The Dan Bongino Show – “The Dems Hit The Panic Button” (Ep. 2501)

Date: April 23, 2026
Host: Dan Bongino

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dan Bongino delves into what he characterizes as widespread “ops” (organized efforts and smears) targeting Donald Trump, his administration, and key allies such as FBI Director Cash Patel and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Bongino argues that Democrats and “doomer” allies in conservative circles have hit the panic button as recent reforms and investigations threaten longstanding institutional operations. He dissects recent media contradictions, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) indictment, and broader narratives that, according to Bongino, are designed to manipulate public perception and kneecap the administration’s successes.

Key Segments and Discussion Points

1. “The Ops Are Everywhere” — Media Manipulation and Smears

(00:02 – 11:00)

• Bongino opens with his central thesis: “There are ops everywhere. Organized efforts to change the way you think about the Trump administration that are not guided by anyone’s true feelings, but guided by an operation. The operation may be ideological, it may be financed by money, but it's not genuine.” (00:16)
• He highlights contradictory media articles about himself (e.g., The Root claims he “turns against Trump,” while CNN simultaneously touts his continued loyalty), to illustrate how quickly narratives change to suit anti-Trump objectives.
  • “These two articles just, just came out yesterday. Say the exact opposite thing. I mean the exact opposite thing… any of these people will flip on a dime as long as Donald Trump’s ox is the one that’s gored.” (02:00)
• Drives home the importance of skepticism: “Be careful who you trust. Be careful who you trust. Be careful who you trust.” (10:21)

2. Message to Leakers Targeting Cash Patel and FBI Reforms

(11:00 – 18:00)

• Bongino’s fiery diatribe against internal leakers trying to undermine Cash Patel’s reforms:
  • “You guys and ladies doing this are filth. You’re garbage. You’re an embarrassment. You disgust me...You want to sit on your fat asses, collect a government paycheck, collect a pension and do nothing…” (11:55)
  • Highlights the reforms underway at the FBI: increased transparency, aggressive action against crime, and a return to traditional law enforcement values.
  • “We are finally getting to a place right now after a year of work where we have this organization back doing what it's supposed to be doing… unprecedented transparency. Tens of thousands of pages of documents you would have never seen before.” (18:00)

3. Demonstrating Contradictory Media Narratives

(18:00 – 28:00)

• Bongino walks through two recent articles:
  • The Root (April 21, 2026) claims he has “turned against Trump.”
  • CNN (same day) claims he “remains committed to the president.”
• Quote: “They will use me as a cudgel to go after Trump, whether the story is accurate or not...As long as it’s Trump or people making change go down, they will align with Idi Amin or Adolf Hitler if they have to.” (22:30)
• Urges vigilance against coordinated media ops: “Were any of these so-called, like, Trump ‘scandals’…were any of them real? The Russia hoax, the impeachment hoax, Charlottesville, the ‘fine people’ hoax? The answer is I've yet to find one.” (24:30)
• Refers to Nancy Pelosi’s “Wrap Up Smear” (27:00):
  • Pelosi on video: “You smear somebody with falsehoods…then you merchandise it, and then you write it, and they'll say, see, it's reported in the press… now I'm going to merchandise the press's report on the smear that we made.” (27:45)

4. The SPLC Indictment and the “Op on Top of the Op”

(28:00 – 48:00)

• Recent grand jury indictment alleges the SPLC funded racist groups it claimed to combat.
• Reflects on comparable past operations: “Big liberal donor Reid Hoffman…was caught funding fake Russia bot farms to get them to support Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race all the way back in 2018.”
• Warns listeners: “The ops are everywhere. Everywhere. They are all around you.” (32:50)
• Media shifting narrative (the “op on top of the op”):
  • “By the end of the week, the narrative will be that the only reason the SPLC was indicted is to protect hate groups. Oh, by the end, that’s already…Msnow, that’s already the op.” (46:00)
  • Plays clip of Michael Steele, Simone Sanders: “They've gone after the Southern Poverty Law Center, but not the KKK. They've gone after the people, the civil rights organizations, but not the actual [hate groups].” (47:00)

5. The Enduring Power of the “Fine People Hoax” and Democrat Media Tactics

(48:00 – 01:04:00)

• Biden repeatedly misrepresents the Charlottesville “fine people” hoax—Bongino plays two similar Biden speeches to show how central this narrative is for Democrats.
• Asserts Democrat success is built entirely on such smear campaigns: “Their entire image, optics they want out there about their party is they are fighting this evil, racist Donald Trump who colluded with the Russians. If they let those two things go…the engineering of the building collapses.” (1:00:15)
• On Pelosi and Biden: “They are very good at what they do, which is very bad for you…they know exactly how to do it.” (1:03:20)
• Urges listeners to recognize “ops”: “Once you see the op, you will never unsee it…it’s like riding a bike.” (1:04:00)

6. Conservative vs. Liberal Ideas in Practice

(01:04:00 – 01:17:30)

• Bongino plays a viral clip of a woman upset about not being able to buy ice cream or soda with SNAP benefits under a new Florida law.
  • “Get a job. Get your ass out of the seat and go get a job. Why are we paying for your…I like my sweets. Then get a job and buy your sweets.” (1:10:30)
• Contrasts conservative “results” orientation with liberal “good intentions” politics, referencing California’s homelessness crisis:
  • Katie Porter (D) grades Gavin Newsom a B for “effort” on homelessness.
    • “I want to be in her class. You get a B. They have one of the worst homelessness problems in the country.” (1:13:40)
  • Javier Becerra gives Newsom an A for “effort,” not results.
    • “On effort, I would give him an A. Effort!” (1:15:30)

7. Policing, FBI Reform, and the Results of Law-and-Order Policies

(01:17:30 – 01:35:00)

• Showcases “Broken Windows” policing and reform successes:
  • Memphis crime falling dramatically after Operation Viper collaboration.
    • “Murders down 47%, carjackings down 48%, robberies down 51%, vehicle theft down 80%...We got bad guys off the street and a limited number of bad guys commit the overwhelming amount of crime.” (1:20:00)
• Describes reforms at the FBI: reinstating physical standards, MMA training for agents, and cleaning up internal corruption.
• Plays NYPD and Buffalo police clips showing the need for fitness and training: “Yet people objected when we changed the physical fitness requirements.” (1:32:00)

8. Florida Redistricting and Political Showdowns

(01:35:00 – 01:40:00)

• Hakeem Jeffries (House Minority Leader) vows to campaign for redistricting in Florida.
• Ron DeSantis responds: “Please be my guest. I will pay for you to come down to Florida and campaign. I’ll put you up in the Florida Governor’s mansion. We’ll take you fishing, we’ll do all this stuff. There’s nothing that could be better for Republicans in Florida than to see Jeffries, Hakeem Jeffries, everywhere around this state…” (1:38:00)
• Bongino’s team and live audience trade barbs about Jeffries’ popularity in Florida.

9. Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On media contradiction: “You cannot rely on liberal media representatives or their doomer allies to ever tell you the truth. They have this ox’s gourd thing where they’ll flip on a dime.” (03:21)
• On SPLC indictment: “The allegations…are very serious…that the SPLC may have in fact been funding some of the very racist groups they pretended to be fighting.” (34:40)
• On Democrat messaging: “Nobody conducts an op better than them, folks. They calculate imagery, specific platforms, targeted audiences, micro targeted audiences.” (1:03:45)
• On SNAP benefits debate: “You can pay for whatever you want. I’m a freedom-loving constitutionalist. You want to eat sweets and ice cream? Go for it. I don’t have to pay for it.” (1:12:10)
• On police reform: “People complain…Dan and Cash are trying to train these FBI folks how to defend themselves…they arrest people in groups. I was like, oh really?…Most of these people saying that, by the way, never actually arrested someone. I did.” (1:32:00)
• On the futility of Democrat policies: “They live in the world of good intentions and terrible results.” (1:16:55)

Takeaway & Closing

Bongino frames current events as a high-stakes contest between entrenched, media-backed operations (“ops”) and a reformist movement seeking accountability within law enforcement and conservative governance. He repeatedly urges his audience to be vigilant against manipulation, to recognize “ops,” and to take pride in real, measurable results over narratives and smears.

Notable Timestamps

• 00:16 – “Ops are everywhere” thesis
• 11:55 – Scathing address to FBI leakers
• 22:30 – “Cudgel to go after Trump” media analysis
• 27:45 – Pelosi “wrap up smear” explanation
• 46:00 – SPLC “op on top of the op” narrative
• 1:10:30 – “Get a job” SNAP benefits viral clip
• 1:15:30 – Democrat grading Newsom “on effort”
• 1:20:00 – Crime drops in Memphis from law enforcement reform
• 1:38:00 – DeSantis' open invitation to Hakeem Jeffries