SPECIAL: Vince's Best of 2025

Summary

VINCE – SPECIAL: Vince's Best of 2025

Host: Vince Coglianese | Cumulus Podcast Network
Date: December 31, 2025

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Episode Overview

This "Best of 2025" special episode features host Vince Coglianese’s signature mix of sharp political insight, humor, and commentary, compiled from the year’s standout moments on the VINCE podcast. With contributions from recurring voices like Justin G and Ben Shapiro, the episode offers highlights on the past year’s major political events, viral media moments, the ongoing border debate, overseas conflict, media bias, and government accountability. A brisk, witty energy carries through the episode as Vince and his guests analyze both the spectacle and substance of U.S. politics.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

A. "Daddy Trump," NATO, and Political Humor

[02:14–07:42]

• Clips from President Trump’s recent interactions with NATO leaders highlight international dynamics, Trump's unique rapport with world leaders, and the role of personality in diplomacy.

• Notably, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (mispronounced "Ruda" here) jokingly calls Trump “Daddy,” creating viral media buzz and providing fodder for humorous back-and-forth between Trump, reporters, and the podcast crew.

  “Then Daddy has to sometimes use strong language... Daddy, you’re my daddy.”
  —Vince Coglianese and Justin G [05:29–07:28]

• Vince notes the positive reception of Trump by international allies and lampoons critics who bristle at the "Daddy" meme, framing left-wing outrage as further evidence it's working.

  "Honestly, the more you get pissed off by it, the more I like it."
  —Vince Coglianese [08:26]

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B. “Alligator Alcatraz” and Border Security Debates

[11:00–20:05]

• Ron DeSantis’s “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center in South Florida is dissected. Vince mocks Democratic outrage over supposed poor conditions ("gray" turkey sandwiches, proximity of sinks and toilets), emphasizing the detainment's deterrent purpose.

  “If I had somebody preparing a turkey sandwich for me every day, I’d be in a much better situation. But I don’t have that. I’m not an illegal alien detainee.”
  —Vince Coglianese [14:53]

• Democratic Representatives’ complaints about conditions—led by Debbie Wasserman Schultz—are met with sarcasm, as Vince questions whether their standards are out of touch with normal American life.

  “Bathrooms do have... Toilets and sinks in the same room is not the most unusual thing ever. Whatever elitist life she's come from, maybe that's not the case.”
  —Vince Coglianese [17:30]

• Contrasting Republican and Democratic visits: Republican lawmakers praise facility conditions and food, reinforcing partisan divides over border policy and humanitarian narratives.

  “The food was so yummy looking in there that we’re actually hungry. I’m hungry. Yeah, I’m hungry. That's the truth.”
  —Ben Shapiro [20:37]

• News of detainees choosing “fast track deportation” to avoid detention centers is seen as evidence of successful deterrence, with Vince tying these outcomes to Trump/DeSantis policy aims.

  “It is inspiring illegal aliens to get the hell out of the country before they end up in Alligator Alcatraz.”
  —Vince Coglianese [21:08]

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C. Global Conflict: Israel, Gaza, and Geopolitical Moves

[24:11–27:09]

• Breaking news on IDF action against Hamas leadership in Qatar is analyzed with guest Ben Shapiro, who contextualizes the U.S. and Israeli response following failed negotiations.

  “...Qatar has never been an honest broker in these negotiations... Has directly funneled billions of dollars to Hamas.”
  —Ben Shapiro [24:43]

• Ben suggests the strike is less about hostage release, more a message that “no one is safe,” continuing the “consequences” theme.

  “If you are a top member of Hamas and you refuse to turn over hostages...then you’re not going to be immune just because you’re sitting in Qatar while you’re doing it.”
  —Ben Shapiro [26:09]

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D. Domestic Crime, Media Narratives & Societal Trust

[27:09–33:54]

• Viral Charlotte train murder case leads to discussion about under-policing, media race narratives, and public trust.

  “We do not actually have an over-policing crisis in the United States. We have an under policing crisis... where we release people onto the streets who are clearly dangerous...”
  —Ben Shapiro [27:50]

• Coglianese and Shapiro critique media bias—suggesting selective reporting based on the race of suspects and victims perpetuates public misunderstanding and political divisions.

  “...they’re tired of the media pretending that crimes don’t exist when the racial characteristics don’t fit their narrative.”
  —Ben Shapiro [29:56]

• Impacts of suppressed stories and “Good Samaritan” crackdown on public willingness to intervene in emergencies are further discussed.

  “You can’t sort of just react in a crisis. You have to train so that you do react in a crisis.”
  —Ben Shapiro [32:10]

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E. Book Segment: "Lions and Scavengers"

[33:54–39:15]

• Shapiro introduces his new book, delineating "lions" (builders, moral actors) vs "scavengers" (blamers, destroyers), applying this lens to societal and political conflict.

  “There is a part of all of us that is a lion and a part that’s a scavenger...”
  —Ben Shapiro [33:54]

• Discussion covers why left-wing activism forms strange coalitions ("Queers for Palestine") and the deep importance of religious/moral frameworks in preserving civilizational values.

  “...the underlying moral system that lions rely upon is a faith based system, because there is no such thing as a morally absolutist system in the absence of a faith assumption."
  —Ben Shapiro [35:46]

• Vince expresses ambivalence about the role of institutional destruction and reform, referencing Covid-era failures and corruption.

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F. The Nature of Reform: Skepticism, Expertise, Replacement

[39:15–41:02]

• Both host and guest warn against blind destruction of institutions, urging evidence-based reform and replacement of broken systems with transparent, qualified alternatives—not populist chaos.

  “You don’t trust the experts. And you also don’t trust the non-experts. You don’t actually trust anybody. You skeptically approach evidentiary questions and look for good answers.”
  —Ben Shapiro [40:14]

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G. Viral Memes, Shutdowns & Political Satire

[43:48–48:38]

• Viral “sombrero memes” involving J.D. Vance lampooning Democrats (esp. Hakeem Jeffries) are referenced, with Vince reveling in leftist frustration and failed meme attempts from Gavin Newsom.

  "I make this solemn promise to you that if you help us reopen the government, the sombrero memes will stop."
  —J.D. Vance [44:19]

• Vince mocks Democratic talking points warning of mass death from a government shutdown (Bernie Sanders, AOC)—framing their messaging as laughable and detached from reality.

  “50,000 people. Are you serious? 100 bajillion people are going to die if Donald Trump gets to keep the government open for seven more weeks.”
  —Vince Coglianese [47:23]

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H. Massive Surveillance Scandal: FBI & Senate Spying

[51:35–54:13]

• Dan Bongino breaks news about Republican senators and a congressman being spied on by the FBI during Jack Smith’s “January 6” probe (Operation Arctic Frost).

• The timeline (post-Mar-a-Lago raid, mid-Trump indictment) is presented as evidence of political motivation.

  “This is almost two months later. They’re casting this net, this fishing expedition against members of the Senate and the House... it should shock every American.”
  —Sen. Ron Johnson [53:16]

• Vince underscores the scope and gravity of the scandal, raising hypothetical concerns about Democratic control and future weaponization of government agencies.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• "Daddy, you’re my daddy."
  —Justin G/Vince Coglianese, NATO segment [07:20]

• “If I had somebody preparing a turkey sandwich for me every day, I’d be in a much better situation. But I don’t have that. I’m not an illegal alien detainee.”
  —Vince Coglianese [14:53]

• "Bathrooms ... tend to have sinks in them. Toilets and sinks in the same room is not the most unusual thing ever."
  —Vince Coglianese [17:30]

• “It's inspiring illegal aliens to get the hell out of the country before they end up in Alligator Alcatraz.”
  —Vince Coglianese [21:08]

• "We do not actually have an over policing crisis in the United States. We have an under policing crisis..."
  —Ben Shapiro [27:50]

• "There is a part of all of us that is a lion and a part that's a scavenger."
  —Ben Shapiro [33:54]

• "You don’t actually trust anybody. You skeptically approach evidentiary questions and look for good answers."
  —Ben Shapiro [40:14]

• “If that was funny, JD Vance would share it... The left can’t meme. They don’t have a sense of humor.”
  —Vince Coglianese [45:35]

• "50,000 people. Are you serious? That’s 100 bajillion people are going to die if Donald Trump gets to keep the government open for seven more weeks..."
  —Vince Coglianese [47:23]

• "They're casting this net, this fishing expedition against members of the Senate and the House... it should shock every American."
  —Sen. Ron Johnson [53:16]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:14–07:42] – "Daddy Trump", NATO summit, humor
• [11:00–20:05] – Alligator Alcatraz facility, border debates
• [24:11–27:09] – Israel-Hamas conflict update (with Ben Shapiro)
• [27:09–33:54] – Charlotte train murder, crime, media bias (with Ben Shapiro)
• [33:54–39:15] – Lions and Scavengers, civilization (Ben Shapiro book)
• [39:15–41:02] – Reforming institutions, skepticism, trust
• [43:48–48:38] – Memes, shutdown, Sanders/AOC
• [51:35–54:13] – FBI surveillance of Republican senators (Ron Johnson segment)

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Conclusion

Vince closes the episode with gratitude for his team and audience, previewing a big year ahead (with a nod to Dan Bongino's imminent return). The episode stands as a sampler of the VINCE podcast’s style: irreverent political banter, pointed criticism, and a readiness to confront sensitive or charged topics head-on.

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"What a cool year we had... We've got an exciting year in store. It's going to be amazing."
—Vince Coglianese [Closing remarks]

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This summary encapsulates the key themes, discussions, and memorable moments in the "Best of 2025" highlight special, preserving the directness, wit, and political edge characteristic of the VINCE podcast.

Transcript

[Vince Coglianese]

You know, Christmas used to mean something very simple. Family gathered around the table, real conversation. And yes, of course, the most simple thing, the birth of Christ. And as we got together each year, and as we do get together each year, hard work should be rewarded with a little time to breathe. But these days, seems like everybody's looking for the easy way out. Not our friends at Beam. Beam is a company that's been proudly founded in America and run by people who share our values, hard work, integrity and delivering results. And this is why I want to tell you about Beam's Dream Powder. This is a healthy nighttime blend packed with science backed ingredients shown to improve sleep so you can wake up refreshed and ready to take on each new day. Dream is made up of a powerful blend of all natural ingredients. Reishi, magnesium, L theanine, apigenin and melatonin. So if you've been waiting for the right time to try Dream, well, this is it, baby. Go to shopbeam.com vinshow Use the code VINSHOW and take advantage of my exclusive offer for up to 40% off Beams Dream powder. So with my discount code Vince show, you can get their best selling Dream powder for just $39. Go to shop beam.comvinshow today. Everybody. Welcome to a special best of edition of Vince. As always, so great to have you with us, the best audience anywhere. What a wonderful year we have had the fellas, Justin Gee, they've put together a selection of the finest clips we've had this past year, or at least the finest they could find. A nice presentation for you, an assortment of some of the things that we did this year. It's been a blast and man, I can't wait for next year. So I hope you enjoyed today's program. Let's see what the fellows have put together. The president was outside yesterday. Though of course as this all happened, he was standing with the construction workers who he loved. He commented at one point that it was costing him a lot of money just to have them standing with him because he was paying them by the hour to do the job. But he liked it. He liked having them there. And as he was standing there, he said, look, we're putting this thing up and cut eight here. And when we do this, there's an E word involved in putting this thing up. I can't say it, but there's an E word that's involved. Take a look.

[Justin G]

They call it a lifting. They also use another word, but I'm not going to use that word. You know what that is? The Word. It starts with an E. You know what the word is? If I ever used it, I'd be run out of town by you people. All right, so enjoy it, Doug. You're going to get some good. He's going to win another Nobel Prize, I think, for this picture. So maybe the flag will be even more exciting. But this is pretty exciting.

[Vince Coglianese]

What could he possibly be talking about? What could he possibly be talking about? An E word. Well, for that, let's turn to the Democrats who can't stop saying it. Cut nine. Here they are saying it over and over and over and over again into inciting an insurrection, which he did. They said he participated in an erection. And I have to. Insurrection.

[Ben Shapiro]

Sorry.

[Vince Coglianese]

If they believe Donald John. Donald John Trump incited the erection.

[Ron Johnson]

Let's talk about the fact that President.

[Vince Coglianese]

Trump incited an erection and maybe that too. Who has been impeached for inciting the erection. Inciting the insurrection. At the US Capitol. We understand that the former president. Insurrection. And I have to say, I got.

[Ben Shapiro]

Up at 5 this morning to do.

[Vince Coglianese]

Casey Hunt's show and I'm exhausted.

[Ben Shapiro]

So you can talk about that, too.

[Vince Coglianese]

I guess maybe we should talk about that, too. The president incited an insurrection. Maybe we should talk about the fact that the president.

[Ben Shapiro]

The former president. Yes.

[Vince Coglianese]

Not only did he incite the erection, he paid for two of them yesterday at the White House. Anyway, so I love the president here with a clear sense of humor. The chat. Noticing that he continues to have a sense of humor. This is one of the reasons I love the guy. I don't know about you. This NATO summit included every one of these countries saying, we're getting up to 5%. And with this summit has come a lot of respect for President Trump. A lot of respect. More respect than we even saw in his first term. And we saw quite a bit. The previous NATO secretary general was a guy by the name of Jens Stoltenberg. And he would frequently thank President Trump for getting these countries to start raising their spending in order to meet their NATO commitments. But it's nothing like it is today, because the new NATO Secretary General is a guy called Mark Ruda. And he has been absolutely gushing with praise for President Trump for what he's done to both strengthen that alliance and get these guys to pony up more money. So when the president arrives with his team this week, all of these countries step forward and say, I'm paying 5% now. We're doing 5% now. And a lot of warm feelings for the president. In fact, so warm that the NATO Secretary General Mark Ruda yesterday, in a hilarious moment, was referring to President Trump as Daddy, Daddy Trump. And this, of course, kicked off a series of very hilarious events. Here is cut one. The NATO Secretary General saying, yeah, you're Daddy. Your daddy. Watch.

[Justin G]

I mean, we may do papers on it, Marco. Maybe we're going to do papers. I don't even know if you need them. They're not going to be fighting each other.

[Vince Coglianese]

They've had it.

[Justin G]

They've had a big fight. Like two kids in a schoolyard. You know, they fight like hell. You can't stop them. Let them fight for about two, three minutes, then it's easier to stop them.

[Vince Coglianese]

And then Daddy has to sometimes use strong language.

[Justin G]

You have to use strong language. Every once in a while, you have to use a certain word.

[Vince Coglianese]

Then Daddy, Daddy, Daddy has to use a strong language. Sometimes. Sometimes Daddy has to. That's the NATO Secretary General. He's having a great time. He's like. He's like, yeah. You know? And what Trump's talking about, of course, is, do you like that? You like when I do the accent or you like his accent? Either way, I think it's funny. Yeah, the accent really crushes. Yeah. Thank you. Guy says he likes both. He's appreciative of both. But Mark Ruda, yeah, getting in there and saying it's even better when Duddy Duddy gets involved, which is hilarious. And that's because President Trump the other day told. He said, look, these guys are fucking around, right? Doesn't know what he said about Iran and Israel and they need to stop. And they stopped. They stopped. Trump. By the time Trump got to Marine One, he was getting calls from Benjamin Netanyahu going, okay, okay, we're backing off, we're slowing down, we're slowing down. The Iranians stopped, too. So big cease fire this week that's held for the past few days because of President Trump's efforts. And so Mark Rude has been complimentary of that and said, yeah, look, Daddy got involved and he knocked it all down. He cleaned this stuff up. So then the President goes on to a press conference where he's flanked by his Secretary of State and his Secretary of Defense and Marco Rubio. You got to watch this guy's face, boy. We've come a long way from Marco Rubio and Trump sharing a stage where they're debating with one another and Rubio sweating like crazy. Now, Rubio is cool as a cucumber. I haven't seen that guy sweat in years. And as he's standing up here, he is cracking up as some reporter asks President Trump about being called Daddy by the NATO Secretary General. Take a look at this cut to the NATO chief.

[Debbie Wasserman Schultz]

Who is.

[Vince Coglianese]

Is your friend? He called you Daddy earlier. Do you regard your NATO allies as kind of children?

[Justin G]

No, he likes me. I think he likes me. If he doesn't, I'll let you know. I'll come back and I'll hit him hard.

[Debbie Wasserman Schultz]

Okay?

[Justin G]

He did. He did it very affectionate.

[Vince Coglianese]

He.

[Justin G]

Daddy, you're my daddy.

[Vince Coglianese]

Daddy, you're my daddy, he says. And this woman asked, you see Marco Rubio just absolutely cracking up during this Q and A. Really funny. I love that Trump added a little flourish to it, though. Yeah, you heard from him. He said, daddy, you're my daddy. He said of the NATO Secretary General. I don't remember. I don't think that was exactly the quote, but it was really funny for the President to say that. So everybody seems to be having a good time, except for that scold over reporter. You really think you're Daddy? You really think they're kids. How demeaning. And everybody's having a good time. Trump's having a good time. And then the same reporter from Sky News, when the NATO Secretary General got up there, Mark Ruda, she went crazy yet again. And she's like, do you really think that is an appropriate thing to do? To call him Daddy? To say that and listen to him. He takes it in stride. Take a look. Cut three. He calls him Daddy. It's pretty good. Now the White House thinks this is really funny. The White House is cracking up. Take a look. Here's cut five. The White House has put together a social media package as President Trump arrives back in the United States celebrating the whole Daddy episode. Here, look at this. Look at this. But Usher. Unreal. President Trump walking the red carpet. Isn't it amazing how fast this White House is? Unreal. Unreal. In five seconds, they had this Daddy's Home Usher rendition up in no time. And here's one more thing about this that I absolutely, just, absolutely love. The left hates every second of this. The left are furious about this. They are seething with emotional incontinence right now. They can't handle it. Just the idea. I mean, in fact, the fact that you and I think this is funny, even that is something that they're angry about. That especially angry. How could you say that? Every. The left sounds like that lady from Sky News. That's demeaning. How could anybody say that? That's ridiculous. And Trump wants this kind of praise. And people Call him daddy and blah, blah, blah. Honestly, the more you get pissed off by it, the more I like it. You know, there's so much confusion in the world today. It can be very hard to find clarity and truth. A new Hillsdale College miniseries on colonial America offers a really powerful reminder that the first Americans were searching for the same things. It's a stirring look at the ideas that still hold all of us together today. In a brand new six part documentary series, Hillsdale College professors teach us about the religious, political, cultural and economic ideas that shaped a uniquely American culture during the colonial period. You'll learn all about why the ideas of religious liberty inspired the settlers of America to cross the Atlantic, how Americans organized local governments, and why America has always been a land where virtue can lead and to peace and prosperity. The Hillsdale College miniseries is completely free and it's very easy to access. Trust me, I do it. I love it. Plus, Hillsdale offers more than 40 other free online courses, including a course on C.S. lewis, one of my favorites, the stories in the Book of Genesis and the rise and Fall of the Roman Republic. You're going to love this Colonial America course. It's very cool. Don't believe any of the lefty nonsense about our history. In fact, in the colonial America, of course you can go back and you can find out all about the original Thanksgiving between, yes, between the Pilgrims and the Indians. They did actually get together and have an amazing meal because they just had the biggest harvest they've ever seen and they had to eat that food. So they did. And they were grateful to the Lord above. You can find out about all of it by going to Hillsdale Edu Vince to enroll. There's no cost. It's easy to get started. Go to Hillsdale Edu Vince Enroll for free. Hillsdale. Edu Vince yeah, you know, Alligator Alcatraz is really just such a joy. I love that they got this going on. So Everglades, just the Cliffs Notes on this for those of you who haven't been following along at home. Ron DeSantis, working in concert with the Trump administration, sets up an immigration detention deportation facility down in South Florida in the Everglades called Alligator Alcatraz. It's built on an old airstrip, rarely used, but these days is being used to contain and detain and imprison, at least temporarily, thousands of very violent, very cruel illegal aliens who are in our country but won't be for long. So they're being kept among the alligators and the pythons. And as one detainee claimed, elephant Sized mosquitoes. They're in Alligator Alcatraz and really cold. Ac. Yeah, he was complaining that the air conditioning was efficient in South Florida in the middle of summer. Yeah, imagine, imagine. Talk about a first world problem. It's so cold in South Florida. Okay, don't you worry. Whatever country we're sending you back to, I assure you will not have that problem. You'll be just, just fine there. You'll prefer it, I can guarantee you. All right, so they're all down there. You've got all these things going on. Mosquitoes, alligators, pythons. And this weekend it was made even worse for those detainees. A group of Democrats was unleashed on alligator Alcatraz. That's right. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Medusa herself, leading a pack of Democrats into Alligator Alcatraz. And when she emerged, she was horrified by what she saw. Take a look here. Debbie Wasserman Schultz caught five. She said, ladies and gentlemen, it's an internment camp.

[Debbie Wasserman Schultz]

What we saw, the conditions that we saw inside this internment camp, which it is nothing less than that description, were really appalling. I'll walk you through just a few of the really egregious, disturbing, disgusting conditions.

[Vince Coglianese]

Don't look, don't look at her. Don't turn to stone. Don't look her in the eyes. There she is, Debbie Wasserman. So she said, I'm going to walk you through the appalling conditions. All right, tell us, Congresswoman, what are the appalling conditions at Alligator Alcatraz? What could possibly be. So, as she put it, disturbing about Alligator Alcatraz that makes it a war crime. Here's Debbie Wasserman Schultz talking about the food cut sticks. Take a look.

[Debbie Wasserman Schultz]

For meals, when we walked through the quote unquote meal prep area, the kitchen area, for lack of a better term, they had the portions that were available for detainees and they had the portions that were available for employees being prepared at the same time. The portions available for employees, large pieces of roast chicken, large sausages. And the detainees lunches were a small to gray to turkey and cheese sandwich, an apple and chips, and that's it.

[Vince Coglianese]

So let me see if I can get her complaint drilled down here. She's complaining that the American citizen guards of Alligator Alcatraz are getting better meals than the violent criminal, illegal alien detainees who are kicking out of the country right now. Oh, the guards get to eat roast chicken. And what was it? Did she say? Did she say large sausages? Did I hear that correct, Justin? I'm pretty sure she said large sausages. I don't know somehow that that creeped its way into the press conference that she did. But that's. It sounds better than what she. Yeah, that's right. It is better than Michelle Obama's school lunch. It's a lot better. So the guards are eating well. And then she said that the detainees, what are they having? They have turkey sandwiches with cheese. They have cheese and turkey sandwiches, which is pretty nice, I gotta say. I'm sitting in the studio with Isaac. Isaac, am I not scrambling every day to get lunch? Yes, I am. I'm scrambling all the time to find something to eat for lunch. If I had somebody preparing a turkey sandwich for me every day, I'd be in a much better situation. But I don't have that. I'm not an illegal alien detainee. So I'm just a regular American citizen. I have to forge for lunch for myself. That's what I have to do. So they're getting cheese and turkey sandwiches. What else are they getting? They get a bag of chips and they get an apple. That sounds pretty damn good to me. I don't know about you, but I would take, I would take a turkey and cheese sandwich any day of the week for lunch. She did describe it as gray. It's a gray sandwich. She said it was monochrome. It was like the beginning of the wizard of Oz. It was a horrible experience. They weren't in Oz yet. This is crazy. And then my absolute favorite complaint from Debbie was from Mitchells. Just in case you were wondering how out of touch this lady is, listen to her describe toilets inside of this detention center and their proximity to to sinks. Here she is.

[Debbie Wasserman Schultz]

They essentially drink, they get their drinking water and they brush their teeth where they poop in the same unit. They bragged that they went above standards supposedly and gave them a three foot privacy wall that stretches the length inside the 32 detainee cage. A three foot privacy wall that stretches the Length of the three toilets.

[Vince Coglianese]

I think to be fair, what she's describing is a prison. She's describing, it's alligator Alcatraz. It's meant to be a detention center. But this complaint that she has I find super interesting. She's complaining that the toilet is in the same space as the sink. Now I don't know about your house, I don't know about your office bathrooms, but my general impression is usually there is a sink in the same general vicinity as the toilet. For most Americans, that is in no way an atrocity. It's a standard way of living. Now, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, maybe It is. Maybe in her world she has, like a separate throne room for the toilet. You know, the sink is in some other distant part of the house. You know, Medusa is living a very different life than the rest of us. It's an elite life. It's an elite life. Look at her, fellas. Did. Did Grok generate that? You said the Grok generated that. That is unreal. And I love the palm trees on her robe. For those of you who are listening, Justin has rapidly generated a Grok image of Debbie Wasserman Schultz depicted as Medusa with actual snakes for hair, holding up some sort of gavel and wearing a robe covered in Florida themed palm trees. Grok is really nailing it these days, man. And she's got five fingers on each hand, which is a really. That's a nice correction from the old AI when everybody had six fingers. What the hell's going on there? Needs to be uglier or something. Who said that needs to be uglier? Naked. Naked. Andrew Gillum naked. Oh, Andrew Gillum would know down there in Florida. Yeah. Anyway, so bathrooms do have. Do tend to have sinks in them. Toilets. Toilets and sinks in the same room is not the most unusual thing ever. Whatever elitist life she's. She's come from, maybe that's not the case. But for the rest of us, we're all living with that war crime of the sink being in the same place as the toilet. And that was really funny. Now, of course, these are Democrats, you know, she was joined by people like the. The boy wonder, Maxwell Frost. They were out there complaining about all of this. At one point, Maxwell Frost hilariously was saying, there's feces all over the place. Really? There's feces all over the place. He's like, well, I didn't actually get to see the room, but I believe there's probably feces all over the place. Okay, so you just made that up. Yeah, I just made that up. Republicans also visited Alligator Alcatraz this weekend, and they had a very different take on what they experienced. Take a look.

[Ben Shapiro]

Cut eight.

[Ron Johnson]

Here's the Republican delegation inside Alligator Alcatraz for the first time. This group of lawmakers spent three hours walking through their facility.

[Ben Shapiro]

The rhetoric does not match reality.

[Ron Johnson]

The Republicans liked what they saw. Giving a positive review of the detainee.

[Vince Coglianese]

These guys taking pictures that is actually.

[Ben Shapiro]

More comfortable in than my bedded house.

[Vince Coglianese]

I'm gonna have to have that conversation with my wife.

[Ron Johnson]

State Senator Blaze Ingoglia, who represents Citrus and Hernando counties, enjoyed his first tour seeing and Smelling the food, which some detainees reported had bugs in it.

[Vince Coglianese]

The food was so yummy looking in.

[Ben Shapiro]

There that we're actually hungry. I'm hungry. Yeah, I'm hungry. That's the truth.

[Ron Johnson]

They say conditions met all of their.

[Vince Coglianese]

Standards, meeting all the standards for prisons.

[Ben Shapiro]

And detention facilities, both at the state.

[Vince Coglianese]

Level and at the federal level. Amazing. Just amazing. You know, at one point, a Republican congresswoman is quoted in that. That clip, that clip package where she's. She said she yelled out in Spanish to one of the detainees and asked how things were going. And he said, quote, very good, Very good. I will say that in terms of the effectiveness of Alligator Alcatraz, in addition to providing it a source of comedy for the rest of us, it is inspiring illegal aliens to get the hell out of the country before they end up in Alligator Alcatraz. Take a look at this report. This comes to us from the Tallahassee Democrat, and the headline on it is, my dad isn't a criminal Facing prosecution. Scared detainees are picking fast track deportation right now. And the story centers around a woman called Isabella Hurtado who was sitting in a courtroom recently. Her father was taken into custody because he's an illegal alien. And now the family is petitioning for fast track deportation. They want to get him out of the country quickly. They don't want him to stay in detention. They'd like for him to go home and quickly so they can communicate with him easily. They'd prefer that they don't want him in Alligator Alcatraz. And in fact, this piece from the Tallahassee Democrat points out that recently, many defendants and their families say they hope pleading guilty will adjudicate their cases much faster. Reports of inhumane conditions, you know, the ones made up by Debbie Wasserman Schultz at Alligator Alcatraz and other detention centers. And long wait times to see judges are creating a distressing situation for immigrants, they say, which, of course is they're referring to illegal aliens. They go on to say that they're hearing the news about Alligator Alcatraz and they're stressed. My mom just wants to get this done as soon as possible, says the woman, because it's scary. So they want to deport the guy quickly. Now the family wants him deported rapid fire. So that he's not spending a bunch of time at Alligator Alcatraz. This is having the exact effect that Ron Desantis and President Trump intended, which is to serve as a deterrent. Why do you think we have the death penalty in the United States? What's the point of that? It's not to, well, of course it's to prevent the person who you do it to from committing further crime. But it's also to serve as a deterrent to say there are dire consequences for dire violations of the law and there are practical consequences here for practical violations of our law, which is you come into our country illegally, you are going to be kicked out. So you have two options, do it the easy way or do it the hard way. The hard way includes alligator, Alcatraz. You want to avoid that fate, get out now. And people are doing that to the tune of well over now a million people who have self deported from the United States. That number's only growing. In other words, it's working. And I'll remind you, assuming you voted for Trump, this is what you voted for. Joining us right now, I'm happy to say the Daily Wire co founder is here. He's the host of the Ben Shapiro show, also the author of a brand new book, Lions and Scavengers. Great to have with us, Ben Shapiro. Now, Ben, thanks for joining us on the program today, sir.

[Ben Shapiro]

Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

[Vince Coglianese]

I do want to get your reaction to the breaking news this morning because minutes before we started our broadcast today, I see the news out of Qatar, Qatar, whatever you want to call it, that the IDF has confirmed that they just struck Hamas targets. Of course, Hamas leadership, people know much of them live in Qatar, just struck Hamas leadership, killing who the media describe as Hamas's top negotiator in these hostage negotiations. What are we to make of this strike? What does it tell us about the state of this war?

[Ben Shapiro]

Well, I mean, I think what it says is that Hamas turned down the president's proposals. The president put forward a very clear proposal which was that all hostages ought to be released and then the United States would effectively guarantee an honest negotiation going forward about disarming Hamas and moving into the next stage of rebuilding in the Gaza Strip. Hamas had announced hours ago actually that they had rejected that deal. And the president of the United States said pretty clearly there will be consequences if that happens. Now, Israel says that they initiated this operation by themselves, that they will take full responsibility for the operation. I find it very difficult to believe that Israel would have done this without the Trump administration knowing in some way that something like this was coming. And, and the fact of the matter is that Qatar has never been an honest broker in these negotiations from the very outset. The idea that Qatar, which has acted effectively as a tool of Iran throughout a number of these negotiations, has directly funneled Billions of dollars to Hamas, like directly funneled billions of dollars to Hamas that houses Hamas's top officials. I mean, remember that it was actually when Israel struck Ismail Haniyeh in Iran that he was vacationing, essentially. He was, he was on a trip from Qatar. So Qatar has been hosting people at the Four Seasons in Qatar for years. Israel basically said, listen, we are at the end of this negotiation. Gaza City is imminent. The full scale invasion of Gaza City and take over Gaza City is imminent. And so this is sort of the last ditch attempt. If you aren't going to negotiate, then this is the final stage of the war. And the final stage of the war means that if you are a top member of Hamas and you refuse to turn over hostages, disarm, go into exile, turn over the Gaza Strip to a non terrorist force, well then you're not going to be immune just because you're sitting in Qatar while you're doing it.

[Vince Coglianese]

It definitely conveys there's no safe haven for Hamas leadership. Do you, do you think that this will induce Hamas into doing anything? I mean, killing their leadership like this and saying, hey, you're not safe anywhere you go? Will the hostages be released? Is that possible?

[Ben Shapiro]

I mean, I think that that question remains open. I don't think that Hamas has an interest ever in releasing the hostages because the minute the hostages are released, basically that's their last bargaining chip and they know that, that their time is marked. So do I think that this is intended to get Hamas to release the hostages? Not particularly. I think that it was intended to convey to Hamas that either you're going to release the hostages or your entire top leadership will die. And then it's up to you what you do next. Because obviously every other attempt to wheedle, bargain and come up with some sort of negotiated settlement with Hamas has been unsuccessful. So at the end, if it's a war, it's a war and the terrorist leaders are going to die.

[Vince Coglianese]

Okay, let's move back home. Obviously processing some of that breaking news this morning in Charlotte, North Carolina. This past week, we get video footage of a horrific August 22nd murder where a 14 time arrested schizophrenic, violent person gets onto a train behind a Ukrainian refugee in Charlotte and then just stabs her right in the neck, executes her in cold blood. That video shocking the conscience of decent people across our country. But decent doesn't include the legacy media. They've ignored this and to the extent that they've covered it at all, they've treated it as a Republican's Pounce story, what do you think the lessons are, the big lessons from this event and where we should go from here?

[Ben Shapiro]

Well, I mean, I think there are multiple big lessons. Number one is we do not actually have an over policing crisis in the United States. We have an under policing crisis in the United States and we have an under prosecuting crisis in the United States where we release people onto the streets who are clearly dangerous to themselves and others. People who are schizophrenic, mentally ill, violent, with long criminal histories, with gigantic rap sheets. And that needs to stop. And when the President of the United States says that and Democrats somehow take the other side of that argument, that is not only a political loser, that is, that is a moral loser too is the racial angle to this, which really has less to do with race and more to do with the legacy media's take on race. So the reality is that I don't think you're going to find a lot of Americans who are making the claim that because the perpetrator in this case was black and the victim was, was white, that what this really all is about is, you know, innate racial characteristics. Only, only true racists believe that. What, what people do believe is that the legacy media is covering this up because the legacy media is afraid that if they mention that violent crime rates in the black community are higher than violent crime rates in the white community, or that interracial crime, black on white per capita, is significantly more common than white on black crime, then the legacy media is afraid that will debunk their entire narrative about the world, which is of course that America is systemically racist and, and that black people are inherently the victims of that systemic racism. And I think people are done with that. I think the American people are tired of this. They're tired of the media pretending that crimes don't exist when the racial characteristics don't fit their narrative. And they're tired of ignoring baseline realities, which is that violent crime rates, black on white, are significantly higher than violent crime rates the other way around. And that's not because of race, that's because of a bunch of other factors that contribute.

[Vince Coglianese]

And so I think it's probably a combination of a couple things. One of them is that they're suppressing the news around this and lying by omission, of course. But the other piece is like maybe the media thinks that it's so commonplace to have a black assailant hurt a white victim that they treat it like some sort of dog bites man story, that they just ignore it entirely. Oh, it's not that crazy because it happens all the time. Either one is a disastrous conclusion because it's the media either accepting this rampant violence or suppressing it in order to advance a racial agenda.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah, and I really do think it's the latter. I do not think that they are just believing that this is so common we're not gonna cover it. I think that what they really believe is that if they accurately cover the race of suspects in crimes, that too many Americans are vulnerable to racism or falling into racism. And so they have to program the American people that they are never to look in terms of race if it's a black assailant and a white victim, but they are always to look in terms of racism if the races are reversed.

[Vince Coglianese]

Well, to what extent are they just held hostage by their political coalition, too? Because there's this contention that cops are murdering black Americans, unarmed black Americans, wantonly across the country. And as you know, and we've all discussed, the data don't support that in any way. But there is this kind of this house of cards that's been built, and the last thing the press wants to be a part of is kicking it over.

[Ben Shapiro]

I think that's exactly right. I mean, if you look at polls of liberal Americans, they believe something on the order of 10,000 black people are being killed by the police every single year. And the answer is unarmed black men killed by the police every year numbers less than across a country of 340 million people. Which is pretty astonishing, actually. The narrative is all that matters to the legacy media. And this goes back decades. I mean, we've known this for years that legacy media will omit the race of suspects if the race does not match up with their priors. They will not report stories like this if the race does not match up. And if it's Daniel Penny who is putting in a suppression hold and accidentally killing a homeless schizophrenic who's legitimately, violently threatening people on in a subway in New York City. It's a national news story for six months, and all we hear about is the deep and abiding systemic racism of the United States.

[Vince Coglianese]

Yes. So the Daniel Penny story is a story of imposing consequences on the Good Samaritan. And then there's also the element of we are living in a society with increasingly lower trust. So when I watched the video of that awful murder in Charlotte, one of the things I was struck by, in addition to the horror of the killing, is the reaction of the people on the train. People seemed very unlikely to respond in fact, they didn't wanna get involved. They saw a man with a dripping bloody arm walking past them, ripping off his hoodie. And not one person was asking, are you okay? What's going on? There was no assessment whatsoever. People tried to just keep their heads down. What is happening? How did we get here?

[Ben Shapiro]

I mean, I think that the crackdown on Good Samaritans is certainly a part of it. But also we, as the American people, we have a right to expect that. That the police are gonna protect us from this sort of things. And so we're just not prepared for it. I mean, if you talk to members of police or members of the military, the thing that they will always tell you is that you can't sort of just react in a crisis. You have to train so that you do react in a crisis. And the American people, I mean, listen, we live in the safest society in the history of the world. And so the vast majority of us have never had to confront an actual honest to God murderer with blood dripping from his knife. And so the sort of instinctive, I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna do something about it that may exist in some people, but. But it doesn't exist in a lot of people. And so you really do have to have somebody like a Daniel Penney, who actively was trained in circumstances like that to actually do that. So I can't blame the people on the subway too much for their lack of reaction because they're probably figuring that he's going to stab them next and nobody will do anything about it. But what that goes to is that if you are going to claim a monopoly on the use of force, which is what the police do, they have a monopoly on legitimate use of force. You have to be there to actually stop the criminals. And the criminals have to go away for a very, very long time and not come out again. Because otherwise you will have to say to the population, listen, you guys gotta train for this possibility. You have to train for the possibility that every time you get on a light rail that somebody is gonna get stabbed and you're gonna have to step in.

[Vince Coglianese]

Yeah. And also, by the way, it's another reminder that kids should get off the screens and get out and play a sport, join the military, do something constructive with your life outside of the phone. Because, you know, you never know what life is going to bring you, including horrific moments like that. You just have to be conditioned to respond to everything. Let me ask you about your book, Lions and Scavengers. You've sold a Bunch of number one New York Times bestselling books. Congratulations on that. Tell me about Lions and Scavengers. The True Story of America. What is this about?

[Ben Shapiro]

So essentially, the book posits that there is a part of all of us that is a lion and part that's a scavenger. The lion is the part of us that believes that we have a moral duty in the world, that we have to get up in the morning, confront our problems and act. And then there's the scavenger part of us that says that basically all of our problems are the fault of some unspecified shadowy system. And the only thing left to do is to rip down all of the systems that make America great, prosperous, secure and free. And it's not just internal to every human being, it's civilizational. So what you see is inside the United States, there are groups of people who are more lion like people who actually get up in the morning, they want to innovate and risk, take and build families and go to church. And then you have people who see all of those institutions and as a threat to them personally, and they get together specifically in order to rip down all those institutions. A good example politically would be Zoran Mamdani in New York, who believes that private property, bad free minds, bad equal rule of the law, bad right. All these things need to be ripped down because they are creating external victims. And you are seeing across the west, scavengers on the march. And it does explain in the book really why this bizarre coalition, this melange of people who really don't belong together, are all together. The most kind of obvious example being Queers for Palestine. I think everybody has been asking themselves, why is there a group called Queers for Palestine? It's bizarre, right? Queers in Palestine get thrown off buildings. That's not a thing. Except that the only thing these two groups hold in common, meaning pro Hamas. Next. And radical left wing LGBT plus activists. What they really hold in common is just hatred for the civilization. A belief that they are marginalized by the core values of our civilization and that that civilization needs to be torn out root and branch. And so if lions don't stand up and defend their civilization and say, listen, you know, you're marginal members of the community for a reason, because you reject our values.

[Vince Coglianese]

Yes.

[Ben Shapiro]

And we are not going to allow you to rip down the institutions and systems of belief that have upheld our country, then we will fall and we'll deserve to fall.

[Vince Coglianese]

How much do you think a belief in God distinguishes these two groups?

[Ben Shapiro]

I think that A belief in God is huge. I don't know that everyone who is a lion has to have a belief in God. But I think that the underlying moral system that lions rely upon is a faith based system, because there is no such thing as a morally absolutist system. In the absence of a faith assumption, you can't be a secular atheist and have a real basis for a moral system. That the real is ought problem if you don't have a higher value system that says, for example, that human beings have innate worth, that human beings have creative power in the universe, that human beings have a free capacity to choose and ought to make choices in a moral direction. Those are all faith contentions that you can't just arrive at by sitting there and logicing it out to yourself. I think there are a lot of secular humanists who think that they've done that, but they ignore the fact that essentially they're just running off the fumes of biblical values.

[Vince Coglianese]

Yeah, no, that's a smart point. So this idea of building something and also tearing down other things, tearing down established systems, I find myself, and maybe you feel this way occasionally, that I'm torn a little bit between both worlds. I don't feel like a scavenger. I'm not trying to feed off somebody else's success. But I do feel like there are institutions that deserve a wrecking ball. We lived through Covid and we watched a health establishment absolutely violate civil liberties like crazy without any reasonable predicate except for enhancing government power. And I thought, man, I really wanna tear that down. I hate everything about that. We've watched a justice system that's turned its weapons against people who committed no crimes. They turned their weapons against people singing church hymns outside of abortion mills and parents attending school board meetings. And I thought, man, that's a system I really want to tear down. How do you draw those distinctions? Because it does feel like occasionally these institutions reach levels that you're like, man, you deserve the wrecking ball.

[Ben Shapiro]

Yeah, so I totally agree with this and I think that that is an evidence based decision. I think the thing that distinguishes lions from scavengers when it comes to institutions is whether there is good evidence that an institution is so thoroughly corrupt that it's leading to bad consequences. And you can specifically point to the things that institution has done and why that institution is unsavable. And I do think that lions also seek to build replacement institutions or at least find good answers. It's not enough to just wreck the cdc, for example. You actually have to replace the CDC with something that works. It's not enough to just say, well, the DOJ is thoroughly wrecked, and so we just won't have a doj. The idea is that you actually have to fix the doj. You have to bring in people who are going to uphold those standards, or you have to change the standards that they actually make sense. This is the difference that G.K. chesterton talks about between people who are conservative and people who aren't. I mean, if a non conservative walks across a field, his famous example goes and sees a fence and doesn't understand why the fence is there, the non conservative immediately begins uprooting the fence. The conservative looks at the fence, doesn't understand why it's there, and says, before I rip up the fence, I need to find out why the fence is here. That doesn't mean the conservative will never rip up the fence. It does mean that the conservative needs to understand why the fence needs to be ripped up and what's gonna replace the fence once it's gone.

[Vince Coglianese]

Yes, or maybe we'll install a big, beautiful gate, as the President might say. Yeah. No, it is amazing. And just to watch kind of all this happening, there are people around us who consider themselves like accelerationists. Like they've just decided we're giving up on society. It feels like that's kind of the left's impulse. It's like, how much chaos can we possibly induce? And then if people are fighting amongst themselves, then we can be the beneficiary. We can grow power unto ourselves. Oftentimes, it's the government. This is like, this is the Bernie Sanders school of thought, the Zorani Mamdani school of thought, that, hey, as long as everybody's miserable, they're going to be looking for external saviors. And that can be me.

[Ben Shapiro]

That's exactly right. When systems completely break down, people look for a great leader to fix everything and to centralize all power and to fix all of their problems. And the truth is that politics cannot fix all of your problems. The best a politician can do in a free country is remove obstacles to your success. A politician cannot make you succeed. And if a politician is making it succeed, there's a good shot he's doing it at somebody else's expense. And so this is something that the left really is looking at, unfortunately. I think there's a part of the right, actually that is doing some of this stuff too, replacing things. Like the argument about the CDC would be that there's a difference between saying, don't trust the experts, which I think is totally True, we should be very skeptical of people who claim that expertise gives them the authority to do whatever they want. But if you replace that with trust the non experts, that is a completely different proposition. And the answer should be no. You don't trust the experts. And you also don't trust the non experts. You don't actually trust anybody. You skeptically approach evidentiary questions and look for good answers. And if you're not doing that, then you are participating in just tearing things down with no replacement.

[Vince Coglianese]

Well, that's right. I mean, that's why every time I hear RFK Jr talking and he uses the phrase gold standard science to refer to what they should be doing, I agree enthusiastically. That's exactly what I want. And I want as much transparency as possible as to how they reach those decisions. And I don't want the dude with the Pentagram outfit running, you know, immunology or whatever, and he's the monkeypox czar for Biden. That's completely crazy. And I love how the media is pretending like he's the arbiter of what is scientific.

[Ben Shapiro]

Exactly. And I also think that when you get rid of Mpox guy with the, with the BDSM gear, then we probably should not replace him with, you know, hobo George who has some thoughts on medicine. Right. We should replace him with, you know, people like J. Bhattacharya at NIH and Marty Makary over at fda. We actually have very well qualified people inside the administration who are rooting what they're doing in gold plated science.

[Vince Coglianese]

I love. All right, well, the book is Lions and Scavengers. The author of the man that you're seeing and hearing right here, Ben Shapiro. Sir, thanks for your time today. I appreciate you.

[Ben Shapiro]

Thanks so much.

[Vince Coglianese]

There he is. Ben, thank you for that. All right, let me be blunt. Gold is way up from last year. It's up around 40%. That's not speculation. That's just reality. And if a portion of your savings is not diversified into gold, well, you're missing the boat. Here are the facts. Inflation, it's been crazy. Thanks a lot, Joe Biden. The US dollar, he mangled that too. And the government debt, oh, my goodness. It's insurmountable, it seems like. And this is why so many central banks have been flocking to gold. They're the ones driving prices up to those record highs. But it's not too late to buy gold from Birch Gold Group and get in the door. Right now. Birch Gold is going to help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA. In gold, you don't pay a dime out of pocket. Just text my name Vince to 989-898 and claim your free info kit. There's no obligation, just useful information. The best indicator of the future. Well, that's the past. And gold has historically been a safe haven for millennia. What else can say that? Text my Name Vince to 989-898 right now claim your free info kit on gold. That's Vince to 989-898. Protect your future today with Birch Gold. Message and data rate Supply. This Christmas, as we celebrate the gift of life, you've got an opportunity share that same gift with a mother and her baby. You really should just imagine a young woman who's facing an unplanned pregnancy, feeling alone and unsure of what to do. Well, she's searching for hope. And that is where Preborn Ministries comes in. It's true, many people, even famous people, were unplanned. Maybe you were unplanned. This is no doubt that you know somebody who was. But these people are a part of God's plan. God's plan? God's plan of redemption often works in the unplanned. When a woman is struggling to make a life altering decision, preborn's network of clinics really is there to help. Every mother that preborn serves faces that critical moment of decision where she sees her baby's ultrasound. In that moment, she has an opportunity to say yes. Preborn's mission is to help her find the courage, the faith and the support to do just that. So this Christmas this year, for just $28, you can help save a life. And thanks to a special matching grant, through the end of the year, your gift is doubled. To donate, just dial £250, say the keyword baby. That's it. Just dial £250, say the keyword Baby or go to preborn.com Vince that's preborn.com Vance JD Vance stepped up yesterday and somebody asked him about all the sombrero memes.

[Ben Shapiro]

Like, what are you doing?

[Vince Coglianese]

You posted all these sombrero memes of Hakeem Jeffries and the Vice President said, yeah, and guess what? That's going to continue until morale improves. Cut one. Take a look. Here's J.D. vance, the vice President of the United States. Is it helpful to post pictures of leader Jeffries and sombrero if you're trying to have good faith talks with him?

[J.D. Vance]

Oh, I think it's funny. The President's joking and we're having a Good time. You can negotiate in good faith while also poking a little bit of fun at some of the absurdities of the Democrats positions and even, you know, poking some fun at the absurdity of the Democrats themselves. I mean, I'll tell Hakeem Jeffries right now. I make this solemn promise to you that if you help us reopen the government, the sombrero memes will stop. And I've talked to the President of the United States about that.

[Vince Coglianese]

I love that. I love that. Yeah, just keep it going. And, you know, when you open the government up, then we'll take the sombrero off. But until then, you're wearing the dunce cap. You've got the sombrero until. Until it's all over. So that's a really fun game. And good for J.D. vance. The left is so angry about this. They're furious. They don't have. No. They have no idea what to do. They've been raging for 48 hours about the sombrero memes. The idiot governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has tried an entry into the meme war. We've seen Gavin Newsom's attempt to join the meme war. It's. It's incoherent. It doesn't. It's. It's the most cringeworthy thing you could possibly imagine. Here's Gavin Newsom. Now. Feel free to laugh at this. If you think this is funny, give it a laugh. But Gavin Newsom portraying J.D. vance as some sort of munchkin land patriot guy. It's not Uncle Sam. I'm not even clear what they're trying to do here, but here's Gavin Newsom and his genius staff. If you're flying today, I hope, of course, you arrive safely and on time, but you may not arrive on time.

[Ron Johnson]

Because the TSA and the air traffic.

[Vince Coglianese]

Controllers are not getting paid today. Our military is not getting paid today, starting today. And obviously, the longer this drags on, the worse that it is for the American people. I'm going to tell you something right now. If that was funny, JD Vance would share it. If that amused us, JD Vance would share it. He'd be. He'd be all over it. Here's what JD Vance is not going to do. He's not going to bitch about it. He's not going to whine. He's like, how dare you? I can't believe. What are you doing? And the chat's right. And people are already saying it in the chat. The left can't meme. Yeah, the left can't meme. They don't have a sense of humor. They're humorless skulls. So when they try it, they don't know what to do. So anyway, you know, keep up, keep up the bad work, Gavin Newsom. Give it another swing. That's what we're dealing with. These are the political opponents. They have no idea what they're doing. So that's the, that's the latest from the left on that. And the other piece from the left right now is like, they, they really don't know what to do in the midst of this shutdown. They have no idea what talking point they should use. They have no idea how to convince the public that they're on the right side of this thing. They have no idea how to trick you into supporting health care for illegal aliens. So they've resorted to an oldie but a baddie, which is everyone is going to die. That's right, the talking point, that everybody is going to die. Bernie Sanders and AOC filmed a video together. Of course they're out there filming social media videos. Listen to Bernie declare you're all going to die. Take a listen. 50,000 low income working class Americans will die every single year.

[Ben Shapiro]

All right?

[Vince Coglianese]

If you don't have the money to go to a doctor and you're sick, you die. And that's what we're looking at. That's what this clean bill is about.

[Ben Shapiro]

Huh? Huh?

[Vince Coglianese]

See, that's what the clean bill is about. Huh? 50,000 people are going to die every single year. Now remember what they're talking about. What they're saying is if we pass a seven week continuing resolution, 50,000 people are going to die every year. Now let's see. I'm gonna, I'll get the meter out. Ready? Let's start from truth to ready. Let's see how quickly it gets there. What bullshit. It's like 50,000 people. Are you serious? That's 100 bajillion people are going to die if Donald Trump gets to keep the government open for seven more weeks. That's true. And then aoc Mm, mm, that's true. And AOC is using the same talking point, of course. She was on MSNBC this week and she said, you know what President Trump wants to do by keeping the government open for seven weeks? He wants kids to die. Cut six. Here's AOC making that talking point.

[Ron Johnson]

What I'm not going to DO is tolerate 4 million uninsured Americans because Donald Trump decided one day that he wants to just make sure that kids are dying because they don't have access to insurance.

[Vince Coglianese]

Everyone's dying. Everyone's dying. And you know, so it's not just Bernie and aoc Elizabeth Warren is war belaying. Is going to die. No. You know what's dying right now? Any chance that Democrats will ever appeal to voters again. That's the only thing that's dying. Your political ambitions are dying. It's a death by suicide. You guys are an idiotic political party. And they're wielding the, the, the Chicken Little talking points, you know, running around with their heads cut off. Everybody's going to die. The whole sky is falling. Okay, sure, whatever. Nobody believes you. Nobody trusts you. And that's why the American people are siding with President Trump on this one. The great Dan Bongino, deputy director of the FBI, has just briefed United States senators and told them that they were being spied on by Jack Smith. Jack Smith tracked the private communications and phone calls of nearly a dozen Republican senators during his supposed January 6 probe, according to the FBI. So, Dan. Basically what we find out is Dan went over to Capitol Hill yesterday with some urgent information he needed to tell these United States senators that their phone calls were being intercepted by the Biden administration. They were being spied on. Being spied on. Dan's the perfect guy to do it. So what was the first book was Spygate. Right. So maybe we get a spygate 2.0. You know, maybe that changes, you know, and I'm gonna get to that. Sam H. Is in the chat. He's saying something about, you know, they've been listening to us for years. Nobody's held accountable. I'm not expecting that to change. And Sam, I get your pessimism. I'm right there with you, buddy. And here's. And here's what the thing to know about the FBI is. The FBI is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. So, Dan and Cash and the FBI right now, under their leadership, they're doing their jobs. They're doing their jobs. Their job is to investigate, and if it's somebody who works for them, to fire, get rid of, hold accountable. They've done that. They fired. They have fired hundreds of people at that agency. Hundreds of people at that agency. That's their job. Whose job is it to prosecute? Well, that's the broader United States Department of Justice. That's literally the prosecutors at the doj. That falls to Pam Bondi. Pam Bondi, who, by the way, has been testifying this morning to the United States Senate. No doubt. We'll have clips of that on the big national radio show coming up. Later today. But on the FBI side of things, they're doing some investigations into what the hell happened in that agency. And they've been looking in particular at an operation called Arctic Frost. Arctic Frost. And what they discovered was that the phone calls of Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, Marsha Blackburn, Ron Johnson, Josh Hawley, Cynthia Loomis, Bill Haggerty, Dan Sullivan, Tommy Tuberville, and then Congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, one congressman in there as well, all being spied upon by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This is brand new information. And somebody earlier in the chat said that this is like a combination of. This is bigger than Watergate and Whitewater. You could take any number of American political scandals and combine them all. And this is bigger than all of those. Remember, the CIA at one point was caught spying on the United States Senate on a specific committee in the Senate. And they, you know, Brennan lied about this. John Brennan, who was the CIA director at the time, he lied about it to try and cover it up. It eventually came out he was lying. Democrats were on the receiving end of that surveillance as well at the time because it involved authorities for the CIA funding for the CIA. So the CIA was spying on the Senate in its own self interest, its own deep state preservation of power. But here, what you have is a number of Republicans who are being spied on by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under Jack Smith. And the point of this is what, what do you think the point of spying on these Republicans is? Well, it's to gather information about them, to hurt them. It's as simple as that. They wanted to bring about ways to go after these guys, including through prosecutions. And so listen, if you will, here's Senator Ron Johnson yesterday referring to this appropriately as completely outrageous and laying out the timeline of when these guys were spied on. The timeline matters a great deal because it kind of gives the game away. Here's Ron Johnson, cut six yesterday.

[Ron Johnson]

This is outrageous what has happened. I just want to give you a timeline of this. I think you've already got the. The FBI sheet that shows the number of members of Congress that were targeted. Representative Kelly, Senators Graham, Haggerty, Hawley, Sullivan, Tuberville, myself, Senator Lummis and Blackburn. This memo was dated September of 2023. To put it all into context, the Mar A Lago raid occurred in August of 2022. Jack Smith announced the indictments against President Trump in August of 2023. So this is almost two months later. They're casting this net, this fishing expedition against members of the Senate in the House. I've Been investigating this with Senator Grassley. This doesn't surprise me, but it should. Should shock every American.

[Vince Coglianese]

It definitely should. And that timeline, you know, there's gonna be a lot that's said about this. You're gonna see it all over a conservative media especially, and you should people who are completely outraged that these senators are being spied on. But I just want to emphasize that timeline he gave to you. It's 2022, when Jack Smith and his team with the FBI are rifling through Melania's underwear drawer at Mar a Lago in 2023. That's when the indictment drops in August against President Trump to try, and, of course, just before the election, to stagger his ability to become president again. But then it's in September of 2023 that they seek to spy on these senators after the Trump indictment's already out. So after whatever investigating Jack Smith felt like doing into Donald Trump as a predicate to indicting him, then he starts spying on United States senators. Do the math on that. To establish that these were legitimate law enforcement actions. Go ahead, provide. Go ahead, lefties. Go ahead, Jack, wherever the hell you are. Provide a justification for why you're spying on members of the United States Senate. What is that? It certainly sounds to me like it was the beginnings of an operation to try and make their lives a living hell if the left continued to control the levers at the United States Department of Justice. That's what it sounds like to me. So I want to engage you in a thought experiment. Imagine. I know this is horrifying, but imagine if Kamala Harris had become President of the United States. What would our Justice Department look like right now? Who would be being prosecuted right now? Which of these United States senators would be in a world of hurt right now because of the ongoing surveillance and thin pretext, politicized tyrannical prosecutions that the left would be conducting right now. We already saw what this looked like in practice with Donald Trump. They spied on his campaign. They spied on him. They created hoax information as a predicate to accuse him of all sorts of awful things, colluding with America's enemies to steal an election. We've seen what they're capable of. Just imagine what kind of mission you just stopped from happening. What I mean by that is every one of these Republican senators have you to thank for stopping further injustices from being carried out against them. You voted for Donald Trump. You voted to give Republicans control of the Senate. You voted to give Republicans control of the House. Were it not for that fact pattern right now, we would not know about the extent of the surveillance on these United States senators. And they'd be in a world of hurt. They'd be feeling it like the Trump family did for years. So to be clear, a massive scandal. And do you not read anything into this? Dan Bongino himself personally gets this information from the FBI and he hand walks it over to the United States Senate yesterday, and then he briefs every one of these senators on the way that the government was abusing them. This is a massive, massive story. And I can't wait for the day when Dan is back in front of a microphone when he can talk about it. And my plan is to, to do an interview with him on the subject as well. I think I'll have a lot to say. Well, that about wraps it up. Thanks to the fellows. That was a great selection of clips. What a cool year we had. Thank you to Justin G, Andy, Jasmine, Paula Bongino, the whole team. Man, we've got an exciting year in store. It's going to be amazing. There's a fella called Dan Bongino curious to see what he does very soon. Oh, my goodness. It's going to be the best. We'll be back with you in our live shows on January 5th. Justin will be tan, rested and ready. We'll be locked in. We'll be back in the new year. We got a big year ahead. It'll be great to have you with us. Thanks as always to the best audience anywhere.