D (2:22)

That's true.

C (2:23)

How to win every debate except Michael Knowles. So anyway, it was a good time, but I missed the big debate last night, which I hope we get to in the show, which is the California governor debate.

D (2:33)

Yeah, I mean that was the thing that happened and it was like, did I miss anything or no promises to each other? I don't know. Are we even taping right now? I don't know. I'm still having makeup put on me and applied.

C (2:42)

So I'm hoping that this is great content. Matt, do you think this is breakdown?

D (2:47)

It'll just be a running gag that throughout the next segment I'll just have hands coming in and adjusting my hair and putting makeup on my face.

E (2:55)

Was it Ann Coulter who referred to John Edwards as the Brett girl or was that Peggy?

D (3:00)

That was Anne. That was Anne. Yep.

C (3:03)

I want to make sure. So we still have Matt for 93 seconds, I think, which means this is Friendly Fire. Friends like these cooties. Enemies of friends like. Welcome everybody to Friendly Fire. Very, very excited to have all of you here, especially this week because the Daily Wire broke this major story thanks to our intrepid Luke Rosiak, where he discovered, I think $150 gazillion worth of fraud coming out of Ohio. This after the great exposes from Nick Shirley and Chris Ruffo. Minnesota fraud, California fraud. I guess what singles this one out a little bit is that this is a Republican state. It shows you just how bad the fraud was. And look, I'm actually speaking to some financial officers right now. Weirdly enough, that's why I'm on the road right now. And it occurred to me when I was a kid, you guys, you've all been in politics a very long time. I remember we would hear that waste, fraud and abuse was actually not that bad. And you'd hear that from the Republicans. Cuz the Republicans wanted entitlement reform and you heard it from the Democrats because they wanted to keep doing their waste, fraud and abuse. Am I just enumerate or something? Am I missing out on the magnitude? It seems to me that the waste run abuse actually is that bad.

D (4:25)

I'm gonna wait for Matt to talk because if he does not talk, then it's gonna be a real problem.

B (4:31)

Yeah, well, I've only got three minutes, so I'll give my spiel about Somalis, Somali fraudsters, which is they're bad, I oppose them, I'm against it. We should deport them all. Here's what I think about the fraud, though, the most shocking thing about it, the most infuriating thing about it is just how. And this is what you take from Luke Rosiak's report and from Nick Shirley's and from others who have looked into it. It's just how obvious it is. It's like it didn't require. You didn't have to go undercover for years to infiltrate their scamming gangs. All you have to do is just show up. Like one guy with a camera just shows up to one of these places and looks around and it becomes incredibly obvious that these are all shell companies and that none of this is real. So the fact that it's so obvious that it's so easily exposed just makes it all the more shocking that this didn't happen earlier. And in particular in a place like Ohio that's a red state. I mean, this is. It's maybe easy enough to understand it in a blue state because they have the political motivation to look the other way, but this is happening in red states too. And so it's very easy to expose and easy to crack down on. I wish it happened a lot sooner, but now that it's happening, it's a good thing and we gotta go all the way.

E (5:54)

Deport all these people.

D (5:56)

Well, one of the things I want to know is how do we actually. How do we rent one of the. I want to own one of these buildings. I feel like the upkeep on building is fantastic, right? I mean, like, you have that. You have 300 people paying you rent and nobody in the actual building, which means your. Your overhead is non. Existent. That is. That is a fabulous deal for the landlord. And that's. That was the first one through my mind.

E (6:16)

There you go.

D (6:16)

How do I get in on this? Was. Was my. It was my move. Exactly.

E (6:20)

There you go, Ben. Thinking like a landlord. I'm sorry. No, but the thing that I find to be so ridiculous about the conversation around this is that this is in part the consequence of Republicans pushing an idea years ago, one that I myself thought sounded like a good idea, including a lot of smart people to block grant money to all these states that basically we would just take money out of the federal government, send it in a block portion to these states, and then they could set up their own programs that. That they would presumably manage more responsibly than the terrible bureaucrats in Washington. It turns out that bureaucrats can be terrible anywhere, including in Ohio. And, and it's. It's the kind of situation that unfortunately, I think is far more rampant in people's communities than maybe they understood before this whole conversation started that all of this kind of money flow from D.C. that goes there. There are a lot of people there who are totally willing to stand in line to fill out forms to do the basic DMV crap that they need to in order to apply for these Medicaid grants and the like and get a lot of money out of it. And, you know, frankly, I think, you know, the next time that I need to renew something at the dmv, I need to find somebody from one of these Somali families to go and just go through the process for me, because they're clearly far more efficient at it than I am.

C (7:51)

Now, listen, we're about to dive into all that great Ohio waste, fraud and abuse. But first, this story from the Daily Wire's very own Luke Rosiak only exists because we have loyal, mission driven members. Luke spent two months digging through a treasure trove of Doge data. Thank you very much, Elon. And he was on the ground in Ohio. Investigating this type of investigative work takes resources and independence from woke corporate sponsors and political pressure. It takes, in other words, you. It has already caught the eye of the Vice President's fraud task force. Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican nominee for governor of Ohio, says he wants to prosecute aggressively if he is the next governor. Jim Jordan, Ted Cruz, Rick Scott, they're all paying attention. This is what mission critical conservative journalism looks like. If you want to support reporting that holds power accountable, become a Daily Wire member right now@dailywire.com subscribe. So my question on all the ways for an abuse is. Yeah, to your point, Matt. Yes, we don't like it.

D (8:48)

All the.

C (8:50)

Matt, are you leaving already? Okay, goodbye, Matt. The thing that we are concluding is, of course, get rid of all the guys who shouldn't be here. Yeah, he's out. Classic.

B (9:02)

I feel like I made the show so I had the best contribution. I've already covered this subject and, you

C (9:10)

know, you don't want to. When I leave to can I get out of here? I don't want to get out of here because you're going to miss out on a very substantive political discussion, which is, I was talking to Luke about this when he broke the story. So Luke says, yeah, the issue is all these fraudsters, they're getting paid money from the government in order to reimburse them for taking care of their family members. And this is a health care program that says, all right, if you don't want to just ship your Granny off to some Jamaican employee and you actually want to take care of her yourself, but you can't do that because you got to work. Well, here the government's going to give you those very same health subsidies that you give to a separate employee so that the granny can be taken care of by a family member. And what's tough for me about this, I'm not a libertarian. I'm a traditional conservative. Is I kind of like that in principle. It's obviously so open to fraud and abuse. I hate that. But I don't hate the idea that we're prioritizing elderly people being taken care of by their family rather than by some random employee.

D (10:12)

I hate all of it. I was so. I mean, it's called having a family, and your family should take care of you, like, period. And I should not have to be paid by the federal government to take care of my family. This is my general proposition in life. Like, there is one thing. If you are in dire need, in dire poverty, and, you know, we're all trying to help make sure that your kids get fed or something. I mean, we have programs for that. But the idea that you have to pay me in order to go spend an hour with mom and redo is. Is that's just bad family stuff to me. Like, this is the biggest problem, I think, on. On maybe the integralist, right, this idea that the government has a role in everything, that virtue should actually just fill. And this is why when people say, you know, capitalism is emptying America of her virtue, it's like, well, no, you can be virtuous and also think that the federal government ought not spend my money paying you to go visit your mom. And in fact, one of the things that you learn when you raise kids is that when you incentivize kids to do the things that they should do, they end up doing it less often, actually. Like. Like, if you have an expectation that your kids do chores, for example, without compensating them, they will do chores and they will be better about it than if you actually pay them to do their chores. Because you pay them to do their chores now, they feel like they're giving you a service in exchange for the thing. And so without the pay, they're going to stop doing the thing. Right? It's a. It's a Pavlovian incentive structure. And so this, This. I think one of the things this comes down to is you guys have both seen Cinderella Man. There's that. There's that great scene in Cinderella where Russell. Okay, remember Russell Crowe is James Braddock. He's a down on his left boxer. And he ends up on welfare. And he goes and becomes champion. And he goes back to the welfare office with a roll of bills, and he puts it back through the slot and he gives it back, okay. There is not a single human in America who would do that with any form of taxpayer benefit today. And that says something about our sort of collective morality. And I think it's also one of the reasons. One of the things that's sort of fascinating is that this story that Luke uncovered here has done outsized political work. I mean, the reality is that it's. You know, you've got all these politicians, vice president on down, who are taking notice of this and saying they want to do something about it. But I will say that in terms of sort of spectacular traffic, you know, gigantic public attention, it hasn't done the same sort of numbers. And I think the reason for that is not because of the quality of the story. The story is incredible. I think the reason for that is because people do not think of it anymore because of the size and scope of the government as a massive sin to defraud the government. They don't understand that when you're defrauding the government, you're defrauding your fellow taxpayers, that when you do this sort of stuff, what you are actually doing is robbing human beings. There's a person on the other side of the check. And this is the problem with these gigantic social welfare systems. If you are a Republican and you're only going to make the case that they need to be more efficient, these social welfare systems, these social welfare systems, if we just could get them more efficient than they would be good, then you're arguing at the margins. The reality is that many of these social welfare systems have actively deprived people of virtue. I mean, just to take a quick example, you know, Social Security, I understand why it exists. No one's arguing for it to go away on a practical level. But one thing that Social Security has done is it has crowded out investment for the future for people because they believe they're getting a check from the federal government. And it has also crowded out people taking care of their parents and planning for the future in terms of their financial making sure that their parents are taken care of. And so what used to be a sort of familial aspect has turned into a governmental aspect. Now, you can argue that that's made elderly people more prosperous. That's fine. It is a gigantic social welfare system that's bankrupting the country. But it is true that governmental systems tend to crowd out individual virtue and social virtue. And so I think that's a huge component of this. I mean, why don't any of these people who are defrauding people millions of dollars feel guilty? They should feel guilty also.

E (13:44)

But also, I think one of the things we have to keep in mind is that like, if we're going to pay people to take care of their elderly relatives, should we be paying like boomer grandparents to watch my kids? Because that, I mean, the same kind of idea is kind of there, right? You know, it's like, wait a minute, maybe this will be a lot easier if we just pay all the boomers who already have taken so much money out of the system to spend more time with their grandchildren, which is something that shows up in poll after poll after poll of parents, younger parents complaining.

C (14:16)

How about since you make the point, Ben, that these elderly boomers have already taken so much money out of the system, how about we just force them, we repealed the 13th amendment and forced them to watch all the grandkids for free and we say, look, now we're even. We're not going to get Social Security, but you have to watch the kids. Speaking of kids, we have Mary joining from the White House.

E (14:36)

I do want to say we are talking. Oh yes, I just didn't want to say real quick. We are talking on the day that we learned of the passing of the late, great Peter Ferrara, who is the originator of the idea of the Social Security accounts that you are talking about, Ben, which obviously would have made everyone much wealthier if they had actually put them into practice. And so shout out, shout out to him for phenomenal economist and a great, great guy in terms of the Washington, like Social Security reform scene, which is not exactly the most thriving social scene.

C (15:15)

Nothing makes me feel older than Social Security reform. Cuz I'm actually old enough to remember when all the Republicans were asking for that. And now that is deader than disco. Another thing that makes me feel old is Mary Margaret Olahan, who is young and vibrant and beautiful. Mary Margaret, you are at the White House. As far as I can tell, I am.

F (15:34)

And I've been enjoying listening to you guys. I just have to say that Cinderella man is my favorite movie of all time. I think it is such an American amazing story. And the scene that Ben was talking about where James J. Braddock goes to give his welfare check back is one of the best scenes of all time. So Ben, thank you for bringing that up. Also, if you Want to pay me for going home to take care of my sister? I'm definitely open to it. She's sick, so I will be taking care of her tonight. So if that's on the table, we could definitely talk about it.

C (16:05)

Well, at the White House, since they're looking into all the waste, fraud, and abuse that you like, I want to avail yourself of the vice president. J.D. vance is leading the fraud team, and it's great that they've announced that initiative along with these stories. Obviously, there was the story to California and Minnesota, Nick Shirley, Chris Rufo, and then Daily Wire's Luke Rosiak came out with this wild story and novel in the sense that it's in a Republican state. So what are they going to do about it?

F (16:33)

Well, J.D. vance says they're gonna do something about it. He said if true, and they're looking into it, they're gonna take extreme action on this. He's already, obviously, as you all know, he's already taken a lot of action in states like California, Minnesota, all over the country. We've been pressing for a little more information to see if we can get the vice president's office to tell us exactly what they're doing. But for now, this is a huge start. It's a massive win for Daily Wire, for Luke, that our reporting is being taken so seriously. It's all over the airwaves. I was at the gym this morning, and I'm seeing it on. So this is really exciting and something that I'm very proud of on. On the part of the White house. You know, J.D. vance was speaking about fraud last night. He was in Illinois, I believe, and talking about this, emphasizing really strongly, trying to get Americans to understand that, like you guys were saying, not everyone is fully enraged by the thought of this fraud because we're kind of used to it at this point, where I used to the government. We're used to thinking that our tax dollars are being wasted. Well, J.D. vance was really speaking in, I would say more colloquial, casual terms, trying to get the audience and Americans to understand the gravity of the fraud that is going on and why they should care so much and why they should trust him that he is doing something about it.

C (17:45)

Gentlemen, does the. Does the issue move the needle in the midterms? To me, it's a layup. Obviously, you have these foreigners bilking the taxpayer for this insane kind of fraud. And so it would move me. But do you think it will play or are people just so used to it?

D (18:02)

I think that unless you connect it to a broader program of slashing these programs and restructuring these programs. It's very difficult to see it moving the needle. And this is kind of what I was referring to earlier. As long as the Republican Party is the party of, yeah, we should have these gigantic social welfare systems, but we'll just make them slightly more efficient. And the Democratic Party is. That's ungenerous and you should spend more money on them. I think you lose that argument every time. The whole point of the. If you go back to the original sort of iteration of the pushback against the welfare state, which really had to wait until Ronald Reagan, the sort of welfare queen argument, right, the idea that people are driving around Cadillacs based on welfare, that was an argument that was not devoted to the idea that people were bilking the welfare system purely. And so we should crack down on the fraud. The idea was we may need to cut welfare entirely or we need to heavily chop into welfare. We need to completely restructure the system as it works.

G (18:50)

And.

D (18:50)

And that culminated, of course, in actual welfare reform in the 1990s under Newt Gingrich, which is, I still think, one of the single most transformative things Republicans have done over the course of the last half century. Well, now you look at what Republicans are talking about and they're saying, okay, you know, we'll do the Doge. Doge will save us all the money because we'll go and we'll eliminate this line item that shouldn't have happened, or we'll do an investigation. We'll cut this little piece of fraud out. That's not going to get anybody animated. The, the argument here is, is that Medicaid itself has huge systemic flaws, and you need to remove those gigantic systemic flaws because Medicaid has turned into a gigantic fraud program that is not helping the people it was set out to help. And many of the people who set out to help don't actually need the help of Medicaid, because, again, depending on where you are, you're talking about people who are many times over the actual poverty line who are receiving aid from the federal government. If you don't have a program on the Republican side to actually go small. This is why big government conservatism is, is never going to last very long. You'll have spates of it in reaction to even bigger government liberalism. But I think that at a certain point, I know it's controversial and I know it's falling out of fashion, at some point, conservatives may have to argue again for smaller government, not just, quote, Unquote, more efficient government.

C (20:01)

So do you. I mean, look, sorry, go, Ben.

E (20:03)

I was on the 1998 Social Security and Welfare Reform Commission. That's how old I am. And, and Clinton and Gingrich and that kind of thing that. That did all that stuff. And the thing that I'll keep, I want people to keep in mind is as much as welfare reform was a phenomenal achievement at the time that it happened, that's one program like you never saw that spread the way that it ought to to other programs as well, in terms of work incentives, in terms of the demands of. Of actually having, you know, people follow the money and make sure that it's not going to people who don't deserve it. And so then you end up with these massive systems that, as Ben says, they're piggy banks for people who do crime. And they do crime very efficiently, it turns out, and they're very organized at it. You have a low. A low trust sort of population of immigrants combined with a high trust population of Minnesota or Ohio or California, etc. And they can just reap the benefits of knowing how to fill out all the forms, knowing that nobody can really ask questions, because if you do, you're just going to get called a racist. And I think that that's something that has to be overcome by Republicans confronting this stuff and taking it on and calling for the end of some of these programs. I mean, just saying these things, should these things even exist? Let's maybe start with that question as opposed to trying to find different paths toward efficiency or the like, which is what we normally hear from the kind of DC think tank set of, we can tweak this and we can turn this knob and things will work a little bit better. And I just. I don't. I don't necessarily see this Republican class. I just was Talking to Kevin McCarthy right before we started this, about what they should do to try to hold back the wave. I'm not sure I see this Republican class coalescing around that argument in time to have it actually affect the election.

C (21:57)

Well, and even forget about the Republican class, I think about just the Republican base or the ordinary Republican voters. Because, Ben, the vision that you're promoting, look, I remember it. I have. I was cheering on that vision for a while. I was working on campaigns for entitlement reform. And I remember just as well as all of you do, it flopped. It didn't work. We'd been pushing for it. I mean, really, even going back to George W. Bush was really pushing for Social Security. Reform. And then Paul Ryan made this, his raise on debt. You had some of the fringier libertarian candidates like Ron Paul and others, but that was the animating spirit of the Tea Party. You know, we did it. We gave it a really good shot. And it seems to me that every time we really made that a big issue, we got completely blown out of the water. And then in 2016, one of the big shifts that President Trump made, and it irritated a ton of conservatives at the time, is he said, you know what? I'm not getting into the entitlement thing. I'm not gonna cut Social Security, I'm not gonna cut Medicare or Medicaid. He leaned a little more economically populist, though, of course, he's still substantially a free trader. But nevertheless, that built a really big coalition of people that I don't think we're gonna get on board for Paul Ryan.

D (23:02)

Well, I mean, I think that that's. I think that's true, Michael. I also think that's why, if we're asking why this is not a liver issue, the answer. People see government programs in terms of, here's the choices. Either we police fraud and maybe my program goes away, or we don't police fraud and my program stays. Then people are going to tend toward, okay, whatever, man. Like, okay, so that, yeah, that guy built the program. But I did get my Medicaid check. So, you know, as long as we're

E (23:26)

spending, I'm a tea partier, hands off my Medicare.

D (23:29)

That's.

E (23:29)

That's one of my favorite signs that we saw in Iowa.

D (23:33)

Exactly. I mean, like, that. That attitude is. Is quite prevalent, but I think that it means that it's never going to be the livest issue until you get back to it. So that's fine. You can have a big government conservatism that doesn't make fraud, waste and abuse a live issue. But I think it's very difficult to say. Waste, fraud and abuse are a giant issue for us. Also, we are not touching any of these social welfare programs because they're just too important. By the way, Kalshee has the chances on anybody being prosecuted in Minnesota, the child care fraud scandal. And I believe that the chances right now, it's a little small here. What do we have that at 60%, something like that. That there will be a. Yeah, there goes. 77% of people believe that somebody will be charged in the Minnesota daycare fraud scam. Okay, that sounds about right to me. I'm sure somebody will be charged there. Yeah. Mary Margaret, you know, when you're walking around the White House, and obviously the vice president is very, very focused on digging up these sorts of cases. Does he see this as being sort of a major political issue that Republicans are going to be able to push? Because obviously, I think some of us are skeptical. What are they thinking in the White House about it?

F (24:37)

Well, they kind of need it to be a major political issue, and I think Vance in particular kind of wants it to be a major political issue. Not that the Vance team has told me this, but reading between the lines, look, this is something that J.D. vance has been tasked with as kind of his project. He is. The frauds are in the same way that Kamala Harris was the border czar. And everyone at the White House is joke, oh, God, I hope she failed so miserably at that. Right? So everyone jokes about how she failed so miserably at that. This is his big chance, his big moment. Meanwhile, we have Marco Rubio kind of edging up on the sides. He's in the briefing room yesterday. He's getting all this positive attention.

E (25:13)

So I got to. I got to ask the question. I got to ask the question. We're seeing the glow up for Marco happen. We're seeing the Wall Street Journal headlines. We're seeing the state. Like, was he. He seemed awesome, but was he really that awesome in the room?

F (25:29)

I mean, look, I was in there with I don't know how many other reporters. So many. We were so crowded. It didn't smell good. I had people's arms in front of my face. Everyone was laughing at him. Everybody loved him. He was, as the youth say, he was rizzing the crowd. He enjoyed it. It was very clear that he did. He worked in two different lines from popular music song that I'm a little too young to actually realize the references. Maybe you guys know them better than I do.

C (25:56)

Insane in the membrane. I feel so old, man. Why are you gonna throw that in there? Mary Margaret?

F (26:02)

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

D (26:03)

I have one.

E (26:04)

I have one question about it. How was he lying when he said that he didn't know the names of the people in the room?

F (26:10)

Oh, he. He definitely didn't. I mean, think about it. He was on Capitol Hill. Capitol Hill press is very different than the White House press corps. Someone like me, I think I've interviewed him, like, years and years ago, but it would have been like a one off, you know, at CPAC or something like that. It's not like the White House press is spending a lot of time over on Capitol Hill or Actually, at the State Department. So the reporters that he would know were in the front row. And I think I said this yesterday, but he wasn't calling on the front row too much, which, as a member of the new media, I kind of liked, because he was calling on the aisles, he was calling on people in the back. He called on the guy right next to me. So just bouncing around the room. He was clearly a little overstimulated by the vibe in there, but anyone would be. And I don't know, Ben, I think. I think he did a good job, and I think he really enjoyed himself. And for the first time, I personally thought, oh, wow, maybe it's going to be him.

E (26:59)

There's no job he can't do.

F (27:04)

Yeah, true.

C (27:10)

Is that it?

E (27:11)

Just to follow up on. Just to follow up on what we were asking about, when it comes to the fraud kind of thing, you know, how much time does JD really have to spend on this is his home state in terms of Ohio? Is he going to kind of do something there? Is he going to get involved there in some kind of greater respect? Do you know of any plans on the vice president's part to dive into that?

F (27:34)

Well, the fraud team is taking it on. So this is. This is what they do. They have the massive team here at the White House. A lot of lawyers are involved, different people that I've actually known from different parts of my career, whether they used to be on Capitol Hill or in different government offices, they're all on this fraud team and they're digging in. Of course the FTC is involved. Andrew Ferguson, Stephen Miller, all of these people are zoning in on these issues. So while I know their. Their focus is on issues around the country, this is now one of the vice president's top, top issues. And if it turns out to be true, I imagine that he would be delighted to be able to take ownership of this. Of this fraud scandal, which we believe to be true. Absolutely.

C (28:14)

I wonder a little bit outside of Washington, D.C. but obviously related, you know, Vivek Ramaswamy last night won this massive victory in what was not really a serious Republican primary. So now he's gonna be the nominee, but I think he's gonna have a little bit of an uphill battle in Ohio. Does the story. Does the focus from the White House on fraud and specifically, does the daily wire report on fraud in Ohio? How much juice does that give him in November? Could that push him over the edge?

F (28:44)

I mean, is this going to be another Luke Rosiak help someone over the edge like he did in Loudoun county and Glenn Youngkin, it could be. You never know. I mean, Vivek would be wise to hop on this story and to really emphasize it as he already is a little bit doing. But no, I talk about Luke's impact all the time and talk about that Loudoun county story. I've written about it extensively. There's truly no way to truly measure the impact that Luke's reporting had on that Virginia race and Glenn Youngkin becoming governor of Virginia. So love to see that happen in Ohio as well.

C (29:19)

Also, there's something else breaking right now, which I didn't get the full story on, but I do. Speaking of criminals and fraudsters, who is this top Democrat politician who is having the feds show up at her house right now? We have cow. She shows Vivek's chances at 47%. Maybe they go up because of, of Luke Rosiak. I wanna know the calciades on this top Democrat getting her house raided and going to prison. Do we know, do we have any of the details? This just popped up before we're filming.

E (29:47)

So Louise Lucas is the top, is the most important Democrat in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She is the octogenarian head of the state Senate for Democrats. And she's also the one who big footed Abigail Spanberger and said, no, we're not doing a 9 to 2 map, we're doing a 10 to 1 map. And Mary Margaret will know this as a resident of the Commonwealth. That was something that was deemed too extreme even for Spanberger at the time. She was worried about it and it's one of the reasons why they have questions at the Supreme Court of Virginia right now because of how extreme the map is. She has long been considered one of the most corrupt members of the legislature in Virginia. It's connected to a series of cannabis shops that she runs for profit in the Portsmouth region. The FBI apparently raided her offices today. Fox was reporting on it today. And we had. And there were people who were on the scene, they were for hours taking out boxes of materials and other things, preventing staffers from going inside. And so we don't really know what the case is about yet or what they've been building it toward. The irony of this, though, is it actually could be something that could benefit Spanberger because she would get potentially a potentially a less radical Democrat leadership in. If Louise Lucas ends up going down over some kind of potential criminal activity, we'll. We'll have to wait.

D (31:18)

Are we watching Ozark? Because that'd be, that'd be awesome.

E (31:20)

I Mean, I feel like that'd be very, very Ozark.

D (31:25)

She's just got like gigantic weed farms. It'd be great.

F (31:28)

It would be. It would be amazing. One of my favorite parts of the story is the backlash online currently about Fox News being in the vicinity to document what was happening here. So I think it was Bill Malusian that was on the ground and clearly got a tip from the FBI that this was going to be happening. All these liberals online, including Tim Miller are complaining and saying, oh, how did Fox know this was going on? And myself and a couple other people pointed out CNN got the exclusive when Roger Stone was arrested by the FBI. They were there with their cameras. Many, many other such instances. But now you know that Fox News happened to be on the scene documenting this raid. God forbid this happened. So I've been amused by that from a media critic criticism perspective because everyone's up in arms about it and they're all trying to say that she wasn't close to Spanberger, which is not true, as Ben just pointed out.

E (32:21)

Yeah, yeah. The truth is that Spanberger, if you know the makeup of her coalition, she's a Northern Virginia person. She needed the support of people like Lucas to bring along the black vote that was a little more skeptical about Spanberger being such a kind of Nova Karen type when that sort of portion of the vote is so critical to winning in Virginia.

C (32:46)

Now turning from the east coast over to the west coast, one story we talked about at the top of the show a little bit that I totally missed last night cuz I was doing my little debate over in Dartmouth. There was a much bigger debate going on in California between the candidates for governor and it was all the looniest Democrats, minus Eric Swalwell who we don't need to get into any of. Maybe we'll get some videos. We don't need any clips of Swalwell. So yeah, all the clips of Swalwell are on Snapchat. They're not on friendly fire. But when Swalwell was still in the race, there was a very good shot that you could have had a Republican governor of California. Just the way that the elections are conducted there. I think this is a big reason why the Democrats sniped Swalwell on three different fronts. On residency, on financial corruption, and then eventually on a sex scandal. So Swalwell's out. One, does this improve the Democrats chances? I think pretty obviously it does. But two, did anything happen at the debate last night that is going to affect the race?

D (33:50)

Well, no. I mean the Democrats going To win. I mean, I don't mean to be a downer, but there's a reason we all left the state. I mean, California is beautiful and it is mismanaged. And you know, I love Steve Hilton. He's great. And, and Chad Bianco is, is fine and he's great. I mean, like. But let's be real about this. If they sneak through with 17% of the vote in a multi candidate primary and then they get through to a general election and Xavier Becerra versus Steve Hilton, I'm highly skeptical that the Republican ends up winning that general election race. And that seems like that's the most likely scenario right now. It was extraordinary to watch Democrats try to outbid each other in being insane. So Katie Porter, who is a nut job, I mean, Katie Porter is so crazy. You know, you remember there was, there are these stories about Amy Klobuchar throwing binders at people. Apparently Katie Porter like throws potatoes at people or something. Like, this is, this is the steaming hot mashed potatoes. Yeah, she was like chucking potatoes at people, which, which I like, my, my

E (34:47)

Batman costume was like the least crazy thing she did. Like.

D (34:52)

And, and, and, and last night she said that illegal immigrants need to be given health care in California because Californians deserve it. Which, I mean, I, I sort of agree because they voted for it. But not the way that she thinks about it. I mean, she means that illegal immigrants are Californians. I think that Californians deserve it because they keep voting for this. And so, you know, you keep voting for it, you deserve it. But she said that then you had Tom Steyer saying there wasn't enough of a wealth tax. I mean, that's presumably why he's been taxing himself like $200 million every election cycle, which is the only way that you can understand what the hell he is doing. Because literally every election cycle is like, I'm running for dog catcher. Here's $100 million and everyone hates him. And then he loses. And so he was up there doing that routine. And then you had Becerra looking up there. He looked like a moderate. By contrast, while he called for the abolition of ice, it was, it was just a cavalcade of idiocy and crazy. And meanwhile, Steve Hilton is sitting there and he's looking at Chad and they're looking at each other and they're like, I don't even know what's happening around me. Like, California is such a disaster area that, you know, I'm telling people there they ought to flee. I've been saying this for a while. I don't know. What did you make of it? Ben?

C (35:58)

Hold on, Ben. Before I get your opinion, I just want to point out, you know, on a little bright side here. The bright side was that during the debate, Katie Porter's staffers did not have to be around her. And I think. Do we have the clip. Do we have the clip of the poor staffers?

G (36:16)

That we're gonna lose more than half a million Californians dying prematurely to air pollution and other problems, and the state could lose. Get out of my shot.

F (36:28)

I wanted to tell you that that's actually incorrect. It's not that it's electric vehicles. It's that it's so bad.

G (36:37)

Okay, it does. Okay. You also were in my shop before that. Stay out of my shot. Okay? I'm gonna start again with electric vehicles. Saving us money.

C (36:49)

Jacob, more water. I want more. No, I'm joking. You don't actually have. He actually got up. I will just say I didn't. I was just doing a bit clover

E (36:56)

shark eating salad with a. With a. With like a comb or something is like totally fine and normal compared to that. No.

C (37:03)

Yes.

E (37:04)

The problem I have, Shapiro, is that every morning my wife asks me, do you think Steve Hilton can win in California? Do you think Spencer Pratt can win in California? And I have to tell her, no. Every morning I just say, no, they're not going to win. That's not going to happen.

C (37:24)

Hold on, Ben. Before we get to your analysis of why the Republicans can't win, I just wonder what you made me think of when you say this is the first thing in the morning. You're. Your wife turns to you. I hope that when she turns to you, you are lying in a beautiful Helix mattress. That's what I do. Except when I'm on the road, which is why I look haggard, because I have my beautiful Helix. Helix uses a sleep quiz to match you to your perfect mattress. They've got great factors, everything. Sometimes you sleep a little too hot. Maybe you want a little firmer, maybe you want a little softer. It is great. I am so into Helix. I have multiple Helix in my home. I am such a good father that I've gotten Helix for my kids. It's. It's gotten great reviews from outlets like Forbes and Wired. Everybody at the Daily Wire absolutely loves it. And I am looking to get another one. That's right, yet another one. Because I keep having these kids. They ship directly to your door in the US with free shipping, 120 night sleep trial, a limited lifetime warranty, meaning you can test it risk free, send it right back if it's not right for you. With Memorial Day coming up, which is the unofficial start of summer, talk about the importance of good sleep for your whole family, especially since the kids are home from school and you got all these things going on. Okay, this is the time, folks. Get your helix. Go to helixsleep.com friendly fire for 27% off site wide. That is helixsleep.com friendly fire 27% off site wide. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know that we sent you helixleep.com FriendlyFire Megan rolls over in the morning, says, ben, honey, please tell me there's no reason for this

E (38:57)

is really unfair that Michael Knowles is apparently check the tag on our mattress in our house without my knowledge. But yes, we do actually have a Helix mattress. So anyway, look, the truth is that she says that because she loves California, she lived in LA for, for quite a while. You know, I'm sure, Ben, you love California too on some base level. You know, I'm not one of these people on the right who says screw them. You know, with their beautiful weather and their relaxed mentality and, you know, everything like that. It's, it's more that I would like California to be a place that people could do business again, could make movies again, for crying out loud. Since they can't afford to make them in there anymore, unfortunately, I think they're just going to double down. They're just going to do the same dumb crap again and they're probably going to choose somebody like Becerra, who is one of the worst cabinet appointees, by the way, when he actually was at, when he was at hhs, something that he had no business being in just because of the politics of the situation, because he was put there basically to screw over pro lifers and to do whatever the Biden White House wanted him to do.

F (40:07)

He's one of the most radical pro abortion members of President Joe Biden's administration. And he was also, you know, Kamala Harris when she was Attorney General of California, she started that whole persecution of David Daleiden. But he really picked it up and carried it throughout the rest of his tenure there and was absolutely part of persecuting David Deliden to this day. So incredibly radical pro abortion individual. And you know, Californians may have forgotten that over the past, I don't know, decade, but it is, it is one of his top issues.

C (40:40)

You know, would any of them be better than recently?

D (40:42)

I, I, I gotta, I gotta admit I'm kind of rooting for Katie Porter. I'm a little rooting for Katie Porter because. Because, I mean, just for the.

E (40:50)

This is you putting on the joker mask. This is like.

D (40:53)

This is exactly like in the special commercial chaos. Exactly, exactly. Well, I mostly just want to see the creative ways in which she abuses staff. I mean, like, it's giving me ideas.

E (41:03)

I have an image of you on top of a pile of money, setting it on fire. Like, that's.

D (41:07)

That's kind of wonderful. I mean, come on. Like, and then that commercial, she made her people stand behind her holding whiteboards. And then at the very end, she put a laugh track in when she's like, get out of my shot, guys. And then there's like, a laugh track. Did you see her commercial? It's terrible. It's terrible. I need more of this. Like, this is. It's like cocaine to any California resident. It is. It is a. It is addictive wonder. And I have to say, like, Katie Porter is so much more amusing, so much more amusing than Xavier Becerra would be. He would just be another born.

E (41:37)

You know what that is?

D (41:38)

That.

E (41:38)

Is that as a business person. As a business person, it would be good for the Daily wire to have

D (41:44)

100% she's so amusing board. And she'd be, like, chucking things at people. She might strangle a man on camera just to see him die. Like, it'd be incredible. I mean, we actually. Guys, we have the ad. Apparently. Apparently, we have the Katie Porter ad. One of the worst political ads ever. Cut. Really solid stuff here.

G (42:01)

I'm Katie Porter, and I'm not like most people who run for governor. I actually get what you're going through. A single. As a mom of three kids, I know what it's like to push the shopping cart. My Minivan has almost 200,000 miles. I have a grown kid who may soon be living on my couch. To give Californians what they need, it's gonna take standing up to Donald Trump, calling out greedy corporations, and stepping on some toes along the way. Now, could you guys please get out of my shot?

D (42:32)

I love the laugh track underneath. The laugh track is the best part. That's amazing. And. And also, I do love that all of our politicians. I remember a time when we used to, you know, be aspirational toward our politicians a little bit. And now every politician is like, I'm a loser, just like you. Look at my crappy car. Look at my. Look at my son, who's a complete bum. And here he is living on the couch. I'm just like you. That's what I think of you. You're also a loser who has 200,000 miles on your minivan and a son who's probably going to crash out on your couch because he's a marijuana addict who majored in theater arts at csun. But like, yeah, solid stuff there from Katie. I'm rooting hard for her, even right off the top.

C (43:06)

She says, she says, I'm a single mother. And you say, well, hold on, there's some people who are single mothers. Like the dad runs off or someone dies or something. But she's. I'm a single mother because I poured scalding hot mashed potatoes on my husband and I physically abused him enough that he had actually a quasi moral case to separate from this lunatic.

D (43:28)

I mean, Michael, don't cast aspersions at those of us who pour mashed potatoes on our loved ones. I'm personally offended by this. I found solidarity there. Don't yuck my yum. Stop that.

C (43:44)

Is there an argument? Look, you've actually been. You have persuaded me the Katie Porter outcome is probably the. Is certainly the funniest outcome and probably the best outcome in California. Assuming it's a Democrat, is there a Democrat who could take over, who would be better than Newsom? My worry is I'll put my cards on the table. Every time you get a new Republican president, the Democrats who called the last guy Hitler come out and they say, you know, I actually really love George Bush. The good old days of George W. Bush, who I called Hitler until 30

E (44:12)

seconds, which is gonna be really hilarious.

D (44:13)

I don't wanna be that.

C (44:14)

But yeah, they're gonna do it to Trump. They're already kind of starting respect.

E (44:18)

Donald Trump was never this crazy person like J.D.

C (44:22)

yeah, so J.D. is too intellectual or that's what that's. You already hear them starting to say this stuff. So the question is, are we going to be that? Are we going to say, well, you know, I'll tell you, I have a strange new respect for Gavin Newsom, or no, is. Is Newsom as bad as it gets?

G (44:35)

Yeah.

D (44:36)

No, no, I think you'll get the strange new respect for Gavin Newsom because they're psychotic. I mean, Xavier Becerra is quite terrible. Gavin Newsom, he still has his eye on the presidency, so he actually has threatened to veto some things from the California state legislature. Becerra will just veto. We'll just let every single part of it through. By the way, according to our sponsors over at Calshi, the kalshi market suggests 47% of people think Becerra is going to be the governor. 37% think Tom Steyer. Man, what the hell is wrong with that state? Tom Stier, Seriously, Can I show you 10% things, Steve Hilton? I mean, by the way, the one that, the one that I think would be also very amusing, I have to say, would be Antonio Viragosa. Viragosa would be really, really amusing because Villarrigosa is legitimately one of the dumbest people in America. He is truly a not smart human. And so the sort of Steve Carell of it would be incredible, like watching him just bump into walls for four years. So basically I'm rooting for all of the underdogs, all of the underdogs, because I think that it will end up being Becerra. It'll, it'll be terrible. And I feel bad for my friends in California, I really do. And businesses are going to flee. One of the best parts of the debate is Katie Porter said we need illegal immigration because that's the only way that we've actually received net population increase in California. So you're not supposed to say that part out loud. You're not supposed to out loud.

E (45:49)

And it's also one of those things where, you know, and this is something that I think Republicans need to be putting more of a front foot on going forward is the only reason these states are holding on to the kind of, of flow of taxpayer dollars that they have received through all these programs is because of that, is because they, they welcome these illegals into their state to replace the American citizens who are fleeing for very logical and obvious reasons, going to places like Texas, going to places like Nashville. They are moving out of those blue states because of those terrible policies. But the blue states are able to hold on to both congressional seats and, and the flow of taxpayer money because they import all of these illegals and basically say we're just going to run our programs in order to feed more and more people this type of taxpayer dollars and keep more and more bureaucrats employed.

C (46:45)

Right. Speaking of bringing people over, filling up the ranks, have you seen this trend? I don't know if it's real or if it's just social media people babbling. But John Fetterman, who was elected pretty left wing, has consistently moved to the right, at least in his public statements. And so now there seems to be an all out push to get him to actually flip political parties. Is there any chance that happens or. No, that's all just wishcasting fake news.

D (47:13)

I think that's really, really unlikely. I think there's a possibility that he'd flip to independent. I think he feels alienated enough from his own party that you could see him go on a line, sort of, you know, the way that you saw in the past think Jim Jeffords was an independent candidate. Bernie Sanders still counts himself independent, who caucuses with the Democrats. That you could probably see. And you could see that from Fetterman if, for example, he wanted to avoid a Democratic primary, because a lot of the Democratic primary base is psychotic, like, truly ambulatory psychotic. And they're very, very angry at him that he's not totally crazy about Trump or about Israel or about immigration. And so if he's trying to avoid a primary, then he could be in sort of a Kirsten Sinema situation where Sinema ended up, you know, trying to run as an independent specifically because the Democrats went so crazy. But John Fetterman votes at a plus 90% clip for all the Democratic policies. He voted consistently with the Joe Biden agenda when he was. When he. When there was crossover there. And so the idea that he is somehow a Republican just because he's not totally crazy, that does show, I think, how nuts the Democrats are that you look at John Fetterman, who is a fairly traditional Democrat, meaning that he is very left wing on economics, he's somewhat left wing on social issues, and he's, you know, kind of middle of the road on foreign policy, but he's still pro Israel and all the rest of this. And they look at him and they go, he must be a Republican. Like, that's how crazy the Democrats have gotten. And I think, again, that's just an indicator of how nuts they are. By the way, this is Barack Obama's fault. I know everyone wants to blame Zoram Hamdani or they want to blame Bernie Sanders. This is all Barack Obama's fault. All of it. Okay. But I don't know if you watched that interview that he did with Stephen Colbert last night, this crazy interview that he did with Stephen Colbert, and in this crazy interview.

E (48:45)

And are you saying that you don't think Stephen Colbert should run for president? I mean.

D (48:48)

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I kind of think.

E (48:52)

Mary Margaret, what do you think Stephen Colbert is our. As our next Catholic president.

F (48:57)

Hey, I'm going to date myself again and say that I don't care about Stephen Colbert, and none of my peers do either.

B (49:05)

Wow.

D (49:05)

Wow.

C (49:06)

Mary Margaret is so young that she. Mary Margaret is so young that she most cares about things that haven't even happened. Yet that is like the chasm between the old men on this panel and the hip, cool Mary Margaret. But yes, I agree he did try to.

D (49:29)

Than. Than Mary Margaret. But, but I will say that the, the. The. That. That. That interview between Obama and Colbert is really telling because Obama is talking about Mamdani and he says Mamdani is so young and he's so fresh and he's got these great ideas like affordable housing, which of course no Democrat has ever run on except for legitimately, like every Democrat my entire lifetime and several lifetimes before. And, and then he says, and there's really nothing new about him like this, this whole kind of divide between the leftists and the traditional liberals, that's really exaggerated. Well, in Barack Obama's mind it is because Obama was always a wild, radical left winger who is masquerading as a liberal. He was never a traditional liberal. He was always an insane leftist with true third world tendencies in his foreign policy preferences. And so this is all to be laid at the feet of Barack Obama. By the way, I do have to mention right now that there has been, as you know, a deluge of leftist tears since our very own Luke Rosie Act's uncovering of massive fraud in Ohio. You are in luck. It just so happens leftist tiers tumblers are buy one, get one free right now at the dailywire.com/shop. That's right, buy one of the iconic beverage vessels, you get a second absolutely free and give it to a liberal friend and then they themselves can fill it. The best way you can help support the mission so we can keep doing, you know, awesome things like breaking massive stories about fraud that steals billions of dollars from taxpayers is by becoming a Daily Wire member and drinking those sweet leftist here stainless steel, hot or cold only available at daily wire.com/shop. You may not be getting paid to spend time with your family members, but you can take advantage of this special deal for a limited time. So get that leftist tears Tumblr right now@dailywire.com shop well, these supplies last.

C (51:03)

And I think you can shop with Ohio Medicaid vouchers at the Daily Wire shop. Isn't that right? I'm not on the finance team, but bring them on. We'll have the accountants work it out. Any concluding thoughts before I let you all go in the four corners of the world?

D (51:19)

Sure.

E (51:19)

Just one. Just one point that I was going to make about John Federman. Everything that you said is true, Ben, including the fact that he. It's not like a Joe Manchin situation. Joe Manchin had something like a 75%, you know, Democrat vote record in terms of staying in line. So there was a significant, you know, one out of four times he would break with his party. Fetterman doesn't have anything like that. And that just tells you, I think, how scared someone like Barack Obama is of what his party has become, that he has to bend over backward in this interview with Colbert to basically say, like, yes, this is what I was about all the time. To me, on a certain level, that's him admitting that his whole neoliberal kind of project of holding the Democratic base together into what I think he wanted to be, you know, the future kind of dominant coalition is a failure. And the other thing is it is kind of a return to his roots. Like this is going back to as extreme as he was when he was younger. And so he's, he's kind of doing the hipster play there, right where it's like, I was a fan of this all along. You know, I was, I was about this before anybody else was about it. And to me, that's an admission of failure. Because he wanted to create a permanent, bigger coalition for the Democrats. He failed at doing it. And now his party has been taken over by the most extreme elements within it to the point that someone like Fetterman, who's still with them 90 plus percent of the time, looks like somebody that they want to kick out of the party and maybe turn into, you know, somebody who could be a deciding vote in the Senate going forward.

C (53:00)

So much for the coalition of the ascendant. We're back to the chum gang. Yes, Marie Margaret.

F (53:06)

Well, I was just going to say worse than that. You have, you know, Democrat consultants now who are looking for younger, sexier, better looking candidates. They've literally talked about this and it's been written about. They're so aware of their electability problem that they're recruiting good looking men. There was one in Maine, I believe, that talked like a robot. We got a. I'll send you guys a clip later. Insane candidates who are clearly not very electable, but are being chosen based on aesthetics because they know that they're so behind in the aesthetics game. So there's so many different issues Democrats look right now. I mean, no, they understand this is a problem that they have to deal with. And so, you know, you talk about people like Gavin Newsom. Well, he has, he has the charm factor that so many politicians have always had the rest of that slot in California, you know, we have some laughable candidates. We have Some old faithfuls like Javier Becerra. But there is no one on the left right now who has the bare minimum likability and interest that there are in so many candidates on the right. So for Obama to remember that he, he was once the charm factor, he was once the darling of the left and there's no one left. And there's someone like Fetterman who for all intents and purposes is not a very exciting or likable candidate who is slightly extending an olive branch to the right that just must cripple him. And to look at the Democratic field that he once thought was in his possession, to see it completely vanquished the way it has been. I think we'll see more moves from him soon, more endorsements, more, more pushing on his part because it's just, it's too much of a defeat for him.

C (54:42)

You know, Mary Morgan, I was really excited because the Democrats called me and I thought maybe this means that I look really good. Maybe they think I'm really. But then it turns out they were just looking for Rachel Meadow. I was really, I was really

D (54:58)

good

C (54:58)

to see all of you. Any final words or no, we're out of here.

D (55:02)

I don't know. You want and I told you so. I like I told you so.

C (55:05)

I definitely, yeah. I do not. I don't even have my Rachel Maddow glasses on to take one of your eyes.

D (55:09)

It's not I told you so for you. I told you so for some others. Yeah. No, now you get. You let the door open. The door is open. There's nothing I can do now. The door's been open. I must step through it here. Is that I told you so. Ok. Some of us have been claiming for quite a while there are a bunch of people masquerading as conservatives who are actually Democrats trying to destroy the GOP from within. And this week they all came out and just said it here. That's a note. That is a note. Okay. Candace Owens openly says that basically the hardcore leftists and the psychotic right ought to get together and they ought to fight the quote unquote Epstein class. And then you had Tucker Carlson who said to the New York Times that he wanted to form a new party because he is so disappointed with President Trump and Nick Fuentes saying that he is basically a just non woke Democrat who's trying to undermine the moderate Democrat. He said he's a moderate Democrat.

F (55:51)

My favorite.

D (55:51)

I don't want to hear. Yep. So here's the thing, gang. When it comes to the 2026 elections. If these things don't go the way that you want them to go or that I want them to go, recognize that if the Republicans don't do well, they are going the way that a certain group of people wants them to go. All of the people that I just mentioned. So if they turn around and they blame anybody who is stumping for the Republicans in 2026 for things not going as well for Republicans as they should have, then we should recognize the splinter faction that was undermining this administration from the very word go in order to divide it and destroy it while claiming that they wanted unity. Because that was bullshit from the first day.

E (56:29)

Well, I think this is really a moderate Democratic. New Muslim fans.

C (56:33)

Yeah, that one I love. Because when I saw the moderate Democrat thing, I thought that was actually this declaration of an actual partisanship. And I really, really like it because it made me think of that Jim Downey meme that sometimes goes around Twitter. It's like Nick Fuentes. You mean the moderate Democrat? Yes, yes, the moderate Democrat. That's what I'm thinking. Okay. Unshifting partisan lawyer royalties. Wonderful to see all of you. I will see all of you on the very next Friendly Fire.