Loading summary
Ben Shapiro
President Trump's America first is about America being strong at home and in the world. And President Trump remains America First. He spent his weekend warning Iran not to screw with the United States or our allies or there would be consequences. And his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, spent his weekend working the phones to help destroy the Iranian proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon. Meanwhile, however, Vice President J.D. vance spent the weekend looking weak in front of the Qataris, the Pakistanis, and most of all, the Iranians. In fact, I've never seen a weaker look from a Republican politician. That is not peace through strength. It is war through weakness. Get the amateurs back on the bench, get the professionals back in the game. We'll get to everything. Iran Prime Minister Keira Starmer stepping down. And the New York Times pushing ladies as dads on Father's Day. This is the Ben Shapiro Show. So President Trump spent the weekend trying to reestablish American deterrence. Peace through strength. You know, the stuff he's been pushing for literally decades. And his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, spent the weekend trying to end the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah over in Lebanon, because that's part of peace through strength. Listen, I want the war in Iran to end. I've said that for months with victory, because it is not worth waging wars if you don't win. Those wars and the end were spelled out by the administration from the outset. No nuclear enrichment, no ballistic missiles, no support of terrorism. The Strait of Hormuz open. Those are the goals. Those were the goals. Those are still the goals. And even if we pretend those are not the goals, those are still the goals. And listen, I get that we want the Strait of Hormuz open more than anything. That the administration wants the oil prices to go down, that the administration is concerned about the economic impact of oil prices going into the midterms. The only way to get the Strait of Hormuz durably open is through strength, because otherwise the Iranians will jerk us around as they have been doing for 50 years now. President Trump over the weekend appeared to know that Vice President Vance not so much. Listen, for America, I would love for the vice president to do well abroad. I would love the whole administration to do well. I would love every administration and every politician in every administration to. To do well by representing American power through peace through strength. However, the lack of American strength that was present in the room in Switzerland over the weekend was devastating. When America has the most dominant military on the entire globe, there is simply no excuse for American weakness. So got to start with the contrast between what President Trump was doing over the weekend and the Secretary of State, what he was doing over the weekend and what the vice President was doing in a highly publicized confab over in Switzerland over the weekend. So over the weekend, the president became highly annoyed with the Iranians. Why? Well, because they keep threatening to shut the Strait of Hormuz and because they keep activating their friends in the terrorist group Hezbollah to attack Israeli troops. Again, the goal, as I said last week for Iran, sensing weakness in the United States, was to ratchet up conflict in Lebanon by activating its terror group Hezbollah to attack the Israelis in the hope that the Israelis would then retaliate. And then Iran would say they're shutting the Strait of Hormuz and it's all the Israelis fault. And they would hope that President Trump would then yell at the Israelis. And, and so that's a win, win for the Iranians because either they end up with an Israel that is just having to take casualties in Lebanon and in Israel, or they end up with the administration pressuring the Israelis and the Israelis refusing and then alienation between the United States and Israel, which is what, of course, Iran wants. That is the entire game. It is not a complex game. It's a very simple game. Well, the president had enough of it over the weekend. So on Sunday, according to Fox News, Fox News is now reporting that over the weekend, President Trump said in an interview he had spoken with Iranian officials on Saturday night and warned them not to close the strait. Quote, you close it and you won't have a country, you won't even make it back to your effing country if you close the strait. And then on Sunday morning, the president put out a truth that was similar in nature. Quote, iran must immediately stop their highly paid proxies in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don't, we'll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder. President Trump, again, this is the Trumpian foreign policy. If you screw with us, if you screw with our allies, you get hit. If you interfere with American interests in the Strait of Hormuz, you get hit. We are not going to just hand you things to hand you things. Apparently, he spent four and a half hours with Senator Lindsey Graham, who of course, is quite hawkish on the Middle East. Senator Graham from South Carolina was then on Face the Nation on Sunday. Here's what he had to say.
Lindsey Graham
I spent four and a half hours with President Trump Friday. Here's what I think will happen next. If this deal fails, President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz over by force. The United States will control the Strait of Hormuz. We'll charge a fee for all those who go through to pay for the operation. And we're going to expand the Abraham Accords in calendar year 2026. We're going to get Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords and which is the biggest change in 5,000 years in the Mid East. And if Iran contest control of the Strait of Hormuz by the United States will obliterate them.
Ben Shapiro
Okay, again, that is a peace through strength policy. And he said that after spending four and a half hours with the President of the United States. The President of the United States also was ripping on the New York Times over the weekend because the New York Times was claiming that nothing had changed after the military destruction of much of Iran's war machine. The President put out a statement on truth social quote the headline in the corrupt and failing New York Times. What changed after almost four months of war, analysts say not much really. Their military is done. Their navy is gone. Their Air Force is gone. Their launching pads, missiles, drones and manufacturing of same is almost gone. Their two top sets of leaders are gone and their inflation is at 250%. Their economy is broken. Their soldiers aren't being paid. The Hormuz Strait is open. The oil is gushing. The US Stock market and jobs are at record highs. That's what changed you. Corrupt and unethical cowards and more than. He threatened to sue the New York Times for their reporting. Are you coming up? Secretary of State Rubio is doing a good job. We'll get to that in a moment. First, this summer there is so much going on. So got a new baby coming. We have kids to take care of. I've been taking the kids out all weekend long. It was awesome. It was really great. But life is really, really busy. And as life gets busier, anything that removes friction is worth its weight in gold. I do a lot of online shopping simply because life is super busy. We've all had this experience. You find what you need, you add it to the cart you had to check out, and then suddenly you're trying to remember a password you created three years ago or you're looking for your wallet. What's your account login again? Well, then you see it. That purple shop pay button. One tap and magically you're done. It all comes from Shopify. Whether it's businesses like the Daily Wire and Magic Spoon or ones that are just getting started, Shopify gives entrepreneurs the tools they need to build market and grow their businesses. See fewer 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 apparel. Go to shopify.com Shapiro Again, if you're running a business, it's indispensable. You just don't have time. The do not use Shopify. So start making the money happen. Over@shopify.com Shapiro to get started. Meanwhile, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio has been active. You know, he's been very quiet. He's not been Talking about the MoU, in my belief, because the MoU is poorly written and because the vice president did a bad job of negotiating it. Again, it's on the president that he signed it, but I can't imagine that the secretary of state, if you looked at that presser last Friday, he didn't look very happy about the memorandum of understanding, the non deal. Well, the vice president was asked about what the secretary of state was doing. And Rubio is actively in talks with the Lebanese and the Israelis about what to do about Hezbollah. Again, remember the whole goal in Lebanon. What is you're, you're sitting there thinking to yourself, what the hell does Lebanon have to do with Iran? They're a thousand miles away from each other. And the answer is nothing, except for the fact that there is an Iranian terror group that populates the south part of Lebanon and fires on Israel into Israel, on Israeli civilians and then on Israeli troops trying to defend Israeli civilians and threatens the Lebanese government on the regular. That is why Lebanon has become part of this conversation, because Iran understands that the Lebanese government and the Israeli government are on the same side in terms of getting rid of the Iranian proxy group. And so Iran is trying to leverage the Strait of Hormuz to save its terrorist friends in Lebanon. That's the actual story. While Marco Rubio is actively attempting to put together a coalition against Hezbollah between Israel and the Lebanese, not including Syria, by the way. That's a silly idea by Ambassador Tom Barrack over in Turkey. The Turks, of course, are a nefarious force in the region. They are trying to use their proxy group in Syria. They're talking about them going into Lebanon, by the way. The Syrians are like, we want no part of that. We are not interested in the slightest. We occupied Lebanon between 1970 and 2005. Not doing it again. So in other words, Marco Rubio is being a pro. Vice president pointed out that Marco Rubio is actively managing the situation in Lebanon.
Marco Rubio
Marco and the entire team have been Actively managing what's going on in Lebanon. Despite the headlines, things are actually getting better there. Things have slowed down a little bit. It's going to be something which is going to have to continuously manage to ensure that Israel and Lebanon are both safe and secure. And that's fundamentally the goal of this is to make the region safer, secure. The big problem is that you have somebody will sue and then somebody will respond and you try to have a chicken neck problem where you just got to stop the students for long enough to get the conspiracy because they're too old. That's what we're going to try to do. We'll keep on working at it, and things have gotten better.
Ben Shapiro
Okay, so again, the idea here is that Rubio is being a pro. However, there was one member of the administration who was doing something that frankly was pretty humiliating to the United States over the weekend, and that was the vice president. So, quick hypothetical again. I don't care about the names. I don't care about the names in these situations. I just care about the policy. I want America to be strong. I want America to achieve her interests in the Middle East. I want an open Strait of Hormuz. I want Iran defenestrated as an actual military threat to the United States, her allies and her interests. That's what I want. So I don't care who the person is who's doing the dumb thing. If they're doing a dumb thing, they should be called out for doing a dumb and weak thing. So here's the hypothetical. I'm just gonna switch the names. Vice President Kamala Harris heads on over to Switzerland for negotiations with Iran. There she says that she loves Pakistan. Literally, she says, I love Pakistan or we love Pakistan. She then takes a picture being given orders by an Iranian cutout. Then she emerges from negotiations with a deconfliction cell that actually doesn't de escalate anything and doesn't include any of the parties to the actual conflict. But hey, at least she also got stiffed on camera by a bunch of foreign politicians. Okay, so that didn't happen to Kamala Harris. Wouldn't be surprising if it did. It did happen. But it happened to Vice President Vance over the weekend, which makes it like a thousand times worse. Why? Well, because. And vote for Kamala Harris. Right? Kamala Harris is a Democrat. It would not be surprising for Kamala Harris to be weak. It would not be surprising for Kamala Harris to look as though she was being given the runaround by America's enemies. But I would not expect this from Donald Trump's vice president. You would also expect this kind of weakness from Democrats desperate to avoid any sort of conflict with the Iranians. But we just spent months destroying Iran's air force, Navy, ballistic missile facilities, nuclear facilities, and army. This is like going to a meeting with the Japanese and bowing before them between Hiroshima and Nagasaki like we already clocked the hell out of them. What are we doing here? Vice President Vance spent the weekend getting dunked on like Frederick Weiss in front of Vince Carter. For people my age, just a reference you'll understand. Okay, so this whole thing began with Mohammed Khaliba, who is the Iranian parliament speaker and an IRGC member, showing up to the negotiations alongside Abbas Araki, the foreign minister. Both of them, again, are representatives of a terrorist state that shouts death to America. That is part of their actual mission. And they showed up wearing a pin that said on it Minab. Minab is a reference to the school that was filled with girls that was hit at the very beginning of the war mistakenly, and the Iranians trying to pretend that they are somehow the victims in all of this. The reason there was even a conflict with Iran is because Iran spent the beginning of the year mowing down protesters by the tens of thousands, suggesting that somehow Iran is the humanitarian group here. They showed up in a plane, literally a plane that was marked with Manob. Okay, so again, they showed up to dunk on the Americans. That is what they did. And then on Saturday, right before they arrived, they announced their plans to close Hormuz. So again, you have to understand, to understand the, you know, the Vice President's poor performance over the weekend, you have to understand what Iran was trying to do. And the answer was dunk repeatedly on the Vice President and the United States publicly. On Saturday, Politico reported that Iran was again planning to. To close the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Iranian consulate and reports from Iranian state owned media and just giving the United States the run around. And then Khalibaf arrived in the plane with manob168 painted on it. 168 was a reference to the 168 schoolgirls who were allegedly killed in that school. And he tweeted out, Khaliba tweeted out, I consider the innocent children of Manob and all the martyrs of dear Iran to be watching over my every action and behavior. At every moment they see us and expect things of us. Does this seem very much like a regime that is looking forward to a cooperative relationship with the United States? Quote, God forbid I should ever bring shame to the innocent martyrs and the people of Iran and that I should join my companions with a clear conscience. Companions for whose reunion I eagerly await. Again, he is literally saying he wants to die as a martyr. That is literally what he wants to say. Meanwhile, the Iranian President Possesskian spends his Sunday saying that they would not give up enrichment. Again, this was during the negotiations. The Iranian president said, we will not give up enrichment. And Trump, he said, has basically cucked on this issue. Again, that's the Iranian president saying this.
Mohammed Khaliba
We will not give up our right to enrichment and they too will be forced to accept it. You all know what the so called President of the United States was saying. He has made a complete 180 degree turn. He was saying that Iran must surrender unconditionally. Iran has no right to do this. It has no right to do that. Then he gave a speech and said that Iran has the right to do this. It has the right to possess this. In other words, he has reversed himself by 180 degrees compared to his previous positions and has accepted that they cannot ignore our rights.
Ben Shapiro
Again, the Iranians just dunking on the Trump administration in the lead up to this pseudo summit. And then Tasnim News Agency, which again is an Iranian outlet, they said, quote, the Strait of Hormuz would not be reopened as long as a cease fire in Lebanon was not respected. Meanwhile, what is Iran doing with those dissidents? They're hanging them. They've escalated the rate of hanging them. Quote, this is the Wall Street Journal. The regime is still firmly in charge. Dissent will not be tolerated. Tehran has pushed to strengthen its internal hold on power as it starts talks with the United States. Now, remember that tweet from President Trump and that comment from President Trump saying that they need to stop backing terrorist groups or we're going to hit them. They need to open the straight or we're going to hit them. Well, Iranian negotiators then did a high profile walkout at these negotiations on Sunday. According to the New York Post, the talks were abandoned after just 80 minutes when the discussions entered a difficult phase following an insulting message by the United States President Mohammed Khaliba, the Iranian parliament leader. He said, don't they realize that if their threats worked, they wouldn't be this desperate? Now, we don't count on US Threats. They'd better watch their words. Our armed forces are ready to respond differently. Whatever they say, we are the ones who act. So that was the backdrop to the vice President's performance was an Iranian regime that is emboldened. An Iranian regime that they have the upper hand. An Iranian regime that believes that they are able to basically twist out of the United States what they want. And a president on the other hand, who is saying, you don't get to do any of that. And if you keep backing terrorists, we'll hit you. And if you shut the straight, we'll hit you. That was the backdrop. So you know what we don't need? We don't need a presentation of weakness in front of these folks. Unfortunately, that is precisely what the vice President did. All right, coming up, a photo op between the Vice President of the United States and a bunch of people who kind of wanted to dunk on him. Pretty obvious. So we'll get to that in a moment. First, people spending a lot of time talking about bringing manufacturing back to America. Well, that's good. But it's also worth noting that there are a bunch of industries here in the United States that never actually left in the first place. One great example, America's beverage companies. You know, the drinks that people have grown up with for generations, sodas, sparkling waters, teas, sports drinks. The companies that make them have continued making those products here in the United States the entire time. Behind all of that are 275,000 men and women across all 50 states showing up every single day, doing real work. These are good paying jobs. Distribution, manufacturing, trucking, production. The kinds of jobs that support families and local communities. For more than a century, America's beverage companies have continued investing here, building here, employing American workers in American hometowns. In an economy where so many industries actually moved operations overseas, that matters. Learn more about how they're keeping america strong@wedeliverforamerica.org Again, America's beverage industries, they're still here. They're still making American products, American jobs. Go check them out. Right now, we deliver for america.org, that's wedeliver for america.org so first of all, the Iranian delegation refused a joint photo with the United States team. So again, we should have refused a joint photo with them. They're murderers. But it was the United States that apparently wanted a joint photo. And according to Iran International, the Iranian negotiating team refused to take part in a planned joint photo opportunity with the US Delegation before talks in Geneva. The source said US Officials and organizers had planned a handshake and group photo between the two sides. The Iranian delegation declined to participate. Following the objection, the live broadcast and photo session went ahead without the Iranian team, which entered the venue afterwards. So again, normally when it comes to protocol, the people who want it more show up early. The people who are sort of the big dog, they show up late. The United States was there waiting around. The Vice President was waiting around for the Iranians to show up and they sniffed him on a photo op and then they showed up late. Okay. Then there is video footage that is going around in which the Vice President is waiting around in the press room and the negotiators from Qatar literally walk right by him. Now they're claiming that this is because they didn't need to re greet him, but that's weird because they just greet their Pakistani friends. They go right around him. Again, footage is worth more than talk. Here's what the footage looked like from Lake Lucerne. So you can see the Vice President is standing there. He is standing next to the Field Marshal of Pakistan. And they'll come at it and, and then the Vice President will give some remarks and then we'll take a couple of questions. And you can see the Vice President sort of shifting foot to foot. The field marshal standing right there. Here comes Al Thani, who's the negotiator for Qatar, goes right over to the Pakistani Foreign Minister. The Vice president clearly just kind of standing there and the Qatari goes right by him. Right by him. Not an amazing look. Again, huge deal. Not a huge deal, except as part of a broader show of weakness. Hey. Then Khaliba and Iraqi walked in. Khaliba again is the Iranian parliament leader and Abbas, Iraqi, is the foreign minister. Here's them walking through the press room. Here they come. They're walking through, you know, so they're just walking right through. Again, no photo op with the United States, nothing like that. Okay. The Iranians refused to shake hands. Here was the Vice president. Afterward, The vice president is in the background over there and he's walking over and he's talking with the Pakistani Field Marshal. By the way, that field marshal is a person who said Israel ought to be wiped off the map. And he's talking with the Pakistani foreign minister. Not great. Not great, Bob. But don't worry, it also got worse. So the parties at Lake Lucerne, at this summit that was supposed to decide the Iran war were. Qatar. Qatar is a cutout for Iran. They were hand in glove with Iran. They share oil fields with Iran. And so they feel indebted to the Iranians and are constantly doing their work. That is the reason why Hamas was stationed in Qatar for literally a decade. So Qatar is one party, Pakistan is another party. Pakistan is, shall we say, an erstwhile American ally. When I say an American ally. What I really mean is that Pakistan is an Islamist state with nuclear weapons allied with the Chinese government that helped Haid Osama bin Laden for years. So they're not an amazing ally, the Pakistanis and, of course, Iran. So you had a Chinese cutout, an Iranian cutout, and the Iranians here. And the vice president did a press conference in which he bragged about how much Pakistan was awesome, which, again, if a Democrat said this, we would all be screaming. Here he was talking about how awesome Pakistan. They're just the best. They're. They're a Chinese cutout gang. Pakistan is in the negotiations because the Chinese wanted them there. They're an Islamist dictatorship. This is. This is ridiculous.
Keir Starmer
About the Pakistani role especially.
Vice President J.D. Vance
Very good. We love Pakistan. Thank you.
Ro Khanna
Excuse me.
Ben Shapiro
We love Pakistan. Okay. He says as he walks through him. We love Pakistan. Do we? Do we love Pakistan? Here he was praising the Pakistanis.
Vice President J.D. Vance
To his Field Marshal in Pakistan, Aseem Manir. I will say that since Field Marshal Munir welcomed us with the Prime Minister in Islamabad, I have joked that I have two very, very important people in my life, an Indian and a Pakistani. The Indian is my wife, and the Pakistani is Field Marshal Munir. And I've probably talked to Field Marshal Munir more than I've talked to anybody else over the last three months.
Ben Shapiro
That's magical. Isn't that nice? Isn't that wonderful? No, it's weak and ridiculous. That Field Marshal has literally called for the destruction of the state of Israel, which is our ally in this war, unless you forgot the ones who are actually dropping bombs alongside the United States. Man, does he love Pat. That is a dude who loves Pakistan, apparently. And then the vice President said, you know, the real question is whether we turn over a new leaf or go back to the. Again, not a single word that he said for the entire weekend would have been foreign coming out of the mouth of Barack Obama. It's weird coming from a Republican.
Vice President J.D. Vance
The question before us now is how much more can we accomplish together? Can we turn over a new leaf? Can we change relations in the Middle east permanently? Or do we go back to doing things the old way, which is not our preference, but it's certainly very much something that can happen.
Ben Shapiro
A new leaf. We're turning over a new leaf. It turns out the old way actually is cucking to the Iranians. That's actually the old way. Democrats did it for literally decades. Republicans, too. President Trump changed all that, and it changed the nature of the Middle East. It's why you ended up with Abraham Accords it's why you ended up with strong allies like uae, like Bahrain, like Saudi Arabia. That's why. And then Vice President Vance talked about peace requires a little give and take. You know, we'll just dance. That's what peace requires.
Vice President J.D. Vance
As I think a lot of you appreciate, peace is never easy. Peace always requires a little bit of work. It always requires a little bit of give and take. But the President of the United States is committed. Not just a peace between the United States and Iran. The president is committed to a regional peace, which is why we're here working so hard to settle our issues.
Ben Shapiro
Wow, that sounds magical. Peace requires a little bit of give and take. How about a lot of giving from the vice president. How about that? The vice President was asked about Lebanon. The reporter is obviously a friend to the Iranians, and suggested that Israel is committing genocide in Lebanon, which is actively untrue. It is foolish and ridiculous. The President, as per his usual arrangement, doesn't bother to debunk any of that. He just goes right over the top of it.
Vice President J.D. Vance
But I actually feel great about where we are in Lebanon. There's still some additional wood to chop, but we're going to keep on working at it. I know you had a question over here.
Ben Shapiro
Are you to stop genocide in Lebanon? As you know, your alignments. Israel has something like genocide in Lebanon. The main issue is stopping this.
Vice President J.D. Vance
Well, ma', am, I think that the President of the United States and the United States of America have done more to stop the conflict in Lebanon than any government anywhere in the world over the last few months. And we're going to keep on working towards it.
Ben Shapiro
I'm sorry, that's just ridiculous. The Vice President of the United States saying nothing as repeatedly an ally of the United States accused of genocide is a ridiculous, ridiculous thing. So the vice president then continued by suggesting that, you know, the talks continued. There were some trash talk, there was some whining, but the talks continued. You know, that's no big deal. And then, by the way, he drops an absolute whopper about the Iranian terrorist group Hezbollah.
Vice President J.D. Vance
When you guys engage in what us millennials might call trash talk, you can't expect the President of the United States not to respond and not to correct the record. So when they say things that aren't true, the President is going to respond to it. I'm going to respond to it. Americans are going to respond to it. When they make threats that aren't rooted in reality, they have to accept that the President of the United States is actually going to set the record straight. That's all that happened. So yes, there was a little bit of threatening, there was a little bit of whining. But at the end of the day the talks continued and we made great progress.
Ben Shapiro
Oh, that's so nice. That's so nice. By the way, you understand that what he's saying there actually is that the President doesn't mean to do anything. It's just trash talk. That's what he is saying in that clip. So what were his big deliverable wins? The Vice President. The vice President said that he had achieved a deconfliction mechanism for Lebanon and Israel. Deconfliction mechanism. Now you might note that the parties in Lebanon and Israel in any negotiation would be Lebanon and Israel. That's how negotiations work. The deconfliction mechanism achieved by the Vice President does not include the parties. It instead includes Qatar, an Iranian cutout, Pakistan, a Chinese cutout, and Iran. None of those countries, zero of those countries border Lebanon or literally have anything to do with Lebanon. Why are they even a part of this conversation? Here was the Vice President explaining his magical deconfliction mechanism. And this is the sort of Obama esque language that the Trump administration should not be humoring.
Vice President J.D. Vance
We've been, I think, very good at setting up what we're calling a de confliction mechanism. But what it really is is to say that when things happen, the sides are actually talking to one another. Sometimes, you know, you got a bit of a chicken and egg problem that you've got a junior guy who fires a drone that didn't have approval from the high command. Okay. Of course Israel has to respond to that. But then sometimes they that response. We could actually have a better and more peaceful situation if Israel responds in the context of a conversation that's ongoing between Hezbollah, Lebanon, Israel and other partners in the region. There really hasn't been a mechanism to have those discussions until basically around 4pm yesterday, Bergenstock time, when we set that up. So what we're trying to do is to say first of all, Israel and every other nation in the region has the right of self defense. Defense. But we want to make sure that everybody has that right of self defense. In the background where we're talking about how to de escalate these conflicts rather than spiraling out of control.
Ben Shapiro
Okay. First of all, that is such. I mean, let's just go back to what he says right there. You know, low level junior guy from Hezbollah without the approval of high command fires. Is that what he thinks is going on? If he thinks that that's what's Going on. He's a fool. That's clearly not what's going on. Hezbollah ramped up its violence over the course of the weekend because of perceived weakness. Iran told Hezbollah to do it. The president knows that. The president tweeted that out. A low level. What does he think? There's some rogue, low level guy with a drone who just magically hits Israeli soldiers? That's what happens over there. And then it all has to happen in the context of a conversation. Okay, so you don't need a mechanism for that. We have these things. They're magical. They're called phones. They've been around since Alexander Graham Bell. People can call each other. That ain't the problem. The problem is, are you going to exert pressure on the Iranians to stop their terror group from destroying Lebanon? That's what's actually happening right now. So a deconfliction mechanism. Again, we should point out at this point that the deconfliction mechanism that is being touted by the Vice President. Qatar, Pakistan, and Iran does not include Israel. Now, I don't know about you, I have never signed a contract that binds a third party who is not involved in the actual negotiations. As I pointed out last week, you can't do contracts that way. I can't buy a house and sign your name on the mortgage. If I do that, you are not bound by the mortgage. That is not how any of that works. Why in the world is Qatar involved in a deconfliction mechanism in Lebanon? The hell do they have to do with Lebanon? Again, this is only doing what the Iranians are seeking. That is all. And then there are apparently two specific big wins that Vice President Vance is bragging about. One, he's suggesting that unfrozen assets are gonna go to American farmers. First of all, I was told that there wouldn't be any assets unfrozen until the Iranians started performing. Where's the performance? They've spent the last several days talking about shutting down the strait and reopening the strait and shutting down the strait and incentivizing their terrorist friends to kill people. And it looks like we are unfreezing assets, apparently. Well, here was the vice president suggesting that actually it's a big win if we unfreeze Iranian assets, then they will go to somehow soybean farmers or something.
Vice President J.D. Vance
I've seen some misreporting about frozen or unfrozen Iranian assets. One of the other things that we wanted to do and you know, wasn't as high of a priority for us for obvious reasons. But. But we wanted to make sure that we set up a process where if, if we ever unfreeze Iranian assets, we can ensure that those. That. That money, that Iranian money goes to help the people of Iran and not to fund terrorism. So Jared Kushner actually came up with a very interesting solution with the Qataris, where basically, again, if there is any frozen Iranian assets that are unfrozen, then we have approval over that process, the Qataris have approval over that process, and then the money would actually go to buy American soy, American corn and American wheat for the benefit of the Iranian people.
Ben Shapiro
So, in other words, I'm just going to point out it's now apparently good for us to unfreeze assets, so Iran can then essentially do oil for food, which is precisely what Saddam Hussein did when he was avoiding sanctions back in the 90s. Genius level stuff, by the way. It's not even true. According to the text of the memorandum of understanding signed by the President, quote, such funds, whether retained in the original account or transferred, shall be made fully usable for payment to any ultimate beneficiary designated by the Central bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Do we really think that we are going to unfreeze their funds and they're going to use it to buy grain from us? That's. That's the idea here. The other big win supposedly delivered by the Vice President is, he keeps quoting this, this notion that we are going to. We have achieved the signal feat of allowing the International Atomic Energy Agency, the iaea, back into Iran.
Marco Rubio
Right.
Ben Shapiro
This is the big win that's coming out of this conference, apparently.
Vice President J.D. Vance
And this is probably what we're most excited about as Americans. The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into the their country. That is a major milestone for the American people and the first step in permanently denuclearizing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran. And that's exactly what we wanted to do. That's exactly what we asked to happen.
Ben Shapiro
Watch him. You see how he corrected himself right there, by the way? He says denuclearizing, which would mean no nuclear program, and instead he corrects himself to say no nuclear weapon, which means they will retain a nuclear program. Again, that was not what these talks were started to do, by the way. So this is going all over the Twitter sphere this morning is this idea that this is a magical. Whoa, whoa. Iran is going to re. Allow the IAEA back in. So, first of all, we should point out Iran allowing the IAEA back in so that they can have coordinated Visits is Iran giving people the run around. Also, the much hated jcpoa, which was a pile of trash from the Obama administration, says, quote, the IAEA will be requested to monitor and verify the voluntary nuclear related measures as detailed in this jcpoa. The IAEA will be requested to provide regular updates to the Board of Governors as provided for in this JCPOA to the UN Security Council. The IAEA is mentioned 117 times in the JCPOA. Oh, and by the way, you know, it was in the jcpoa. And now the Vice President is saying it's an amazing thing and Iranians say it's not even happening. Quote, the entry of inspectors from the IAEA into Iran contradicts the understanding agreement and may cause significant damage. Until now, the issue of granting approval for the entry of agency inspectors into Iran has not been approved by the Iranian negotiation team. That is what Tasnim, the Iranian news agency is saying. Also, by the way, we have now released openly billions of dollars in oil money to go to the Iranians in frozen funds. So things are going great. This is not an accomplishment. It is not Iran saying, sure, come on in. We'll allow you to look at the things we allow you to look at, and then we won't allow you to look at the things we don't allow you to look at. And also we'll rebuild our ballistic missiles which are not part of the negotiations, and we'll rebuild our terror support, which is not part of the negotiations. And yeah, we'll keep tolling the Strait of Hormuz like, what are we even doing here? What are we even doing here? The idea that some sort of win has been achieved here is unbelievably silly. Not only has it not been achieved in these negotiations, the Vice President looked extraordinarily weak. The optics were. I mean, here's the. I saved this one for last because it actually is pretty infuriating. This is a picture. It was released by the Qataris, not by the Americans, by the Qataris. It is the vice President on a computer being corrected in his typing by Al Thani. Al Thani is the negotiator for the Qataris. So you literally have the Qataris for a cutout for the Iranians dictating to the stenographer Vice President of the United States, as he types in this picture. That is what is happening in this picture. In the background, Jared Kushner is looking on. Jared, of course, has a long and abiding relationship with the Qatar Investment Authority with regard to sort of his Private investments. So you literally have Al Thani, who is an Iranian cutout, telling the Vice President what to type. There is a reason the Vice President did not put out this photo, but Al Thani did. There is a reason for that. Is this what America first looks like? Seriously, this is what American strength looks like. We love Pakistan. The Iranians, sure they're helping terrorists, but you know, the really important thing is that we have a de confliction mechanism that doesn't include our allies. American strength does not look like Al Thani sitting there dictating terms to the VP as he types like a secretary. That is not a good look. Now, again, good things can be happening in the negotiations. They ain't happening in Switzerland. The good things that are happening are being led by Marco Rubio in Lebanon. Those talks are progressing. The only good things that will happen here is if the credible threat of force is reestablished by the President. Because otherwise Iran is just going to keep turning on and off the strait at will. The President is talking one set of priorities. The Secretary of State is talking the President's set of priorities. And the Vice President is over in Switzerland talking about how much he loves a bunch of cutouts for the Iranians and Chinese and then taking pictures in which he is being bossed around by Al Thani while the Iranians are dunking on him openly. Openly. The Iranians are saying they will not get rid of their nuclear program. The Iranians are saying they will control the Strait of Hormuz when all of this is over. They will. The Iranians are saying openly that they will control Lebanon when this is over. The perception of American weakness is the worst thing to come out of what is currently going on. If you want America to win, if you want America to win, we need to look as strong as we are. We cannot look weak. I'm sorry. Being given the run around by a bunch of tin pot dictator politicians from some of the worst regimes on planet Earth certainly does not demonstrate American strength. Alrighty. Meanwhile, in other international news, the Prime Minister of the uk, Keir Starmer, has announced his expected timetable to leave. He will no longer be the Prime Minister of Great Britain. He announced his resignation this morning. Here is what Keir Starmer sounded like in doing so.
Keir Starmer
The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election. I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question and I accept that answer with good grace. Every decision I've taken has been about putting the country I love first. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party.
Ben Shapiro
Now again we should point out that the UK has had a wide variety of prime ministers over the course of the last 10 years. Seven prime ministers over the course of the last 10 years. You had a whole series of rotating Prime Ministers among the Conservatives. You remember that Theresa May was Prime Minister and then you had Boris Johnson who was Prime Minister and then you had for a very, very hot second a Prime Minister who lasted less time than a head of cabbage, Liz Truss. So you've had a wide variety of Prime Ministers and then labor took over cuz people were dissatisfied with the Conservatives with a huge majority and now Keir Starmer is out. And the reason that Keir Starmer is out really twofold. One, Keir Starmer presided over an actual Epstein scandal. It turned out that a high ranking member of his administration had been involved with Epstein. He had known that and he had sort of greenlit him. Anyways, that was a bit of a scandal that blew back on him. And it turns out that guy was, was actually allegedly transferring classified information to Epstein so Epstein could trade on it years ago. So that was a big scandal. And then there was the ever increasing rage of the UK public about the immigration issue in the uk and so that meant that as you recall earlier this year there were by elections in May and the, and the Labor Party just got blown out. The Reform Party did particularly well. So the person who is set to step in is a, is a person named Andy Burnham who was, he's now an mp. He was the Manchester Mayor, the Mayor of Greater Manchester. He was a longtime rival of Keir Starmer here had blocked him from running in his district and so he ran again and then he won. Recently, instead of just handing power over to Burnham who is widely expected to be the next Prime Minister. Instead he's going to throw everything into a Labor insider election. So labor is going to have an election between the various members of Labor. Burnham is the front runner. He's kind of all over the place. Burnham, he's to the left of Starmer on economics but he's also to the right of him on Covid. Labor is trying to use him as the comeback to Nigel Farage who is of course leading the right wing Reform Party. Now again, I'm not sure that he's going to say them. One of the things that you're just seeing all over the place is this extraordinary heartburn that the public has with any politician if they're there for more than five minutes. It turns out that an entire west that has been deceived into the belief the government will solve all your problems. Gets angry at the government when it doesn't solve all their problems. And it doesn't seem to matter who's at the head of the government. According to the president, Starmer had to go because he was bad on energy and also bad on immigration. It's true. He was bad on energy and also on immigration. Last night, the President put out a statement. Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of the UK he failed badly on two very important subjects, immigration and energy. Open North Sea oil. I wish him well. President Trump. Well, I mean, dumping on him on his way out is not exactly wishing well, but, you know, it's taken as a point. Now, there is not an election that is scheduled, and labor still has a dominant majority inside the Parliament. So it's still gonna be a little while until there's a prime ministerial election. The way that it works in Britain is that in order for there to be a prime ministerial election, either the prime minister has to fill out his full term, which is four years, or the prime minister has to fall. The prime minister's party has to fall because there is a vote of no confidence. A vote of no confidence requires a majority of the Parliament to vote for a new election. Because labor still controls a majority, like an outright majority, it is very unlikely that labor is going to call a new election before it's allotted time. With that said, the anger is going to build up and build up and build up. Labor thinks that by shifting the deck chairs on the Titanic, by getting rid of Starmer and bringing in Burnham, that's somehow going to fix the issue. That, of course, is very unlikely to be true. Farage is going to continue to gain ground in the uk the left is headed for a. An absolute bruising. And you're seeing this, by the way, all over the place. It's happening in Colombia as well. So over in Colombia, where an outright socialist had been the leader of Colombia, he was defeated in a very thin victory in the presidential election in Colombia. The guy who won is a guy named Abelardo de la Esparia, a criminal defense lawyer with no previous political experience, according to the New York Times. He, of course, is significantly to the right. He's an ally of the president. He, quote, transformed himself from sharply dressed Miami lawyer to populist in a soccer jersey and straw hat, and he won 49.7% of the vote. Ivan Seda, a leftist senator and longtime human rights advocate, received 48.7% of the vote. So he is much more sort of in line with the leadership in El Salvador. Bukele. He wants to fight the traffickers, he wants to fight drug traffickers on land, at sea. He calls himself the Tiger. And he vows to build mega prisons for drug traffickers and bomb narco terrorist camps and get rid of the Gustavo Petro efforts to alienate the United States and to broker peace with the terrorist groups inside the borders of Colombia. So this is another right wing victory in Latin America, South America. You're seeing this over and over and over. By the way, again, the melee revolution continues. The Bukele revolution continues. It turns out that the people of Latin and South America are not as fond of being run by socialist criminals as they have been in the past. You go back about 10 years, there's a lot, a lot of talk about a pink wave in south and Latin America that has now receded as, and is fully going out to see that pink wave. Gustavo Petro is now claiming election interference again. It's always fun when we play this game where if the right says election interference, everybody says it's horrible. If the left says it, it's totally fine. Gustavo Petro, who again is a socialist, put out a statement, quote, neither can be proclaimed president. It is the scrutiny that determines who is the president. I obey the judges. Call him among the citizenry, please. Reality gives us a country split down the middle and foreign interference taking away our freedom. And then who does he blame, by the way? Who does he blame for changing the votes? You won't, you won't ever guess. You won't believe it. Who he's claiming. Yeah, it's the Jews. Yep. Couldn't see that one coming. He claims that the compromise software was used that, quote, wrote data for polling stations and quote, the only entity in the world capable of doing that is Israel. Of course, left everywhere blaming Israel for all of its problems. Secretary Rubio put out a tweet, Congratulation, Congratulating the new president elect. It just spoke to the Colombian president elect to congratulate him on his electoral victory. The Trump administration looks forward to working closely with your incoming administration to advance regional security cooperation and illegal immigration to the United States and strengthen our economic ties. Colombia's best days are ahead. And remember, Colombia is not a left wing state. Before Petro, there was a person who was significantly more center right. So this is a return back to status quo ante for Colombia. Hopefully that extends out across time and space in Latin and South America. Well, leftism in the United States may be in Remission. But it too will come back. And it will come back with a vengeance. And all the indicators are there, all of them. I know there are a lot of people today who believe that the trans radical movement is dead. No way. No way. If Democrats get power again, they will come back as hard as ever on this issue. Most absurd Father's Day quote unquote op ed I've ever seen. Over at the New York Times, they put out a cartoon op ed about a woman who transed herself into a not man and now is celebrating Father's Day as a woman pretending to be a man. And the piece is titled, to my daughter, My Gender was never Complicated. And it's all about this woman cosplaying as a man with hormone treatments and breast surgeries and all the rest, and talking to her young child, very young child, and indoctrinating her young child in the ways of this madness. And so there are all these cartoons in this piece. The piece is insane. Every cartoon is increasingly nuts, or lack thereof, as the case may be. And I'm just gonna give you a few indicators. One cartoon shows a bearded, hairy legged woman man and says they can move between complex topics and shows this person walking alongside a child saying, and the child's saying, how long did you have breasts for, dad? Do you understand how you are screwing up the minds of kids with this nonsense? And that's, that's the feature, not the bug. Because it's all about the validation. It turns out, as always, it's all about narcissistic personality disorder and the validation necessary from children. I'd carried shame around my whole life. I didn't want to pass that on to my daughter. And then it's the child hanging upside down from the monkey bar saying, I want to grow a beard when I grow up. Oh, isn't that nice? Because now your daughter wants to be a man. It says, these cartoons are insane. Quote, I had to trust her with the most vulnerable version of myself. And the child says, I told my friends at school that mom made you a cake when you got your surgery. And then the, the mom dad says, quote, oh, right, that's nice, but I don't actually tell everyone I'm trans. I saved that for special people. And the child says, oh, don't worry, I didn't tell them you were trans. And, and then the, the cartoon says at the, at the very end, it's a picture of mom dad reflecting in the pond. And it says, quote, the more I've watched Elliot embrace who she is, moving through the world. And with her wild and free spirit and her sense of humor, the more I've learned to embrace who I am. I thought I was teaching Elliot how to be happy and secure. Yet all along she'd been doing that for me. Aw. Because it's all about you. Isn't that nice? You're screwing up your kids view of biological sex. But it's all about you. So you feel awesome about yourself and just congrats. Just a huge congrats. Because it turns out that children are just tools to make yourself feel better about life. Apparently. And Father's Day is for women who say they're dads because there's no difference between men and women. This is all just perverse. I'm sorry. It's perverse. It is. It is a perversity. It's an ideological perversity. And the New York Times will keep pushing it and it ain't going away. It ain't going away. The values of New York and LA will come back with a vengeance if Democrats take power again. Disneyland held a pride night over in California. Again. This is not Disney World. This is Disneyland. And Mickey was marching in front of the kids. It's just delightful. Here's some of the video. So you've got drag queens marching alongside Mickey and. And all the characters. Chip and Dale dancing on the pride Flo. And men dancing with each other at Disneyland. It's a place for children. For children. Gang. That's nice. Isn't that delightful? Like this is. Yeah, exactly. This is. This is the indoctrination of children into the. What are you doing? Seriously, what are you doing? Disneyland. What are you doing? It's. This is. This is. Why in the world. Why in the world would you take what is clearly adult activity and put it in the middle of Disneyland? Why would you do such a thing? And you may suggest that it's heteronormative that there are princes and princesses who fall in love with each other in Disney movies because reality is heteronormative. I hate to break it to you. The entire basis of human reproduction is heteronormative. That is how biological sex works. There may be exceptions to the rule, but the glorification of those exceptions and treating the exception as though it ought to be the rule in front of children is again, it's all about the proselytization when it comes to stuff like this. What else is it for? Nobody is. Remember how it was. What happens in my bedroom stays in my bedroom. And now it's just parades at Disneyland if you think that this stuff is not going to come back and come back significantly stronger than it ever was in revenge for Donald Trump's tenure, you're out of your mind. It absolutely will come back. Woke is not gone. Woke is just sleeping. And woke will awaken once again when Democrats take power once again. Insane, insane stuff. But, you know, a good reminder of what is at stake in America on the cultural front. Those radical Democrats continue to be just as radical as ever. I mentioned Kamala Harris earlier, and no one really dies. They just kind of stick around. No one really goes away. No one ever really goes away. Kamala Harris on the Don Lemon show discussed the light inside of all of us. Turn your heart light on with Neil Simon gang. Here we go.
Kamala Harris
I really, truly believe this. We each have light inside of us, and we need to know that that is what inspires our hope as much as anything external to ourselves. And when we feel that and not allow an election or an individual to dampen that light and instead let that light kind of carry us, in particular through moments of darkness, that we not only act on that hope, but we inspire that hope in each other. And in particular at this moment, it is so important that we not only have hope, but that we understand that that should be a verb.
Ben Shapiro
What is she talking about? Does anyone have an idea what she's talking about? Other than the kind of glazed eyes as she stares into the camera talking about light, like something out of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Even Don Lemon is like, I don't know what you're talking about, lady. Don Lemon, who's loving every second of this, but kind of not. He's sitting there like, I have no idea what you just said. Was that all one sentence? That gigantic run on sentence about the light inside of us that we can't dampen? Is that what we're talking about right now? So basically, I think she's describing the plot of E.T. if I had to try and put my finger on it here, that actually if you turn your heart light on, then you can finally find a way to go home. That if you reach out to a child, the child inside of all of us, if you reach out to that child with your heart light on and make a connection with that child and then maybe join that child inside all of us so that you can fly, then eventually you'll be able to go on your spaceship home. Applaud VT with Kamala Harris. Good stuff there. Yeah, that lady was almost president and might be again because everyone's crazy. And one of the great problems with the planet. If God made one mistake, it was making too many retarded humans upon the earth. It was a mistake. There were some mistakes. How is that. What are we even talking about?
Vice President J.D. Vance
What?
Ben Shapiro
What is she even talking about? Do we have to pretend this is intelligent? What? How? How? Like what? Okay, but don't worry, ok? Since I cite the Bible a lot, I have to let the Democrats have their way. So I'm gonna listen to Senator Jon Ossoff, who again is about as Jewish as a ham sandwich from Georgia, talking about the Book of Amos, which he has read 0 times, I guarantee you. John Ossoff has read through the book of Amos zero times. Total zero. He's like LeBron James in a photo op. He's read the first verse of Amos. Here we go.
Jon Ossoff
Scripture tells us the story of Amos.
Marco Rubio
Yes.
Jon Ossoff
3,000 years ago in the hills of Toccoa in the modern day West Bank, a shepherd who attacked the moral and political corruption of his time.
Ben Shapiro
It's called Judea.
Jon Ossoff
Kingdom's rulers that while they trample on the poor, they build for themselves houses hewn of stone. They lie on beds of ivory and anoint themselves in the finest oil. Do you all remember? They lie on beds of ivory and anoint themselves in the finest oils. And while living in these mar a lago like conditions,
Ben Shapiro
John Naz has poor easily.
Jon Ossoff
They indulged in corruption and abused their power. Amos says they afflict the righteous, they take bribes, they turn aside the needy at the gate.
Ben Shapiro
I would love to ask John Ossoff to name three other prophets. Three. Book of Amos. Listening to Democrats quote, it's like. It's like me trying to speak Mandarin. Listen to Democrats trying to quote the Bible. It is so painful. They're significantly more comfortable quoting the Bible of Zoramdani, which is probably the Quran. To be fair. Representative Ro Khanna from California spent his weekend with Bill Maher praising Zoran Mamdani for his next speech. That would be the speech in which he called Americans who donate to aipac. That'd be the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is again funded only by Americans. He called them monsters. Ro Khanna, who is himself worth $200 million, loved it. So you think Mamdani is a great one, huh?
Ro Khanna
I do. I mean, did you see his Nick speech?
Ben Shapiro
I mean, not the issue that most concerned me.
Cory Booker
I don't.
Ro Khanna
It's worth a watch. Because the speech was not just about the Knicks. First of all, he like recites every Knicks player. I mean, I couldn't do that about the football. He gives a about the Knicks. He's the mayor of New York. Well, yeah, but he talks about how it's actually bringing people together. Trump voters, Madani voters, how it's overcoming the odds. And he took a speech that was just about celebrating the championship and he made something bigger about it.
Mohammed Khaliba
Hmm.
Ben Shapiro
Well, that's the important thing. The important thing is he could name the Knicks players. Representative Ro Khanna. The part of the speech where he called Americans monsters for donating to a group. He didn't like that part. No problem. But yeah, there was that. But don't worry, the crazies are in charge of the party now. Cory Booker is now praising Graham Platner. He just ignores what Graham Platner is. Graham Platner, of course, is the Senate Democratic candidate in Maine who has a Nazi tattoo and also seems to have a peculiar liking for Nazi causes and such. And here is Cory Booker pretending none of that's happening.
Mark Wayne Mullen
Do you think Graham Platner has the character to serve in the United States Senate?
Cory Booker
Well, this is what campaigns are for. He certainly has a lot of issues and a lot of questions to answer and address. And I think the people in Maine are going to give a lot of examination to this going through in this election. For me, I certainly hope we pick up a seat here for me and people of the state of New Jersey. Dear God, we need to get the Senate back so we can start checking this out of control program.
Ben Shapiro
President, you probably should not cite God while trying to get Graham Platner elected to the Senate. Just going to put that out there. Don't worry. Democrats everywhere are doing a great job. Governor Abigail Spanberger had herself a weekend as well. Remember that time that she campaigned as a moderate and then she wasn't at all well. She also apparently cannot dance. Among other things she's incapable of doing. Dancing is one of them. This is a very, very white person, Abigail Spanberger. A lot of whiteness going on right here. God, it's like watching Julia Lewis Dreyfus in Seinfeld. Oh, no. Yeah, this is the producer savvy watching Malibu's Most Wanted. That is. That is a. Wow. As a person who cannot dance, I will say that is some bad dancing right there. Oh, no. Oh, no. Maybe humanity was a mistake. That's the conclusion I keep coming back to in this show. Maybe it was all a mistake. Anna Kasparian, who used to be somewhat sane and has now lost it. She spent her weekend endorsing terrorism, Quote, long live the resistance F Israel. So I'm Glad this is the direction that the Democrats have gone, the left wing has gone. It's gonna be great. How's it gonna go badly? It'll probably be awesome. Well, at least. Okay, one bright spot. I will say, one bright spot. So in Los Angeles, there was a World cup game. It featured Iran. And it turns out that the people, even in la, are not fond of Iran. Here is how it went when they introduced the team of Iran, by the way, the Iranian players want to run away so badly. They really do. They want to defect so badly that the team was literally not allowed to stay in the United States by the Iranian government. As soon as this game was over, they flew them to Tijuana. They're deeply afraid that everyone in the Iranian team is just going to defect. He's just going to leave. Here is LA booing the Islamic Republic's national anthem. As well they should. Yeah. See, this is why we shouldn't surrender to them. We really shouldn't. We really should not make gigantic concessions to them. They're awful and the American people know it. By the way, what the polls show right now is that the American people believed that the war was not worth it by a measure of 69 to 31. You want to know why? Because it turns out war is only worth it when you win. In any case, Iranian fans showed up carrying the pre Islamic Republic, meaning the pre revolutionary regime flag, even though there was a ban on them. What else did the Iranian national team do? According to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen, the IRGC literally tried to smuggle people into the United States alongside its team. Probably should negotiate with them and talk about what wonderful rational partners they are and then make gigantic concessions to them in countries where they literally have no part. That'd be good, probably. So do we know if those people
Kamala Harris
trying to come through the U.S. s
Ben Shapiro
northern border are being directed by the IRGC or are they people fleeing from Iran?
Mark Wayne Mullen
Most of the individuals have ties to the. Directly to the irgc. Listen, it's hard to get out of the country of Iran unless you have a path to do so. We're also seeing this with the games they're playing with FIFA. You know, we're still hosting the World cup and Iran has a team that's playing. And in fact, the team is playing today in LA. Most teams travel with around 120 people. That's their support staff, doctors, coaches, everybody else that comes along with them and their delegation. We had over. We accepted 53 individuals coming in. The rest of the individuals that Iran had tried to bring in all also had direct ties to the IRGC and aren't their normal traveling groups.
Ben Shapiro
So yeah, that's what the Iranians are doing. They're wonderful people, which probably totally trustworthy. You can't even let their soccer team in the country without them trying to get IRGC members in the country. Yeah, things, things are going extremely well. Alrighty. In just a second, we'll get to Joy Reid making incredible comments about America's 250th anniversary. Plus we'll get to Ruben Gallego, the senator from Arizona. He has presidential aspirations and also loves to spend taxpayer money on things he should not. We'll get to that in a second. First, remember, in order to watch, you have to be a member. If you're not a member, become member. Use Coach Shapiro. Check out for two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us.
Marco Rubio
Sam.
Title: JD Vance's Weekend Was Worse Than You Think
Date: June 22, 2026
Host: Ben Shapiro (The Daily Wire)
Ben Shapiro examines the fallout from Vice President J.D. Vance’s diplomatic efforts in Switzerland, contrasting them with President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s hawkish, “peace through strength” approach on Iran and the Middle East. Shapiro criticizes what he deems Vance’s humiliating and weak performance before adversaries and U.S. allies alike, and explores broader issues including the resignation of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a rightward shift in Latin American politics, and radical left-wing cultural trends in the U.S.
(00:00–08:47)
Trump and Rubio: President Trump reasserted deterrence, warning Iran against closing the Strait of Hormuz or attacking U.S. allies. Secretary of State Marco Rubio worked with Israel and Lebanon to neutralize Hezbollah.
J.D. Vance’s Performance: Shapiro argues that Vice President Vance’s diplomatic engagement in Switzerland was a display of weakness, making the U.S. look amateurish compared to Trump and Rubio’s robust strategy.
(08:47–14:23)
(14:23–32:17)
Humiliating Optics: Iranians wore symbolic pins referencing alleged U.S. atrocities, refused a joint photo, and snubbed U.S. diplomatic overtures.
Foreign Interactions:
Shapiro’s Critique:
“Not a single word that [Vance] said for the entire weekend would have been foreign coming out of the mouth of Barack Obama. It’s weird coming from a Republican.” (22:37)
Deconfliction Mechanism: Vance touts a allegedly innovative dialogue system for handling Israel–Hezbollah friction, but Shapiro notes it excludes Israel and Lebanon in favor of Iran, Qatar, and Pakistan.
Unfreezing Iranian Assets: Vance proposes that any money given to Iran would only be spent on U.S. food exports for Iranian people, which Shapiro savages as naive.
IAEA Inspectors: Vance claims a breakthrough: Iran will permit nuclear inspectors, a claim disputed by Iranian officials.
Optics Blunder: A photo appears of Qatar’s Al Thani correcting Vance as he types at a computer—released by the Qataris, not the Americans—used by Shapiro as the emblem of Vance’s humiliation.
(37:27–39:56)
UK Political Upheaval:
Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigns amid scandal and party discontent, with Andy Burnham positioned as likely successor.
Colombia’s Rightward Turn:
A right-wing, “populist” criminal defense lawyer defeats the socialist incumbent; Shapiro frames it as another loss for the Latin American “pink wave.”
(41:45–56:53)
Father’s Day & Transgenderism:
The New York Times publishes a cartoon op-ed celebrating a trans Father’s Day, which Shapiro heavily criticizes as narcissistic, damaging to children, and emblematic of “woke” culture.
Disneyland Pride Night:
Ben decries drag queens and LGBTQ+ celebrations at family venues as inappropriate for children.
Kamala Harris & Motivational Rhetoric:
Shapiro lampoons Vice President Harris’s philosophical remarks about “the light inside of us,” comparing them unfavorably to movie plots (E.T.) and suggesting they’re vapid.
(53:53–57:20)
(59:37–61:15)
Lindsey Graham on U.S. action:
“If this deal fails, President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz over by force. The United States will control it… and will obliterate [Iran].” (04:33)
Rubio’s diplomatic approach:
“Things are getting better there. Things have slowed down…” (08:47)
J.D. Vance, unwittingly candid:
“We love Pakistan.” (21:28)
“Peace always requires a little bit of work. It always requires a little bit of give and take.” (23:24)
Ben Shapiro’s summation:
“The perception of American weakness is the worst thing to come out of what is currently going on. If you want America to win…we cannot look weak.” (36:30)
Ben Shapiro employs a fast-paced, polemical, and highly critical tone—especially toward Vice President J.D. Vance, Democrats, and progressive cultural currents. He relies on sarcastic analogies, high-energy monologue, and direct quotations to underscore perceived weakness and ideological incoherence among administration figures and political adversaries.
Shapiro’s episode is a layered takedown of Vice President Vance’s diplomacy versus Trump/Rubio’s aggressive posture, framing successful U.S. foreign policy as dependent on unapologetic strength. He expands this critique into British and Latin American politics and castigates domestic “woke” culture, portraying leftist trends as persistent threats to traditional values and American security. The episode’s memorable moments are bracketed by sharp, often mocking, commentary and a focus on the optics of power and weakness.