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- [00:01]
Ben Shapiro
Envy, as we all know it, is one of the seven deadly sins. And yet, if you are a Democrat these days, it may be the only virtue. See, here's the thing. The natural state of human beings. Poverty, misery and death. This was the natural state of human beings for literally tens of thousands of years. And then came this thing called private property. And governments that formed to protect that private property and free markets that formed to trade and invest and grow that private property. And now we all live better than the richest man on Earth did just 100 years ago or 80 years ago, or even 60 years ago by far. But for the Democrats, that system, free markets, is evil and immoral and wrong. Not because free markets have produced poverty or misery. Far from it. But because there are a lot of people who envy those who create wealth. They envy the people who innovate, compete and win. I've called them the scavengers before. And now those folks may be on the verge of victory here in the United States. And I've got the proof. We'll get into that. Plus, whether you should be worried about hantavirus, what President Trump can do to end the war in Iran victoriously, and why Mark Hamill has fallen to the hate of the dark side. This is the Ben Shapiro Show. Alrighty. So I want to begin with hantavirus. I know there are people who are freaking out about hantavirus. Lots of headlines. Is it the new. No, it's not the new Covid. Stop it. Just stop. Okay, so what happened is that there is a cruise ship called the MV Hondias, and according to the who, and I know the minute I say the World Health Organization, you throw up your hands and start screaming like a banshee because they did such a horrible job on Covid. Agreed. Agreed. But here is the information we have. Thus far, eight cases have been reported, including three deaths. Five of the eight cases were confirmed as hantavirus. So the hantavirus involved is the Andes virus. This is the only species known to be capable of limited transmission between humans. It's linked to close and prolonged contact. Typically, hantavirus is transmitted by somebody ingesting rat poop. Basically. Apparently, the way this started is that some of the people who are aboard this cruise ship got off the cruise ship in Argentina and they went to a dump to birdwatch. Folks don't go to places where there's tons of poop. It's just not a great thing to do. It's just not great. Anyway, so people got back on the ship and tragically, there were some People who had hansavirus and it started passing person to person, apparently. Now, this Andes strain apparently has a mortality rate of something like 40%, which is super scary, right? The COVID mortality rate was extremely low. The Andes strain of hantavirus has a mortality rate of 40%, meaning if 10 people get it, four will die. However, according to the CDC and the WHO, hantavirus has a reproduction number of less than one. Now, again, I know this brings back bad memories. We all have PTSD from the COVID days. The R rate is the rate at which a disease spreads. If it is less than 1, it will die out. If it is more than 1, it may slightly grow. The flu is like 1.2. Covid was like 4 at times, like the last strains of COVID meaning it spread really, really fast. Now, there's a weird thing about viruses, which is the more deadly they are, typically speaking, the lower the reproduction rate, because you die before you can pass it on to other people. And very often, you only get a very deadly form of a disease from a person who is symptomatic. That is true of hantavirus. The incubation period is something like one to eight weeks anywhere in there. But during that incubation period, when it's just kind of growing in your body, it is not contagious. So only when it starts to manifest, which is pretty severe, is it contagious. So you're not going to be going out to birthday parties, typically with antivirus, right? Once it starts to actually harm you, once you start to be really, really sick, you're going to be in a hospital. You're going to be stuck in your bedroom, right? You're not going to be out there partying it up. A cruise ship is a different story, because obviously, even as you become symptomatic, you're in close contact for prolonged periods of time with other human beings. From 1993 to 2003, there are about 890 cases of hantavirus reported in the United States. About 35% of those resulted in death. Again, those were mostly not human to human. So here is a timeline of what happened here. March 20, the ship departed Argentina. By April 6, the first passenger had started getting sick. The ill Passenger, who was 70 years old, died on board the ship, then docked in St. Helena, and 23 passengers got off. Then the wife of the dead passenger also died. Again, close contact for prolonged period of time. And then a third passenger, a British man, became seriously ill and was medically evacuated. In South Africa, a German woman died on board and A British man became the first to test positive for hantavirus. That is full on a month later. And then the ship denied docking at Cape Verde, and the Dutch woman's body tested positive. And then a departed passenger tested positive in Switzerland. Some people got on planes, they flew. The ship is now headed for the Canary Islands. Okay, but the chances that this is like a pandemic level cancer virus, that it's human to human contact, that somebody went to a birthday party and spread it everywhere, very, very, very low. So again, I always hesitate now because of the poison that is the WHO in the public discourse, to bring sources from the who. That's how bad they are at their jobs and how horribly they abuse the trust of the American people. But here is the WHO Director of Pandemic Prevention, a woman named Maria van Kerkhov.
- [05:43]
Maria van Kerkhov
This is not coronavirus. This is a very different virus. We, we know this virus. Hantaviruses have been around for quite a while. There's a lot of detail that we know. I'm going to ask Anais to come in and say this, but I want to be unequivocal here. This is not SARS cov2.this is not the start of a COVID pandemic. This is an outbreak that we see on a ship. There's a confined area. We have five confirmed cases so far.
- [06:08]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, so should you be masking up? No. Should be worrying about shutting down your business? No. Should be worried about sending your kids to school? No. You should go about your life. The media have an incentive to act as though every new hantavirus or disease is going to turn into Covid. And let's be real, even Covid wasn't Covid, meaning the way that the media portrayed Covid, that it had an exorbitantly high death rate, that it was going to kill legitimately millions of people, particularly young people. It turned out that a lot of that was exaggerated, particularly in the United States. The early estimates were just wrong. There was so much bad data, and it abused the trust of the American people. Anthony Fauci abused the trust of the American people. Hell, Pfizer, in its initial statements about the efficacy of the vaccine and stopping transmission, abused the trust of the American people. Do not be taken in by the media panic that is currently happening about hantavirus because there is no evidence at this point. Now the evidence can change, but at this point, there is zero evidence that you should be freaked out about this hantavirus. In a second, we'll get to AOC declaring that billionaires are Illegitimate. I mean, she knows economics. She did take tips as a bartender first. Today's episode is sponsored by American Beverage. Think about all those iconic drinks you grew up with and you still love today. Whether it's soda or a sparkling water or a tea or a sports drink, the companies behind those beverages, Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, they've always made them right here in America. So while there's a lot of talk these days about bringing jobs back to America, 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, who do the work, who 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. They're still here, still investing, still building. Learn more about how they're keeping America Strong. And@wedeliverforamerica.org Again, that's wedeliver for america.org America's beverage companies are keeping jobs here and still making the drinks you love. Go check them out and learn more about them@wedeliverforamerica.org Once again, that's WeDeliver for America.org okay, now, speaking of viruses that will not die, the virus of socialist envy never dies. It never, ever dies. Alexander Ocasio Cortez, a beneficiary of America's free market system. I mean, listen, America is fabulous. America is so fabulous that you can be a complete dullard and be incredibly rich and powerful. And truly, it's an incredible thing. There are people who have made a bajillion dollars in the United States who in any other country would be the village idiot. That is not because they're stealing money from people. Okay, aoc. She is widely considered a possible New York Senate candidate. She may run against Chuck Schumer. Maybe she'll run for president. Well, she was on a podcast with a human called Ilana Glaser. They she a comedian, actor, advocate, and creator. She recently made her Broadway debut in the stage adaptation of Good Night and Good Luck. Now, again, another person benefiting from the fact that the United States is rich enough to pay people a lot of money to do dumb things. In any case, AOC made the rather incredible statement that it is not possible to earn a billion dollars. Apparently in AOC's dumb brain, there is a cutoff point. So you can earn $100,000. Maybe you can Earn a million dollars. But it's not possible to earn a billion dollars. We don't know exactly where that cutoff point is. Is it $500,000,001? Where is the cutoff point? But here is her explanation.
- [09:46]
Maria van Kerkhov
There's a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned.
- [09:53]
Ben Shapiro
Right?
- [09:54]
Maria van Kerkhov
You can't earn a billion dollars.
- [09:58]
Ilana Glazer
That's right.
- [09:59]
Maria van Kerkhov
You just can't earn that.
- [10:01]
Ilana Glazer
That's exactly correct.
- [10:08]
Ben Shapiro
The amount of brain power in that room could toast a piece of bread lightly. Absolute oatmeal for brains over there. You cannot earn a billion. Absolutely. You can earn a billion dollars. In fact, the way that you earn a billion dollars in the private sector is you provide goods and services to millions of people that they want to pay for. That is how you earn a billion dollars. You innovate a new product. Lots of people want it and then they pay you for it. That is how you make money. But again, this sort of stupidity has become de rigueur for the left. Alexander Ocasio Cortez then pushed this further, said the single largest form of theft in America is wage theft. $50 billion a year are stolen from American workers. Now she's not talking here about the wage theft of the government coming in and literally confiscating a giant chunk of your paycheck every month. She thinks it is wage theft for companies to not pay wages that she thinks they should pay. Just if a billionaire amasses their wealth by underpaying their full time workers so severely they must rely on food assistance and government programs to survive, then know that wealth was not earned by one individual. It was a wealth transfer subsidized by underpaid American workers and the public who got stuck with the bill for large corporations free riding off our systems. She's not making the argument she thinks she's making. She really is not. I half agree. If you pay people to stay home or if you pay to supplement people's wages, that means that there is a downward pressure on wages because someone else is paying half the wages. That is an argument against government subsidization of wages. That is not an argument in favor of prying more money somehow out of the private employer. She says the point is less about individual morality. It's more about how our current economic reality of shattering inequality rewards screwing over workers and exploiting essential systems at scale. Again, the way to get wages up would be to reduce government dependency. That would be the way. She says we're talking about monopoly power. She doesn't know what she's talking about monopoly power. This idea that billionaires are billionaires because they have quote unquote monopolies. The only true monopoly in a free market system is a monopoly in which you get the government to regulate your competitors out of existence. That is how monopoly actually works. Rent seeking, wage theft, profiteering, stock buybacks, destabilizing house markets. I mean, again, profiteering? Do you mean like charging people for a product or service? Stock buyback? Stock buybacks are not a form of monopoly power. What is she talking about? Companies using SNAP or EBT to underwrite their wages. Again, that is a critique of the SNAP ebt. Perverse incentives, massive government subsidies or contracts to corporations following lobbying and dark money in politics with little to no oversight or accountability. I agree with that. But that is a capitalist point, not a socialist point. More government control equals more corruption. Duh. Some people get enraged. I draw attention to this. That's on them. Let them call me shrill, dumb, inexperienced, girly or uneducated. I'm not calling her girly. She is a girl. I'm calling her shrill, dumb, inexperienced and uneducated. She has all of those things. These folks will say anything to distract from or undercut. The truth that working people are getting screwed and giving people a fair shake means we must have a grown conversation about reining in abuse of power. So first of all, it has always been a Marxist lie that capitalism impoverishes the worker. It is not true. It has never been true. It was something Karl Marx argued back during the Industrial Revolution that the impoverishment of wage earners would result from capitalism. And precisely the opposite occurred. Every prediction Marx ever made about the future state of the world was wrong. All of them. Which is why in order to achieve his vision, governments eventually had to just kill tens of millions of human beings. Because it turns out that Marx's predictions about the future, his supposed prophetic powers, were untrue. He projected that there would be a gigantic class struggle. Never happened. He projected that capitalism would impoverish everyone. Didn't happen. He projected that workers would get poorer. Didn't happen. But again, all that Marxism is really rooted in, in the end, is not rooted in any thoroughgoing understanding of economics or human nature. It is rooted in pure envy. Pure unadulterated envy. AOC cites to Bernie Sanders as the founder of the movement. Again, citing some of the most useless people on earth as the founders of your movement is a move. Here is aoc.
- [14:44]
Ilana Glazer
You know, Bernie Sanders, I think, was the first to puncture through with this messaging to the mainstream, to mainstream America. And you're really his successor. You speak in such clear and simple language, so obviously spontaneous, genuine, from your lived experience, which is so different. I mean, you know, I'm laughing, but it's, it's honestly terrifying how most, I would say the majority of elected officials do not reflect the lived experience of their constituents. When did this come into your consciousness, this system being rigged for the ultra wealthy?
- [15:18]
Maria van Kerkhov
Well, first I want to say, in a lot of ways, we're all kind of Bernie's successor.
- [15:25]
Ben Shapiro
Again, there is no one who has been a bigger leech on the ass of American society than Bernie Sanders. The man has not held a productive job for literally 80 years. For 80 years he has lived and sponged off the taxpayer. It's incredible. I mean, by the way, Bernie is the kind of person who is now going after Sergey Brin for the great crime of founding Google Quote, Google founder Sergey Brin's wealth has doubled to $311 billion since Trump's election. Now he's spending 57 million to oppose a 5% billionaires wealth tax in California. He'd rather millions lose health care than pay his fair share in taxes. This kind of arrogance is unacceptable. Again, unacceptable according to whom? You're a tyrant. Tyrant. And by the way, it is you who are arrogant because you believe you are entitled to Sergey Brin's wealth, by the way, wealth he hasn't even cashed out on. The predictable result of all of this, by the way, as we'll get to in a little while, is people will flee California. Anyone who can earn is fleeing California at this point. In the end, this is all rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of how the world works or envy or both. Kamala Harris, I don't know. Is she stupid? Is she, is she corrupt? Is she, is she promoting evil? Maybe all three, she does this through. This is the thing that people like AOC or Bernie or Kamala will do. They will posit a utopian world in which good things happen. And then they will say, if that world does not exist, it doesn't exist because of a system I don't like. So here she was saying that, you know, she should be able to basically dictate wages. Here we go.
- [16:58]
Kamala Harris
But a revival. And what does that look like? Well, where if you work a 40 hour week, you can afford your rent and food on the table and maybe a vacation from time to time, not scraping to get by, praying you can get through the end of the month.
- [17:21]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, I mean that is so vague as to be utterly worthless. Okay, should is doing a Lot of work there. First of all, the vast majority of people in the United States who work a 40 hour week are affording rent. They're not living on the streets, they're affording rent. It may be too expensive, they may not like it, but the vast majority of human beings in the United States can afford rent on their salary. By afford, I mean they're not homeless and they can afford food because starvation in the United States is at zero. No one is starving to death in the United States. So we can start with that. But again, what socialists do, what people who hate free markets do, is they posit that there should be. I mean, I can do it too, you know, if you work 40 hours a week in the United States, you should be able to afford a six bedroom mansion in Bel Air. You should also afford be able to afford a cruise around the world without hantavirus and a private jet. If you work 40 hours a week, you should be in a better world. You would be able to do that. And the only thing stopping you is this system. I don't like. It's just crap. It's just nonsense. It's being practiced, by the way. Out in California. Out in California they're trying to do this. And coming up, we'll be joined by California's Republican gubernatorial candidate. Is he the next governor? Why is California falling apart? We'll get to it with Steve Hilton in a moment. First, Mother's Day has a way of making people feel pretty nostalgic. Moments that seemed ordinary at the time, somehow these become the memories everybody treasures later. The problem is a lot of those memories are stuck on old VHS tapes, camcorders, photo albums nobody can easily access anymore. Which is why Legacy Box is such a great gift idea. You send them your old tapes, film, pictures. Their team professionally digitizes everything by hand in Tennessee. Then they send you back to originals, plus digital versions you can easily watch and share with the family. It's a simple and awesome way to preserve the moments that shape your family story. We digitized all my parents stuff, which means that I can see my grandparents with my parents. They can see themselves as children. It's an amazing thing. Join over 1.5 million families that have trusted Legacy Box with their memories. When you preserve those old videos and photos, you're not just giving your mom something meaningful. You're making sure your kids and future generations will one day be able to see the people and moments that shaped your family's story. Go to legacybox.com Shapiro save 60% during their best Mother's Day sale ever. Legacybox.com Shapiro for 60% off again. That's legacybox.com Shapiro in California, they're pushing hard for the idea that if they destroy the wealth creators that somehow this will magically fix everything. One of the people who is running against that is Steve Hilton. You know him from Fox News, conservative political commentator, former political advisor and now candidate for governor of California. And the polls the front runner at the moment. Steve, thanks so much for joining the show. Really appreciate it.
- [20:03]
Steve Hilton
That's it. To be with you. I love what you've been saying, Ben. It's fantastic. Can I add one little dimension to what you've been saying, which is taxes?
- [20:10]
Ben Shapiro
Please do.
- [20:10]
Steve Hilton
So at the same time as all of this going on, which you correctly described there, you've got because of the tax system, low paid workers, the ones that Kamala Harris and all these people profess to care about, certainly in California, paying massive taxes to the government and the employers that are allegedly impoverishing these workers, also paying massive taxes to the government which are then recycled in these handouts. I'll just give you the numbers. In California, there are a number of counties now where because of the cost of living being so high, because of Democrat policies, the official definition of low income is $100,000 a year. So you got people because the California tax system earning 70, 80, 90 grand a year, low income, paying 9.3% state income tax that is higher than the top rate of tax in most states in America. What have they got to say about that? Nothing. My plan on the other hand, is to reduce taxes for those people, eliminating state income tax for everyone earning 100 grand or below. And so these people just don't think about the actual system. They want more and more taxes, more and more government. And then they complain that, that the workers aren't getting paid enough even as they're taking more money out of their pockets.
- [21:25]
Ben Shapiro
It's totally insane. I was just in California a little bit earlier this week and I was looking at the gas prices in California and you have, you know, people in California complaining about it's the Iran war that's making the gas prices go up. Well, it's weird because I live here in Florida and yeah, gas is a little more expensive than it was a couple of months ago before the war started. But I noticed that per gallon over here, 395 a gallon. 390 a gallon. And then I'm in LA and I'm looking at seven bucks a gallon. That is not happening because of the Iran war. That is Happening because of the horrific governance in the state of California. And it's a regressive tax because you know who can afford an electric car? Rich people. You know who can't afford an electric car? Everybody who's a wage earner.
- [22:02]
Steve Hilton
Exactly. I mean, that's why the first pledge in my campaign about a year ago when I started was $3 gas. Because at the time before the war, you had 40 states in America where gas was $3 or below. Most of them with no oil reserves. California has abundant oil reserves. Yet because of their insane virtue signaling about clamping down on fossil fuels and ending fossil fuels, they are ending California production of fossil fuels, that's for sure. But the overall consumption of fossil fuels in California since their war on fossil fuels is about the same as it ever was, except now we are importing it from from halfway around the world. Our number one provider of oil right now used to be California when we got most of it from in state. Number one provider now Iraq. These geniuses in the name of climate change are now shipping oil halfway around the world, 7,500 miles from Iraq in giant supertankers spewing out carbon emissions because they run on the dirtiest form of fuel, bunker fuel, in the name of climate. They're literally increasing carbon emissions in the name of climate change. Another example, the oil that works with California refineries is a heavier form of crude oil, a good match for that, the oil you get in South America. So again, in the name of Gavin Newsom's climate policy, we are now expanding oil drilling in the Amazon rainforest in order to provide oil to California because they refuse to actually get it from within California, in the process shutting down our energy industry and destroying jobs in the rural areas of California like Kern county, which they don't care about. It's just so utterly insane and incoherent. We gotta take these people apart.
- [23:40]
Ben Shapiro
You know, Steve, one of the things that is truly amazing is you're hearing people like the AOCs and the Bernie's of the world talking about the system being rigged. Meanwhile, one of the people running for governor in your race is Tom Steyer, who every so often just blows like $150 million on a political race in which he gets his ass kicked trying to rig the elections in his own favor by spending gobs of of his own money, much of which was earned off of carbon based fossil fuels. It's pretty astonishing stuff. And simultaneously saying that the wealth tax isn't high enough in order to drive the other people who are actually innovating and earning in California out of the state. What do you make of your competitors in this race? How do you view the race at this point?
- [24:20]
Steve Hilton
So one further point on Tom Steyer. We all have to publish our taxes as candidates for governor. Of all the candidates in the race, billionaire Tom Steyer, who rails against billionaires using tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes, actually pays the lowest effective tax rate because he's stashing his money away in tax loopholes and places like the Cayman Islands. So I mean, the whole thing is so ridiculous in terms of the race. I think where we are now is encouraging for those of us who want change in California, which by the way, is a majority. Just to be clear, the data on whether people think the state is going in the right direction or wrong direction has shifted very negatively against the Democrats. During the last governor's race four years ago, the kind of right track, wrong track number, wrong track in California was a mid to high 40s. Today it's mid to high 50s. There's a majority who want change. That's why I know it's going to be difficult to win this year. But I think we've got an opportunity because people are sick of what's been going on to in terms of the race, we got this ridiculous top two primary system. The top two vote getters in the primary go forward regardless of party. Right now I'm leading or tied for the lead in all of the polls. There's another one out today that has me on 20%. Javier Becerra, Biden's former health secretary on 20, everyone else on 14 or below. So that's encouraging. But there's a risk that actually because of this system, if Tom Steyer dumps another $160 million into the race, which you could perfectly well do, he might go up a little bit. The Democrat machine in California has kind of glommed on to Javier Becerra, who was down and out a few weeks ago before the Swalwell sleaze implosion. But Becerra is like a dream come true for the California political machine. Cuz he's exactly what they want. Just like Kamala Harris. Just like Newsom. Just like Bass, actually, just like Joe Biden. He is a complete puppet career politician who will just do whatever they say, whatever the unions want. He doesn't really believe in anything other than his own political career. And so they're excited for him. No one else is, but the machine is. And so you've got the unions all getting behind Becerra and So you could see him moving up a little bit effectively. Right now you've got a top three in the race. Myself, Becerra and, and Tom Steyer. If we can unite a little bit more strongly behind my campaign, then I'll be there, probably against Becerra, but you never know. We got a month to go, the ballots are already out. It's very important. Everyone in California understands that we could be locked out and you could have two Democrats in the top two if we don't actually get behind the leading Republican, who very clearly now is me.
- [27:01]
Ben Shapiro
Now, Steve, I'm somebody who gave up the ghost on California a while back. I took my family. I moved out in 2020, figuring the slide was irreversible. Our business moved to Tennessee. I have pretty much all my relatives moved. We still have relatives who are still back in California. Every time I visit la, it just feels like a living tragedy because obviously you're talking about one of the most beautiful places on earth in California, tremendous natural resources and somehow governance has reduced it to a completely ungovernable mess. So the question is, obviously it feels as though this election is sort of last chance saloon for California. I keep hearing from my friends who have stayed in California, maybe it'll turn around, maybe it'll shift. If it doesn't shift in this election, the question to me is when would it? Is it possible that it ever would? Or are we basically in a death spiral now?
- [27:47]
Steve Hilton
I think that's exactly right. I really do. I mean, I remember when I launched the campaign, I said, look, it's now or never. We really do have. Because actually there's so many people. I'm on the road the whole time. It's been a year now. Businesses all over the state, not just the high profile ones, but that make the headlines. So many businesses. And people say to me, if you don't win, I'm out. I'm hanging on. I'm waiting to see if it's going to happen this time, and then I'm out. Business is more mobile than ever. People can see that you can make a great business, start a business, grow a business exactly as you have in other parts of the country. The idea that you have to be in California just isn't, isn't real for a lot of people. Of course, there are some businesses, you know, real estate and so on, they're going to stay and they're committed to trying to save the state, but there's a real risk that we just fall off the cliff. And so this is a make or Break moment. I think we can do it because of the fact that people are so sick of what's been going on. We've got a couple of other factors in our favor in a midterm election, as you know, it's all about turnout, getting your voters out. And there's a couple of ballot initiatives that have been confirmed for the ballot in November in California that will really help get Republicans voters out because they're disproportionately popular among Republicans. The first of them is a ballot initiative called Save Prop 13, which is about limiting local tax increases, property tax increases and so on. And then the one that's had more attention, Voter id. Voter ID is gonna be on the ballot in November. That's really popular with Republicans. So I think that we've got everything going for us. The Democrat candidates are terrible in different ways. We whether it's Becerra, who's just a complete, I mean, even look how bad Becerra is. Even his own former colleagues in the Biden administration are now leaking every day about what a useless cabinet secretary was. I mean, if you're so bad that Joe Biden thinks you're incompetent, then, you know, you got problems. And then of course, Steyer, who's even worse, as I say, if you think it can't get any worse in California, I've got two words for you, Tom Steyer. These candidates are beatable. And so I think this absolutely could be a year. Look at Spencer Pratt generating huge bars and energy in la, tapping into the rage of what happened there with Karen Bass. Look, it's not going to be easy. I've never said that it's going to be difficult, but we've got a lot of support growing. We've got the business community engaged in politics in California for the first time in at least 20 years, partially prompted by this insane wealth tax proposal. So, look, we can do it. I really believe we can do it. But it's going to be hard. We've got to fight for it.
- [30:18]
Ben Shapiro
That's Steve Hilton. Steve, where should people go to support your campaign?
- [30:21]
Steve Hilton
Thank you, Ben. Steve HiltonForGovernor.com For Steve HiltonForGovernor.com but most importantly, vote. The ballots are out. We got a month of early voting. It's already started. It's not going to happen unless people actually go out and vote for it.
- [30:35]
Ben Shapiro
Well, that's Steve Hilton. Steve, really appreciate the time and good luck. In a second, we'll get to the Marxist belief that somehow souls are transformed. As soon as you get rid of capitalism. Plus, what should President Trump do on Iran? And we'll get to Mark Hamill, who has joined the dark side first. This Mother's Day, we celebrate something truly meaningful, the gift of life and the women who choose to bring it into the world. For many families, it's a moment of joy, sharing the news, welcoming a new mom into the family. For some women, Mother's Day feels very different. They're facing uncertainty, pressure, fear. The reality is the culture is often silent about the real support available, which is where preborn steps in. At Preborn Network clinics, women are welcomed with compassion and offered a free ultrasound. That moment matters because when a mom sees her baby and hears that heartbeat, it becomes real. It's unique individual life. And studies show hearing that heartbeat can double the likelihood she chooses life. We have four kids who have fifth on the way. Every time I see the fifth on ultrasound, I gotta tell you, you know your kids well before they're born. Imagine a mom who's deciding whether to keep the baby, finally meeting that baby. That's what happens when you help out preborn. This Mother's Day, you can help create that moment. For just 28 bucks, you can provide one ultrasound. For 140 bucks, you can reach five women. Preborn offers ongoing support, counseling, maternity care, baby clothes, diapers, and more. To donate, dial £250. Say keyword baby. That's £250 baby. Or visit preborn.comBen that's preborn.comBen so, you know, to go back to what's happening, I think it's important to note that the places like California that have decided to follow the aoc. Bernie Sanders. Wealth is terrible. Innovation is awful. It's all theft path. They are losing. They are losing people. They are losing income. This is a chart of AGI gained or lost in states that Trump won in 2024 versus states that he lost as would be the income that is being brought, gained or lost. And what you can see is massive gains in the red states and massive losses in the blue states, amounting to some $2 trillion gained in the Trump states and almost $2 trillion lost in the blue states. That is because business owners, people who innovate, are fleeing places that hate them. By the way, the lost leaders, places like California, which lost 503 billion in AGI, and New York, which lost $660 billion in AGI. And they keep running this down. So the question is why? The question is why? Why do they keep doing this? And it can only be envy. It can only Be envy. It can't be efficacy, right? People on the right, when we have, whenever we argue in favor of free markets, we typically argue in utilitarian fashion about free markets, that free markets work better than socialism and regulation and subsidization and government control. And that's true. But in the end, the argument that is being made by aoc Bernie, Tom Steyer, Katie Porter. Like all these people, the arguments that are being made are not in fact utilitarian arguments. They're not saying socialism will work better. Socialism is not going to provide you a 40 hour workweek with a vacation and rent and food in a better way than capitalism. It will not work that way. What they are promising is something different. They're making a moral indictment of people who are rich. They are saying that when you become rich, you become evil and corrupt and terrible. Right? That is why she doesn't say if you earn $100,000. AOC she doesn't say if you earn $100,000, then you have been corrupt. She says if you earn a billion dollars, you've been corrupt. There comes some point, a tipping point, at which your greed takes over. And if only we change the systems under which you live, then the heart of man itself would change. The promise of Marxism is not a better future. The promise of Marxism is a better human being. That was always the promise of Marxism and it is a lie. It is untrue. Human beings are human beings wherever you go. Human nature is human nature wherever you go. And the reality is that the moral status that Marxism tries to claim now, the idea that you are more altruistic because you're a better person if you believe in redistributionism is a lie. Free markets are just. Free markets are good. Free markets are based on a simple principle. You as an individual have creative power in the universe. You are made in the image of God. You have control over your autonomy. You have the ability to control your labor and alienate it. Your innovation is your own and you ought to own it. The principle of justice is that people get what they have coming to them. Right? That is the principle of justice. Justice is not the idea that you have an idea of what the world should be. And if you don't get that thing, then justice has not been achieved. Thomas Sowell, the economist, he properly observed in his fabulous book, the Quest for Cosmic Justice. Justice is a process, not an outcome. We are not God that we can simply say let there be equality or let there be justice. We must begin with the universe that we were born into and weigh the cost of making any specific change in it to achieve a specific end. Private property is a good. It is not a bad. It is a good. It is good that there are billionaires, because a society that has, in a free market, billionaires means there are a lot of people who are millionaires. It means there are a lot of people who are making $100,000. And it means that everybody is wealthier than they were the day before. Why? Because of innovation. And I can't say this enough, there are time machines on planet Earth. They're called airplanes. Take an airplane to a third world country that does not protect private property, that does not believe in equal rights before the law, and see how it works out for you. It's terrible. It's truly awful. Meanwhile, you're living here in the United States, the greatest country in the history of mankind, and you have a magical device that you carry around in your pocket every day filled with more technology than the tech that was used to put a man on the moon. And you're carrying that around every day. And you can hit a button on that phone and a product will be magically delivered to you without any effort on your part other than hitting the button. And that product will have been sourced from 80 different countries, and you'll never know about it. That's the power of free markets. And that's rooted again in your specific priorities. You are not a victim in the system. You get to decide what you want to buy, you get to decide what you want to sell, you get to decide how much you're going to spend for a thing or whether you don't want to spend that much money for a thing. The theory of marginal value, right? The idea that you, as an individual get to decide what a thing is worth to you is the basis for free market economics, meaning that it is the most individualistic system that has ever been conceived of by mankind. We didn't properly understand it until the works of Ludwig von Mises and von Boerk in the late 19th, early 20th century. And the basic idea is this a glass of water. What is it worth to you now in the United States, on a typical day, probably not all that much, right? You can go to a tap, you can open up the tap, you can put some water in it. If you were in the Sahara, it would be worth literally all of your wealth, because otherwise you would die. Does that mean that the water changed value? Or does it mean that your value on the water changed? Your value on the water changed. And that's what price systems do. We aggregate the value in the time. And then we figure out what the average person is willing to pay. Basically, that is good. It is better. You innovate, you compete, things get better. So it is not just a utilitarian case. It is a moral case. And again, the left hates that moral case. They want something completely different. And meanwhile, the left is getting more and more radical. The left is getting more and more violent in its perception of the world. Mark Hamill put out a post. Mark Hamill, of course, is most famous for playing Luke Skywalker. He also was the voice of the Joker in the Batman series. This is much closer to the Joker than it is to Luke Skywalker. He put out a photo of President Trump in sort of an AI painting of President Trump dead, like, lying in the ground with flowers growing on him and a gravestone atop him that says, Donald J. Trump 1946-2024. And he put out a statement on Blue sky, which is Twitter for leftist crazy people. Quote, if only he should live long enough to witness his inevitable devastating loss in the midterms, be held accountable for his unprecedented corruption, impeached, convicted and humiliated for his countless crimes long enough to realize he'll be disgraced in the history books forevermore. Okay. He then deleted it. Putting up pictures of your political opponents dead, typically a bad thing. Now, it was just a couple of days ago that Barack Obama was with Mark Hamill at the Obama Presidential Center.
- [39:21]
Barack Obama
Happy Star Wars Day from the Obama Presidential Center.
- [39:25]
Ben Shapiro
I have a very good feeling about this. This.
- [39:30]
Barack Obama
Mark, I am glad you are here. I want to tell you about someone.
- [39:33]
Ben Shapiro
Okay.
- [39:34]
Barack Obama
A young person born into ordinary circumstances, but restless, unsatisfied. A kid with big dreams. A bit of a rebel.
- [39:44]
Ben Shapiro
I like where this is going.
- [39:46]
Barack Obama
They join a scrappy group of underdogs and set out to change things by blowing up a giant space laser. No, Mark, this is not about you. As wonderful as you are, this is about them. This isn't a monument to my legacy. It's a gateway to you.
- [40:04]
Ben Shapiro
It's about him.
- [40:05]
Barack Obama
The Obama Presidential center is much more than a museum. It is an entire campus built to empower you. A place to come together, get inspired, and become a force
- [40:19]
Ben Shapiro
for train. Yeah, exactly. It's the Zoolander School for kids who can't read Good.
- [40:22]
Donald Trump
The dad jokes are.
- [40:26]
Barack Obama
That's perfect.
- [40:29]
Ben Shapiro
My favorite. My favorite thing about Obama there is that he's like, mark, it's not about you, it's about me. That's literally what he's saying. You know, a scrappy underdog. But again, the Left mostly fine with this sort of thing these days. Kathy Griffin, who was last seen holding up a mockup of the severed head of Donald Trump. You remember that during term one. Well, now she is out there making fun of Erica Kirk, which has become sport. I have to say. The sport of making fun of Erica Kirk is one of the sickest things I have seen in modern American politics. It is disgusting. It's disgusting. You don't have to love Charlie Kirk. You don't have to like Erica Kirk. You don't have to do any of those things. But making fun of the widow of a guy who got shot in the neck live on camera is insane. It's totally crazy. And the fact that this has become sport for people on the right and on the left is sick. I mean, truly vile. Here is Kathy Griffin doing a Candace Owens.
- [41:24]
Kathy Griffin
There's always new things happening. I mean, who knows how many assassination attempts there could be just in the next day or how many times Erica Kirk is gonna switch from her sparkle pants to that weird video that she made. It's just bizarre. It's kind of a close up, like a zoom in shot of her face.
- [41:44]
Ilana Glazer
Nothing will ever be enough for the evil in this world. Our country has become unrecognizable.
- [41:50]
Kathy Griffin
Wasn't that Erica Kirk video weird? Her being not girly and looking like, I don't even know what, like a sniper. She looks like she's going to an anti ice protest, which is something she would not do. Look, I'm done giving her a pass, all right? I knew Charlie Kirk. I did a panel with him one time and his squished in face and yeah, I said that because that dude was a straight up Nazi.
- [42:16]
Ben Shapiro
She had a panel with a Nazi. Why was she doing panels with Nazi? She probably shouldn't do that. It's so insane. But unfortunately, the Democratic Party has moved in an incredibly radical direction. The sort of normie Hollywood Democrat has moved into an insane direction. The these days, which is like, it's really, it's really quite bad for the country. Now, there's still some normies. There's still some normies. They exist. John Fetterman, again, I cite him as the normie because he is one. Again, I disagree with him on a lot of his politics. He voted 90% in favor of Joe Biden's policies, but he's not a nut job. He put out a piece at the Washington Post saying I haven't changed. Here's what has he said. Though I was elected as a Democrat, I'm proud to serve All Pennsylvanians. It has become increasingly lonely to serve in that way, but I firmly believe it's what's needed. My party cannot simply be the opposite of whatever President Donald Trump says. The president could come out for ice cream and lazy Sundays and my party would suddenly hate them. Such pointless pile ons and attacks are unproductive. The American people want us to work together to find solutions on issues they and our country face. He says it wasn't long ago when Democrats supported things like a secure border or avoiding government shutdowns or Israel. He says those one's common views have become increasingly toxic in the Democratic Party, a result of catering to the fringe and agitated parts of our base. He's right. He is correct. Obviously we need more Democrats like that and less of the nuttiness. And meanwhile, the fight over redistricting continues. Tennessee Republicans yesterday passed a new gerrymander following the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act. So again, that ruling just said that you're not allowed to draw districts specifically in order to benefit one particular racial group. So now Tennessee is a nine zero, Republican state. They're basically redistricting Representative Steve Cohen out of his seat. He was representing a majority black district. They split up the majority black Shelby County. It also divides Maury county, which delivers a more favorable district to a guy named Andy Ogles. In Tennessee, you can see the map before and after. Again, not totally unreasonable maps, really. Either way, very likely this is upheld. But the idea is on the part of Democrats that this is un American. So again, according to Democrats, totally American to do this in Virginia, a 55. 45 state. Totally un American to do this in Tennessee, a 6040 state. Here is Representative Justin Jones lighting a Confederate flag on fire in the state capitol. I wasn't aware that like a lot of people are in love with the Confederate flag these days, but okay. Oh, the performativeness. And then he decided to curse out a state trooper because it's the state trooper's fault somehow. This is. Justin Pearson.
- [45:26]
Justin Pearson
Is wrong with you stupid mother
- [45:32]
Ben Shapiro
shouting at state troopers. That. That. That is. That is a way to do it. That. That sounds. That sounds amazing. Justin Pearson, one of the most hilarious people in American politics. Just want to show you a video of Justin Pearson in 2016 vs yesterday
- [45:49]
Justin J. Pearson
Justin J. Pearson. And I'm running for president of bsg. There are a few reasons that we're running this campaign this year. One has to do with representation. How can we represent all voices in a conversation? I want to do this by partnering with organization organizations from the Boon Democrats to the booting Republicans. I want to bring together different voices, dissenting voices, voices that may be more liberal or more conservative, in order that we can reach a point of sort
- [46:14]
Justin Pearson
of the radical middle here. You've had three strike laws, mass incarceration, denied us of who we are, and we are still here. And today you will take the only but majority black district from us. But I want you to know, and I want my nephew, sons and the future to know, no matter what you do, no matter how much you try and break us and make us bend and make us quit, we will still be here.
- [46:44]
Ben Shapiro
A lot of politicians are frustrated theater kids, that is for sure. Stacey Abrams, the governor of Georgia, remember that time that she claimed she was governor of Georgia for years and years after losing a gubernatorial race and then she was on Star Trek for no reason. Remember that? Yeah, that was funny. Well, now she says there are no longer any blue or red states. There are only democracy or authoritarian states. So which does Virginia count as precisely?
- [47:06]
Stacey Abrams
What we have to understand is that there are no longer blue states and red states. There are authoritarian states and democracy states. There are states that do not believe in the right of the people to have a say, who want to aggregate power and foment corruption. And there are states that want to guarantee that in the this country we have free and fair elections, we have access to the remedies that democracy is supposed to deliver, and that no matter what goes wrong in one part of the country, that the quality of your citizenship does not depend on your zip code and your geography.
- [47:43]
Ben Shapiro
No, the quality of your authoritarian ness apparently depends on your zip code. Because again, the idea is if Democrats do it, it's fine. If Republicans do it, it's not. Here's my general view of redistricting. I've said it over and over and over again. Totally legal, it's fine. Don't care all that much. Honestly, I really don't like California redistricting, Texas redistricting. All right. I mean, okay, I do not have a strong opinion as to the idea that states should never redistrict. And it seems to me what's good for the goose is good for the gander and vice versa. Now, speaking of that Virginia redistricting map, the map was not ruled unconstitutional today. The actual referendum was ruled unconstitutional. So what I mean by this is it's not the actual map that the Democrats drew in Virginia that the court struck down. What actually happened is that the Democrats put up a referendum on the ballot in Virginia that said that the goal is to quote Unquote, restore fairness. So that was misleading. The court found. They found that that referendum did not, in fact, restore fairness. It basically reduced 45% of the voting population of the state of Virginia into one district. So, like 9% of the congressional delegation. Okay, so what they found is that there are a few violations here that the Democratic Party pursued in order to ram through this redistricting. And these were procedural hurdles. One, the actual referendum itself was poorly worded and illegitimate. Second, the Virginia Constitution dictates that a proposed amendment must be approved by a majority of members elected to each of the two houses in two separate legislative sessions. And there has to be an intervening general session of the House of Delegates between those two approvals. The goal there would be to again, have any amendment approved over a course of time instead of just immediately slam bang, okay, but this was an amendment to the Virginia Constitution that apparently violated all of those rules. They found that they did not actually adhere to the requirements of the Virginia Constitution. And so they struck down what happened in Virginia in the redistricting case. Now, it doesn't mean the Democrats can't try to find another way around it or that the map itself, they ruled on. They didn't rule on the map itself. They said the process by which the map was rammed into law, that process was flawed. And meanwhile, there is some action in the Middle East. So the Iranians, according to President Trump, are making concessions, and then the day after, they are walking back those concessions. I'm not sure what messages are being conveyed to the President by Pakistan, which is not a good actor here. Pakistan is just a cutout for China, by the way. I don't know what sort of carrot he thinks he is being dangled by the Iranians. I do not believe that they are in a mood to make any sort of serious concessions. I think they are BSing him in an attempt to basically drain away support. I think that's what's actually, let's be clear, by the way, what's actually happening right now. A lot of people say, oh my gosh, we are, you know, months into this war. If by war you mean we have not run a full scale air raid on Iran in weeks at this point, and we just have ships that are parked off the coast of Iran and this somehow counts to you as a gigantic war, the definition of war has changed somewhat, it seems to me. Nonetheless, here is the President yesterday being asked about Iran's previous concessions.
- [51:02]
Donald Trump
Well, it's more than a one page offer. It's an offer that's basically said they will not have nuclear weapons. They're going to hand us the nuclear dust and many other things that we want. Yeah, they agree, but when they agree, it doesn't mean much because the next day they forget. They forgot they agreed.
- [51:20]
Ben Shapiro
Now again, I think that one of the things that is probably happening here is people are saying this to the President. I don't know whether it's the Chinese or the Pakistanis or the Vice President who's leading negotiations or any of the rest, I don't know. But my guess is that Abbas Arahi, the Foreign Minister is spewing a bunch of BS and then the US is taking that seriously and then the IRGC is like, yeah, we're not doing any of that. That is likely what is happening right now. Well, yesterday, according to the President, three world class American destroyers just transited very successfully out of the Strait of Hormuz under fire. There was no damage done to the three destroyers but great damage done to the Iranian attackers. They were completely destroyed along with numerous small boats which are being used to take the place of their fully decapitated navy. These boats went to the bottom of the sea quickly and efficiently. Missiles were shot at our destroyers and were easily knocked down. Likewise, drones came and were incinerated while in the air they dropped ever so beautifully down to the ocean, very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave. Beautiful poetry there from the President. He says a normal country would have allowed these destroyers to pass. But Iran is not a normal country. They are led by lunatics and if they had a chance to use a nuclear weapon, they would do it without question. But they'll never have that opportunity. And just like we knocked him out again today, we'll knock him out a lot harder and a lot more violently in the future if they don't get their deal signed fast. Our three destroyers with their wonderful crews will now rejoin our naval blockade which is truly a wall of steel. President Trump, so what is he talking about? Well, apparently yesterday, according to the Wall Street Journal, there was an explosion on the Bachman pier on Iran's Keshem island in the Strait of Hormuz during exchanges of fire between Iranian forces and what state media described as enemy forces that would be the United States. The pier had been targeted several times during the war with Israel. Several explosions were also heard in Bansar Abbas. According to the semi official Tasnim news agency which is affiliated with the irgc, Iranian state media said that Iran's military fired ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and suicide drones at warships. Kashima island is located in the Strait of Hormuz, and it is used as a launching point for drones and missiles against shipping. All this came after. Earlier yesterday, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait lifted restrictions on the US Military's use of their bases in airspace imposed after Project Freedom, which was a way to open the Strait of Hormuz. Why did that happen? Well, apparently Saudi and Kuwait blocked U. S. Military's use of bases after senior American officials played down Iranian attacks on the Persian Gulf in reaction to the operation in the Strait. The Saudis and other Gulf states were concerned the US Would not protect them amid the escalation in fighting, according to officials. And again, here is a map that you can see of the strikes. That's the Strait of Hormuz for those who can't see the map. This is one reason you should subscribe and watch is so you can actually watch. You know, you look at the maps that we're looking at. But this is kind of the narrowest portion of the Strait of Hormuz. Bandar Abbas is located on the Iranian coast and sort of the north side of the Strait of Hormuz. And then there's Kesham island, which is a rather longish island that is located one third of the way down the Strait of Hormuz. And so that's the area that was bombed yesterday. Well, the US Ambassador to the un, Mike Waltz, suggests that Iran is trying to force people to pay tolls, and that's unacceptable.
- [54:20]
Mike Waltz
Just this week, Iran's own state media announced that the regime has launched what it calls the Persian Gulf Straits Authority, where it seeks to demand that all ship cap captains from international shipping, commercial shipping, shipping, civilian shipping, basically have to check in and pay a bribe, pay a toll in order to use these international waterways. So that doesn't just affect this region, it infects the entire world.
- [54:54]
Ben Shapiro
Now, again, one of the things that just continues here is the fact that we are blockading their oil. According to Centcom, there are currently more than 70 tankers US forces are preventing from entering or leaving Iranian ports. Those commercial ships have the capacity to transport over 166 million barrels of Iranian oil, worth an estimated $13 billion. Plus the President yesterday said they trifled with us. There's still a ceasefire. And I know this is boggling a lot of brains. Why is there still a. How is it a ceasefire? We're firing at them, they're firing at us. Why is there still a ceasefire? And the answer is, every day that goes by, Iran gets weaker. That is just the reality. Apparently there was an oil spill off the coast of Kharga Island. What does that have? Why is that? Because they have no place to put the oil. They have no storage facility. They're literally just dumping oil into the water at this point because they've run out of storage facility, apparently. Here's the President. Yesterday.
- [55:45]
Maria van Kerkhov
Is the ceasefire with Iran still on?
- [55:48]
Donald Trump
Yeah, it is. They trifled with us today. We blew them away. They trifled. I call that a trifle. I'll let you know whether it's no. Cease. You won't have to know if there's no ceasefire. You're not going to have to know. You just going to have to look at one big blow coming out of Iran.
- [56:06]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, now, again, everyone is pretending that something horrible is happening and the economy continues to chug. Everybody's pretending as though the economy is on its last legs here in the United States. No, the. The Iranian economy is on its last legs. But don't worry, you have Kamala Harris here to do propaganda work on behalf of the Iranian regime.
- [56:24]
Kamala Harris
This war in Iran, which the American people do not want, which was not authorized by conference, but even if it was, it should not have been initiated. He talked about obliterating and then he said, oh, he did this all just
- [56:42]
Donald Trump
bull.
- [56:47]
Ben Shapiro
She's awful. God, she's so awful. She has to, like, crowd test whether to say bullshit or not. It's insane. Okay, so the question everybody keeps asking is, how does this come to its end? Okay, so just to reiterate, here are the goals. Prevent Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon. Destroy their ballistic missile umbrella. Because the ballistic missile umbrella allows them to develop a nuclear weapon and end their support for international terrorism. Right. End their spreading of their tentacles around the Middle East. There are only two ways to achieve these goals in the long term. In the long term, One, Iran agrees to it. Two, regime change. Now, the President has been focused a lot on one, the idea that Iran is going to agree to it. It'll be like Venezuela, basically. The Venezuelan regime is evil, but rational. The current regime realizes that it is better to continue to exist and control the country and give way to the United States than to not exist. And so we're trying to model what we do with Iran and what we do with Venezuela. The difference is socialist, communist regimes are evil, but exist in the realm of rationality. Obviously, that is not true of the irgc. The IRGC is much more like Hitler at the end of World War II in the bunker, or like the Japanese generals who tried to prevent the surrender of Japan after the nuclear bombs were Dropped. Okay, so that means that the regime needs to change. But here's the thing. The regime does not have to fall, like, right away. We don't have to launch tens of thousands of troops into Iran to achieve immediate regime change. If you can deprive Iran of its nuclear development long enough for the regime to fall, if you can keep their ballistic missile arsenal degraded long enough for the regime to fall, if you can degrade their economy long enough for the regime to fall, you win. I've been saying this all along. It may not take just this in order for Iran to fall. Maybe six months later it falls, maybe a year later it falls. That would be a win. That's why I've said many times, you cannot adjudicate whether this action was a victory or a failure for probably months to years afterward. And by the way, that's. That's usually true with wars. Since the end of World War II, with an actual surrender, it's taken a while to determine whether a thing is a victory or a loss. For example, when we had an armistice in Korea, was that a victory or a loss? Well, it turns out, in retrospect, pretty large victory because South Korea exists and it's been a thriving place. Okay, so how can Iran survive? Right. Which is the way that they are able to continue being a threat only by pushing the United States off the ball. And that means they're going to try to wait us out. They think that if they can get us to just go home, pack up and go home, then they might be able to rebuild their export economy and rebuild their nuclear facilities and rebuild their missile facilities, and we're right back where we were a few years ago. In five or 10 years, that's their whole game. But we could end American serious involvement in the next three weeks with prospective victory if we want to. There are options. So let me just spell out one. One creative option. Okay, so again, they are relying on the idea they can rebuild their economy. What if we just said, no, you're never rebuilding your economy. You're toast. Unless you actually reintegrate into the world economy, you're done. And the way you do that is you destroy Kharg Island. Harg island is where all of their refineries are, and you go after the rest of their energy fields as well. That is the next bank of targets. Literally the next bank of targets. Let's say we destroy all of that. What does that mean? Well, that essentially dooms the Iranian regime to a forever future of poverty because they're not going to be reintegrated into the world economy. And now they have no oil exports, even to China or Japan. It means no money for their IRGC thugs. It means no possible recovery. It means a death spiral. So why don't we do that? Well, the reason that we don't do it is because Iran has essentially two points of leverage. One, of course, is the Strait of Hormuz, as we've been discussing. And the second would be the threat to destroy oil facilities in places like Saudi, Kuwait, UAE and Bahrain. Both of these things are solvable. So take the second. First, UAE is willing to undergo the threat of Iranian drones and missiles in order to permanently defang the regime. They have made this clear. Actually, so has Saudi and the US can in fact clear the Strait of Hormuz. We started doing this with Project Freedom earlier this week. That's why the Iranians freaked out and started trying to fire at the Saudis and at uae. So why didn't we continue with Project Freedom? Well, again, the reason is, according to contemporaneous reports, that the Saudis were fine with Project Freedom until the Iranians threatened retaliation. And it wasn't the retaliation that scared the Saudis. It was that the United States apparently said that if that happened, we would still continue to pretend that the ceasefire continued with the negotiations. So first thing we need to do, stop with that nonsense. Stop with it. And the negotiations are not ongoing, certainly not publicly. If they wish to give up the Ghost, they can do it. But this idea that we have to constantly say we're in a ceasefire in order to continue negotiations is nonsense. They can negotiate under fire. It's fine. The uae, meanwhile, was still willing to undergo all of those conditions. Okay, so you have to, like, the UAE did not deprive the United States of the use of its airspace, even with the threat of Iranian retaliation. And the reality that the United States was saying if you get hit, you can't retaliate. So why was the UAE acting differently than Saudi? Well, the answer is that the UAE and Saudi are differently situated geopolitically. Why? Well, because UAE has, We found out this week Israel's Iron Dome and Iron Beam to shoot down drones and missiles. Why does UAE have it and Saudi doesn't? Well, that's because UAE signed the Abraham Accords, by the way. That's also why Iran has targeted UAE disproportionately. See, here's the thing. The uae, the leadership there, quite smart. They discovered the magic of alliance with Israel because the UAE has a lot of oil, but the world is moving away from Oil in the Middle East. The United States is a massive developer of oil and natural gas at this point. So UAE is starting to do what all smart investors do. They're diversifying. They're taking their money and they're putting it in tech. They're allying with a country with massive military capacity. They're allying with the best defensive force in the region. UAE knows again that the oil economy may be degrading over time. They're looking to invest those assets in other assets, like, for example, tech. And Israel gives them an amazing way to do that. So UAE is not all that fearful of what Iran is going to do of them. They have money invested in other places. They have deals with the United States, with Israel, and they have Iron Beam and Iron Dome, which allow them to shoot down more of the stuff. The Saudis, meanwhile, have been, shall we say, shall we say dilly dallying. They've held out on the Abraham Accords. Instead of using their oil money to invest in, say, tech, they've mainly used it to invest in entertainment, in building useless cities in the desert that will never be visited in the live tour. That is a mistake. And the Saudis have been pursuing that mistake because they are afraid of open alliance with Israel. They're afraid of joining the Abraham Accords. They think that somehow that will undercut their claim to leadership in the Islamic world. But they are wrong. They're not just wrong economically, they're also wrong militarily. It means they don't have things like Iron Dome and Iron Beam. So their fields and their refineries are less protected in that way than UAE's. So here is one option that the United States might want to pursue because the President has a history of this. Tell the Saudis to sign the Abraham Accords, and in return, Iron Dome and Iron Beam could be quickly set up in Saudi to protect against Iranian retaliation. That means the threat to Saudi is greatly reduced. And now the only question becomes opening the strait, which the United States can open with Project Freedom. Then we bomb Kharg island and the energy facilities, and there is no off ramp for Iran. Their leverage over the strait is gone. Their leverage over the oil fields is gone. Is gone. We leave overwatch of the nuclear and ballistic to our Gulf allies in Israel. They just keep mowing the lawn with regards to the nuclear facilities and the ballistic missiles every few months until the Iranian regime collapses and we win because at that point, there's no off ramp for the Iranians. There is no way for them to survive in the long term. And even in the meantime their threat level drops to the bare minimum because they don't have money to send to terrorist groups. They don't have money to develop a ballistic missile facility and every time they do it gets blown up. They don't have the scientific capacity to do to ramp up their nuclear program. There are things, in other words that can be done. So anybody who is suggesting right now the United States has quote unquote lost or is quote unquote losing is I think missing the boat at this point in time. ARI Coming up, we are going to get into an astonishing set of local elections in Great Britain. The Labour Party is in massive, massive trouble. Remember, in order to watch you have to be a member. If you are not a member, become a member. Use code Shapiro. Check out for two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us.