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- [00:00]
Ben Shapiro
So here's the deal. The hard left is not just wrong. They are not just being stupid. Many of them are literally working for and with enemies of the United States. Which is why podcaster and streamer Hasan Piker was just subpoenaed by the Justice Department. Hasan Piker is not the victim of some right wing persecution. He allegedly aided the Cuban communist regime, which should not be a shock. The guy's an actual communist. I mean, yeah, he shops at Cartier, but he's still a communist. And yes, he aided America's enemies. Allegedly. And he's not the only one. Democrats are running a congressional candidate who allegedly worked with an Al Qaeda front group. They're running another candidate in Michigan who's legitimately a terrorist supporter. It's why even on Memorial Day, leftists were holding hands with the Iranian mullahs and illegal immigrants. It's also why the left is turning even harder to the left every day. They think that's where the energy is. Yes, we now have the Democrats 2024 autopsy. It shows exactly what you would think. They went nuts and then they lost. But Democrats are ignoring that autopsy because instead they've decided to steer toward the socialist left that hates pretty much everything that makes America awesome and successful. Instead, they'd like to punish innovation and success to reward terrorist sympathizers. And most of all, most of all, the hard left wants control. So here's the big question. Will we, the American people, give them that control? That's the only question that matters. We'll get to all of that. Plus the latest updates from the Texas Senate primary on the Republican side, breaking news on negotiations over the Iran war, and a quick tour of the failed state that is California. This is the Ben Shapiro Show. Well, over the weekend, Hasan Piker got really, really sad. He got really, really sad because it turns out that federal officials served subpoenas to him, as well as to Code Pink co founder Susan Medea Benjamin, who is a nut job. All of this, according to Fox News, is part of a wider investigation into whether U.S. organizations and leaders violated U.S. laws and sanctions in. In supporting Cuba's communist regime. Now, again, you can visit Cuba, you actually can, but you're not allowed to stay at particular hotels that are linked with the government or the military. And you're certainly not supposed to bring aid to, you know, the actual government and military. Well, apparently, Piker and Benjamin are among the people who've been caught in this federal inquiry into whether activists who traveled there violated sanctions law, including potential contacts with Cuban government personnel or entities on, on the island. So there are some administrative subpoenas. According to the Fox News website called Requests for Information rfi. They seek financial, logistical and communications information revolving around trips. There were two big trips that were bragged about. Delegations from the Nuestra America convoy or our America convoy, which brought together, as you recall, a bunch of left wing nutjobs to travel around in dinky carts to basically poverty tour. And you remember we played clips on the show of Hasan Piker staying at a five star hotel with air conditioning, talking about how everybody in Cuba was actually super duper duper happy being in the heat without air conditioning or electricity, you know, as a communist would. Well, it turns out that this entire shebang has been financed apparently, according to Fox News, by Roy Singham. Roy Singham lives in China. His name is Neville Roisingham. He has pumped some $278 million into nonprofit groups that have been pushing pro China, pro Cuba, anti US narratives and street protests for almost a decade. Well, especially since he got married to the Code Pink co founder Jody Evans. Again, as you will notice, one of the people who's been caught up in the federal investigation is Medea Benjamin, who is Code Pink. Code pink received $1.33 million from Singham after he married Evan. So what precisely did Hasan Piker do? You. Well, there are allegations that Nuestra America convoy, which is this group that he went with, brought supplies directly to the Communist Party of Cuba. There are allegations that they stayed at a five star hotel on the Cuba restricted list because of ties with Cuban government and military and that he participated in and financed a coordination flotilla without a license from the Treasury Department. Now, the punishments can be somewhat severe here if there is a civil punishment that happens under what's called legally a strict liability standard. A strict liability standard means I don't have to prove intent. So if you just stayed at that hotel and you ended up funding the Cuban government, you could have civil liability that amounts to tens of thousands of dollars, up to approximately 65 grand to 112 grand per individual violation. And then theoretically there are criminal charges that could be pursued here. You'd have to have intent. You'd have to show that, for example, Hasan Piker knew that he was helping the communist regime. It wasn't by accident. And this would amount to up to 10 years in federal prison for individual violations of the Cuban Assets Control regulations or criminal fines. Up to a quarter million dollars already coming up. Hasan Piker responds. And we look into who may have ratted on him or dogged on him. I will explain in a moment. First, there are basically two kinds of monthly bills in life. The bills people actively think about and the bills that have become so automatic nobody even remembers what they cost anymore. Wireless bills, well, they're usually in that second category. Most people can't tell you what the current phone plan includes, what they're paying for, whether they're getting a good deal. They just know the bill shows up every month. Because when people assume expensive is the new normal, they stop asking questions. That's part of why PureTalk stands out. PureTalk, which is veteran led, backed by 100% US based customer service, now offers unlimited high speed data for just 34, 99amonth. So the obvious question becomes, if you can get unlimited Data, reliable nationwide 5G coverage and actual human customer support for 34.99, why are people still paying double that? That's a dumb thing to do. One thing that's also refreshing about peertalk, they actually let people try the service without turning it into some complicated commitment. You can test PureTalk for 30 days with no contract and no cancellation fees. And the switch itself can happen in as little as 10 minutes. Competent customer service has become really, really rare these days. Sometimes it's automated, sometimes you're talking with somebody who's, you know, not speaking English particularly well. Pure Talk's customer service team is based in the United States and that increasingly feels like a competitive advantage all by itself. Head over to PureTalk.com Shapiro claim unlimited high speed data for just $34.99. Again, that's PureTalk.com Shapiro to switch to my wireless company, America's wireless company, PureTalk. Now naturally Hasan Piker's response to this was to complain about the so called Epstein class. Now the Epstein class is a gigantic misdirect and the idea is that there is a criminal upper class that was deeply embedded in a sex trafficking ring for children on the program. We have discussed this case ad infinitum, ad nausea. What the cases actually show, which is that Jeffrey Epstein was in fact a pervert and a pedophile and that he was associated with very, very rich and famous people. But there is no evidence that he actually trafficked children to any of those other rich or famous people. There is some evidence, it appears that he was trafficking overage women to some of these people, but there is no evidence that he was trafficking underage women children to any of these rich and famous people. Nonetheless, there has been this widespread theory that basically there is a child sex trafficking ring that that embeds Basically all areas of the American upper class, everybody in government, everybody in media, everybody in entertainment, in finance and all the rest. And so when he says Epstein class, understand that what he's doing is he is just making a class argument as to why he shouldn't. He should not be punished for helping the humans. That's all. So he tweeted out the American government would rather try to criminalize delivering aid to a country we've starved than punish the Epstein class. Now, again, if he can name these specific people and what specific crimes they've committed, who should be punished, I'm with him. I mean, I have a very easy standard when it comes to legal violations. If you commit a legal violation, you should be prosecuted. But that's not what he's doing here. Again, it's an avoidance tactic. Well, Hassan Piker looks very upset about this. I do love when he dons his 1940s era impoverished journalist outfit from his $3 million mansion in Beverly Hills. Here he was explaining that they are up his ass and it's not great for him. He seems a little bit sad. Hasan Piker a little sad. And I can't say that he doesn't deserve it, cuz I think he deserves it on pretty much every level. In fact, as we'll get to in a moment, it may be the question as to who informed on him. I mean, there are memes online suggesting who informed on Hasan Piker. And it may be one theory, his dog, I mean, of a golden retriever, I believe, calling up the FBI. That of course a reference to Hasan Piker allegedly zapping his dog on the air to keep him in place. In any case, here is the Sandpiker being sad. You know, it's sad when the Cartier communist gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Here we go.
- [08:45]
Hasan Piker
I'm not going to lie to you guys. It's. It's not great. The news is not great. Ok, I mean, it's bull. But still not great that, you know, there's. They're after your boy. They're up my.
- [09:08]
Ben Shapiro
Oh, they're after. Oh, that's sad. I mean, you mean just for going to Cuba and helping to massage a truly evil regime that's responsible for the imprisonment of all political dissenters, the murder of thousands of people over the course of decades and the forced exile of tens of thousands more. I mean, that's so sad that people are being mean to Hasan Piker. I mean, maybe he should flee to China where all of his friends are. He says he loves Chairman Mao. Maybe he should go there. Maybe he should leave our country. Cuz clearly his loyalty to our country does not exist. Well, he did explain by accident who's been funding all of this. And the answer is Roy Singham, who again lives in China.
- [09:47]
Hasan Piker
Roy Singham is a American citizen. He lives in China now and he's a centimillionaire. I think he like has almost a billion dollars, not sure how much money he has now, but like he's been a funding vehicle for a lot of like political, a lot of political movements in the country, like a lot of activism. And they hate that. Like the American government hates that. So they're trying to jam him up, you know, they're trying to hit him on anything and everything they possibly can.
- [10:20]
Ben Shapiro
Again, the same people like the Hasan Pikers, who will accuse anyone and everyone of dual loyalty. They're happy to take money from a guy who left America to live in China, an enemy of the United States, and then funds left wing causes in the United States to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. By the way, this is nothing new. International communist agents have been a part of the communist ideological bloc since literally the beginning of the Soviet Union. There are attempts during World War II by communist affiliated parties to undermine places like Great Britain and the United States in the middle of World War II, particularly Britain, because Russia at that time was of course on the side of the Nazi government. Well, here is Piker back in March of 2025, admitting communications with the communist regime in Cuba, which again may be a crime.
- [11:07]
Hasan Piker
I want to go to Cuba. Would you be down?
- [11:09]
Ben Shapiro
I love Cuba.
- [11:11]
Hasan Piker
Oh yeah, you'd be down.
- [11:12]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah. I feel
- [11:14]
Hasan Piker
they, the Cuban government actually hit my contact from the embassy and told him that if the only thing stopping Osama from coming to Cuba was the consistent Internet access, we can make it happen.
- [11:29]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah, Cuba is sick. Wait, like the government reached out to you?
- [11:33]
Hasan Piker
So. Yeah, yeah, of course it's. Well, not reach out to me. There's like, there's a middleman there.
- [11:39]
Ben Shapiro
By the way, that's him admitting that they were going to provide him with the Internet access. Okay, so again you hanging out with the communist Cuban government. They are enemies of the United States. And this is part and parcel of a broader philosophy on the left that America is bad and all of our enemies are therefore good. That because America is successful, we are the great exploiter on planet Earth and therefore we must be laid low by our enemies. And I wish it were just Hasan Piker. I mean, that would be bad enough considering. Again, for those who don't know. Hasan Piker has deep and abiding relationships not just with candidates like Abdul El Sayed over in Michigan, but also with people like Ezra Klein, a supposed moderate Democrat on the New York Times editorial board. Right. He is somebody who's rallying with major Democrats across the country. He has a relationship with Zahra Mohamdani. This would be the equivalent of if Karl Rove during the Bush administration had been actively working with the Communist government of Cuba or the Communist government of China. That is what we are talking about right now. Pretty astonishing stuff. But again, it's not just Hasan Piker. The entire Democratic Party is moving quickly toward embrace of people who legitimately aid enemies of the United States. You want to talk about an undercovered story along these lines, there's a person named Adam Hammoui. Adam Hamoui is currently in a race in New Jersey to succeed a retiring Democrat named Baby Bonnie Watson Coleman in Congress. The Jewish Insider is reporting and no one else is that apparently he has a long standing past relationship with terrorist mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. According to the Jewish Insider, their relationship spanned a 1991 road trip the two took together to Detroit. Hamaui service as the sheikh's translator for a press conference in which Abdelrahman denied any role in the 1993 World Trade center bombing and and Hamaui's testimony on the Sheikh's behalf at his 1995 trial where the Islamist leader was convicted of plotting to carry out a campaign of terrorist attacks in New York City. But it goes further than this. Back during that period, the now congressional candidate went with a different group to Bosnia. He went with a group subsequently shut down for providing logistical support to Al Qaeda. Hammaway, by the way, is endorsed by, wait for it, Bernie Sanders, Ro Khanna of California, Ilhan Omar, herself a terrorist sympathizer. Alexandra Ocasio Cortez, who of course is a soft terrorist sympathizer as well, and Rashida Tlaib, a not soft terrorist sympathizer. They've all endorsed him in his New Jersey congressional bid. Apparently he had a relationship with a group called Benevolence International. So what exactly is Benevolence International? Apparently Benevolence International was a group active in Bosnia that was acting as a sort of Al Qaeda cutout. I mean, these are the people that are getting run for Congress by the Democrats at this point. This is insane. It's totally crazy. This is why I know, I know the Republicans don't have great approval ratings right now. I Know that a lot of people are upset with them for not passing the SAVE Act. A lot of people are upset with Republicans because they want the war in Iran to come to a faster end or because they don't like the inflation rates. Understand the Democratic Party is moving toward a full scale embrace of people who make common cause with the Chinese Communist Party, the Cuban government, and actual terrorists, Islamic terrorists in the Middle East. That's crazy. You know how much you have to hate America to truly believe that. And unfortunately, you know, if that's sort of the bleeding edge of the radicalism, if that's, if that's the bleeding edge, then the softer version of that infuses the Democratic Party ideology. That's the only explanation I can give for this insane tweet from the Democratic Party that was put out on Memorial Day. They put up pictures of the soldiers who are KIA in the current conflict with Iran, and they said, americans who have died in Trump's war with Iran. Today we honor the American heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in Trump's war with Iran. Again, the idea here is, realistically speaking, what they are trying to. They did take this down because it's obvious what they're trying to do. They. They're trying to say that these men and women died in vain. That's what they're trying to do on Memorial Day, because that's how much they hate Trump. That's how much they despise Trump. By the way, it is amazing Democratic priorities. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry, who, of course, is a horrific mayor, he actually put out a tweet honoring George Floyd two and a half hours before honoring fallen American soldiers on Memorial Day. Quote, today we remember George Floyd was murdered by a former Minneapolis police officer six years ago. That moment changed our city forever. And then he goes on to talk about the magic of the, of the aftermath of George Floyd. He ignores, you know, the gigantic riots that happened in Minneapolis. Of course. And of course, when it comes to the actual criminal case, he is not telling the truth. I mean, we have extensively covered the actual findings from the autopsy of George Floyd and the supposed guilt of, of Derek Chauvin, the police officer in that case, who I believe is railroaded. But the fact that no matter what you believe, that somehow gets posted before anything with regard to the soldiers on Memorial Day is pretty insane. And of course, Governor Tim Walls did the same thing. He showed up at George Floyd Square in South Minneapolis on Memorial Day. There he is, dancing at George Floyd Square, this giant weirdo. What a way to spend Memorial Day honoring The honoring our fallen heroes by going to George Floyd Square in Minneapolis, where again, that is in honor of a man who died of a preexisting medical condition and heavy drug use. That's, that's where you're choosing to spend your day. Democrats were doing this all over the country, by the way. Another Democrat, Mikey Sherrill in New Jersey spent Memorial Day joining an anti ICE protest. According to the Daily Wire, she demanded access to the Delaney hall detention facility in Newark. On Monday, her request to inspect the facility was formally denied, she said, adding it raised serious questions about what they're trying to hide from public view. Now, a bunch of other Democrats have already toured the facility over the weekend. So that's how she spent her weekend. And then protesters built a wall to try to block the detention center exit. And also the protesters then decided that it would be worthwhile to call a Fox News reporter a Nazi B word. So, you know, people, people using their Memorial Day productively.
- [18:25]
Political Commentator 1
So just for people that want to know what it's like to cover these protests, it's constant with this, this is what these people do. They want people who are in this country illegally to be released out onto the streets. DHS says that's what they're going to not doing Nazi. That's what you are.
- [18:42]
Ben Shapiro
Just delightful, delightful people. And these are the people to whom the Democratic Party is now catering. Now, the DHS Department of Homeland Security is pointing out the claims about Delaney hall, about abuse of inmates and people who are being held detainees, that those are exaggerated or not true. Quote, the facts are all detainees are provided three meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap and toiletries. Illegal aliens also have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Certified dietitians evaluate meals. In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most US Prisons that hold actual American citizens. And some of the detainees that are being held, according to dhs, you know, again, these are the detainees that Democrats are deeply worried about. Include illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Colombia, Honduras, for crimes ranging from homicide to drug trafficking to sex crimes against children. But that's how many Democrats were spending their Memorial Day. Now, again, is all of this going to redound to Democrats benefit? Already coming up, Democrats know why they lost in 2024. They just are going to ignore that and try to go hard to the left. I'll explain what I mean in a second. First, the week after Memorial Day, also known as the week everybody realizes they might have bought 12 things they didn't need because a website slapped the word sale in a red font next to a countdown clock. Trust me, the checkout process is not always that simple. But every once in a while, online shopping actually works the way it is supposed to. One of the few genuinely useful things in e commerce right now is that purple shop pay button from Shopify. Because everybody has had this experience. You're checking out online, your wallet is nowhere near you, you forgot your password, your phone is asking for a verification code sent to an email account you made in 2014. And then suddenly you see the purple button. One tap, done. That's Shopify. Shopify powers millions of businesses around the world and handles 10% of all E commerce in the United States. And the reason so many businesses use it is because Shopify actually makes selling online easier. They have AI tools to help businesses write product descriptions and improve product photos. They help merchants run email and social campaigns. Inventory, payments, analytics, shipping, it's all in one place. And that iconic purple shop pay button helps businesses convert more sales with fewer abandoned cards. See less carts go abandoned and more sales go with Shopify and their Shop pay button. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com/Shapiro. Head on over to Shopify.com/ShapIRO. That's Shopify.com/ShapIRO. So the DNC over the weekend, they tried to bury it, but it's gotten a little bit of coverage. They put out an autopsy for 2024. Why they think they lost. And it's pretty fascinating. They were trying to apologize the whole autopsy. They kept saying that the entire autopsy was the views of the author. Right. And that the DNC can't independently verify the claims presented. Why are they saying that? The reason they're saying that is because the conclusions are we should stop being crazy. And they understand that it's an unpopular view inside the Democratic Party to stop being crazy. And according to the DNC autopsy, they full on admit that Biden nomics failed, that the Democratic Party quote emphasized macro statistics rather than the micro realities voters experienced daily and specifically tied President Biden by name to actual economic anxiety. They also admitted that their focus on social issues over economic issues alienated socially conservative voters who prioritized kitchen table concerns. The autopsy also noted that they should not have assumed Democrats should not have assumed that identity politics will hold male voters of color. So the autopsy is not wrong. But are Democrats going to pay attention? Of course not. Of course not. They're just going to steer to the left. They're going to follow the line of say, Chris Van Hollen, one of the dumbest members of the United States Senate. Chris Van Hollen is of course the United States Senator from Maryland, most familiar from taking pictures with people accused of domestic abuse like Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Remember, he flew all the way down to El Salvador to take a picture with him. Well, now he's writing op EDS for the New York Times saying that what Democrats really need to do is focus on Israel more and yell at Israel more and treat Israel as the great villain in the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Ignoring the fact that what kicked off the latest round of the Israeli Palestinian conflict was the greatest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, he wrote an entire piece in the New York Times saying Democrats need to face a hard truth. While Republicans approach to the Israeli Palestinian conflict has failed, so has ours. The Democratic Party has provided reflexive and unconditional support to Israeli governments, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And so he calls for withdrawing all taxpayer support from Israel and conditioning all arms sales. Again, this is. Democrats are gonna steer more toward this. Which is why, presumably, AOC is now taking more steps toward a presidential run. She believes the momentum is in her corner. And she's not wrong. I've been saying for a long time I think she's an underrated Democratic presidential candidate because she can raise money like nobody's business and Bernie's going to get behind her. According to Axios, Democratic operatives expect that AOC would easily raise $100 million just from small dollar donors, mobilize many supporters of Bernie Sanders past campaigns and command attention as few other candidates could. Now, does that mean she'll win the nomination? Not necessarily. But clearly the momentum is with the far left. Inside the Democratic Party, Zoran Mandani is still being championed as a mainstream Democrat by every major Democrat here he was over the weekend claiming that it was time to basically steal private property and redistribute it.
- [24:05]
Zoran Mamdani
Through our new citywide campaign, Fix the City, we will focus on the worst landlords in New York City. When necessary, we will take aggressive legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers. And for buildings that have suffered chronic neglect, we will work to transfer ownership to responsible stewards. Stewards that include community land trusts, nonprofits, nonprofits, or even the tenants themselves.
- [24:48]
Ben Shapiro
So what is he actually talking about here? Basically, you use rent control to destroy any incentive for people to take care of their apartments because rent controlled apartments by necessity mean that you are charging a lower rent than probably the cost of maintaining the apartment. So that drives down the conditions. Then you step in when the conditions of the apartment are bad, and then you seize the apartments in the name of the people and you hand it over to a cooperative land trust run probably by some of your political buddies. That is the goal. The goal is not to build more housing. The goal is not to make rent more affordable. The goal is not even to make rent more livable. The goal is to steal property from some people and just hand it out to your buddies. That's all it is. The Daily Wire's Breck of Stoll reports on this. She says Mamdani did not detail how the city would legally seize or transfer ownership of privately held properties. One possible mechanism is New York City's controversial third party transfer program, which allows the city to foreclose on distressed buildings whose owners owed back property taxes or water charges and had accumulated significant housing code violations before transferring them to nonprofit housing groups or tenant organizations. By the way, nonprofit housing groups typically face significant problems in maintaining the property themselves. This has been a repeat significant problem with nonprofits. Why? Because it turns out when there's no profit motive, then why does the nonprofit have any interest in maintaining the property? Under the program, those landlords could face foreclosure proceedings and then the ownership could just be transferred. It was actually paused this program in 2019, and now they want to restart it. But don't worry, Mamdani has more things to say. He says that it's time to target Amazon. It's time to go after Amazon. Quote Amazon is worth $2 trillion, but it didn't deign to pay the millions of dollars it racked up in unpaid fines as its trucks illegally polluted our air and forced New Yorkers to breathe in their exhaust. We collected every dollar they owe the people of the city and will continue to hold them accountable. In New York, corporations are held to the same standard as everyone else. No company, no matter how large or powerful, is above the law. Now, realistically speaking, you want to throw Amazon out of your city, this is a great way to do it, to target the Amazon drivers who, by the way, that's a large swath of employment in places like New York City. But the good news is that at least he can pose as a man of the people. A man who can't bench press 1:35 twice has thoughts on basketball. How do you feel about the Knicks?
- [27:13]
Zoran Mamdani
I'm feeling incredible about the Knicks. Game two.
- [27:16]
Political Commentator 2
Game two is tonight.
- [27:17]
Ben Shapiro
Tonight.
- [27:18]
Zoran Mamdani
Did you watch Game one? I did watch Game one. I also have to give a shout out to my friend Nicholas Sharma because The only reason I could watch game one was because he had YouTube TV and he gave me his login.
- [27:26]
Hasan Piker
I have someone's YouTube TV, too.
- [27:29]
Zoran Mamdani
Let's go. So that's a lot of people ask, what's democratic socialism? Sharing YouTube TV with your boys, that's also a little bit of example of that.
- [27:39]
Ben Shapiro
We're all living the same life.
- [27:40]
Zoran Mamdani
Come on.
- [27:41]
Ben Shapiro
Democratic socialism, where you defraud companies by sharing your password, and there won't be any consequences to that in increased fees from the companies. There will be. The beautiful thing about socialism, it's the theory you can steal other people's money and intellectual property with no externalities. But don't worry, it's not just Zoran Mamdani. And of course, it's not just aoc. It's also Graham Platner, you know, the dude with the Nazi tattoo. And now you have this weirdo with an. A far older weirdo. This is like. It's like a Muppet show over here of some sort, like Stadler and Hofstadter over here. Look at these guys. You got Bernie, who is withering into a raisin, and you have Graham Platner, who looks like if Fozzie Bear somehow transformed into a deeply disturbed former member of the military. All righty, here we go.
- [28:41]
Graham Platner
There's absolutely no question that if we target the wealth where it has been hoarded, frankly, for decades at this point, and we pull it back into our system and put it into social programs, like health care, like child care, like patients paying teachers, what they are worth, we will absolutely improve the lives of working Americans and, quite frankly, improve our society as a whole.
- [29:02]
Ben Shapiro
I think that I'm gonna listen to this schmucko on how to redistribute wealth. Probably I'll listen to the guy who thought it was a great idea to get a Totenkopf tattoo and also to rant online about how much he loved Ty Hookers, and also how much he liked to pleasure himself in Porta Potties. I will listen to him on economic redistributionism. But here he was campaigning, and again, this guy has the support of every major Democrat.
- [29:32]
Graham Platner
I believe that in our country, the voices of working people are far more important than the voices of those who simply have money. I believe that we should not be settling for scraps to that they throw to us from the table where they dine with the Epstein class.
- [29:49]
Ben Shapiro
The Epstein, by the way, this dude grew up rich. This dude grew up rich. All the cosplaying of poverty from these people as though it's a virtue in some way. He also, by the way, over the weekend, dodged an apology when he was confronted over a deleted Reddit post. In that Reddit post, he had said a Purple Heart recipient, quote, didn't deserve to live. Here he was dodging the apology. I was wondering if you regret the
- [30:13]
Interviewer
post about the Purple Heart veteran,
- [30:18]
Political Commentator 2
if
- [30:18]
Interviewer
you think you need to apologize to
- [30:20]
Ben Shapiro
him, what you would say to voters
- [30:25]
Interviewer
who might be upset by it.
- [30:27]
Graham Platner
Out of four tours of the infantry, any attempt to say that I disrespect veterans is slanderous and offensive.
- [30:36]
Interviewer
Do you think you owe me an apology? Apology?
- [30:39]
Graham Platner
Do you know how many of my friends have Purple Hearts? Do you know how many of my friends got wounded?
- [30:43]
Interviewer
I'm sure a lot.
- [30:44]
Ben Shapiro
Yeah, a lot of them. Thank you. I noticed that you didn't actually apologize to the dude you said didn't deserve to live after there was a video of him being shot. Private First Class Ted Daniels, who again was the person who captured viral helmet footage of himself moving into open terrain to draw Taliban fire from his squad in 2012, said that Democrats backing Platner are the ones who owe an apology. What I'd really like is for Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, Hakeem Jeffries and everybody else on the far left to tell my children to their face they're endorsing and supporting a man who said their father should not have lived, cheering on the death of their father. Well, the good news is that they've got the ultimate anti American useless leech on the ass of society. Bernie Sanders out campaigning for him. It's great you get to watch the full on Ribbentrop Molotov pact happen in real time. The communists and the and the Nazis together again. Bernie Sanders tweeting out a photo of himself standing next to a road sign on our way to Bangor, Maine for a rally with Graham Platner. We need candidates like Graham who will take on the greed of the oligarchs and deliver for working families. Again, one of my favorite things about claiming an oligarchy, an oligarchy traditionally is people who are very a small cadre of people who are very rich controlling the government. That speaks much more to the Democratic Party which wishes to control your life top down with a very small group of people than it does to the laissez faire economic system promoted typically by conservatives. Graham Platner, man. By the way, I think he's going to lose the Senate seat. I think that Susan Collins will win the Senate seat because Democrats decided to be insane but socialism is so hot right now. It's so hot. It is so fetch right now. All right, coming up, Bruce Springsteen, overrated artist, also a terrible political commentator. And Democrats wrecking California and Seattle and kind of everywhere else they touch will get tall. But first, being a responsible adult is not for the weak. And if you're not organized, things can get pretty messy. There are school calendars, activities, travel plans, appointments, events, reminders, grocery lists, 50 unread text threads, hundreds of unanswered emails. The point is, life is complicated enough already, which is why it's refreshing when some things actually become more simple. That's one reason businesses use Zip Recruiter. ZipRecruiter's matching technology helps connect businesses with qualified candidates quickly. And instead of forcing people to manually sort through stacks of random applications, the platform analyzes skills, experience, location and role requirements to help surface people who are actually relevant for the position. One feature that's especially useful is the screening questions, because they help narrow the field early and save everybody time. You can also immediately see how many qualified candidates are available in your area. That makes the hiring process much more efficient from the start. Good systems matter. Good tools matter. ZipRecruiter is designed to streamline the process instead of complicating it. That's probably one reason it's the number one rated hiring site based on G2. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the very first day. Try it for free today@ziprecruiter.com Daily Wire that ZipRecruiter.com Daily Wire ZipRecruiter is the smartest way to hire. Also, have you ever gotten that check engine light? You know it's really, really bad. You know when it pops up in your car and you know immediately you're going to be spending hundreds of dollars immediately. It's automatic anxiety. Modern vehicles are incredible, right up until literally anything breaks, which is why companies like Car Shield exist. 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It's a lot easier to enjoy driving when you're not preparing mentally for catastrophic repair bills. Make that decision your wallet will love with Car Shield. Right now, Car Shield is offering our listeners 20% off with the code shapiro@carshield.com Shapiro visit carshield.com Shapiro to lock in your coverage today and protect yourself from expensive car repairs. Again, head on over to carshield.com Shapiro and use code SHAPIRO for 20% off. Bruce Springsteen showed up to his Boston concert with a teleprompter. By the way, personal opinion. Bruce Springsteen, one of the most overrated artists of the last century. Wildly overrated. Frankly, I think he kind of sucks. But put that aside, here was his if you'd like a Bruce Springsteen. If you'd like a lecture from an octogenarian who hasn't written a good song in several decades, well, you came to the right place.
- [35:31]
Josh Johnson
The richest men in America have abandoned the world's poorest children to death and disease through the dismantling of usa. This is no longer on the front page, but children die every day and this is happening now. We are undermining NATO and the world order that kept us safe and at global peace for 80 years. Our museums are being told to whitewash American history of any unpleasant or inconvenient facts, like the full history of the brutality of slavery. You want to talk about snowflakes? We have a president who can't handle the truth.
- [36:19]
Ben Shapiro
Again, you want to talk about, you know, a group of very, very wealthy people who are preaching a bunch of crap about controlling your life. That would be the Democrats, what they call the Epstein class. Every accusation is an admission for these folks. Bruce Springsteen, by the way, is worth $1.2 billion. You know, here is Daily show host and comedian Josh Johnson on healthcare saying that you shouldn't have to earn the right to live. You have a right to live free of other people trying to kill you. But healthcare is a service that is provided to you. And so is the idea that what, we should chain up doctors. Whenever people say something is a right, you should ask what kind of right? There are many different types of right. There is a right to be free of the interference of others. There is a so called right to the services of other. The right to services of others is not a right that is a demand, that is a requirement. They have a duty to you. And we should recognize the difference between the two. Cause otherwise rights are just a mushword.
- [37:20]
Political Commentator 3
There has been a co opting of nonviolence to the point of almost being a psyop. Eventually you can see down the road what might happen. And if you take away all of people's political power or even the idea that they have political power, and you also take away their ability to feed their family and you can only take away so much from a person before they have no options left other than to scream in the street, that is sort of riot or something like that. Or before they pinpoint certain individuals that they see as the perpetrators of all these crimes against making a way of life shouldn't have to earn the right to live.
- [38:00]
Ben Shapiro
Okay, so again, what he's actually doing is creating a permission structure for violence. This is the future of the left. It is the future is. It's the future of the Democratic. It's the current of the left, is the future of the Democratic Party. And it is full scale inside the Democratic party at this point. Senator Chris Murphy, who again for some benighted reason of Connecticut, he somehow thinks that he is going to run for president. He says that the people screwing you are Big Tech and Walmart. Big Tech and Walmart. So you know the services that you use, not the government taking away your money, not the government regulating you out of existence. Walmart.
- [38:37]
Political Commentator 2
You know, he tells a story, right, about who's screwing you. And it's a false story, right? He talks about immigrants and Muslims and gay kids.
- [38:47]
Political Commentator 1
Right?
- [38:48]
Political Commentator 2
But there is a story, a true story about who is screwing the American people. Yeah, right. And it's these technology companies that don't care about your kids, right? It's these massive corporations like Walmart that are emptying out good jobs from our communities, replacing them.
- [39:05]
Ben Shapiro
A part time Supreme Court.
- [39:06]
Political Commentator 2
The Supreme Court. So let's tell a story, let's tell a true story about why you're getting screwed and who's doing this.
- [39:12]
Ben Shapiro
You're getting screwed by Walmart. Walmart is screwing you. Not Chris Murphy again, a completely useless twerp who's earning a government salary by trying to steal other people's money and regulate things under the ground. Walmart, where you shop for your kids, they're the ones who are screwing you. Now all of this ends with governance. If the left gains control, then they govern horribly. So to take an example, Seattle's socialist mayor, a woman named Katie Wilson, you'll remember that we played A clip on the show recently of her responding to talk of Starbucks leaving the state. She had urged residents to boycott Starbucks because they were moving $100 million into Tennessee and putting thousands of new jobs there. She said buy and giggle. In response to the Starbucks leaving the state, she said bye. Well, now she's walking that back. She said her comments caused more harm than good. Yeah, it turns out that you alienating business is a very, very stupid idea. Same thing in California. So in California, Gavin Newsom is trying to blame the Iran war and Chevron for high gas prices. He put out a tweet over the weekend. Californians, if you're hitting the road this holiday weekend, be sure to avoid Chevron. Pro tip. Unbranded gas comes from the same refinery, storage tanks and pipelines, and it meets the same state standards to keep your engine running clean, even if it doesn't have a fancy name like Techron. Big Oil is already making billions off Trump's Iran war. Don't let them rip you off even more by overpaying for the brand name. Well, Chevron responded by pointing out that the high gas prices are because of Gavin Newsom. That is why Gavin Newsom is ripping on Chevron. That's the real reason, because he keeps blaming Chevron for the high gas prices. You want to know why there are high gas prices in California? The reason is because the regulations and taxes on gas in California are insane. Gas prices have gone up everywhere. I'm down in Florida, and down in Florida, the gas prices are, you know, around five bucks a gallon. A little north of five a gallon. That's expensive. In California, it's seven, eight bucks a gallon minimum. That is not because it's more expensive to ship oil and gas to California, which, by the way, is one of the most oil rich regions on planet Earth. But Democrat governance, they can make paradise into hell. Which is the point that Spencer Pratt, running for Los Angeles mayor, is making. He says the tax money is here. We have enough money to do things. It's just that it's being used for a bunch of nonsense. This is why Spencer Pratt is gaining fast in the L. A mayoral race.
- [41:50]
Spencer Pratt
The number one question that everybody has for me when they hear my plan is how can we do that, Spencer, we don't have the money. Let me clue you in on a little secret. We have the money. It's just being stolen. You pay countless tax dollars. You're taxed on your income, you're taxed on your gas, you're taxed on your property, you're taxed out. The every single expensive transaction you endure is taxed.
- [42:15]
Ben Shapiro
Yes.
- [42:15]
Spencer Pratt
Hundreds of restaurants have shut their doors thanks to Karen Bass and Nithya Raman. Businesses are fleeing their terrible leadership. So revenue is decreasing and I will turn that around. But we have plenty of money in this city. It's just being stolen.
- [42:29]
Ben Shapiro
Again, he is, he is right about this. Spencer Pratt is running a very, very strong campaign in LA for a reason. But don't worry, it's not just the left that has embraced this anti American, anti private property, anti free markets nonsense. Tucker Carlson says people should stop paying their credit cards. Sounding exactly like a Bernie Sanders or Graham Platner or an aoc. One of my favorite things about Tucker is when he claims that he loves capitalism while saying how much he hates capitalism. It's really delightful.
- [42:55]
Tucker Carlson
If you're in debt to anybody, you're literally in debt to them. You owe them something you haven't yet paid. So that is by definition their control over you.
- [43:07]
Interviewer
Right?
- [43:07]
Tucker Carlson
Yeah.
- [43:08]
Interviewer
They have control over you and they can take your assets if you don't pay them. Yeah, totally understand it. And it's, it's a risky, it's a. Depending on the, you know, depending on the type of person. Some people are more risk taking when they don't have the funds. You know, I don't believe you should be taking out loans that you can't afford. Yeah, it's, you know, people saying, don't spend money you don't have. It's something most people are aware of, but some people don't practice that.
- [43:34]
Tucker Carlson
Yeah, I used to feel that way. Now I'm kind of like, I don't know. I think people should stop paying their credit cards. I know no one else agrees with me and. Oh, you have a moral obligation, really? Well, you have a moral obligation not to send credit card applications to kids in college. So this goes both ways. It's like just blaming the drug addict and never mentioning the dealer. Someone's selling the fentanyl and that person is on the hook too.
- [43:55]
Ben Shapiro
You have a moral obligation not to send a credit card application to a 19 year old in college. Why? Because they might take out a credit card. I mean, they don't have to take out a credit card. And it turns out that the vast majority of us use credit cards all the time like that. But understand, the hatred for private property, the hatred for the free market system, the hatred for the things that make America great in the first place is extraordinarily strong. It is very, very, very strong. It exists on the far left and again, it exists on that woke right as well. All right. Meanwhile, on the Republican side of the aisle, we talked a lot about sort of the nuttiness of the Democrats. Republicans are running a relatively moderate risk in the state of Texas. Republicans last night voted for Ken Paxton over four term Senator John Cornyn in Texas. Paxton is the Texas Attorney General. Now, Cornyn has alienated over the years many, many people in Texas for his left wing stance or liberal stance on gun policy. For example, there's been enormous dyspepsia in the state of Texas with the idea that Cornyn was too friendly with Democrats. And so he was already losing to Paxton in that race. And then very late, breaking right near the end of the race, President Trump endorsed Paxton over Cornyn. And then last night, Paxton basically skunked Cornyn, which is no shock at all. The President put out a statement congratulating Paxton. Say congratulations to Ken Paxton on such a tremendous win and to John Cornyn for having run a strong and powerful race. But more importantly, having had a truly great career. John will remain my friend for a long time to come as we both watch Ken become a fantastic common sense senator, one who is respected by all. His opponent, Alfred E. Newman. That's a reference to James Talarico, maybe the worst Texas candidate I have ever seen. A strong open borders advocate, he is weak on crime, believes there are six genders. He's insulting to Jesus Christ, will never support the military, was a big mask wearer until recently and is a vegan who dislikes meat. Not exactly a good way to be if you're wanting to win an election in Texas. So those critiques of Talarico are of course right. Talarico, on the other hand, was eager to face off against Paxton, more eager to face off against Paxton than Cornyn because he believes that there is some fertile ground to be tilled with regard to past allegations of corruption surrounding Paxton.
- [46:07]
Political Commentator 2
Something just happened in Texas. The most corrupt politician in America just became the Republican nominee for the United States Senate. Three years ago, Ken Paxton was impeached by his own party for using his public office to enrich himself and his donors at the expense of of the people. That kind of corruption is the rot at the core of this broken system. It's why we can't afford anything. It's why we can't get ahead no matter how hard we work.
- [46:40]
Ben Shapiro
Now, I will say that I think that a lot of Republicans are nervous that Paxton's going to lose to Talarico. I think this is highly unlikely. Texas is a Very, very red state. Talarico is totally alien to sort of Texan sensibilities. There's a point that Ken Paxton was making here. He was after his win, going after James Talarico. And finally he's a threat to our
- [47:02]
Political Commentator 3
very way of life and our values.
- [47:04]
Ben Shapiro
I mean, he's a vegan who thinks God is non binary and that there's actually six biological sexes.
- [47:10]
Political Commentator 3
It's hard to imagine someone more radical than that.
- [47:13]
Ben Shapiro
He is not wrong about all of that. Even Nia Malika Henderson on CNN says Talarico is pretty vulnerable with Christian voters in Texas.
- [47:23]
Political Commentator 1
This is the race they're going to run against him. It's going to be total culture war race. They're going to use that sort of, sort of blunt lane he thinks he has carved out around his Christian faith and his interpretation of Christianity. I think it's going to be effective. You know, I guess one of his statements was something like, it's not clear if Jesus or God was a man or a woman or E contains both. Man, masculinity, femininity. That's going to be a problem in, in Texas. And it's going to be a problem for a lot of Christian voters, whether you're Latino, black or white. They don't agree with that interpretation of, of the faith and of Christianity. And so I think, you know, he's a vulnerable candidate in Texas now.
- [48:07]
Ben Shapiro
Again, I think that that is true and it'll be fun to watch as Democrats do Lucy and the football again, with regard to Talarico and this Texas race, every couple of years, Democrats think this is going to be the moment when Texas turns blue. They're likely to toss enormous amounts of money at the Talarico race specifically because they think that Paxton is weaker. So a lot of Republicans are upset because they figure that they might have to spend more money in Texas and that will draw money away from, say, Michigan or Maine. But the reality is Democrats are actually going to spend a lot of money in Texas where they should spend $0 because that race is not going to be won by James Talarico, barring some sort of cataclysmic circumstance. In fact, Democrats are hurting themselves in 2026 in the same way that Republicans hurt themselves in 2022. You'll recall that President Trump intervened personally to help select in primaries a bunch of very, very bad Republican candidates for the Senate. He selected a candidate in New Hampshire, terrible candidate, A candidate in Georgia, terrible candidate. And they lost a candidate in Arizona who's not very good lost. Democrats are now Doing the same thing. So the Michigan Senate seat for Democrats, very winnable. They're probably gonna lose it because they insist on nominating El Sayed. That main seat, Platner is a nut. If they nominated the current governor, then they likely would have won that seat. I think Susan Collins wins that seat. So Democrats had an outside shot at taking the Senate. I would say that now, given their candidate selection, that outside shot looks like they're gonna have to basically pull a royal flush at this point in order to make that happen. All right. In other news, when it comes to Iran, a lot of talk about will a deal be made? What will a deal look like? All the rest. I wanna start by just talking about what a good deal would look like. What a good deal would look like. And again, these are red lines that the president himself has drawn. First of all, the end of the Iranian nuclear program. I understand there's been some mushmouth about Iran can never build nuclear weapons. Let us be clear about this. If Iran has the capacity to ramp up a program that results in nuclear weapons, and if President Trump is not president in two and a half years, which is the case, that is tantamount to retaining a nuclear program and a pathway toward a nuclear weapon. This means that the United States ought to be seeking not just the release of what President Trump calls the nuclear dust, that's the highly enriched uranium that they currently have, but also their less refined nuclear materials, decommissioning of their nuclear facilities, and actual verification standards. Second end of support for international terrorism. The thing that has threatened all of our allies in the region, not just Israel, but all of our Gulf allies, is the Iranian terrorist support base. The reason for what is happening in Lebanon right now is because Iran has been using Lebanon as a staging ground for a Hezbollah fake state that launches terrorism against Israel on the regular. That is the reason there's currently conflict in Lebanon. We should be pushing for an end of support for international terrorism by Iran. Obviously an end to the building of ballistic missiles. We've done tremendous damage to their capacity to build ballistic missiles. But if there's a deal, it obviously ought to include some provisions that prevent their rebuilding of ballistic missiles, releasing of the Strait of Hormuz because international shipping requires freedom of navigation there. And only when all of those things happen should we start releasing funding, because the big mistake here would be to destroy everything that we have in terms of infrastructure and. And then hand them the money to just rebuild it. So let's say that no deal gets done. Let's say the Iranians say no to all of that, which, again, I think is highly plausible. The alternatives would be a return to Project Freedom. Actually, we help guide shipping through the Strait. Again, that's expensive, but it opens it up and it is doable. And the quicker option and the riskier option. Destruction of Iran's oil facilities. Now, I understand that destroying Iran's oil refineries at Kharg island, destroying the South Paris oil field, that this would result in Iran then attacking oil fields in Iraq, in uae, in Qatar and Saudi. The problem is that, as we have learned with the Strait of Hormuz, leaving the possibility of an offensive action in the hands of Iran does not foreclose them from using that offensive action in the future. In other words, if they can back the United States and our Gulf allies and Israel down based on a threat to do this, when they have their ballistic missile capacity reduced to maybe 20% of what it once was, if that's enough to back us down now, what will it look like in five years when they've rebuilt all of that? What will the threat to Saudi and UAE and Bahrain and Qatar be then? One of the keys to making war, if you're going to do it, is you don't blow the opportunity that's in front of you when your enemy is weak and Iran is tremendously weakened from where they were at the beginning of this war, allowing them out of that box with new money or Chinese weaponry being shipped in would be a gigantic mistake. I don't think the President's gonna make that mistake. We'll have to find out. Now, again, there's been a lot of vacillation over an agreement. No agreement. What does the agreement look like? The Iranians basically saying there's no agreement on nukes, there's no agreement on ballistic missiles, there's no agreement on the Strait, which, again, are all the major terms. That's, you know. Other than that. How is your evening at the theater, Mrs. Lincoln? I mean, like, the big issues here are those issues. The Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear weapons, the ballistic missiles, the terrorism support. Like, what else are you negotiating? Exactly. And nonetheless, the President has been signaling optimism about the deal, but he's also been signaling that a bunch of other countries should join the Abraham Accords. And then he says that he has options for dealing with the nuclear dust. The Iranian government continues to put out statement after statement, basically mocking the United States. Moshtaba Khamenei, who is the new Ayatollah, who may be legless and dickless, but is in fact apparently somewhat operational kind of maybe he put out a statement, quote, the shaky Zionist regime and the cancerous tumor of Israel are also approaching the final stages of their ill fated life. And by the grace of God and in accordance with the decisive and unwavering determination of the past year, the great leader, the martyr Quds Allah the most merciful, will not see the date 25 years after that date, God willing. For this reason, in this year the issue of disavow disavowal from polytheists is doubly important. And the depth and scope of disavowal from America and the Zionist regime goes beyond the ritual of disavowal during the Hajj season and time in different parts of Iran and the world. And after these blessed days, death to America and death to Israel will be the common slogan of the Islamic nation and the oppressive of the world, especially the youth. So is there a deal? I mean if there is, it is totally unclear what that deal looks like. The Iranians have been firing at shipping again. U.S. forces over the weekend had to conduct what they called self defense strikes in southern Iran to protect troops from threats posed by Iranian forces. Maybe there will be some deal cut on paper, but it remains to be seen how deep that deal goes or what the actual effect of the deal is in the end. All right folks, the show continues. In just a moment we'll get to these viral high school graduation celebrations. What do they mean? Why are we should we be celebrating high school graduations in the way that we are given, you know, the fact that so few Americans are actually graduating from high school? Being able to read. Remember, in order to watch, you have to be a member. If you're not a member, become one. Use Code Shapiro at checkout for two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us. It.