a means or a tool to kill as many Jews as he could. That's why his last statements were that he was on a special operation to kill as many of them as he possibly can.
- [14:24]
Ben Shapiro
And as Gorgon expressed, it's not that Ghazali was some sort of lone wolf, that he was just reading stuff on the Internet. He was an actual adjunct member of Hezbollah. And Hezbollah is, is an Iranian backed Lebanese terror group that has been targeting Israel for destruction for literally decades. They're also responsible for the murder of hundreds of Americans back during the Beirut barracks bombing in the early 1980s. Here is Gorgon saying that Ghazali was not in fact a lone wolf. He was a terrorist living on American soil. And we allowed him to enter.
- [14:52]
James Gorgon
I've seen some odd attempts to explain away or even lessen this terrorist attack by claiming that he was an isolated lone wolf. But that is misleading. Terrorist propaganda is designed to activate the so called lone wolf to act on behalf of the terrorist organization. And it makes no legal difference if the current leader of Hezbollah himself, Naim Qasem, called this man and told him to attack Temple Israel, or whether he simply heeded Hezbollah's call to kill Jews and in his words, burn their world.
- [15:39]
Ben Shapiro
Again, this is exactly right. We need fewer people immigrating to America who are terrorists. I know this may be controversial to some, but I don't know, I feel like that one is pretty commonsensical. We also could use fewer, fewer elected officials who agree with actual honest to God terrorists. So this person, this terrorist, came from Dearborn, Michigan. Michigan, of course, is a very, very large radical Muslim population. One of those radical Muslims is a man named Abdul El Sayed. He is a candidate in Michigan, and according to the Washington Free Beacon, he said they've discovered audio of him saying that he needed to stay silent about the killing of Ali Khamenei, who would be the leader of the Iranian regime. He literally told staffers he didn't want to say anything about it at all because there were too many people in Dearborn who were sad about it. In fact, here is the audio of Abdul El Sayed admitting full scale that Dearborn, again, this is a major city in the United States, is distraught over the killing of the leader of a terrorist regime responsible for the death of hundreds, if not thousands of Americans over the last 47 years. And this guy is running for Senate here. He was.
- [16:49]
Abdul El Sayed
I also want to remind you guys that there are a lot of people in Dearborn who are sad today. So, like, I just don't want to comment on Khamenei. Khamenei at all. Like, I, I don't think it's worth even touching that, like, they're going to try. This is what we practice. But like, isn't. Isn't Khomeini a bad guy? Isn't it great that he's dead? First, the man was 86 years old. He was going to be dead sometime soon anyway. Second, that doesn't justify the fact that he was a bad man. Does not justify our breaking of international law and unilateral action outside of, outside of wartime. This is a bigger question about the United States responsibility to international law. And we have been breaking it wantingly. This is the second leader that we've Gone after in a matter of months. We are not the world's policeman and that's not what he got elected to do with.
- [17:35]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, but again, the key there is him saying that people in Dearborn are sad. But who the hell do you want in America who is literally sad over Khamenei's death, like truly sad over the killing of this terror master and murderer. And then again, this tape is pretty astonishing and kudos to the Free Beacon for uncovering it. Abdul Al Sayed, who again is likely to be the Senate nominee in Michigan for the Democrats. He says that if somebody brings up Khamenei or if somebody brought up the sadness in Dearborn over Khamenei, that he would just misdirect over to pedophilia and claim that President Trump is a pedophile. Basically understand the op, understand the OP and the grievance party, meaning people from Abdul El Sayed to the Tucker Carlson right, who all link hands in this sort of stuff. They are using exactly the same tactics. And those tactics, by the way, are being promoted by Iran directly. You have literally the foreign minister of Iran who is doing what Abdul El Sayed is doing, saying that the United States is violating international law. And by the way, Epstein, it is an op, meaning it is not a normal thing that normal people do. It is being driven top down by engagement whores and by actual dedicated anti Americans, many of whom are inside America's borders. Here's again, this guy is going to likely be the Michigan Senate Democrat candidate. Insane.
- [18:53]
Isabel Brown
They are going to go super hard on trying to, trying to get you to, to sympathize with the regime. Like that's what the, the conservatives and even some of our moderate enemies are going to try to get you to do.
- [19:06]
Abdul El Sayed
And I can say I've got no love lost for the Ayatollah Khamenei, just like I've got no love lost for Donald Trump's best friend, Mohammed Bin Said Mead. I got no love lost for any of them. You know who I care about? People back home in Michigan who still struggle to afford their groceries and their housing, that those problems are bigger than Donald Trump and he's unwilling to actually address them. Yeah, and I'm just gonna go straight at pedophilia. Frankly, I should be like pedophile president probably decides that he doesn't like the front page news, so he decides to take us into another war. There was a time when you all were talking about America first. This seems to be to be America last.
- [19:42]
Ben Shapiro
Amazing, amazing. Now, El Sayed is currently engaged, as we say, in a hotly contested Senate primary. He is campaigning with sleazy limousine communist Hassan Piker. So according to the New York Times, Abdul El Sayed is meeting with Piker and doing a rally with Piker. Quote, Piker's huge young following has made him an appealing ally for progressive Democrats. Some have called Mr. Piker the Joe Rogan of the left. And people have pointed out that Hasan Piker is an insane radical who says the United States deserved 911 supports a wide variety of communist dictatorships, a wide variety of Islamic terror groups. The New York Times asked him about all of this and he responded, why is it only now that people are getting very frustrated by it? I assume it's because there is a power center in the party that is worried about losing its grip, losing its relevancy. Well, I mean, listen, if Democrats want to keep embracing the radicalism and the stupid and yes, the anti Semitism, because Hasan Piker, all he does, he does a stupid game. His stupid game is he means to say Jew and he just says Zionist. That's all. That's his game. In any case. Podcaster Jonah Platt, he pointed this out on cnn and he is not wrong. What Piker does that a lot of people of his ilk do is they try to inoculate themselves against claims of Jew hatred by pointing it out in places that aren't them. He's been very clear pointing things out on the right. Oh, that's anti Semitism. These are the tropes they use. And then he'll use the exact same tropes and just sub Jew for Israel. Yeah, that. That happens to be correct. That happens to be correct. Well, coming up, we'll get to the latest in Iran, what's happening over there. Plus Cuba, plus Bishop Barron and Arthur Brooks are stopping by. So, lot going on today. First, the data are in. If you're 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. Waking up stiff, overheated, not nearly as rested as I should have been. Then we switched on over to a Helix mattress and all of that changed. Helix has a sleep quiz that uses your preferred sleep position, firmness, other factors to match you with the right mattress for you. It's a far more rational system than wandering around a showroom lying down on random beds. It's really, really comfortable. It keeps me cool at night. I've noticed deeper, more consistent sleep that makes it a lot easier to tackle an actually busy schedule again. My Helix mattress. What it replaced the mattress that replaced kind of sagged in the middle. I didn't sleep well. I'd find myself like having roll over in the middle of the night. And then I got Helix because it was made for me. It works great. 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, a limited lifetime warranty, meaning you can test it risk free, send it back if it's not right for you. I've met the founders of Helix. They're awesome people. They make truly great product. Right now head ON over to helixleap.com BEN for 27% off site wide. Again, that's helixleep.com BEN for 27% off Site wide. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you. That's helixleep.com Ben. Okay, so back to the Middle East. Where do things stand right now? Well, According to Channel 14 in Israel, they've now obtained an exchange between the Iranian president Mahmoud Pizzashkian and the IRGC's Ahmed Vahidi. Possesskin would be the quote, unquote moderate in this scenario. And Vahedi of course is a radical. He's the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Those are the quote unquote hardliners. So Pezeshkian apparently said, quote, I want to be involved in the negotiations with the us Without a quick deal, our entire economy will collapse in three weeks. So first of all, that is accurate. They do not have an economy. This is the great worry of the Iranians right now. Right now they're still being allowed to move oil out of Iran to the tune of a couple of million barrels of oil per day. If that stops, their economy does not exist. It does not exist. The IRGC chief, Vahidi, he said, that's exactly why you can't be involved. You'll give up everything for a deal. Which shows you where the IRGC is apparently. According to Channel 14 in Israel. After the call ended, the report says the Iranian president told his companions he feels like a hostage. Quote, I'm unable to resign. I can't make my own decisions. All I can do is read from a script I'm given. Yeah, fair. So where are the American people right now? Well, if you watch again, all the online traffic, the American people are desperately upset about what's going on. Well, not so much actually. Brand new Harvard Harris poll, it shows 51% support for the airstrikes in Iran. In fact, it shows, according to this polling data, do you think it is in the U.S. s interests or not to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon? 74% yes, including 69% of independents. Is it important to restrain the global influence of China and Russia? 66% yes, including 63% of independence. Again, these are not numbers that suggest that the American people are desperate, desperate to stop this right now. Three quarters of all voters, according to this poll, say that winning the war is important and also that the United States is in fact winning. Two thirds agree that Iran is the leading source of instability, terrorism, and that the Iranians do not Support the Ayatollahs. 67% of people believe, again, that Iran is the big source of instability and terrorism in the region. So this begs the question, why is President Trump lagging in the polls cuz his approval ratings are down. I mean, the answer really is because of the economy. As always, right now, a lot of dyspepsia about the economy and because of the war, the stock market is down and gas prices are up. 46% of Americans, according to the same poll, think inflation is the Most salient issue. 53% say the economy is worse than it was under Joe Biden. Now again, we keep hearing that MAGA Republicans are abandoning President Trump. That's actually not true. What is happening is that Democrats and independents who jumped on the Trump bandwagon largely because they didn't like Kamala Harris, some of those people are dropping off. Kristen Soltis Anderson, who's an excellent pollster, writes in the New York Times. She says, my polling shows MAGA thinks Trump got it right when it comes to Iran. When I separate Republican respondents on whether they think of themselves as a Trump supporter or a Republican Party supporter first, I find more than 9 in 10 Trump first Republicans support the Iran strikes compared with 72% of party first Republicans. So in other words, the Republican Party is on board and it is a fringe of the Republican Party or not. Why? Well, because they are more aligned frankly with sort of dispossessed Democrats. Again, these are the people who are upset with Trump. And this is why when you see columnists suggesting that like Joe Rogan or Theo Vaughn defines maga, kind of like saying that Kerry Prejean defines Catholicism, the late breaking decider who jumps on a bandwagon to effectuate his or her own values rather than, you know, joining in order to facilitate the values of the central institutions. Those are typically not the people who Define the institution. Because here is the thing. President Trump has been talking about all of this forever. Forever. We've played this clip before, but yesterday, Trump truthed it out himself. This is from 1987, talking about taking Iran's oil. Why couldn't we go in and take over some of their oil, which is along the sea? How would you do that? Would you send in the Marines?
- [26:40]
Sunny Hostin
Would you take a chance in the
- [26:41]
Ben Shapiro
war, let them have Iran? You take their oil. That's what I. How, How?
- [26:46]
Sunny Hostin
I mean, do we want a war? What do you mean?
- [26:47]
Ben Shapiro
You take their oil, you go in, you're gonna have a war. You're gonna have a war by being weak.
- [26:52]
Sunny Hostin
Okay, how do we go in? What do we.
- [26:54]
Ben Shapiro
Excuse me. You're going to have a war, and it's going to start in the Middle East.
- [26:58]
Sunny Hostin
What if the Soviet Union said, you do this to Iran, we're going to come in.
- [27:02]
Ben Shapiro
I don't believe they'd do it. The next time Iran attacks this country, go in and grab one of their big oil installations, and I mean grab it and keep it and get back your losses, because this country has lost plenty because of Iran. That is a very young Donald Trump saying the exact same thing he says today. And he is correct. He. He is correct about that. Meanwhile, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is explaining the state of play and what exactly are our objectives in Iran.
- [27:30]
Marco Rubio
I hear a lot of talk about we don't know what the clear objectives are. Here they are. You should write them down. Number one, the destruction of their air force. Number two, the destruction of their navy. Number three, the severe diminishing of their missile launching capability. And number four, the destruction of their factory so they can't make more missiles and more drones to threaten us in the future. All of this so that they can never hide behind it to acquire a nuclear weapon. That was our objective from the beginning. That remains our objective now. We are on pace and in fact, ahead of schedule in some of those things. And we are going to achieve those things in a number of weeks, not in a number of months.
- [28:06]
Ben Shapiro
Now, what about the Strait of Hormuz? The Secretary of State talked with Al Jazeera, which, again, man, what a waste Al Jazeera is. He talked about what will happen with this trade
- [28:17]
Marco Rubio
when this operation is over. It will be open, and it'll be open one way or another. It will be open because Iran agrees to abide by international law and not block a commercial waterway or a coalition of nations from around the world and the region with the participation of the United States will make sure that it's open.
- [28:34]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, so we'll get more into that in a moment. First, Rubio says he's asked about negotiations. He says, listen, we're negotiating, but we're not going to tell you who we're negotiating with because, again, as we have seen, a lot of different opinions inside the Iranian government right now, as their entire economy is in a state of collapse. Who is this new and more reasonable regime is the United States is in direct contact with them.
- [28:56]
Marco Rubio
Well, I'm not going to disclose to you who those people are because it probably would get them in trouble with some other groups of people inside of Iran. Look, there's some fractures going on there internally. And at the end of the day, I think that if there are people in Iran who now, given every everything that's happened, are willing to move in a different direction for their country, that would be great.
- [29:14]
Ben Shapiro
Now, again, maybe negotiations are happening, maybe they're not happening. But the bottom line is the president is still engaged in a very high level of strategic ambiguity. Right. He doesn't want our enemies to know exactly what we are doing. Yesterday, he posted a video of an explosion in Isfahan. This explosion is astonishing. It is almost certainly the destruction of a major missile facility underground. I mean, look at this. Look at that secondary explosion. A secondary explosion is where you hit a target and then there is another explosion where a bunch of stuff blows up. That's what you see in the movies, right, Where a car blows up and then the entire building blows up because there was a bunch of flammable in it. Well, that's that in Isfahan. My goodness. Well, reports are now suggesting that perhaps President Trump would be willing to end the war without actually opening the Strait of Hormuz and instead just leave it to the Europeans. According to the Wall Street Journal, President Trump told aides he's willing to end the US Military campaign against Iran even if the strait remains largely closed, according to administration officials, likely extending Tehran's firm grip on the waterway and leaving a complex operation to reopen it for a later date. In recent days, according to the Journal, Trump and his aides assessed a mission to pry open the choke point would push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks. He decided that the United States should achieve its main goals of hobbling Iran's navy and missile stocks, wind down current hostilities and and pressure Tehran diplomatically. And if that failed, then Washington would press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait. President Trump did Put out a statement on Truth Social yesterday telling the Europeans, hey, you know, if you don't like what's going on, maybe you should go get your own oil. Quote all of those countries that can't get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the UK which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran. I have a suggestion for you. Number one, buy from the U.S. we have plenty. Number two, build up some delayed courage, go to the strait and just take it. You have to start learning how to fight for yourself. USA won't be there to help you anymore. Just like you weren't there for us. Iran has been essentially decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil now. Again, on principle, he's not wrong. But the reality is that's unlikely to happen. The President knows that the Strait of Hormuz, if left in Iranian control, would allow for the Iranian government to rebuild and strengthen. And let's be real about this, the whores of Europe, meaning the leadership class over there would basically just try to bribe the Iranians. Hell, they might build them a nuclear facility just to allow the oil to move through. These are the same Europeans who are happy to use Russian oil while simultaneously claiming the United States ought to defend Ukraine. So what is the most likely scenario here? Probably major action to reopen the Strait, to grab Kharga island, to throttle the Iranian regime by cutting off its lifelines of the global economy. Because again, let's be real, the Iranian economy is non existent and if the oil flow goes away, they can't pay the boys, all of their IRGC and Baziji friends are going to go without paychecks. As Stephen Moore points out, the change over there is not a long term prospect. It is a short term prospect here. Stephen Moore yesterday on Fox Business let the market work here. As soon as we get the straits
- [32:08]
Arthur Brooks
open, I'm going to predict on your show we're headed right back down to $50 a barrel. Dan Burlet may not agree with me
- [32:15]
Ben Shapiro
on that, but I think the world is a war washing oil.
- [32:17]
Arthur Brooks
This is a very temporary situation and the only last thing I'll say is
- [32:21]
Ben Shapiro
look, I'm in favor of us controlling the Venezuela and the Iran oil, but let's give the money to the citizens of Iran, let's give the money to
- [32:30]
Arthur Brooks
the Venezuelans so that they have a future.
- [32:35]
Ben Shapiro
Now the President is suggesting that as far as the cost that we have incurred, our Arab allies will help defray that cost. Because the again, he's not wrong. The idea that we ought to actually get something from the get something from the Arab Gulf nations who have not yet dropped a single offensive bomb makes some sense. Here's Caroline Levitt at the White House yesterday.
- [32:59]
Arthur Brooks
Who's paying for the cost of this war? Will those Arab countries step up to do just that?
- [33:05]
Isabel Brown
Well, I think it's something the president would be quite, quite interested in calling them to do. I won't get ahead of him on that, but certainly it's an idea that I know that he has and something that I think you'll hear more from him on.
- [33:19]
Ben Shapiro
Well, President Trump again is readying all potential tactics in the arsenal. He put out a statement on Truth Social yesterday. He said the United States is in serious discussions with a new and more reasonable regime to end military operations in Iran. Great progress has been made. But if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately open for business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg island, and possibly all desalinization plants which we have purposefully not yet touched. Now, of course, this is making all of the members of the legacy media very, very, very dyspeptic. They're very upset. They're getting some heartburn. Reporter from NBC said, why is Trump threatening a potential war crime?
- [34:02]
Bishop Robert Barron
The president posted this morning about his
- [34:05]
Ben Shapiro
threat that on leaving Iran, he said we might blowing up and completely obliterating
- [34:10]
Arthur Brooks
all of their electric generating plants, oil wells, Harg island, and possibly all desalinization planes.
- [34:16]
Ben Shapiro
Under international law, striking civilian infrastructure like that is generally prohibited. Why is the president threatening what would
- [34:23]
Bishop Robert Barron
amount to potentially a war crime with the US Military?
- [34:26]
Arthur Brooks
And how do you square that with
- [34:27]
Bishop Robert Barron
the administration repeatedly saying that the U.S.
- [34:29]
Ben Shapiro
does not target civilians?
- [34:30]
Isabel Brown
Ms. Look, the President has made it quite clear to the Iranian regime at this moment in time, as evidenced by the statement that you just read, that their best move is to make a deal or else. The United States armed forces has capabilities beyond their wildest imagination, and the president is not afraid to use them.
- [34:49]
Ben Shapiro
Now, again, they keep saying war crime, war crime. Here's the thing. It is not explicitly unlawful or automatically a war crime to attack an enemy's electrical grid, according to John Spencer, the executive director of the Urban Warfare Institute, meaning it can be, but it isn't just by definition. Under the law of armed conflict, such targets can be lawful if they provide a military advantage, and every single strike has to be adjudicated under proportionality, distinction and precaution. So what do those things mean? Well, distinction means that the target has to be a military objective, not directed predominantly at civilians. And again, it is not in the interest of the administration to target the civilian population of Iran, which we correctly believe to be on our side. Proportionality means that the expected damage can't be excessive in relation to concrete and direct military advantage anticipated. So in other words, you're not allowed to blow up an entire city block in order to take out one terrorist in general. And finally, precaution includes ensuring that civilian casualties actually be minimized. So it's not clear whether this would violate any of those prescriptions. The bottom line here is that the Iranians are living on borrowed time. And as always and forever, all they can rely upon is people to undermine the war effort and make President Trump stop short. That is all they can rely upon. All right, in just a second, we're gonna get to the situation in Cuba where we're actually allowing oil to flow into Cuba. Not sure what's going on there. Plus, we'll talk about some comments by the Pope about the war. Bishop Baron will stop by Isabel Brown versus the Vitalik Tons Coming up on today's show, First Passover is almost here, A sacred time to remember God's deliverance. This year, many in Israel are going to mark the holiday under the shadow of war. Obviously, I'm talking to a lot of my friends in Israel. They're literally setting up their Seder in bomb shelters right now. This is why the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground right now, delivering food, equipping shelters, caring for Israel's most vulnerable. IFCJ is doing great work for vulnerable people on the ground. People have been living in in a state of war for a couple of years at this point. Your Passover gift declares that the story of deliverance lives on through faith, through action, and through you. Visit Benforthefellowship.org to rush your life saving gift. Again, that is one word. Benforthefellowship.org that's benforthefellowship.org now again, Marco Rubio, he is pointing out that the people of Iran are incredible. Again, the goal is not to harm the people of Iran.
- [37:09]
Marco Rubio
The people of Iran are incredible people. The people who lead them, this clerical regime, that is the problem. And if there are new people now in charge who have a more reasonable vision of the future, that would be good news for us, for them, for the entire world. But we also have to be prepared for the possibility, maybe even the probability that that is not the case.
- [37:29]
Ben Shapiro
So we'll have to see what happens. Suffice it to say I do not think that the president is going to give up the ghost right now, not while he has the Iranians on the ropes, contrary to all the legacy media trash coverage. Now, meanwhile, when it comes to Cuba, the Cuban regime is also on its last legs, deprived of Venezuelan oil. They're basically just bleeding along. That's it. That's all that's happening here? Well, according to again the New York Times reporting on all of this, the United States Coast Guard is allowing a Russian tanker full of crude oil to reach Cuba, delivering a critical supply of energy to the island nation after months of an effective oil blockade by the Trump administration, according to a US Official briefed on the matter. Well, that, that is, it's weird that we would let the Russian ship through for sure. That is definitely a strange move by the Trump administration. Basically, President Trump is saying, you know what, it's temporary, we don't want people to starve. And let's be real about the real answer is that we need to finish one thing before we get involved in another. Here was the president yesterday, there's a report that the US Is going to let a Russian oil tanker go to Cuba. Is that true? We have a tanker out there. We don't mind having somebody get a boatload because they need, they have to survive. It wouldn't bother. That report is true as far as you know? Well, I would say I told him if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with it. Do you worry that that helps whether it's, whether it's Russia or not?
- [38:52]
Sunny Hostin
What do you worry that that helps
- [38:53]
Ben Shapiro
Vladimir Putin, though, doesn't help him. He loses one boatload of oil. That's all it is. It's fine. Again, I think the real thing here is, is that initiating some sort of full scale blockade on Cuba in the middle of the conflict in the Middle east is probably a distraction. And as the Secretary of State Marco Rubio says, as in Cuba's been having blackouts all of last year. They're having blackouts the year before. This is not going to alleviate much.
- [39:19]
Marco Rubio
Cuba's been having blackouts all of last year, all the year before. There isn't a naval blockade surrounding Cuba. The reason why Cuba doesn't have oil and fuel is because they want it for free. And people don't give away oil and fuel for free on a regular basis unless it was the Soviet Union. Subsidizing them or Maduro subsidizing them. They just don't do it
- [39:42]
Ben Shapiro
well. Meanwhile, more on the international front. Yesterday, Pope Leo gave a Palm Sunday homily in which he made some comments about war. It seemed to be a veiled reference to the United States war in Iran, although he was, I'd say, somewhat unclear about what exactly he was saying. Here is some tape of the Pope. Non cie amar armato, non cie defense. He did not arm himself or defend himself or fight any war. He revealed the gentle face of God who always rejects violence. Rather than saving himself, he allowed himself to be nailed to the cross, embracing every crossborn in every time and place throughout human history. Brethren and sisters, that this is our God Jesus, King of peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying, even though you make many prayers, I will not listen even your hands are full of blood. And so you don't have to continue to play the rest of the statement in. I believe that's in Italian or Latin. My languages are not particularly good here. It's definitely a strange statement. And I gotta be honest, I'm not sure what the Pope means by this. Obviously the notion that God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war. I assume here that he's talking about unjust war. Cause otherwise it makes no sense. I mean, otherwise there's some problems just historically and also textually here. Obviously the Old Testament is filled with figures who both prayed to God and went to war. Moses, Joshua, Barack and Deborah, Gideon, Samuel. King David, who wrote entire psalms to God while at war. Hezekiah. And there are lots of popes, it turns out historically, who have initiated full scale crusades or blessed them. For example, Pope Urban ii, who initiated the first crusade with these words, quote, this land our Savior, made illustrious by his birth, beautiful with his life and and sacred with his suffering. He redeemed it with his death and glorified it with his tomb. This royal city is now held captive by her enemies and made pagan by those who know not God. She asks and longs to be liberated. And an incomplete list of other popes who blessed crusades or other forms of war. That would include obviously everyone from Eugenius III to Gregory VIII to Innocent III to Boniface IX to Nicholas V to Clement V. So I mean, again, this is why I don't think that the Pope means what people think he means there. I would assume that he means unjust war, not all war. Cause otherwise we sort of have to ignore the entirety of the Old Testament and pretty much all of Catholic history. And just to clarify that, I did talk to my friend Matt Fradd of Pints with Aquinas, who knows way more about this than I do in terms of Catholic doctrine. And he pointed me to the works of Both Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, who point out when war is justified. So, again, if Pope Leo wants to make the case that the war in Iran is unjustifiable, he should make that case. I'm not a fan in general of when leaders use inartful and broad language that can be deliberately misinterpreted by members of the legacy media. Joining me online to discuss this, the rest of current events, and of course, it's Holy Week is Bishop Robert Barron. He, of course, is the bishop of the Diocese of Winona, Rochester, and is one of the most prominent Catholic voices in modern media. And he, of course, is the head of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries. Bishop Barron, thanks so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it.
- [42:46]
Bishop Robert Barron
Ben, good to see you, as always.
- [42:49]
Ben Shapiro
So let's do some news of the day, and then we'll talk about Holy Week more broadly. So, obviously made a lot of headlines yesterday or day before when the Pope made this statement. A lot of people interpreted that as a slap at the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, or a slap at the President of the United States. How should people interpret that? Again, my own take is that he's using language that I think is inartfully broad there, because I assume he's talking about unjust war. Otherwise he'd be in conflict with, from my understanding and from my Catholic friends, Catholic doctrine itself.
- [43:19]
Bishop Robert Barron
No, I think that's the right distinction, the one that you made. And of course, Pope Leo is an Augustinian, so he's shaped by the Augustinian intellectual and spiritual tradition. And it was Augustine, as you suggest, who was the first major figure in Christianity to give us a just war theory. Now, mind you, Augustine was very strong on peace and that the God revealed in Jesus Christ crucified is a God of peace and nonviolence. Augustine held to that, to a critique of Rome that was predicated upon the constant use of violence. So Augustine is no warmonger, but he also recognized in a finite, fallen, conflictual world, sometimes the only way to oppose deep injustice is through the violence of warfare. And then he gave us these criteria, Thomas Aquinas amplified them, and so on. So I think that's the right distinction. The Pope is certainly critiquing an unjust war or someone who's invoking God to support an unjust war. And I furthermore agree with you that, you know, he's not. Not referring specifically or precisely to the Iran war.
- [44:22]
Ben Shapiro
And if you want to look at
- [44:23]
Bishop Robert Barron
a situation, look at it in light of the seven criteria that determine whether war is just or unjust. And, you know. Right. If you say simply God does not hear the prayers of warriors, well, then Abraham Lincoln and George Washington and Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. So I think what he meant, I think you're making the right distinction. It's the prayers of those who are seeking his sanction for an unjust war.
- [44:50]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah. Bishop Barron, one of the things that I think is driving me a little crazy about the current sort of online dynamic is the unwillingness to grant any sort of favor or credibility to the most obvious explanations of things and the leap to the sort of most extreme interpretation of events. I think that's happening here where people are immediately jumping to, he must mean a condemnation of President Trump or the Secretary of Defense. I think that's also what happened on Sunday, on Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, where it seems fairly obvious to me that there was a pretty terrible misunderstanding between Cardinal Isabella over in Jerusalem, where he wanted to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Yeah, exactly. But forgive me the pronunciation. And he goes to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. And the Israeli authorities, the home front authorities, have basically shut down the entirety of the Old City. I mean, they shut down the Western Wall, they shut down the Al Aqsa Mosque. That is because they have rules there that basically in the middle of missile attacks, if you have a site that is, in fact, not protected from missile assault and it is not within walking distance or quick access to what's called a mamad in Hebrew or a safe room or a bomb shelter. And again, the Old City, you've been there, I've been there. It is a warren. I mean, all the streets are extremely narrow, and so you can't get emergency vehicles in there. And so that is why there have been significant restrictions on not only large scale gatherings, but even small religious services in kind of historic sites that are not protected. My guess is what happened is that there was an Israeli police officer stationed outside the church. And the cardinal showed up and he said, I wanna go in and perform Mass. And the Israeli police officer said, my superior says no one is allowed to come in here. And that turned into an international incident. And quickly, everybody in a position of authority in Israel, from the Prime Minister to The president immediately sounded off, said, we need to make some sort of provision so this doesn't happen again. And yet this turned into some sort of gigantic critique of, I suppose, Jewish anti Catholicism or something. And that seems to me like the least likely scenario of what actually was happening there.
- [46:45]
Bishop Robert Barron
Yeah, I agree with that. I mean, it got resolved pretty quickly and as you say, at the very highest levels. And there's a photograph of Cardinal Pizzabala with a Israeli, I think, police official. And they're shaking hands and smiling. And I thought, okay, that really should put an end to it. There was some misunderstanding or some interruption of a chain of command or something happened here. But, yeah, to construe that as some massive attack on Catholicism is unwarranted. Christians have always been concerned about access to the holy places, of course, and I think it's a difficult time right now, and there are sensitivities on all sides, but I think it got resolved pretty quickly. So all's well, it ends well, I suppose
- [47:23]
Ben Shapiro
so. Now let's talk more broadly about Holy Week. Obviously, a lot of kind of bad stuff in the news recently, but this is an inspirational time. For Jews. It's an inspirational time because Passover is coming. It begins for those of us who are Jewish and celebrate Passover. It starts Wednesday night. But for Christians, obviously, this is one of the most critical times of the calendar for my listeners who may not follow the Christian calendar, the Catholic calendar. Why don't you explain what goes on during Holy Week?
- [47:47]
Bishop Robert Barron
We recall the events just prior to the crucifixion of Jesus and then his resurrection on Sunday, so beginning really with Holy Thursday. So when Jesus gathers with his disciples for the Last Supper, the Garden of Gethsemane, that night. Then Friday, the day of the crucifixion, Saturday, we call it Holy Saturday, when Jesus spends the day in the tomb, and then Easter Sunday. So we call that the Paschal mystery. So really the Passover mystery, Jesus passing from death to life. It's the event by which we are saved from our sins. And I'd say this too, Ben, in light of, you know, Jerusalem and such a focus now on Judaism, it's the fulfillment of Israel. Christians are those who say that the great story of Israel, including temple and covenant and prophecy and promise, all of it is fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. That's what St. Paul or Rabbi Shaul, who studied the feet of Gamaliel and knew the Hebrew scriptures intimately, after he met the risen Jesus, he rethought his Judaism in light of the resurrection and it's also why when Paul went to these towns in the Eastern Mediterranean, he first went to synagogues because the Jews would understand his message that the story of Israel has come to its fulfillment. That's why. See, we are tied to Israel. That's. You know, the recent popes have made that claim. It's up and down the Christian centuries, despite a terrible history of anti Semitism that pops up, you know. But the great Christian truth is we're tied to Israel. You cannot understand Jesus without reference to Israel because we see him as the fulfillment, as Paul said yes to all the promises made to Israel. So that's why anything like antisemitism from a Christian standpoint is intellectually incoherent.
- [49:32]
Ben Shapiro
Well, why do you think it is? It does seem like there has been a resurgence of the Marcion heresy that is making new inroads at this moment. And Marcian heresy being the idea that the Old Testament was actually nothing to do with the New Testament, that actually it's completely irrelevant. Why do you think that's making such a comeback right now? Cause it does feel like it's making a comeback.
- [49:49]
Bishop Robert Barron
Yeah, no, it's a good question. And Marcionism, you're right, it goes back to the second century, one of the oldest heresies and one of the most stubborn. You know, I think part of it is there's something that is simplifying about it. So let's just get rid of the Old Testament. We'll keep parts of the New Testament that present a God that we can find, you know, more acceptable. It's sort of easier and cleaner intellectually. But when you connect Christianity to Israel, the story becomes so much more interesting. And it was Saint Irenaeus, second century figure, who said no to Marcionism. You cannot understand Jesus apart from Judaism. I don't know. There's something that's intellectually repugnant about it and something morally repugnant, too, because it gave rise to this deep rift between Christians and Jews. Read Paul to the Romans, chapters nine through 11. It's his great treatment of this problem. And in a way we've never improved upon Paul, Romans 9, 11, as he's tried to tease out. He says, look, I'm a Jew. I'm the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Pharisee by formation. I was zealous for the traditions of my fathers. And now I've met the risen Jesus, and I'm trying to rethink it all in light of that. So we've been wrestling with this problem from the very beginning. But Paul represents a very beautiful appropriation and retention of Judaism.
- [51:11]
Ben Shapiro
Well, Bishop Barron, I really appreciate the time, really appreciate the insight. I hope that you really have a blessed and tremendous Holy Week and a wonderful Easter, obviously.
- [51:19]
Bishop Robert Barron
Thanks, Baron. God bless you.
- [51:23]
Ben Shapiro
All righty, folks. Well, in other news, shifting from, you know, things that are really worth talking about to things that are not worth talking about, but we have to talk about them anyway because we cover the news, there is a brand new garbage conspiracy theory making the rounds. This is regarding the trial of Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson, whom all, I repeat, all evidence points to. So the defense is now, predictably, throwing spaghetti at the wall and waiting to see what sticks. So what are they doing here? What they're really doing is they are chumming the waters with irresponsible media, hoping that the jury pool will end up being tainted. That is the. That is the goal, to get somebody in the jury pool who is a conspiracist. So there is a piece that was printed, and it never should have been printed in the UK Daily Mail because it's trash. And the piece's headline, quote, bullet used to kill Charlie Kirk did not match rifle allegedly used by suspect Tyler Robinson. New court filing claims. Now, if you just read that headline, if you just read that headline, what you would assume is that there is a bullet that is identifiable and did not match the rifle, which would be groundbreaking stuff, right? That's what the title suggests. Bullet used to kill Charlie Kirk did not match rifle. Okay, that is missing a key piece of context. The key piece of context here is that the bullet fragmented. There is no whole bullet to match up with the rifle. And when a bullet fragments, the way this bullet apparently fragmented, it makes it unidentifiable because all of the striations that you normally see on the bullet that match it up with the barrel of the rifle, those are not present. You can't identify it. That is an absence of evidence. It is not evidence of absence. It's not evidence that Tyler Robinson is innocent because the bullet fragmented. And now you can't directly link the bullet to that rifle because you can't link that bullet to any rifle. It's not like there's another rifle you can link it to. But that's not how the Daily Mail wrote the story, which is trash. And the Daily Mail should be ashamed of itself. Again, bullet fragments are difficult to match to the original rifle. This is sort of like making the case that if OJ's knife had somehow been discovered after the crimes and it had been tossed in a vat of hydrochloric acid and all identifying marks in DNA had been dissolved. That somehow the inability to connect that knife to O.J. s DNA would not just not link O.J. to the crime, it would be exculpatory. It would make it sound like he was innocent. It's just trash. It's stupidity. It makes no sense at all. None. So just to dispense with that idiotic conspiracy theory. Cuz of course your usual suspects, the Candace Owens of the world, are still trying to apparently get Tyler Robinson off on the basis of their own smooth brained nonsense. Okay, before we move on to what's going on with Gen Z and our very own Isabel Brown, who was taken to task by the ladies of the View, let's take a question from a caller. This segment is sponsored by Pure Talk.
- [54:11]
Arthur Brooks
Hi, Ben. Do you think that within the remaining years of the Trump administration it may be prudent to shift our battles with our foreign enemies to the enemy within our borders, that is the growing anti American radical leftists, seditious politicians and the non assimilating anti anti American naturalized citizens who are abusing our bloated social welfare programs.
- [54:43]
Ben Shapiro
So I mean, I think that we have to chew gum and walk at the same time. It's a good question, but I think one of the great lies about American politics is that we somehow, if we focus on the butter, we can't focus on the guns. If we focus on the guns, we can't focus on the butter. The idea being that we must spend resources that we would otherwise spend abroad, at home. These are separate departments of government. We're spending more money than we have ever spent on anything. We're spending $7 trillion a year. Seven trillion. That is a lot of money. A lot of money. And it turns out that the world continues to revolve whether or not we wish to be a part of the international scene. That is just the reality of life. And so if you quote, unquote, draw within so that you can focus on immigration. And meanwhile, Iran spreads its tentacles all over the Middle east, threatens all of our allies, threatens all of the shipping lanes and basically grinds our economy under its boot heel. That's a problem too. You got to handle all this at once. This is the hard part of being president. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is now launching a new effort to hire members of Gen Z. This is the thing that they are focused in on. Kind of an interesting approach. According to Fox News, the Trump administration is launching a new effort to make government cool again by Hiring Gen Z workers to rebuild the federal talent pipeline after a year of doge cuts and to compete more aggressively with the private sector. Now, again, part of this is probably related to the downturn in job expectations for Gen Zers. Now see if you can provide some jobs for the youngsters. So some of it is likely political. But when you talk about Gen Zers and the big problems with Gen Z, you gotta say that there is a bigger problem with Gen Z than mere unemployment concerns. So, for example, we should be somewhat concerned about the fact that there is a complete degradation of things like family formation with Gen Z, that the entire pathway from childhood to adulthood is being ignored or blocked off by members of Gen Z. According to a lot of the studies, more than One third of Americans, 15 up, have never married as of 2022. That is up from 23% in 1950. In the U.S. nearly 1.5 million more adults under 35 live with their parents than one decade ago. And most importantly, there's a 2023 Pew survey of 18 to 34 year olds, and it found that 57% of men said they definitely want children one day. Only 45% of women in the same age range do. That is a disaster area. First of all, only 57% of men is already low. A minority of women saying that they want children one day is crazy. That's crazy. So Isabel Brown, of course, she's one of our hosts here at Daily Wire. She was at cpac and she spoke out about this. It made the harpies of the View very, very upset. Here was Isabel.
- [57:19]
Isabel Brown
If you're not encouraging your children to grow up and have the courage to get married and have kids, more kids than they can afford before they think they're ready, it is high time to start. It is these choices like deleting our dating apps and quitting birth control pills and saying I do at the altar, that ultimately trickle down into the political policies that we will see save our country.
- [57:42]
Ben Shapiro
So again, I'm wondering what's so controversial about that? Telling people it is good to have kids and that you should get married and that you should have kids. All thriving societies rely upon this. But of course, the ladies at the View are very upset. Very upset. They totally crashed out over this.
- [57:57]
Sunny Hostin
What?
- [57:58]
Ben Shapiro
What?
- [57:58]
Sunny Hostin
What? So my ultimate beef with this is that it wraps a woman's worth up in her ovaries. And in a way that for too long has happened, the whole women's movement was not about bucking the trend of staying at home or loving tradition. It was giving women A choice to do what they wanted. And that's what this is, too. Marriage, children. It's a choice. And by the way. But be responsible for God's choice. No, but be responsible. But the other thing is they act like people are sitting around just saying, yeah, no, I'm good. Most women I know, and some don't. But most women wanted to have children. They don't have them for other reasons.
- [58:39]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, I'm just wondering what that Isabel said is anti choice. She's saying you should make choices. She's saying we should not be morally indifferent as a society about whether women wanna have kids. Which of course, is absolutely true. We should not be morally indifferent. What I'm confused about is why women would want to deny their biology is an important factor in who they are. That's the part that's confusing to me. And womanhood is a magical power. It is. My wife is pregnant with child number five. It is a magical power. It is incredible. And again, the notion that my wife is somehow barefoot and pregnant at home in the kitchen right now. She's pregnant. Sometimes she's barefoot and sometimes she's in the kitchen. She is also a doctor. This notion that you can't choose to do many things all at once, or that you decide that you want to stay at home with your kids for a while and then work part time, these are all choices. But to pretend that a society ought to be utterly indifferent about the choices you make, that it makes no difference to society whether you want to have kids or don't want to have kids, that, to me, is nuts. That makes no sense at all. How can any sort of society survive along that basis? Of course we ought to have a preference for a morality that pushes childbearing and rearing. But it is incredible how many people on the left seem to believe that if you say it's good for women to have kids, that this is somehow in order, like it's somehow. It's somehow a mandate. No one is forcing anything. Ana Navarro says, don't tell me what to do with my. I'm not telling you what you must do with your uterus. I'm telling you that it is better for society when women have children than when they do not. And it is better for women, as a general rule, when they want to have children than when they do not. I don't know why that's remotely controversial, but I guess that's where we are. Again, no one is denying anybody a choice. We're just saying that some choices are better than other choices.
- [60:25]
Sunny Hostin
Do you press the call to responsibility for the men who help make these children right? I am. I don't know why. It's always people lecturing women what they have to do or not to do. Bottom line, if you're not paying my bills, you don't get to tell me what I do with my uterus.
- [60:44]
Caller
But also,
- [60:47]
Ben Shapiro
no one's telling you what you must do with your uterus. But again, we teach our kids all the time what our values should be. What our values should be. It makes no sense to me to treat Isabel's statement that we ought to teach our kids, that it's good to want kids as some sort of assault, as some sort of offensive. Sunny Hostin, of course, says that children are too expensive. That's the real reason why people aren't having them. Again, that is not the case. Poor countries all over the world, people have tons of kids. In fact, there is a reverse correlation between the wealth of a society and the number of children that women are having.
- [61:20]
Sunny Hostin
In this country, there's this affordability crisis. And for a two person household, a married household, you need over $400,000 for childcare. Over $400,000. Most people don't make over $400,000. So she's advocating for people to be born into poverty. People not being able to feed those children, people not being able to educate those children, and people not being able to to house those children. At the same time, when this government is cutting all of the services that would allow people to have families and big families,
- [61:52]
Ben Shapiro
by the way, none of these women. If services were to massively expand for women, none of them would be saying anything different about what Isabel said. If the government had broader services, no one on that panel would be saying, she's right, we should encourage women to have more kids. Not a thing. They just would not. And it's silly to pretend otherwise. All right, well, joining us on the line right now is Arthur Brooks. Arthur has a brand new book titled the Meaning of youf Life. Arthur, of course, one of our great thinkers. He's fantastic. And he argues that today's unhappiness epidemic among young adults especially is basically a crisis of meaning. Arthur, thanks so much for joining the show. Really appreciate it.
- [62:30]
Arthur Brooks
Hi, Ben, how are you?
- [62:33]
Ben Shapiro
You know, thank God, doing well. How are you?
- [62:36]
Arthur Brooks
Go ahead, Baruch Hashem.
- [62:40]
Ben Shapiro
Well, you know, we just talked with Bishop Barron a little while ago about Holy Week. Obviously, a lot of people finding spiritual meaning this week. Your book is about how people find meaning in life. And, you know, I was just talking A moment ago about Isabel Brown at CPAC saying that we should encourage young women to get married, to have children, and then women on the View being very upset about this. Why are so many people upset about the idea that we ought to promote values that themselves provide meaning in life, rather than, I suppose, indifference to those values?
- [63:07]
Arthur Brooks
We've lost, Ben. It's clear. And you know, this is a research project I've been working on in this book for the last five years. We in our society, which is sadly in decline, have lost the ability to find meaning through the institutions that bring it. And there's a lot of explanations for it. I mean, we can talk about ideology and polarization, but fundamentally this is about how we have used technology largely after 2008, somewhat before that. But to the extent that everybody has a cell phone attached to their hand and they're scrolling their hours away, the average person looks at the cell phone 205 times per day, which literally makes us use our brains in the wrong way to find the meaning of life. I mean, you go back a couple of generations and the things that you were talking about were not controversial. And the reason is because everybody knew that an ordinary life filled with relationships and faith and friendship and love and family, these were the secrets to the meaning of life. And we have that not just because of ideological polarization, but because of technology which has changed our brains.
- [64:06]
Ben Shapiro
So let's talk about that technology changing our brain. So it is absolutely true that it's almost as though a hack has been performed on the human mind by a lot of the tech companies that have programmed for virality and by content providers who of course are attempting to maximize their exposure. I mean, we do that here on the show in order to get more people to watch, to get more eyeballs. But the reality is that it is as though we have found the most lizard brain parts of ourselves and then maximized those and poisoned ourselves in the process.
- [64:34]
Arthur Brooks
Yeah, I mean, humans are unbelievably ingenious and we will wipe out small problems and in the process create major crises. It's just amazing when you think about it. Let's see if we can wipe out a little bit of physical pain, which will turn into analgesics that become so incredibly dependency provoking that we have 100,000 deaths a year in overdoses. It was a classic case. And again, I'm not a techno doomsayer. On the contrary, I'm a techno optimist. But we have not learned how to use our technology appropriately. And the result of it is that Our brains, which are hemispheric. There's two sides to each brain. This is all in my book, how this Works. The right side is dedicated to mystery and meaning and love and happiness. And the left side is dedicated to solving technological and analytical problems. And we've stopped using the right side of our brains, which is why people are depressed and anxious and lonely and they'll lash out for all sorts of dumb activist reasons. I mean, all of the activism and conspiracy theories, this are nothing more than a cry for meaning, a sense of coherence in life. And the way to actually get that is to put down your device and go love your friends and family. It's almost that simple. Of course it isn't, because that's not ordinary anymore. So this book is a six part plan in real life with real hacks and real techniques to find the meaning of your life. Just like the old days in the next six months.
- [65:57]
Ben Shapiro
So I don't want to spoil your book, the Meaning of youf Life. Why don't you give us a couple of the hacks that people ought to be using in order to break all of this dependency?
- [66:06]
Arthur Brooks
Well, to begin with, you got to get clean. You know, if we were talking about dependency on drugs and alcohol, I would say you actually can't go live a new, brand new, squeaky clean, wonderful life if you don't actually get clean from the substances. And so I have a whole chapter on actually how to break your neurochemical addiction to devices with all the latest research on how to do that. And by the way, Ben, it's not that hard. You just have to have a little bit of will, commitment and discipline, and you can do it in about three weeks. Then after that, there's a bunch of ways that people haven't thought about maybe in a long time. Deep conversations. I give a list of the kinds of questions that you could ask and talk about with your friends that will literally illuminate the right hemisphere of your brain where questions of meaning will actually find you. I also talk about the importance of giving your heart away, falling in love, having kids. I talk about how incredibly important it is to look upward to the divine, to actually practice a faith, practice it notwithstanding your beliefs and certainly notwithstanding your feelings. I mean, you and I as traditionally religious people, me as a Catholic and you as an Orthodox Jew, I mean, we feel it sometimes, man, but we practice it every day. And that turns out to be the secret to the meaning of life. Right, Ben?
- [67:16]
Ben Shapiro
That's exactly right. That's exactly right. And again, we were Talking with Bishop Baron about Holy Week. I mean, the fact that you practice in the world is the thing that makes you a religious person. And it is living a religious life, not believing. I think that we've also become very abstract in the way that we view life. Way too abstract in some sense. The idea that religious people sit around all day contemplating their navel and the existence of God is not correct. I mean, people who are religious typically spend most of their day doing the same kinds of things everybody else does, but orienting themselves toward the idea that they're doing it for a godly reason. It's the exact same kind of stuff. It's just you're doing it for an actual bigger reason. And in other people's lives who are not religious, they do it with their kids. I mean, you can do it with your kids or with your spouse. If you're doing things for a better, bigger reason, you're gonna feel more fulfilled in your life than if you're doing it because your phone told you that it's important to be more famous or because some people were responding to you in your mentions on X or something.
- [68:08]
Arthur Brooks
That's exactly right. And there's one more thing that a lot of young people have been taught that's quite incorrect. I actually think that young people have been quite victimized by our culture because they, you know, you and I, I mean, you're a lot younger than I am, you're 20 years younger than I am, but you still remember the before times, as do I. Before we were attached to our phones to this particular extent. But one of the things that the lies that has been perpetrated with a lot of young people today, leading to the kind of conversation that you just illustrated about this non controversial idea that family makes you happy, is because people are uncomfortable and they've been told that if they're depressed or anxious, that's evidence that they're broken and that their suffering must be eliminated. The truth of the matter is, and I have a whole chapter on how never to waste your suffering. I have the latest scientific techniques on how to use your inevitable suffering, suffering in life to find the meaning of your life. Which is what, by the way, our religions have taught and our grandmothers have taught, and I talk about the fact that when you believe that I'm sad and I'm anxious, I need to fix this thing. Well, guess what? Sadness and anxiety in life is evidence that you're alive and have a normally functioning limbic system, that your emotions are working the way that they're supposed to. I tell my students at Harvard, by the way, when I've been working on this book, I say, look, if, if you study at Harvard, if you're not sad and anxious, you need therapy. Because the truth is you're doing a hard thing and you're doing it on purpose. And that's how you find the meaning of your life. So this is six ways to find the meaning of your life. That's what this book's all about.
- [69:36]
Ben Shapiro
Again, that is the title of the book, the Meaning of youf Life. Arthur Brooks is the author. All of his work is fabulous. Go check it out right now. Arthur, thanks so much for the time and congrats on the book as always.
- [69:44]
Arthur Brooks
Thanks, Ben. Great to see you.
- [69:47]
Ben Shapiro
You too. Alrighty folks, the show continues for our members. Right now we're going to answer your questions about free speech in the NBA, how to prevent your loved ones from being black pilled, so to speak, and these straight of hormones. Remember, in order to watch you have to be a member. If you're not a member, become a member. Use code Shapiro at checkout. Try two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us. Sam.