The Ben Shapiro Show - January 30, 2024


Biden Needs Taylor Swift


Episode Stats

Length

49 minutes

Words per Minute

202.7621

Word Count

10,057

Sentence Count

734

Misogynist Sentences

21

Hate Speech Sentences

24


Summary

Taylor Swift's endorsement of Joe Biden's re-election campaign is bad news for the Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, and it's not because she doesn't like him. It's because she's a pop star, and pop stars endorsing other pop stars doesn t tend to move the needle much, and especially not when it comes to moving the needle in a presidential election. And if you base your vote on the thoughts of celebrities who spend two seconds engaging with politics, but you really like their songs, you should not be voting. That's not how politics is supposed to work, and if you're voting based on who Taylor Swift endorses, you shouldn't be allowed to vote in the U.S. This is a mild proposal: if you don't like politics, then you should be banned from voting in the United States, because politics is not supposed to be based on the opinions of people who spend 2 seconds engaging in politics. It's not even about who you like, it's about what you like. Today's episode is a mashup of two stories from the New York Times and NPR covering what's going on in the world of politics and pop culture, and why celebrities are not going to be able to sway your vote in 2020 and why they should stop endorsing other politicians. (1:00) 2:30) 3:00 4:15) 5:10) 6:15 7:30 8:20) 9:40) 11:30] 11: What s going on with Taylor Swift? 12:00] 13: Who's going to vote for Joe Biden in 2020? 15:00? 16: Is Taylor Swift backing Joe Biden? 17:00: What does she think about Kanye West? 18:50 19:40 21:30: Is she a good presidential candidate? 22:10 23:00 Is she more likely to back Joe Biden running for president in the future? 24:00 21: Does she have a chance to win the 2020 election? 25:00 22:00 Do you like Joe Biden s chances? 26:00 Does she support him? 27: What do you think Joe Biden need to do more? or is she a better than Kanye West a better presidential candidate than Hillary Clinton? ? 26 :00 Is she better than Bill Clinton a better candidate than Bill Cosby?


Transcript

00:00:00.000 When it comes to the 2024 election, there are a couple of points made.
00:00:04.000 One for Republicans and one for Democrats.
00:00:06.000 Let's start with the point for Democrats.
00:00:08.000 Celebrities are not going to save you.
00:00:10.000 I know that Democrats seem to believe that leveraging celebrity in favor of their best political candidates magically raises them to victory.
00:00:18.000 They're thinking back to a time when Marilyn Monroe was singing Happy Birthday Mr. President to the president she was shipping, JFK.
00:00:24.000 They're thinking back to a time during the 1990s when Bill Clinton was playing saxophone on late night TV.
00:00:29.000 They're thinking back to a time when celebrity mattered an awful lot more than it does right now.
00:00:34.000 And they've tried this before.
00:00:35.000 Trying to drag a lackluster candidate over the finish line with celebrity tends not to work.
00:00:39.000 But when you are a desperate candidate, you have to take desperate measures, which is why The New York Times is reporting today that President Biden is trying to pump energy into his re-elect bid, kicking off what is likely to be an ugly, dispiriting, and historically long slog to November between two unpopular candidates.
00:00:54.000 Apparently, he has now sent two of his most trusted White House operatives to take the helm of his reelect campaign in Wilmington, Delaware.
00:01:01.000 Other Biden aides are drafting wish lists of potential surrogates, including elected officials, social media influencers, and the endorsement of their wildest dreams, the global superstar, Taylor Swift.
00:01:12.000 Oh yes, they are resorting to the Swifties this early.
00:01:16.000 That is not a good sign for your campaign.
00:01:18.000 When you are starting to target Taylor Swift as like, if she endorses, oh my God, that's going to change everything.
00:01:23.000 So first of all, we should point out Taylor Swift did in fact endorse Joe Biden for president in 2020.
00:01:28.000 It didn't really move the needle all that much because she's just a very famous pop star and very famous pop stars endorsing people doesn't tend to move the needle all that much.
00:01:37.000 Thank God.
00:01:38.000 Now, there are some polls that suggest that actually A fifth of voters are likely to back the candidate endorsed by the singer.
00:01:46.000 There's a poll conducted by Redfield and Wilton Strategies for Newsweek, and it found that 18% of voters say they are more likely, or significantly more likely, to vote for a candidate endorsed by Taylor Swift, and that sway was most visible with voters under the age of 35.
00:01:59.000 So I have a mild proposal, a moderate proposal.
00:02:02.000 If you base your vote on who Taylor Swift endorses, you should not be allowed to vote in the United States.
00:02:07.000 This doesn't hold just true for Taylor Swift.
00:02:09.000 If you base your vote on the thoughts of celebrities who spend two seconds engaging with politics, but you really like their songs, you should not be voting.
00:02:19.000 If you are voting Republican based on the endorsement of Kanye West, if you are voting Democrat based on the endorsement of Taylor Swift, you should not be voting.
00:02:25.000 That is not how politics is supposed to work.
00:02:29.000 And it's worth noting again that back in 2020, she literally tweeted in favor of Joe Biden.
00:02:34.000 She tweeted, quote, After stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism your entire presidency, you have the nerve to feign moral superiority before threatening violence.
00:02:41.000 When the looting starts, the shooting starts.
00:02:42.000 We will vote you out in November, Donald Trump.
00:02:45.000 Now, it is also true that 17% said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate backed by Taylor Swift.
00:02:51.000 So 18% said more likely, 17% said less likely.
00:02:54.000 How about this?
00:02:55.000 How about we don't care?
00:02:55.000 How about no one cares what Taylor Swift has to say on politics because she is a pop star and she makes songs and then is in many shots by the NFL.
00:03:03.000 Quick side note here.
00:03:06.000 I have to say, good for Lamar Jackson for preserving his breathing on this planet because if Lamar Jackson had actually put the Kansas City Chiefs in danger of losing the AFC Championship game the other day, Roger Goodell would have hit him with a drone to prevent that from happening.
00:03:21.000 There's actually a drone hovering over the stadium.
00:03:23.000 It's gonna be like a Barack Obama drone attack in Somalia or something if Lamar Jackson actually brought the Baltimore Ravens to the brink of the Super Bowl.
00:03:29.000 In any case, Biden is now early reaching for the celebrity lever.
00:03:33.000 When you're reaching for the celebrity button or lever that quickly, you're in serious, serious trouble.
00:03:38.000 According to the New York Times, the campaign has begun discussing discussions with celebrities and social media stars about promoting Mr. Biden on Instagram and TikTok because there's nothing the kids like better than their favorite celebrities endorsing A vegetable.
00:03:50.000 When Biden took a fundraising swing through Southern California in December, the campaign carved out time to meet with influencers to pitch them on posting pro-Biden content.
00:03:56.000 You remember some of the pro-Biden content from a little bit earlier in his presidency, including random weird people with selfie sticks in the White House being all strange and off-putting?
00:04:07.000 We're gonna get a lot of that this year.
00:04:09.000 The biggest and most influential endorsement target is Swift herself, the pop sensation and NFL enthusiast who can move millions of supporters with an Instagram post or mid-concert aside.
00:04:19.000 She endorsed Biden in 2020.
00:04:21.000 Last year, a single Instagram post led to 35,000 new voter registrations.
00:04:25.000 Okay, can I just point out here that first of all, her Instagram, how many followers does Taylor Swift have on Instagram?
00:04:30.000 She must have, oh my God, hundreds of millions of followers, 280 million followers on Instagram.
00:04:36.000 And she was able to register 35,000 people.
00:04:40.000 Those are not amazing numbers.
00:04:42.000 If Joe Biden is counting on Taylor Swift, getting millions of people to vote, good luck to him.
00:04:47.000 Gavin Newsom apparently all but begged Taylor Swift to become more involved in Biden's campaign.
00:04:52.000 He said, quote, Taylor Swift stands tall and unique.
00:04:55.000 What she was able to accomplish just in getting young people activated to consider they have a voice and they should have a choice in the next election, I think is profoundly powerful.
00:05:01.000 That, of course, is Gavin Newsom trying to massage Taylor Swift into endorsing him for president in 2028.
00:05:07.000 The chatter around Swift and the potential of her 279 million Instagram followers being reached, reached such intensity that the Biden team urged applicants in a job posting for a social media position not to describe their Taylor Swift strategy.
00:05:23.000 There was an idea that maybe they would send Biden to actually her eras tour, which would be the death of her eras tour, by the way.
00:05:29.000 Like nobody wants to watch that old dude hobble up there and then try to dance to Taylor Swift's overproduced music at this point.
00:05:37.000 So instead of actually, you know, being a good president, they're going to try to bring Taylor Swift on board in all of this.
00:05:43.000 Now, again, I'll just point out here, the Democrats have been trying to play this game for multiple election cycles in a row.
00:05:48.000 Barack Obama did not win in 2008 or 2012 because he had celebrity endorsements.
00:05:52.000 He won because he was the celebrity.
00:05:55.000 It is one thing for the candidate themselves to be a celebrity.
00:05:57.000 Donald Trump won in 2016 because he was a celebrity.
00:06:00.000 Pop cultural relevance does matter an awful lot.
00:06:04.000 But only when the person with the pop cultural relevance is the politician himself.
00:06:08.000 It is non-transferable credit.
00:06:09.000 If you stand next to Taylor Swift, that does not make you Taylor Swift.
00:06:13.000 And it does not give you the appeal of Taylor Swift.
00:06:16.000 Again, Hillary Clinton tried to do this back in 2016.
00:06:19.000 Here was Hillary Clinton trotting out every celebrity she could possibly find to sing fight song.
00:06:24.000 I don't know if you remember this.
00:06:25.000 It was one of the most irritating things in the history of American politics.
00:06:28.000 I mean, honestly, Hillary Clinton's entire 2016 campaign was just a two-year nails-on-the-chalkboard moment.
00:06:36.000 Just interminable nails on the chalkboard.
00:06:38.000 And so she trotted out at the DNC a bunch of celebrities like Elizabeth Banks and Mandy Moore singing fight song.
00:06:45.000 And you know what happened?
00:06:46.000 She lost.
00:06:47.000 Here is a little bit of that just to remind you and to irritate you today.
00:06:53.000 This is for Hillary.
00:06:56.000 Oh, no.
00:07:00.000 You remember this?
00:07:02.000 Oh, no.
00:07:05.000 Oh, good lord.
00:07:12.000 Yeah, you remember this?
00:07:13.000 You remember this?
00:07:15.000 From the lady who never became president?
00:07:17.000 Again, relying on celebrities is not going to fix your problem.
00:07:22.000 No, no, cut it off before we get to the chorus.
00:07:26.000 No, no, don't do it.
00:07:28.000 No.
00:07:29.000 No.
00:07:29.000 OK, so.
00:07:30.000 Oh, no, please stop.
00:07:32.000 No, but actually stop.
00:07:33.000 It's OK.
00:07:33.000 We're done.
00:07:34.000 In any case.
00:07:35.000 Wrong you are!
00:07:36.000 Not gonna work.
00:07:36.000 We'll get to more on this in just one second.
00:07:38.000 candidates that no one likes remain elderly candidates that no one likes. So
00:07:41.000 first rule for Joe Biden if you think that your crappy presidenting will be
00:07:45.000 fixed by Tay Tay, wrong you are not gonna work. We get some more on this in just
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00:08:50.000 Okay, now, onto the Republican side of the aisle.
00:08:52.000 Guys, not everything is a Pentagon conspiracy.
00:08:56.000 So, the right has been falling for this line a lot.
00:09:00.000 For the past 10, 12 years, increasingly, every conspiracy theory now must be treated as a real possibility.
00:09:08.000 So here's the problem with conspiracy theories.
00:09:10.000 The problem with conspiracy theories is that almost always they are wrong.
00:09:12.000 The reason I say almost always they are wrong, sometimes they're right, but almost always they are wrong because they require incredible levels of dedication.
00:09:18.000 They require incredible levels of competence.
00:09:22.000 And every time somebody says something about the moon landing being faked, for example, you have to think to yourself, how many thousands of people would have to be in on it and competently do their part in order to make this happen?
00:09:33.000 And then it could be debunked, as my friend Matt Walsh said, by some schmuck in the internet connection in 2024 and like a couple of pictures from Google images.
00:09:41.000 And the answer is no, that is not real.
00:09:43.000 Okay, the problem with conspiracy, sometimes they're fun, sometimes they're silly, but conspiracy theory starts to do damage because if you believe that a conspiracy is in control of all the things you see, all the things you hear, it is enervating.
00:09:56.000 It makes you less likely to get active.
00:09:58.000 It makes you more likely to believe that nothing you do is going to end with the result that you seek.
00:10:03.000 There is no connection between your action and the result because there's an intervening conspiracy to stop that thing from happening.
00:10:09.000 And that is particularly true in politics.
00:10:11.000 It's the reason I do not like and still do not like.
00:10:13.000 I did not like.
00:10:13.000 I still don't like.
00:10:14.000 The whole Donald Trump had the election actively voter fraud stolen from him in 2020.
00:10:19.000 The reason this is bad is not just because it's not true and there's not enough evidence to demonstrate it.
00:10:22.000 And Donald Trump has never shown enough evidence to demonstrate that.
00:10:25.000 You can say that the election was rigged.
00:10:27.000 I agree with that.
00:10:28.000 If by that you mean that all the rules were changed, that you saw an unprecedented number of voters in that election cycle, virtually all of whom were marginal voters who had very little interest in voting in the first place and who are now sending their ballot in by mail months in advance of the election in violation of the way that law is normally supposed to work.
00:10:43.000 Totally agree with that.
00:10:43.000 If you want to argue that the media rigged the election by ignoring all of the relevant issues in 2020 in favor of a bunch of garbage and then actually hid stories about Joe Biden in the run-up to, again, totally agree.
00:10:53.000 You want to argue that social media was actively stumping on behalf of Joe Biden and acting at the behest of actors in the deep state to stymie stories.
00:11:02.000 Totally agree with that.
00:11:03.000 That is not the same thing as the conspiracy theory that there was a well-organized voter fraud effort that deprived Donald Trump of his reelect.
00:11:11.000 The reason that's bad is not, again, just because it's untrue.
00:11:13.000 It is also because if that's true, why bother voting?
00:11:17.000 And that, in fact, is how people reacted.
00:11:19.000 If you recall all the way back to early 2021, well, we were in the midst of all of this craziness.
00:11:23.000 Donald Trump literally told people that in Georgia.
00:11:26.000 And so we now have two Democratic senators in Georgia, a heavily red state.
00:11:30.000 And if Donald Trump is the nominee, which he will be, then he's going to win that state in all likelihood this time around.
00:11:36.000 What happened?
00:11:37.000 What happened?
00:11:38.000 Did all the voter fraud just disappear?
00:11:40.000 Or is it possible that he just wasn't that popular a candidate in 2020 because of all the aforementioned reasons and because he ran a bad campaign in 2020 and didn't do an amazing job in 2020?
00:11:49.000 But he could win in 2024.
00:11:50.000 The problem with conspiracy theories is, again, it leads you to believe that all the factors out there that could lead to your success are actually beyond your control.
00:11:59.000 So, while the Democrats are busily digging their own graves by saying, look, we're going to ignore the fact that we're crappy on policy and we're going to go get Tay-Tay to endorse it.
00:12:06.000 If we can get the 1989 lady, you know, the lady who's... How old is Taylor Swift now?
00:12:11.000 Taylor Swift is... I think she's 34, right?
00:12:17.000 Yeah.
00:12:17.000 They're like, if we can get the 34-year-old lady who sings songs like she's 17 years old and breaking up with her first boyfriend again, and she's like two years younger than my wife, who's a doctor and has four kids.
00:12:26.000 If we can get that lady to endorse us, then magically, we are going to win the election.
00:12:31.000 If Republicans just stood there like, why?
00:12:33.000 How desperate are you?
00:12:34.000 That is a much better attack than what we have seen instead, which is a bunch of people on the right going, it's a PSYOP.
00:12:40.000 It's a Pentagon PSYOP.
00:12:41.000 Everything's a conspiracy.
00:12:43.000 We'll get to more on this in just one second.
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00:13:47.000 Now listen, again, I think some of this stuff is hilarious.
00:13:49.000 I think that it's- I think that the entire Taylor Swift is dating Travis Kelce so she can boost the NFL's ratings and then write a breakup song, Fury of Life, may very well be true.
00:14:01.000 Because, again, everything around Taylor Swift is incredibly produced, everything around the NFL is incredibly produced, and frankly, it's funny, and I enjoy the funny of it.
00:14:09.000 I enjoy the trollery of it.
00:14:11.000 But one of the signal failures of the right these days is to believe that everything is a conspiracy.
00:14:17.000 So there's a theory going around, I kid you not, that Taylor Swift is being promoted by the NFL, which she is, for ratings.
00:14:24.000 I mean, the ratings have gone up because Taylor Swift is very popular and people are amused and interested in the fact that she is dating the tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, Travis Kelsey, and that every so often, and by every so often I mean literally every 27 seconds when the producer gets fired, the NFL swivels to a view of her in the skybox.
00:14:41.000 People have speculated, on the right, that this is actually a Pentagon deep state conspiracy that is designed to elevate Taylor Swift so that she will endorse Joe Biden and thus change the election.
00:14:53.000 Guys, not everything is 4D chess.
00:14:54.000 Not everything is 4D chess.
00:14:56.000 Again, I'm all here for the pop culture, people dating each other for the press kind of stuff because they do that all the time.
00:15:01.000 That does happen in Hollywood all the time.
00:15:02.000 It happens in the music industry all the time.
00:15:05.000 You can find entire ratings online of Taylor Swift's various romances and which are considered legit and which ones are just sort of put together for the press.
00:15:14.000 This has been a long-standing tradition in Taylor Swift circles, from what I understand.
00:15:18.000 Again, I'm no Taylor Swift expert.
00:15:20.000 I'm not a Swifty.
00:15:20.000 I don't know her songs very well.
00:15:22.000 I don't know her oeuvre.
00:15:22.000 I don't know, like, pretty much anything about what she does, other than some of her songs are catchy, but those tend to be the older songs.
00:15:28.000 And she doesn't write any of her own songs anymore.
00:15:30.000 But!
00:15:31.000 The theory that is now going around, and again, it's become popular on the right, is indicative of a deeper rot inside the Republican Party, which is that when you despair of the world, you start to think that everything is a conspiracy.
00:15:41.000 So, there's a video that's going around from 2019 of somebody in like the Pentagon PSYOP division talking about how they would love to recruit Taylor Swift.
00:15:50.000 I'm sure they would!
00:15:52.000 I'm sure they would.
00:15:53.000 I mean, like, who wouldn't?
00:15:55.000 If you're a government and you could get Taylor Swift as, like, a CIA asset, why wouldn't you?
00:15:59.000 Does that mean that what we are watching right now is, like, a deep state conspiracy to promote Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce?
00:16:05.000 And then, I guess there's a deep state conspiracy so that the San Francisco 49ers will lose the Super Bowl and Travis Kelce will propose to Taylor Swift and her first act, upon being proposed to, will be to accept the ring and then immediately turn around and say, but there's only one person I love more.
00:16:18.000 Joseph R. Biden. And suddenly Biden's winning in a landslide.
00:16:23.000 Again, if that first of all, if that's the Pentagon's plan, it's the dumbest plan I ever
00:16:25.000 heard. Taylor Swift can't move 35,000 voter registrations. That's really stupid. But anyway, here
00:16:31.000 is the theory being laid out here.
00:16:33.000 Have you ever wondered why or how she blew up like this?
00:16:38.000 Well, around four years ago, the Pentagon's Psychological Operations Unit floated
00:16:44.000 turning Taylor Swift into an asset during a NATO meeting.
00:16:49.000 What kind of asset?
00:16:50.000 A psy-op for combating online misinformation.
00:16:54.000 Listen.
00:16:55.000 You came in here wanting to understand how you just go out there and counter an information operation.
00:16:59.000 The idea is that social influence can help encourage or promote behavior change, so potentially as like a peaceful information operation.
00:17:10.000 I include Taylor Swift in here because she's a fairly influential online person.
00:17:16.000 I don't know if you've heard of her.
00:17:18.000 Yeah, that's real.
00:17:19.000 The Pentagon PSYOP unit pitched NATO on turning Taylor Swift into an asset for combating misinformation online.
00:17:27.000 If I was running Biden's management perception team, I would identify someone who would align themselves with my agenda, such as a Taylor Swift who has close to 600 million followers.
00:17:41.000 I would target her, I would engage her, and I would get her to do what we used to see as like public service announcements and that type of enlistment.
00:17:52.000 That type of solicitation is analogous to the old days of deployment of a PSYOP.
00:18:01.000 You mean a celebrity endorsement in a candidate's campaign?
00:18:05.000 Is that what we're talking about here?
00:18:06.000 Again, is this like super worthwhile?
00:18:08.000 Is this super worthwhile?
00:18:10.000 Is it like the worst thing in the world that people are... Again, it is indicative of a broader mindset.
00:18:15.000 Guys, not everything you don't like is a conspiracy.
00:18:19.000 Not everything I don't like is a conspiracy.
00:18:21.000 Some things are in fact conspiracies.
00:18:23.000 But I promise you, if this is a conspiracy, it's the stupidest conspiracy of all time.
00:18:27.000 She already endorsed Biden.
00:18:30.000 She's going to endorse him again.
00:18:33.000 Taylor Swift is a very popular, very, very popular musician, probably most popular musician in world history by metrics.
00:18:39.000 And you know what's going to happen if she endorses Joe Biden?
00:18:41.000 Nothing!
00:18:42.000 Because he's a crap president!
00:18:45.000 Nothing is going to happen!
00:18:47.000 So like, all the angst and all the kind of heartburn that you see on the right constantly about this sort of stuff... The left is motivated.
00:18:54.000 The left does try to do bad things.
00:18:56.000 But when they try to do the bad things...
00:18:59.000 We can all usually see it when they are trying to make sure that small children are exposed to pornography in school libraries.
00:19:05.000 They're doing it right out in the open and you can stop it and you can work on it.
00:19:09.000 The whole basis of politics is that we can make choices to actually impede the progress of a wild left.
00:19:15.000 And when you start getting into like every single thing that we see over here is some sort of organized psyop.
00:19:20.000 It's just I think it's enervating.
00:19:22.000 I think it's bad for the Republican Party.
00:19:23.000 I don't think it's good for conservative.
00:19:24.000 I don't think it's good for America.
00:19:26.000 I think the generalized belief that all systems are rigged in America is a very bad belief, whether it is on the left or whether it is on the right, because the truth is in America, Very few things are truly, truly rigged to the extent that people like to believe they are.
00:19:40.000 And when politicians tell you that things are so rigged, everything is so rigged, when they say that sort of stuff without any real evidence...
00:19:48.000 When they don't present evidence, they just say that things are rigged.
00:19:50.000 Typically, it's because they want more power to rig them the other way.
00:19:53.000 That is what they are doing here, and I don't like any of it.
00:19:56.000 We'll get some more on that in just one second.
00:19:57.000 First, you know, it's been a pretty stressful time.
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00:21:12.000 Okay, meanwhile, speaking of Joe Biden being like an absolute crappy president, the thing that people are actually gonna vote based on, We are now finding out that the names of the soldiers who were killed in Jordan by Iranian proxy forces.
00:21:26.000 What exactly happened?
00:21:26.000 According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States failed to stop a deadly attack on an American military outpost in Jordan when the enemy drone approached its target at the same time as a U.S.
00:21:35.000 drone was also returning to base, U.S.
00:21:36.000 officials said.
00:21:37.000 So basically, an Iranian drone came in at the same time an American drone was coming in.
00:21:41.000 They mixed up the American drone and the Iranian drone, and the Iranian drone killed a bunch of American soldiers, and there are still something like 40 wounded.
00:21:48.000 The return of the U.S.
00:21:48.000 drone led to some confusion over whether the incoming drone was friend or foe.
00:21:52.000 They cautioned the inquiry into the attack was in an early stage, according to officials.
00:21:55.000 The enemy drone was launched from Iraq by a militia backed by Tehran and struck the outpost's living quarters.
00:22:00.000 That outpost sits near the borders of Iraq and Syria.
00:22:03.000 Jordan has requested, of course, American presence in Jordan in order to protect their own borders, and Jordan is a U.S.
00:22:09.000 ally in the region.
00:22:12.000 White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters there's a responsibility that needs to be laid at the feet of the leaders in Tehran.
00:22:18.000 But the problem, of course, is, as we have said, the Biden administration has botched this thing six ways from Sunday.
00:22:24.000 I'll just remind you that right now what we are seeing in the Middle East, this giant conflagration, is all Biden.
00:22:29.000 In the same way, the giant wave at the border is all Biden.
00:22:33.000 Back in September 2023, Jake Sullivan, wisest, fairest in the land of most national security, such a wise person that he moved from the Obama administration where he screwed up national security to the Biden administration where he screwed up national security.
00:22:46.000 He was at the Atlantic conferences back in September.
00:22:48.000 And here he was bragging about how quiet the Middle East was in September.
00:22:52.000 You may recall that in October, some things happened.
00:22:55.000 Look, first, I think it's very important to note that this is an incredibly volatile time in the Middle East.
00:22:59.000 today than it has been in two decades.
00:23:05.000 Quieter today than in two decades.
00:23:06.000 And then here is Antony Blinken, the secretary of state yesterday.
00:23:09.000 Look, first, I think it's very important to note that this is an incredibly volatile time
00:23:19.000 in the Middle East.
00:23:21.000 I would argue that we have not seen a situation.
00:23:25.000 as dangerous as the one we're facing now across the region since at least 1973 and arguably
00:23:32.000 even before that. Oh well I mean what changed? What magically changed?
00:23:38.000 Now of course October 7th happened but the question is why did October 7th happen?
00:23:42.000 And the answer is because you pursued a pro-Iranian policy from day one of this administration and it emboldened Iran and made Iran believe that they could push the United States around and its allies in the region without any sort of serious consequences.
00:23:56.000 And of course, Iran so far has been right.
00:23:59.000 And when John Kirby keeps putting out there All of these sort of weak need responses to Iran killing Americans.
00:24:06.000 Iran is sitting there thinking, OK, we can get away with pretty much anything we want.
00:24:10.000 Does it really hurt Iran if we kill a few of its proxy forces without dismantling the terror networks?
00:24:14.000 Does it really hurt Iran if we allow the Red Sea to continue to become a sort of pond on behalf of Iranian military proxies?
00:24:23.000 What exactly are we doing to hurt Iran at this point?
00:24:25.000 Again, Donald Trump had them contained.
00:24:27.000 Joe Biden has not only uncontained them, he's released them.
00:24:30.000 He's unleashed the power of Iran via its proxies all over the Middle East.
00:24:34.000 Look at a map.
00:24:36.000 Look at a map.
00:24:37.000 Iran is all over the damn place.
00:24:39.000 If you look at the Middle Eastern peninsula, what you will see is Iran at the south.
00:24:43.000 You'll see Iran in the east.
00:24:44.000 You'll see Iran in the west.
00:24:46.000 That is a deliberate policy decision by the Biden administration to let Iran out of the box.
00:24:53.000 So yesterday, John Kirby said, don't worry, we're not looking for a military solution with Iran.
00:24:56.000 Now listen, no one wants a war with Iran, but you know who really, really doesn't want a war with Iran?
00:25:00.000 Iran.
00:25:02.000 I keep saying this, but people pretend that it's not a reality.
00:25:05.000 In a war with Iran, Iran loses.
00:25:07.000 It might not be fun for the United States.
00:25:08.000 It won't be fun for the United States.
00:25:10.000 It might cost money.
00:25:11.000 But no one wants a war with Iran in the United States, but you know who wants a war even less?
00:25:14.000 And that matters because when you're trying to deter someone, if you don't want to get in a fight with that guy over there, And that guy over there is crazy.
00:25:21.000 Sometimes, if he starts getting in your face, you might have to punch him.
00:25:27.000 And if it turns out that you are stronger than he is, he will stop punching you.
00:25:31.000 That is the entire policy of deterrence.
00:25:33.000 You have to kill the guy.
00:25:34.000 You have to get into a full-scale war.
00:25:35.000 But you do have to deter.
00:25:37.000 In order to deter, deterrence is very simple.
00:25:39.000 It is the credible threat of military force.
00:25:41.000 That is what deterrence is.
00:25:42.000 And when you keep saying over and over and over that you don't have a credible threat, the other side might think you might not have a credible threat.
00:25:47.000 Here was John Kirby, national security spokesperson, yesterday.
00:25:51.000 Is the president currently actively considering potential attacks inside Iran?
00:25:57.000 We are not looking for a war with Iran.
00:25:59.000 We are not.
00:26:00.000 Seeking a conflict with the regime in a military way.
00:26:06.000 And as I said in the opening, we're not looking to escalate here.
00:26:10.000 This attack over the weekend was escalatory.
00:26:13.000 Make no mistake about it.
00:26:14.000 And it requires a response.
00:26:15.000 Make no mistake about that.
00:26:17.000 I will not get ahead of the President's decision making.
00:26:20.000 You're not saying either way whether striking inside Iran is or isn't?
00:26:23.000 We are not looking for a war with Iran, MJ.
00:26:25.000 I am not going to speak to the President's decisions.
00:26:30.000 Okay, how about this?
00:26:31.000 We will make a decision when we make a decision.
00:26:33.000 How about that?
00:26:35.000 Now again, no one wants a war with Iran.
00:26:38.000 For the one millionth time, there are a few people who might be interested.
00:26:41.000 Those people have been marginalized in the American public debate.
00:26:44.000 No one is interested in a direct war with Iran.
00:26:46.000 But if you are the White House, why are you laying all your cards on the table?
00:26:49.000 What exactly is the purpose of that?
00:26:52.000 So John Kirby was asked, guys, you've kind of been appeasing Iran for the past several years.
00:26:55.000 And Kirby was like, we don't see it as appeasement.
00:26:57.000 Well, you know who does?
00:26:58.000 Iran.
00:27:00.000 The president's response to Republican critics who are of the mind that this attack was the result of perceived weakness.
00:27:07.000 For instance, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said that President Biden's fear of escalation has morphed into a doctrine of appeasement.
00:27:18.000 They can speak for themselves.
00:27:19.000 That's obviously not the way we see this.
00:27:22.000 Oh, well, I'm sure you don't see it that way.
00:27:24.000 But Iran does.
00:27:25.000 The Pentagon spokesperson, Sabrina Singh, was also asked if deterrence had failed by Dana Bash.
00:27:31.000 And she did not have a good answer because deterrence obviously has failed, which is why there are dead Americans now.
00:27:37.000 Looking at this and more broadly, have U.S.
00:27:41.000 deterrence policies failed?
00:27:43.000 I mean, how will the president's response be different this time?
00:27:48.000 Well look, what we saw last night, what we saw yesterday, was lethal action that impacted our service members.
00:27:56.000 And that's something that weighs heavily on this building, that weighs heavily on the Secretary.
00:28:00.000 Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with those service members and their families.
00:28:04.000 But when you look at the wider region, when you look at what's happening in the region, we know tensions are high.
00:28:09.000 But the conflict that's happening between Israel and Gaza has been contained to Gaza.
00:28:14.000 And we have seen multiple attacks on our service members in Iraq and Syria that have been largely unsuccessful.
00:28:21.000 Minor injuries, minor damage to infrastructure.
00:28:24.000 Unfortunately, yesterday we saw a lethal action.
00:28:29.000 Well, actually, we've had five dead Americans over the course of the past couple of weeks.
00:28:33.000 We have two Navy SEALs who were also lost as they attempted to defang a military shipment from Iran to the Houthis in Yemen.
00:28:41.000 So we actually have five dead Americans.
00:28:43.000 We have some Americans, many Americans apparently, with significant brain damage because of Iranian attacks.
00:28:48.000 When she says it's been contained, understand that it is not that this thing started in Gaza and then spread out.
00:28:54.000 That is not what happened here.
00:28:55.000 What happened is that Iran had a well-coordinated plan in which Hezbollah would attack Israel from the north.
00:29:00.000 Hamas would attack Israel from the south.
00:29:02.000 The Houthis would attack the Red Sea.
00:29:04.000 Iranian proxy forces in Syria would attack American proxy forces in Syria and Iraq.
00:29:09.000 I mean, this is all part of a bigger plan by Iran to stir up as much trouble as possible, knowing, again, it's an election year.
00:29:16.000 And that's what this comes down to.
00:29:17.000 It's an election year.
00:29:19.000 We'll get to more on this in just one second.
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00:30:21.000 Now, as it turns out, you know what's a terrible plan?
00:30:22.000 You know what's a terrible plan?
00:30:24.000 The Biden foreign policy was basically carry a tiny stick and speak very loudly.
00:30:29.000 It was the opposite of Teddy Roosevelt.
00:30:30.000 Speak softly and carry a big stick.
00:30:33.000 It was, speak really, really loudly and carry no stick at all.
00:30:36.000 Carry one of those rubber hammers that squeaks when you hit something with it.
00:30:40.000 That's basically the Biden policy.
00:30:43.000 The reason I say this is because here was Team Biden for weeks warning Iran, don't, don't.
00:30:47.000 You want to get up buddy with us?
00:30:49.000 You want to start making trouble?
00:30:50.000 Don't.
00:30:51.000 Don't.
00:30:51.000 And Iran was like, don't is not a policy.
00:30:54.000 Don't is not a policy.
00:30:56.000 If you just keep saying don't, And what's the message to Iran?
00:30:59.000 is going to do. They've pushed you every which way and you've done zero things. You had a couple of
00:31:04.000 camels in the ass in Yemen. You blew up a couple of empty buildings. You gave like 24 hours warning
00:31:08.000 for people to get out of the way. So you didn't even kill any of the terrorist pirates. And then
00:31:12.000 you said don't a lot. Oh, you and your don't. Oh, I'm sure the mullahs are freaking out over you
00:31:17.000 saying don't all the time. Here was a compilation of various Biden officials saying don't to Iran.
00:31:23.000 And then they did. And what's the message to Iran? Don't.
00:31:28.000 It was very important to send a very clear message to anyone who might seek to take advantage of the
00:31:35.000 conflict in Gaza to threaten our personnel here or anywhere else in the region.
00:31:40.000 Don't do it.
00:31:41.000 What is your message to Hezbollah and its backer, Iran?
00:31:46.000 Don't.
00:31:48.000 Don't, don't, don't.
00:31:51.000 Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't.
00:31:55.000 Approximately two weeks ago, here was Joe Biden explaining Don't.
00:32:03.000 I've already delivered the message to Iran.
00:32:05.000 They know not to do anything.
00:32:08.000 Oh, they know not to do anything, do they?
00:32:10.000 Well, that's weird because they're a bunch of dead Americans.
00:32:13.000 So there's that.
00:32:15.000 And this is what happens when you are weak.
00:32:18.000 And why is Joe Biden being so weak?
00:32:19.000 And the answer is because Joe Biden is afraid he's going to lose the reelect.
00:32:22.000 That's why Joe Biden is weak.
00:32:23.000 And Iran knows it.
00:32:24.000 Yesterday an Al Jazeera reporter grilled the spokesperson for the White House about all of this and said,
00:32:30.000 are you following the polls?
00:32:32.000 Are you guys following the polls?
00:32:33.000 Now, Al Jazeera is of course an outlet, it's a pro Hamas outlet, Al Jazeera.
00:32:37.000 It's run by the Qataris.
00:32:38.000 The Qataris are very much in league with Iran.
00:32:40.000 They play this sort of fake middleman position, the Qataris very often,
00:32:43.000 in which because they host terror groups in their country, they act as sort of the staging ground for negotiations
00:32:49.000 between those terror groups and terror sponsors and Western states when those negotiations
00:32:53.000 have to take place.
00:32:54.000 So the negotiations between say Hamas and the Israelis over the hostages are taking place in Qatar.
00:32:59.000 Al Jazeera is funded by Qatar and it is a pro terror outlet.
00:33:03.000 It is a pro-Hamas outlet, Al Jazeera.
00:33:05.000 So, Al Jazeera is asking the Biden administration, aren't you following the polls?
00:33:10.000 Why are they asking that?
00:33:11.000 Because they understand that the media, you want to talk about an actual conspiracy?
00:33:14.000 The media do not like the West.
00:33:16.000 They do not.
00:33:17.000 They think that the West is bad.
00:33:19.000 They think the West is colonialist and imperialist.
00:33:21.000 And they believe in the equity structure that has been built up by the political left that suggests that lack of success in the world must be due to exploitation by the West.
00:33:31.000 In any case, The media do have an agenda.
00:33:34.000 Their agenda is shape American public opinion so as to pressure Joe Biden into giving in to the bad guys.
00:33:39.000 Al Jazeera knows that, which is why they're pushing it, too.
00:33:41.000 Here's a reporter for Al Jazeera pressing the White House.
00:33:44.000 This is an election year.
00:33:45.000 Is the president looking at his polling when he's weighing all of these options?
00:33:50.000 Is the president looking at what?
00:33:54.000 That's a heck of a question.
00:33:55.000 He's not looking.
00:33:56.000 Ma'am, ma'am, ma'am, let me just stop you right there.
00:33:59.000 Commander-in-Chief is not looking at polling or considering the electoral calendar when he's defending... Now can I answer the question?
00:34:10.000 He's not looking at political calculations or the polling or the electoral calendar as he works to protect our troops ashore and our ships at sea.
00:34:20.000 And any suggestion to the contrary is offensive.
00:34:24.000 Okay, but he is.
00:34:26.000 Well, let's be clear, he is.
00:34:27.000 That is the reason why Ron thinks he can get away with all this.
00:34:30.000 And you know who knows that he is?
00:34:31.000 Members of the media.
00:34:32.000 We'll get to that in just one second.
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00:35:23.000 Okay, meanwhile.
00:35:24.000 So, why exactly are the media focusing in on the polling numbers?
00:35:27.000 Because this is the thing that they can shape.
00:35:29.000 The media are very anti-Israel.
00:35:31.000 They're very anti-America.
00:35:32.000 They do not like the presence of the West in the Middle East because they somehow believe that the lack of success in the Middle East is due to Western interventionism as opposed to, you know, the gigantic history of failure in the Middle East.
00:35:44.000 But in any case, you can see that in the media.
00:35:46.000 So there's an amazing clip that emerged a couple of days ago.
00:35:49.000 There was a host from Sky News who was interviewing a spokesperson for Israel and compared the Gaza Strip to the Holocaust.
00:36:00.000 It's just, this is the kind of crap that the media are doing on a regular basis.
00:36:05.000 You've called for a voluntary migration of Palestinians from Gaza.
00:36:08.000 In November, you co-authored a piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
00:36:11.000 You suggested the ethnic cleansing of some of Gaza's population to Western countries that would accept the refugees.
00:36:18.000 The exact quote from that article, one idea is for countries around the world to accept limited numbers of Gazan families who have expressed a desire to relocate.
00:36:27.000 Do you stand by those statements?
00:36:29.000 Ethnic cleansing, that's a word you used.
00:36:32.000 If you read my article, I spoke about voluntary immigration.
00:36:34.000 I read that article.
00:36:36.000 I did read that article.
00:36:37.000 And I've just quoted from it.
00:36:38.000 Let me remind you that you spoke about ethnic cleansing.
00:36:41.000 I spoke about voluntary immigration.
00:36:43.000 And I think anyone in the world who voluntarily wants to move to another country should be eligible to do that.
00:36:49.000 Yes, the sort of voluntary relocation of many Jewish people during the Holocaust, I imagine.
00:36:53.000 It is not a convenient relocation.
00:36:55.000 How can you even compare that?
00:36:56.000 Shame on you for that comparison.
00:36:58.000 That's a shameful anti-Semitic equation.
00:37:01.000 Let us please go to the subjective.
00:37:02.000 I will not allow you to speak about the Holocaust.
00:37:04.000 You said, you said earlier... Sky News has been a disaster area.
00:37:08.000 I mean, listen to that.
00:37:09.000 She literally just compared the question of whether a Palestinian who wants to leave the Gaza Strip, so is not to live in the Gaza Strip, wants to live in Egypt or Jordan or somewhere else.
00:37:18.000 She compared that to Jews being shipped via train to concentration camps.
00:37:22.000 This is...
00:37:24.000 This is what these people are talking about.
00:37:26.000 I mean, like, this is what the media are.
00:37:28.000 So this is why they are hoping that Joe Biden is looking at the polls.
00:37:30.000 And unfortunately, Joe Biden is, in fact, looking at the polls, particularly on his left, which is what he's afraid of.
00:37:36.000 Meanwhile, again, because the Biden administration has a central foreign policy fallacy, which is that the Israel-Palestinian issue is central to all Middle Eastern politics.
00:37:44.000 And it is a lie.
00:37:45.000 They continue to put pressure on Israel, despite the fact that Hamas continues to deny every hostage deal offered to them.
00:37:52.000 According to the Jerusalem Post, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is turning down an offer of a two-month ceasefire in which Israel would release more Palestinian terrorists in exchange for the innocent hostages that are being held by Hamas.
00:38:05.000 He turned it down because he says Israel has to stop the war.
00:38:08.000 So, who's anti-ceasefire now?
00:38:12.000 Meanwhile, the Biden administration continues to foment support for the UNRWA.
00:38:19.000 Refugee and Works Agency, which again is a garbage, the Relief and Works Agency, it's a garbage agency.
00:38:25.000 It has been garbage for decades.
00:38:27.000 It is run by Hamas.
00:38:29.000 A recent Wall Street Journal investigation found 1,200 people out of the UNRWA's total 12,000 employees had direct links to Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
00:38:39.000 One-tenth of them.
00:38:40.000 And it's way higher than that because those are people with direct links.
00:38:44.000 And so the United States temporarily paused aid to the UNRWA because it's a Hamas front group, because that's what it is.
00:38:49.000 But because the Biden administration refuses to acknowledge the reality, which is that the Palestinian population in Gaza is incredibly radical, that they do support terrorism on an ideological basis.
00:38:59.000 By the way, so do Palestinians in the West Bank.
00:39:01.000 By every available polling metric, every single one, there is no data to support the idea that there is a moderate Palestinian population that does not seek vast terror attacks on Jews and the murder of many Jews.
00:39:11.000 There is no data to support that.
00:39:13.000 No, I wish there were.
00:39:14.000 It would make life a lot easier.
00:39:15.000 But wish-casting is not, in fact, a foreign policy.
00:39:18.000 And yet, that's what the Biden administration continues to do.
00:39:20.000 So, John Kirby, he's being tried out there by the Biden administration to defend the UNRWA in the face of this investigation.
00:39:27.000 The U.S.
00:39:28.000 has suspended aid momentarily to the U.N.
00:39:31.000 relief agency UNRWA in Gaza after accusations that members of the U.N.
00:39:37.000 agency were connected to Hamas and in one case participated in the October 7th attack on Israel.
00:39:45.000 What is the proper response if these allegations are verified and what does that mean in terms of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as well as this is the main agency administrating aid there?
00:39:55.000 Yeah, the UN Reliefs and Works Agency, UNRES, it's called colloquially.
00:39:59.000 They have been doing a lot of amazing work on the ground in Gaza, literally helping save thousands of lives.
00:40:05.000 Now, they're taking this seriously.
00:40:07.000 They brought the information to us, by the way.
00:40:10.000 They let us know that they had this report of about a dozen employees who were somehow involved in October 7th.
00:40:16.000 They're taking this very, very seriously.
00:40:17.000 They've called for an investigation, and they've made it clear that they're going to hold anybody appropriately accountable, to include criminal prosecutions.
00:40:27.000 Total whitewash.
00:40:28.000 Total whitewash there from the Biden White House.
00:40:29.000 Again, appeasement of the bad guys leads to bad guys taking advantage of you.
00:40:34.000 Shocker, shocker.
00:40:35.000 That, again, is the story of the Biden administration.
00:40:38.000 Meanwhile, on the immigration issue, Joe Biden continues to be a disaster area.
00:40:42.000 The giant wave of immigration, illegal immigration, has it crested?
00:40:48.000 Unclear at this point.
00:40:49.000 The latest stats that we have from the southern border in December, which were just released recently, 370,000.
00:40:54.000 370,000 border encounters, which means those people, they don't call them border arrests because the vast majority of those people aren't sent back to their home countries.
00:41:02.000 Those people are let into the United States.
00:41:05.000 This is a losing issue for Joe Biden.
00:41:06.000 By every available polling metric, Joe Biden is getting his butt kicked.
00:41:10.000 In terms of polling data on immigration.
00:41:12.000 It's a very damaging issue for him.
00:41:14.000 So naturally leave it to Republicans to try to steal defeat from the jaws of victory.
00:41:19.000 So you know what is not useful?
00:41:20.000 What is not useful is the take our border back convoy to the border.
00:41:24.000 Not a useful thing.
00:41:25.000 Not a useful thing.
00:41:26.000 The reason it's not a useful thing is because the state of Texas has this under control.
00:41:29.000 The state of Texas is using its actual state power as it should to protect its citizenry.
00:41:36.000 The state of Texas has not been ordered by the Supreme Court to get rid of razor wire or not build any more razor wire or not to put any more border wall in place.
00:41:44.000 They've not been ordered to do any of that by the Supreme Court.
00:41:47.000 They are taking care of the issue.
00:41:49.000 You know what's going to be a problem is if anybody in that border convoy decides to get
00:41:54.000 frisky with a federal officer, guess what the media is going to do with that?
00:41:59.000 First rule of politics, do not get in the way of your opponent when your opponent is
00:42:02.000 making a mistake.
00:42:03.000 Very first rule of politics, just don't do it.
00:42:06.000 And that holds true of Donald Trump as well.
00:42:08.000 Donald Trump should simply stand aside and he should let Joe Biden sizzle in the sun.
00:42:13.000 That's what he should do here.
00:42:15.000 So Donald Trump seems to be shading his message in a better way.
00:42:18.000 So yesterday he was like, put the failure of the border bill on me, which is exactly what Joe Biden wants.
00:42:21.000 Today he put out a statement that is much better and much more explanatory.
00:42:26.000 Which, I mean, when I read a Donald Trump statement, you can kind of tell what he's writing and what he's not based on the syntax and how the sentences are structured.
00:42:33.000 He needs to let other people write his truth social tweets because this one's very good.
00:42:36.000 A border bill is not necessary to stop the millions of people, many from jails and mental institutions located all over the world that are pouring into our country.
00:42:42.000 It's an invasion the likes of which no country has ever had to endure.
00:42:44.000 It's not sustainable or affordable and will, under crooked Joe Biden, only get worse.
00:42:48.000 I had the safest and most secure border in U.S.
00:42:51.000 history.
00:42:51.000 I didn't need a bill.
00:42:52.000 They're using this horrific Senate bill as a way of being able to put the border disaster onto the shoulders of the Republicans.
00:42:57.000 The Democrats broke the border.
00:42:58.000 They should fix it.
00:42:59.000 No legislation is needed.
00:43:00.000 It's already there.
00:43:01.000 Okay, that happens to be true.
00:43:04.000 And Donald Trump saying so is good.
00:43:07.000 Donald Trump saying so is good.
00:43:09.000 And so, guys, Trump's got this.
00:43:13.000 Greg Abbott's got this in Texas.
00:43:15.000 Border convoy to bring a... Don't.
00:43:17.000 Just don't.
00:43:18.000 It raises a lot of risks that are absolutely unnecessary, again, when your political opponents are making a mistake.
00:43:24.000 All right, so we're supposed to believe that E. Jean Carroll, who was a gossip columnist who wrote a lot about sex in the 1990s, was raped by Donald Trump.
00:43:33.000 And as I've pointed out before, E. Jean Carroll's claims, they don't bear even kind of mild scrutiny.
00:43:40.000 She doesn't know what season it was when she was raped.
00:43:43.000 She can't describe the physical layout of the store, so you can't even check the timeline on whether she's telling the truth or not.
00:43:50.000 She can't tell you what day of the week.
00:43:51.000 She can't tell you anything about any of these things.
00:43:52.000 She just knows that she met Donald Trump in a Bergdorf and then he took her upstairs to a dressing room and proceeded to rape her.
00:44:02.000 This is what she said.
00:44:03.000 And jurors in New York decided that she was telling the truth, which means that Trump denying it and then calling her kind of a crazy person was an act of defamation.
00:44:15.000 So according to USA Today, jurors originally said that he had not quote-unquote raped her because they weren't convinced that Trump penetrated her with his member, but they were convinced that he sexually abused her.
00:44:31.000 So, again, she had claimed more than that.
00:44:34.000 So, E.J.
00:44:35.000 and Carol claimed that he actively raped her, like, with his member.
00:44:40.000 The jury found that Donald Trump had used his digits, but not his member.
00:44:46.000 That's what the jury actually found.
00:44:47.000 Based on what?
00:44:48.000 I don't even know how that... Like, that doesn't even make any sense.
00:44:50.000 As a jury verdict, that makes no sense.
00:44:52.000 You have a witness who claims she was raped, and then she describes in detail the rape, including what was used to rape her.
00:44:58.000 And the jury says, no, no, no, we don't believe you on like this half, but we believe you on this half.
00:45:01.000 You have no details on like where it happened, when it happened, any of that kind of stuff.
00:45:04.000 But we believe that he didn't rape you, but he kind of like kind of raped you.
00:45:08.000 He sexually assaulted you, but he didn't rape you.
00:45:10.000 It's a bizarre jury verdict.
00:45:11.000 Basically, it was a New York jury that hates Donald Trump finding that they hate Donald Trump.
00:45:15.000 So Donald Trump then ripped on the verdict.
00:45:19.000 And he said that he didn't believe it.
00:45:20.000 And he thought that she's a liar and a crazy person and all the rest of this.
00:45:24.000 So she sued him again for defamation.
00:45:26.000 And this time she won an $83 million judgment.
00:45:29.000 Now the thing about E. Jean Carroll, as we've discussed before on the program,
00:45:33.000 is that she is not a good witness.
00:45:35.000 She's not a reliable witness in her own cause.
00:45:37.000 Like here is a clip from a 2019 interview with CNN.
00:45:42.000 And it's super duper weird.
00:45:43.000 Like it's just weird.
00:45:44.000 You don't feel like a victim.
00:45:47.000 I was not thrown on the ground and ravished.
00:45:50.000 The word rape carries so many sexual connotations.
00:45:54.000 This was not sexual.
00:45:57.000 It hurt.
00:46:00.000 I think most people think of rape as a violent assault.
00:46:05.000 I think most people think of rape as being sexy.
00:46:09.000 Let's take a short break.
00:46:10.000 Think of the fantasies.
00:46:13.000 Okay, so, start off with that.
00:46:14.000 Now, the judge, by the way, in Trump's defamation case, refused to allow the admission of that tape into evidence.
00:46:23.000 Why?
00:46:23.000 Because that might actually win Trump the case.
00:46:25.000 You can't allow that.
00:46:26.000 You can't allow the accuser being a weirdo, strange person to come up here.
00:46:32.000 So none of this case makes any sense.
00:46:33.000 So yesterday, Eugene Carroll appears with Rachel Maddow.
00:46:36.000 And Rachel Maddow asks her what she's gonna do with all of this money that she has now taken from Donald Trump.
00:46:41.000 And she presumably expects her to say some stuff about how she's going to use the money in order to stand up for women, how she's going to fight rape everywhere, and the sexual assault culture and all this.
00:46:50.000 And instead, Yijin Carol, being a complete weirdo and a non-credible witness, says this.
00:46:54.000 And you can see Rachel Maddow wanting to jump over the desk and duct tape her mouth.
00:46:59.000 I mean, it's wild.
00:47:00.000 Here we go.
00:47:01.000 You've talked about using some of Trump's money that you're about to get to help shore up women's rights.
00:47:08.000 Do you know what that might be?
00:47:10.000 What that might look like?
00:47:11.000 Yes, Rachel.
00:47:13.000 Yes.
00:47:13.000 Tell me.
00:47:14.000 I had such, such great ideas for all the good I'm going to do with this money.
00:47:20.000 First thing, Rachel.
00:47:22.000 You and I are going to go shopping.
00:47:24.000 We're going to get completely new wardrobes, new shoes, motorcycle for Crowley, new fishing rod for Robbie.
00:47:31.000 Rachel, what do you want?
00:47:32.000 A penthouse?
00:47:33.000 It's yours, Rachel!
00:47:35.000 Penthouse and France?
00:47:37.000 You want France?
00:47:38.000 You want to go fishing in France?
00:47:40.000 No?
00:47:40.000 Alright, alright, okay.
00:47:43.000 That's a joke.
00:47:46.000 That's a joke.
00:47:46.000 Although, if me fishing in France could do something for women's rights, I would take the hint.
00:47:51.000 You know, I would obviously take one.
00:47:54.000 Look at how Rachel Maddow tries to buy that back.
00:47:58.000 Wow.
00:47:58.000 As if.
00:47:59.000 As if you need persuasion.
00:48:05.000 Oh my goodness.
00:48:05.000 That is some awkward laughter.
00:48:07.000 That is some really awkward laughter.
00:48:09.000 And that's the person who we're supposed to believe Was raped by Donald Trump, didn't fib about it, isn't doing this for personal gain, is doing this because she's just so upset with what happened to her, allegedly, 30 years ago.
00:48:23.000 That's what we're supposed to believe.
00:48:25.000 We're supposed to believe that she didn't do this for the money, when she literally just went on Rachel Maddow and said she did it for the money.
00:48:31.000 She literally went on Rachel Maddow and she said what she's going to use the money for.
00:48:33.000 It doesn't mean she was lying.
00:48:34.000 Maybe she wasn't lying.
00:48:35.000 Although again, I have very significant doubts based on her lack of any sort of supporting evidence that I can find anywhere that would support her story.
00:48:44.000 But that clip is insane.
00:48:46.000 Rachel Maddow is feeding her the biggest softball in the world, which is, how are you going to help women?
00:48:49.000 And she's like, I'm going to go on a shopping trip, shopping spree.
00:48:51.000 You want to go on a shopping spree with me, Rachel?
00:48:52.000 And Rachel's like, oh my God, get me out of here right now.
00:48:56.000 Rachel Maddow's like, if it'll help women's rights, if it'll help, say women's rights, say it, say it!
00:49:01.000 Say women's rights, say it right now!
00:49:03.000 And Eugene Carroll's like, I'm gonna buy myself a fishing rod.
00:49:07.000 Oh my God.
00:49:08.000 So Democrats who believe that somehow this is going to damage Donald Trump in the presidential race, I have another thing for you.
00:49:15.000 If you guys trot this out as evidence that Donald Trump is like the bad guy, he's like a terrible person, he's a rapist and all the rest, she is the least credible person I may have ever seen on camera.
00:49:24.000 My goodness.
00:49:25.000 Alrighty guys, the rest of the show continues right now.
00:49:26.000 You're not going to want to miss it.
00:49:27.000 We'll get into Anne Hathaway talking about the evils of heteronormativity and weirdos throwing soup at the Mona Lisa.
00:49:33.000 If you're not a member, become a member.
00:49:34.000 Use code Shapiro at checkout for two months free on all annual plans.