The Ben Shapiro Show - Biden’s America: Massive Inflation, Chinese Spy Balloons, And Exploding Trains | Ep. 1669

00:00:00.000 Inflation won't come down as Joe Biden keeps touting his big spending agenda.

00:00:03.000 We still have no clue why the military keeps shooting down random objects in the sky.

00:00:07.000 And Nikki Haley declares a presidential run.

00:00:09.000 I'm Ben Shapiro.

00:00:09.000 This is the Ben Shapiro Show.

00:00:11.000 Today's show is sponsored by ExpressVPN.

00:00:18.000 Thousands of my listeners have already secured their network data.

00:00:21.000 Join them at ExpressVPN.com slash Ben.

00:00:23.000 So Bidenflation, it's not just there, it is actually in some ways getting worse.

00:00:27.000 The reason I say this is because the media have declared that actually inflation is cooling, guys.

00:00:31.000 It's actually cooling.

00:00:33.000 Why do they say this?

00:00:33.000 Well, the January inflation numbers came in and they suggest a 6.4% year-over-year increase in the inflation rate in the United States.

00:00:43.000 Now, the biggest problem here Is that the media have declared that this is actually a slowing pace because it was 6.5% in December.

00:00:52.000 The problem is you had 500,000 job pickups in January and a 6.4% inflation rate and the consumer price index went up.

00:00:59.000 And the biggest problem of all, the thing that the media have been completely ignoring is that when you're looking at year on year statistics, you actually have to look at the prior year and how much it increased last year from the year before.

00:01:10.000 And what you're actually getting right now, you're getting an aggregation of inflation rates at this point.

00:01:15.000 So Joe Biden is out there and he's suggesting the inflation report is good.

00:01:18.000 I want you to hear what he has to say before we completely debunk everything he's saying right now because it makes no sense.

00:01:23.000 The good news is that inflation in America is continuing to come down this fall in seven straight months.

00:01:28.000 There's more to go.

00:01:30.000 Food prices in the grocery store are coming down.

00:01:32.000 Gas prices are down $1.60 since their peak.

00:01:37.000 Real wages for working Americans are up over the last several months and living in welcome breathing. 0.99

00:01:41.000 Melissa, my dad used to say, all I'm looking for, Joey, is just a little breather at the end of the month.

00:01:48.000 It's like my dad used to say, Joey.

00:01:49.000 Whenever Joe Biden says, it's like my dad used to say, Joey, whatever comes next is not true.

00:01:55.000 His suggestion that everything is going fine on the inflation front is just wrong.

00:01:59.000 According to the Wall Street Journal, still elevated inflation cooled slightly at the start of 2023 to 6.4% in January from a year earlier, with energy, housing, food, and other items keeping some pressure on prices.

00:02:08.000 The increase in the Consumer Price Index, a closely watched measure of inflation, edged down from 6.5% in December, according to the Labor Department, and marked the seventh straight month of easing inflation since peaking at 9.1% in June, which is the highest reading since 1981.

00:02:21.000 But the cooling trend is moderating.

00:02:23.000 So if you had hoped that those ratcheting up of the interest rates were going to cool down the inflation in any serious way, well...

00:02:29.000 That is stalling out.

00:02:30.000 On a monthly basis, the consumer price index actually rose 0.5% in January from December, compared with a previous 0.1% increase, which means actual loss in real wages over the course of the last year.

00:02:42.000 There's a reason the markets were really choppy yesterday.

00:02:45.000 Core CPI, which excludes energy and food prices, rose 5.6% from a year earlier, down from 5.7% in December.

00:02:52.000 But again, the fact that we are now petering out in terms of the quashing of inflation is the real problem.

00:02:58.000 So if you look at the below the headline stats, things start to get truly ugly.

00:03:04.000 As Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air says, the consumer price index for all urban consumers rose 0.5% in January on a seasonally adjusted basis after increasing 0.1% in December, the U.S.

00:03:13.000 Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

00:03:15.000 Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 6.4% before the seasonal adjustment.

00:03:20.000 So this is the third time that Joe Biden has declared victory over inflation.

00:03:26.000 But what you actually see is that there has been an increase in the consumer price index in August, September, October, November, December, and January.

00:03:35.000 The last time there was no increase in the consumer price index, seasonally adjusted, was in July.

00:03:41.000 The White House is hoping that you just forget about all this because, again, we went from 6.5% in December to 6.4% year-on-year inflation.

00:03:48.000 The problem is, and this is the biggest problem, of course, is that CPI, having drifted downward from last summer, does not adjust for the fact that we are now making a comparison with months, right?

00:03:59.000 It's year-over-year.

00:04:00.000 We are now comparing January 2023 to January 2022.

00:04:01.000 2023 to January 2022.

00:04:04.000 While the problem is in January 2022, you'll recall the inflation rate was 7.5%.

00:04:09.000 Which means the January 2023 is 6.4% higher than that.

00:04:14.000 Right, so you're actually compounding now.

00:04:17.000 So, if you had a giant jump from January 2021 to January 2022, a 7.5% increase, and then you had from there a 6.4% increase, you're talking about, over the course of two years, significantly more than a 10% inflation rate.

00:04:33.000 Over the course of two years.

00:04:34.000 And the same thing is going to happen next month.

00:04:37.000 In fact, if you look at the U.S.

00:04:38.000 inflation rate by month, here is how it goes since Joe Biden took office.

00:04:42.000 January of 2021, 1.4 percent.

00:04:44.000 February, 1.7 percent.

00:04:46.000 March, 2.6 percent.

00:04:47.000 That is the last time that the inflation rate was anything close to normal.

00:04:51.000 Those are the year-over-year inflation rates.

00:04:53.000 Then you had April of 2021, 4.2, May 5.0, June 5.4, July 5.4, August 5.3, September 5.4, October 6.2.

00:04:55.000 It started picking up and picking up and picking up to the point where January 2022, you had a 7.5% year over year increase in the inflation rate.

00:05:00.000 And January 2023, again, a 6.4% increase year over year.

00:05:02.000 point to it started picking up and picking up and picking up to the point where January 2022 you had a 7.5% year over year increase in the inflation rate and January 2023 again a 6.4% increase year over year.

00:05:14.000 So what's February going to bring?

00:05:15.000 Well, I mean, it ain't going to be great because remember year over year, February of 2022 compared to February of 2021, that is a 7.9% inflation rate.

00:05:24.000 Year over year in February of 2022.

00:05:27.000 So let's say that the inflation rate cools slightly year over year to like 6.3%.

00:05:33.000 Well, that means, again, that using that compounding, that over the course of two years, the inflation rate has increased significantly more than probably 12 or 13%.

00:05:42.000 That is a real problem.

00:05:44.000 As Ed Morrissey points out, we are stuck in an inflation rut.

00:05:47.000 Washington Post economics reporter Heather Long pulled out some of the key data in the tables.

00:05:52.000 Groceries are up 11.3% in the past year.

00:05:53.000 Eating out is up 8.2% in the past year.

00:05:54.000 year. Eating out is up 8.2% in the past year. Natural gas is up 26.7% in the past year.

00:06:01.000 Electricity is up 11.9% Rent is up 8.6% in the past year.

00:06:03.000 Airfare is up 25.6% in the last year.

00:06:05.000 Vehicle insurance 14.7% and pet services 8.4%.

00:06:07.000 And this means a loss in real pay for workers.

00:06:08.000 Average hourly earnings fell 0.2% for the month.

00:06:10.000 and pet services 8.4% and this means a loss in real pay for workers.

00:06:16.000 Average hourly earnings fell 0.2% for the month.

00:06:18.000 They were down 1.8% from one year ago according to a separate Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

00:06:24.000 So Joe Biden's economy is in real trouble and all the happy talk we're seeing last week.

00:06:27.000 Maybe we're going to avoid a recession.

00:06:29.000 Maybe everything is going to be OK.

00:06:30.000 Maybe we've hit the soft landing.

00:06:32.000 No, not even close at this point.

00:06:35.000 And the simple fact is that the authorities lied to you about this sort of stuff.

00:06:39.000 They lied to you about a lot of stuff.

00:06:40.000 They lied to you about the fact that, for example, they can see your data.

00:06:42.000 So the authorities work hand-in-glove with Big Tech.

00:06:45.000 Big Tech provides them the data on you.

00:06:47.000 Why would you give them your data?

00:06:49.000 Because this is how Big Tech makes its money and this is how the government keeps track of you.

00:06:52.000 Instead, do what I do and use ExpressVPN.

00:06:55.000 ExpressVPN makes sure that there can't be somebody out there 24-7 who's watching everything that you do.

00:06:59.000 Your ISP is tracking and logging every single website you've ever visited.

00:07:02.000 They can legally sell that information to anyone or simply make it available to the government.

00:07:05.000 This is why I use ExpressVPN.

00:07:07.000 ExpressVPN reroutes your internet connection through their secure servers so your internet provider can't track your online activity.

00:07:12.000 Now you might be wondering, if I'm rooting all my data through a VPN, can't that VPN log my data instead?

00:07:17.000 That does in fact happen, but not in the case of ExpressVPN.

00:07:20.000 ExpressVPN is the only VPN I trust that uses trusted server technology that makes it impossible for their VPNs to store the data.

00:07:26.000 They literally have no ability to store your data.

00:07:28.000 Stop letting people keep logs of what you do online.

00:07:30.000 Your data is your own.

00:07:31.000 Visit expressvpn.com slash ben right now.

00:07:33.000 Find out how you can get three extra months for free.

00:07:35.000 That's e-x-p-r-e-s-s-vpn.com slash ben.

00:07:37.000 Again, expressvpn.com slash ben.

00:07:41.000 Okay, so again, Joe Biden is just going to try to lie his way through this.

00:07:45.000 I've read you the stats.

00:07:46.000 Life is significantly more expensive than it was one year ago, and it's way the hell more expensive than it was two years ago.

00:07:51.000 And Joe Biden can try to blame that on Ukraine.

00:07:52.000 It ain't Ukraine. 0.76

00:07:53.000 Joe Biden can try to blame that on the pandemic.

00:07:55.000 The pandemic's been over for at least a year and a half at this point, if you date the end of the pandemic to the widespread availability of vaccines, which even the most conservative people on COVID really should do.

00:08:06.000 Meanwhile, Karine Jean-Pierre over at the White House, she is claiming that there's a decline in real wages, but that is showing that Joe Biden's plan is actually working.

00:08:14.000 So we now have, once again, complete unfalsifiability in politics, when if the wages go up, that is evidence that the plan is working, and if the wages go down, that is also evidence that the plan is working.

00:08:23.000 Here's Karine Jean-Pierre, world's most untalented White House press secretary. 0.80

00:08:25.000 Administration officials have said growing real wages is an important marker for the economy.

00:08:34.000 How do you view the setback in today's numbers?

00:08:36.000 So, a couple of things.

00:08:37.000 I do want to say that what we have said many times is that we believe that the President's economic plan is indeed working and it's giving people a little breathing room.

00:08:48.000 You heard me say this at the top, how we have seen the plan actually working.

00:08:56.000 We're seeing inflation moderate.

00:09:01.000 Okay, again, the plan is not, in fact, working and everybody knows it.

00:09:04.000 But again, I understand.

00:09:06.000 I mean, she's got a rough job. 1.00

00:09:07.000 Karine Jean-Pierre has to go out and lie on behalf of a liar.

00:09:09.000 That's a very, very difficult job.

00:09:11.000 Here she was yesterday suggesting that Joe Biden deserves a lot of credit.

00:09:13.000 I mean, I would say blame, but sure, credit, if this is the way that you see the world.

00:09:18.000 Americans, you know, want to know if there's more to this beyond just sort of talk and keeping it up public.

00:09:24.000 So look, the president's not going to give up on this, right?

00:09:26.000 He's going to keep at it.

00:09:27.000 He's going to make sure that we keep the American people, American families, American communities safe.

00:09:32.000 Now, if you remember, if you look at the last two years, this is a president that deserves a lot of credit.

00:09:38.000 We've gotten a lot of things done.

00:09:40.000 If you think about the executive actions that he took, more executive action than any president at this time.

00:09:47.000 One of the fun things in politics is trying to spot the tells in various people in politics and when they're fibbing.

00:09:54.000 For Corinne Jean-Pierre, that is the fast blinking, the use of right, and the constant nodding.

00:09:58.000 When she's doing those things, she's lying.

00:10:00.000 So when she says, things are going amazing and everything is great, Don't you know?

00:10:04.000 Right?

00:10:04.000 I mean, that's what we're saying, right?

00:10:06.000 Okay, you know that she's not telling you the truth.

00:10:09.000 Meanwhile, Cecilia Rouse, who is one of the economic advisors to the president, she's out there suggesting that President Biden is focused like a laser on inflation.

00:10:16.000 If this is him focused on inflation, I'd hate to see what it looks like when he's not focused on inflation.

00:10:21.000 As prices climb, experts worry that older individuals who are in poor physical or mental health or who have lower incomes are at greater risk for not having enough food or for eating less healthy foods.

00:10:33.000 The squeeze also has the potential to isolate them socially if they back away from activities like eating out with friends.

00:10:41.000 I'm just thinking, what would you say to those folks, Cecilia?

00:10:45.000 Absolutely.

00:10:46.000 Inflation is painful across the economy.

00:10:50.000 And that is why the Federal Reserve is taking the action it is taking.

00:10:54.000 It is why President Biden is focused on inflation.

00:10:57.000 So if we go to seniors in the Inflation Reduction Act, he was focused on decreasing costs for them.

00:11:05.000 Oh, that's what he's been focusing on is the Inflation Reduction Act, which again, they even changed what they claimed it was supposed to do.

00:11:12.000 You remember that when they were pushing the Inflation Reduction Act, it was supposed to decrease inflation, which it has not really done in any marked way.

00:11:18.000 And remember, I will say again, the Federal Reserve is tasked with keeping inflation at a 2% annualized rate.

00:11:24.000 We have not seen a 2% annualized rate in this country since February of 2021, the month after Joe Biden took office.

00:11:30.000 Since then, we're now at triple year-on-year what the inflation rate is supposed to be.

00:11:34.000 And that is after a year where there was a quadruple inflation rate, what it's supposed to be.

00:11:39.000 And nearly 8% inflation rate January 2022.

00:11:42.000 And now we have a 6.5% inflation rate in January 2023.

00:11:46.000 And these doles are out there saying everything is working amazing.

00:11:49.000 So what does this mean?

00:11:50.000 It means the Federal Reserve is going to have to ratchet up those interest rates even more.

00:11:53.000 So all of the talk The happy talk in the markets about, well, you know, the Federal Reserve, they're probably going to back off right now.

00:11:58.000 Things are starting to work.

00:11:59.000 It's all going to be fine.

00:12:01.000 The economy is just running too hot.

00:12:02.000 Jason Furman, who is an economic advisor to Barack Obama, he says inflation is going to stay above 3% unless we get a serious recession.

00:12:08.000 And he is totally right about this.

00:12:10.000 I think the markets are just ridiculously complacent about the inflation situation right now.

00:12:17.000 I look at tips.

00:12:18.000 I look at swaps.

00:12:19.000 They have break-evens of inflation of around 2%.

00:12:23.000 I just don't see that.

00:12:24.000 I don't see how we have inflation much below 3% this year.

00:12:29.000 I don't see it coming down below that without a decent-sized recession.

00:12:36.000 He's right about this.

00:12:38.000 The actual retail sales in January jumped 3%.

00:12:41.000 So people are continuing to spend money and that is driving up the prices.

00:12:44.000 People still need to buy the necessities and they still have, again, we spent more money in 2020, 2021 and 2022 than any time in human history.

00:12:52.000 And so people had all of this money pumped into their pocket and now they're spending all that money and it is jacking up the prices for everything.

00:12:59.000 And so that's not going to stop until the economy cools.

00:13:01.000 This is what happens.

00:13:02.000 When the government plays with the money supply.

00:13:04.000 This is what happens when the Federal Reserve decides to essentially buy up every asset in sight in order to inject liquidity into an economy instead of saying, hey, maybe we should hold back and wait off a little bit and then people will go back to work.

00:13:16.000 There's also the problem with a shutdown economy that was pursued in 2020 by a wide variety of high income states.

00:13:23.000 Doing that, as it turns out, just injects tons of liquidity into the economy, and it goes into people's pockets, they save it for a couple of years, and then they spend all of it.

00:13:30.000 And so until that is exhausted, what you're going to end up with is these elevated rates.

00:13:34.000 And meanwhile, you also have supply problems.

00:13:37.000 So one of the things that's happened, obviously, is that oil supply in the country is not meeting demand right now.

00:13:41.000 When Joe Biden took office, the price of a gallon of gas was about $2.40 a gallon.

00:13:45.000 Today, it is a buck more than that.

00:13:46.000 Despite all of Joe Biden's talk about how wonderful he has been on the gas and oil issue, even Joe Biden is now being forced to admit that new refineries are not being built because of him.

00:13:56.000 It's kind of amazing.

00:13:57.000 Sometimes the doddering old man accidentally says something true.

00:14:01.000 We'll get to him saying something true accidentally in just one second.

00:14:03.000 First, I gotta tell you, I'm not getting the kind of sleep that I'm normally accustomed to.

00:14:07.000 And I'm not normally accustomed to tons of sleep.

00:14:10.000 I have three kids.

00:14:11.000 I have a puppy.

00:14:11.000 This means I'm up at all hours of the night.

00:14:13.000 So the only thing that is keeping me sane and rational these days is black rifle coffee.

00:14:18.000 Black Rifle Coffee is fueling Americans before they go out and do epic things with their lives.

00:14:22.000 Led by a team of military veterans, the guys at Black Rifle Coffee are hyper-focused and hyper-vigilant in everything they do.

00:14:27.000 They're obsessed with making great coffee because every great adventure starts with a great cup of coffee.

00:14:31.000 Their founder, Evan Hafer, has actually scoured the planet for the perfect beans, ensuring that they've passed the most stringent standards of excellence.

00:14:37.000 They're constantly coming out with new roasts to try, like their most recent, Beware the Delaware roast.

00:14:41.000 Not to mention, Black Rifle is doing amazing work for our nation's veterans.

00:14:44.000 This year alone, Black Rifle Coffee donated over 120,000 bags of coffee to veterans and first responders.

00:14:49.000 They've also expanded their own team of active duty service members, veterans, and veteran family members.

00:14:54.000 Head on over to BlackRifleCoffee.com, use promo code Shapiro at checkout for 10% off your purchase and your first coffee club order.

00:15:00.000 That's BlackRifleCoffee.com.

00:15:02.000 Use promo code Shapiro for 10% off.

00:15:04.000 You can also find Black Rifle Coffee in grocery and convenience stores near you.

00:15:06.000 That's Black Rifle Coffee, America's coffee.

00:15:09.000 Okay, so Joe Biden, here he is admitting the truth that the reason gas prices are really high is because he keeps trying to undermine the oil and gas companies here to us yesterday.

00:15:18.000 You had the oil companies, you know how much they made in profit this year?

00:15:21.000 $200 billion in the middle of an energy crisis.

00:15:26.000 Because they bought back their stock and they're not investing.

00:15:30.000 And refineries, repairing them or maintaining them.

00:15:34.000 Now they're saying, and it's a legitimate argument they make, they say, Biden, you want to go green and in 10 years you won't need this.

00:15:44.000 We're going to need oil for a long time, gas for a long time.

00:15:44.000 Well, guess what?

00:15:47.000 It's not gonna go all go away.

00:15:49.000 Man, that's what they're saying.

00:15:53.000 He's arguing against his own inflation reduction act now.

00:15:53.000 It's illegitimate.

00:15:58.000 His entire premise is we need to go green and we'll spend trillions of dollars in order to go green.

00:16:02.000 And also the oil companies need to keep pumping and building refineries and investing in future production of oil and natural gas while we tell them that we want to move away from that.

00:16:11.000 He's boxed himself in and he knows that he has boxed himself in.

00:16:14.000 Or maybe he doesn't and he's just saying things.

00:16:16.000 Or maybe the hair plugs have finally seeped down into his neural Activity.

00:16:21.000 Something has happened here that is forcing him to tell the truth right there.

00:16:24.000 The economy is, in fact, on a knife's edge.

00:16:26.000 He's gotten away with it.

00:16:28.000 Largely because, again, people are not feeling the immediate effects other than on the inflation rate, which is very, very serious, and people definitely are feeling that.

00:16:35.000 But that has not been brought home to Democrats because, again, the 2022 elections sort of spared Joe Biden the act.

00:16:42.000 Come 2024, that is likely not to be the case.

00:16:44.000 Now, that is only one major issue that is plaguing this administration.

00:16:47.000 There are a bevy of major issues plaguing this administration.

00:16:49.000 It turns out that wild incompetence combined with significant ideological problems lead to a myriad of issues for this administration.

00:16:58.000 So we still don't know why the U.S.

00:17:00.000 military is now shooting down random objects over the United States.

00:17:02.000 We still have no clue.

00:17:04.000 And we are now finding out, apparently, that the U.S.

00:17:06.000 actually tracked that giant Chinese spy balloon from its launch on Hainan Island along an unusual path, according to the Washington Post.

00:17:15.000 By the time a Chinese spy balloon crossed into American airspace late last month, U.S.

00:17:19.000 military and intelligence agencies had been tracking it for nearly a week, watching as it lifted off from its home base on Hainan Island near China's south coast.

00:17:26.000 monitors watched as the balloon settled into a flight path that would appear to have taken it over Guam.

00:17:26.000 U.S.

00:17:31.000 But somewhere along that easterly route, the craft took an unexpected northern turn, according to several U.S.

00:17:35.000 officials, who said analysts are now examining the possibility China did not intend to penetrate the American heartland with its airborne surveillance device.

00:17:41.000 The balloon floated above Alaska's Aleutian Islands, thousands of miles away from Guam, and drifted over Canada, where it encountered strong winds that appeared to have pushed the balloon south into the continental United States.

00:17:51.000 And then, of course, it was shot down after it traversed the entirety of the continental United States.

00:17:56.000 This new account suggests the ensuing international crisis that has ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Beijing may have been, at least partly, the result of a mistake.

00:18:03.000 So I have a question.

00:18:04.000 If we were tracing it from points of origin, why didn't we shoot it down when it went over Alaska?

00:18:10.000 Why didn't we shoot it down over Canada?

00:18:11.000 We've been shooting down objects over Alaska and Canada, have we not, over the course of the past week?

00:18:15.000 So what exactly would you say that you do here if you're in the intelligence agencies and you're watching a giant Chinese spy balloon miss Guam and hit Alaska?

00:18:23.000 At a certain point here, you gotta be like, uh, guys, maybe we should shoot that thing down.

00:18:26.000 That is not going the way we thought that that was gonna go.

00:18:28.000 But apparently, they're like, no, it's probably fine.

00:18:30.000 It's probably okay.

00:18:31.000 And then, of course, in reaction to their own incompetence, they start shooting down pretty much everything in sight.

00:18:35.000 And it's like, hey, look, it's a random drone above Lake Huron.

00:18:38.000 Let's shoot that thing down with a sidewinder that costs 400 grand. 0.98

00:18:41.000 Hey, look, there's another octagonal object that's somewhere over Canada. 0.95

00:18:44.000 Probably we should shoot that down.

00:18:46.000 So you went from absolutely complacent about a giant Chinese spy balloon that is visible to the naked eye above Montana, floating across the entirety of the continental United States.

00:18:55.000 Absolute complacence about that.

00:18:57.000 To insane trigger happiness over, oh my god, it's a plastic bag floating in the wind. 1.00

00:19:03.000 Shoot it, guys! 1.00

00:19:03.000 Shoot it! 1.00

00:19:04.000 We have to do something! 1.00

00:19:06.000 Now, if you think that's part of a thought-out policy, it's because you're an idiot. 1.00

00:19:08.000 This is not part of a thought-out policy. 1.00

00:19:10.000 Everyone is incompetent. 1.00

00:19:11.000 Again, first rule of politics, Hanlon's razor, everything that only that which is not attributable to stupidity should be attributed to malice. 1.00

00:19:21.000 This is a stupid administration filled with stupid people. 1.00

00:19:23.000 Now, again, there are a lot of people in politics who are very stupid on all sides of the political aisle. 1.00

00:19:28.000 As I say to most people, when we talk about politics, one of the things that bothers me the most is this assumption that everybody is ill-motivated because they're just super uber-competent. 0.99

00:19:36.000 No one is competent.

00:19:37.000 Think about your own industry.

00:19:38.000 Think about the people who you are in business with.

00:19:42.000 How many of them would you consider really, really smart and competent?

00:19:45.000 The answer is probably not all that many. 0.62

00:19:47.000 For most people, they think about their own business like, yeah, man, everybody in my business is kind of a dummy. 1.00

00:19:51.000 People just do stupid stuff. 0.99

00:19:52.000 The same thing is true in politics, and it's particularly true of the Biden administration. 0.99

00:19:56.000 What makes that threatening is they take that incompetence and then they say, we need more control.

00:20:00.000 And the failures that they have actually created then become evidence that they need more control so that they can then pursue more failures.

00:20:06.000 We're seeing this on the economy with inflation.

00:20:07.000 We need to spend more money, guys.

00:20:09.000 The real problem is we haven't spent enough money.

00:20:11.000 We need more control, more regulatory control over your life. 1.00

00:20:14.000 We are stupid. 1.00

00:20:15.000 And so we created this massive inflation cycle. 1.00

00:20:17.000 Obviously, the solution is give us more power.

00:20:20.000 And now we're seeing the same thing with regard to the Chinese spy balloon.

00:20:23.000 We're incompetent, so we allowed this thing to float across the entire continental United States.

00:20:27.000 Now you should trust us if we shoot down every single thing that we see.

00:20:29.000 Okay, you don't even know what you're shooting down.

00:20:34.000 I mean, they're admitting they don't know what they are shooting down.

00:20:37.000 Which should frighten us, because frankly, that means that a foreign adversary could take advantage of the fact that we have a lot of dum-dums in charge. 1.00

00:20:46.000 And if all of this makes you a little bit depressed, I'm going to tell you something even more depressing right now. 0.95

00:20:51.000 You are going to die. 0.96

00:20:51.000 You didn't see that one coming, did you? 0.96

00:20:53.000 But the reality is that since we are all going to die, that means we should all have life insurance.

00:20:57.000 It is a smart thing to do if you have a family that is dependent on you.

00:21:01.000 You should have life insurance in case, God forbid, something should hit you.

00:21:03.000 You're just walking along the street and suddenly...

00:21:05.000 Joe Biden's Air Force shoots down a random object in the sky, and as it's plummeting toward Earth and you're directly in its sights, you think to yourself, man, I shouldn't have voted for that guy.

00:21:14.000 And also, I probably should have gotten life insurance with Policy Genius.

00:21:17.000 With Policy Genius, you can find life insurance policies that start at just $39 per month for $2 million in coverage.

00:21:22.000 Some options offer coverage in as little as a week and avoid unnecessary medical exams.

00:21:26.000 PolicyGenius's licensed agents can help you find coverage options in as little as a week.

00:21:29.000 They work for you, not the insurance companies.

00:21:31.000 That means they don't have an incentive to recommend one insurer over another, so you can actually trust their guidance.

00:21:35.000 There are no added fees.

00:21:36.000 Your personal information is private.

00:21:37.000 Your loved ones deserve a financial safety net, and you deserve a smarter way to find and buy it.

00:21:41.000 Head on over to policygenius.com slash Shapiro or click the link in the description.

00:21:45.000 Get your free life insurance quotes.

00:21:46.000 See how much you could save.

00:21:47.000 That's policygenius.com slash Shapiro, policygenius.com slash Shapiro. 1.00

00:21:52.000 Now, the place where stupidity turns to malice is when you keep doing the same thing over and over and over. 1.00

00:21:56.000 At a certain point, if a stupid person just keeps doing the stupid thing and then claiming that they're doing the right thing, now it's turned to malice. 1.00

00:22:03.000 And so I just, we may have turned the corner on that with regard to the Biden administration and how it is handling random objects in the sky. 1.00

00:22:12.000 According to the Wall Street Journal, this administration still doesn't know what the hell it's shooting down.

00:22:16.000 So in order to cover up for the fact that the president of the United States was a coward over the Chinese spy balloon. 0.87

00:22:22.000 And again, I say that advisedly because the president of the United States was also a coward in pulling out of Afghanistan in the way that he did.

00:22:28.000 People tend to have this bizarre vision of quote-unquote dark Biden wearing the aviator sunglasses like this guy is some sort of muscular presence in foreign policy.

00:22:37.000 This is a guy who literally reported that he sat in the room where Barack Obama was greenlighting the raid on Osama bin Laden and encouraged him not to do it.

00:22:45.000 Joe Biden bragged about that.

00:22:46.000 That's who Joe Biden is. 1.00

00:22:48.000 And then we made him president because we're idiots. 1.00

00:22:50.000 Again, everyone is stupid is the theme of today's show. 1.00

00:22:53.000 But apparently, according to the Wall Street Journal, the United States hasn't seen any evidence that the three objects shot down since Friday over the United States and Canada were part of China's spy balloon program. 0.99

00:23:01.000 Those searchers have yet to recover debris from them, a senior White House official said.

00:23:04.000 So we don't know that they're part of the Chinese spy balloon program.

00:23:06.000 We're just shooting down random stuff without finding out what it is.

00:23:09.000 Which is weird because the excuse for not shooting down the Chinese spy balloon originally was, we don't know what it is and we need to recover the debris.

00:23:16.000 The search for the remnants of the objects is hampered by the remoteness of the search area and frigid conditions there, said John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for Strategic Communications on Tuesday.

00:23:26.000 That's really, really well done.

00:23:27.000 Here was John Kirby reporting that, um, he, John, so John Kirby says that the objects were likely benign now.

00:23:34.000 So he went from, these are a, these are a threat to American airspace.

00:23:37.000 We must shoot them down too.

00:23:38.000 They were very likely benign.

00:23:40.000 He says, we don't know of any evidence right now that confirms they were in fact doing intelligence collection by another government.

00:23:44.000 But again, we don't have the debris, so we have no clue what we were shooting down.

00:23:47.000 We are all in the best of hands.

00:23:50.000 Kirby did say that he's comfortable, pretty comfortable, in ruling out they were U.S.

00:23:53.000 government objects, but they could have been commercial or research balloons.

00:23:58.000 Genius level material here from the administration.

00:24:00.000 The important thing, however, is that obviously Joe Biden is in control of himself.

00:24:03.000 According to Corrine Jean-Pierre, by the way, Joe Biden has still not spoken about any of this.

00:24:06.000 You recognize Joe Biden has not given a press conference.

00:24:08.000 He has not given a speech.

00:24:09.000 He's not explained what we are shooting down, what our relationship with China is.

00:24:12.000 None of that.

00:24:14.000 He's just been completely silent.

00:24:15.000 He's been missing on this issue, completely MIA. 0.95

00:24:17.000 But he does have the world's worst press secretary out there saying that Joe Biden has received briefings, which is of no, honestly, no comfort to me whatsoever, considering the man does not have brain function.

00:24:28.000 Yes, this leftist serious tumbler has also received intelligence briefings.

00:24:32.000 It is an inanimate object and is incapable of making decisions.

00:24:35.000 Very similar to our president, President Houseplant.

00:24:37.000 Here's Corine Jean-Pierre.

00:24:38.000 The U.S.

00:24:39.000 does not shoot objects out of the sky every day.

00:24:42.000 Why hasn't the president come forward and spoken to the American people about this?

00:24:46.000 So I know your colleague asked my colleague this earlier today during his gaggle.

00:24:50.000 And look, the president is taking this very seriously and he's receiving briefings regularly from his national security advisors.

00:24:57.000 Oh, there's no need to panic, is there?

00:24:58.000 I mean, I don't think anybody's panicked.

00:25:00.000 as much information as we can, as possible.

00:25:05.000 But we do want to make sure that the Americans, American people understand that there's no need to panic.

00:25:11.000 Oh, there's no need to panic.

00:25:14.000 Is there? I mean, I don't think anybody's panicked.

00:25:16.000 The only thing that panics me is when you tell me not to panic.

00:25:18.000 Until now, I was pretty okay.

00:25:21.000 Now I've got Karine Jean-Pierre telling me not to panic, and I'm like, a little panicked, because she lies for a living. 0.97

00:25:27.000 So maybe it is the aliens after all.

00:25:28.000 I don't know.

00:25:29.000 Joe Biden doesn't know.

00:25:29.000 They don't know.

00:25:30.000 They don't know anything.

00:25:32.000 Meanwhile, Joe Biden, he won't tell you what the hell is going on with the objects in the sky that we are shooting down.

00:25:39.000 And he doesn't really have much convincing to say about the massive inflation rate.

00:25:42.000 He also doesn't have much to say about the giant train explosion in Ohio, in East Palestine. 0.87

00:25:49.000 Nothing from the President of the United States about creating a giant toxic mushroom cloud directly outside of a town of 5,000 people and poisoning the groundwater, apparently.

00:25:58.000 Nothing from the President about that.

00:26:00.000 There's a lot to say about lead in the pipes during his State of the Union address.

00:26:03.000 Nothing about his EPA blowing up trains filled with toxic materials.

00:26:09.000 Nothing there.

00:26:10.000 But he does have some words about gun control.

00:26:12.000 He's lying again, by the way.

00:26:13.000 Here was Joe Biden yesterday.

00:26:14.000 He's pushing gun control in the aftermath of a mass shooting at Michigan State University.

00:26:19.000 And here he was yesterday doing this routine.

00:26:22.000 To the families who lost a piece of their soul, I have some idea how hard it is today.

00:26:28.000 It brings us all back, everybody back, just like you heard the news a moment ago.

00:26:33.000 But what I admire most about all of you is how you've found purpose through your pain.

00:26:38.000 You've helped me take more executive action to reduce gun violence than any of my predecessors at this point in their presidencies.

00:26:45.000 We've reined in ghost guns, cracked down on gun trafficking, increased resources for violence prevention.

00:26:52.000 And we've stood together as I signed the most significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years.

00:26:57.000 But there's so much more to do.

00:26:59.000 We have to ban assault weapons, like the one used in Parkland, used just five years ago today.

00:27:06.000 And in so many of the mass shootings in America, the lives lost, the lives we can save as a nation, we must say enough is enough.

00:27:15.000 I would like to point out here that, as always, this is completely disconnected from reality.

00:27:19.000 The MSU shooter used a handgun.

00:27:22.000 So banning assault weapons would have achieved precisely zero things.

00:27:26.000 A mass shooter shoots people with a handgun, and Joe Biden's solution is, what if we ban an AR-15?

00:27:30.000 We ban a long gun.

00:27:31.000 Genius-level stuff, again, from our genius president.

00:27:34.000 As the Washington Examiner also points out, this person was already breaking the law, and it turns out that a local DA let this person off the hook for what would have been a felony gun charge a couple of years ago.

00:27:45.000 Well, once again, it was a preventable shooting.

00:27:47.000 It could not have been prevented by passing more gun control laws.

00:27:49.000 It could have been prevented if local prosecutors had enforced existing gun laws.

00:27:53.000 The shooter was arrested in 2019 and charged with carrying a concealed pistol without a concealed carry permit.

00:27:58.000 This is a felony.

00:27:59.000 It carries a potential five-year prison sentence and would have prevented the shooter from being permitted to own a firearm once his sentence was up.

00:28:04.000 Instead, he pled down to possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle, which is a misdemeanor, and then prosecutors dismissed the felony charge and he served 18 months probation and remained eligible to purchase and own guns.

00:28:14.000 So, again, well done.

00:28:17.000 Soft on crime.

00:28:18.000 Prosecutors letting people off the hook.

00:28:20.000 And then the person goes on to commit a crime.

00:28:21.000 And Joe Biden's solution is ban the long guns.

00:28:24.000 This administration is such a disaster area and the disaster area permeates every area of the administration.

00:28:29.000 I mean, I was just going through almost agency by agency yesterday, the failures of this administration.

00:28:34.000 So you have the defense apparatus, which can't even tell us what the hell they're shooting down over American skies after apparently watching a Chinese balloon float across the entirety of the United States from inception in China.

00:28:45.000 You have the economic apparatus inside the Biden administration which is generating year-on-year inflation rates of triple the norm and is lowering real wages by significant margins while spending more money than God has ever seen.

00:28:58.000 You have Rochelle Walensky at the CDC who is still proclaiming that we have to mask up the kids.

00:29:04.000 She did that yesterday, so that's excellent.

00:29:07.000 You actually have to wear the mask for it to work.

00:29:09.000 Okay, so there are lots of studies now in Georgia... Dr. Walensky, why are we masking our kids today?

00:29:14.000 You know, thank you.

00:29:15.000 Also, so our guidance for school-based masking is related to our COVID-19 community levels, and fortunately we're in a place now in this country where most of our country is in green or yellow.

00:29:25.000 So what is your timeline for updating, re-evaluating these guidance?

00:29:30.000 You know, our masking guidance doesn't really change with time.

00:29:32.000 In those situations, we actually don't recommend masking.

00:29:34.000 We recommend it for high COVID-19 community levels.

00:29:36.000 So what is your timeline for updating, reevaluating these guidance?

00:29:41.000 You know, our masking guidance doesn't really change with time.

00:29:45.000 What it changes with is disease.

00:29:47.000 Okay, so in other words, they continue to maintain that kids should mask up to prevent And as you'll recall, the CDC this week tried to declare that the COVID vax should be given to small children as part of the recommended vax list for kids, like measles, mumps, rubella, which is absurd.

00:30:04.000 Meanwhile, the Health and Human Services Department, they actually have a website that features a video training kids on mask wearing.

00:30:12.000 This is, it's so ridiculous. 0.97

00:30:13.000 It's so ridiculous. 0.97

00:30:16.000 I know masks can take time to get used to, but I like how cool your mask is. 0.91

00:30:22.000 Painted it!

00:30:23.000 Good God.

00:30:24.000 I see that.

00:30:25.000 You painted your mask to make it extra special.

00:30:27.000 Off! 0.90

00:30:31.000 Off! 0.90

00:30:31.000 Oh, honey, do you want to take your mask off? 0.90

00:30:34.000 Look, why don't we practice wearing it for just a little bit first, okay?

00:30:38.000 Fluffster?

00:30:40.000 Oh, of course.

00:30:41.000 Fluffster and I will both practice with you.

00:30:43.000 Here.

00:30:45.000 Just wear it while I count to five, okay, honey?

00:30:48.000 Flupster, you ready?

00:30:49.000 Okay, here we go!

00:30:51.000 One... Two... Three... Four... Five!

00:30:56.000 Yay! 0.99

00:30:59.000 You wanna take off your mask, small child?

00:31:01.000 I will force you to wear this mask!

00:31:03.000 The HHS via Sesame Street.

00:31:05.000 Good stuff right there.

00:31:07.000 By the way, it is worth noting here that there is now new data, which pretty much everybody already understood and has understood for a long time, that masks are completely ineffective at preventing transmission.

00:31:18.000 The notion that they were ever preventing transmission against Delta or Omicron was utterly untested.

00:31:22.000 The only test case that was ever done was with regard to the original variant, and even that, the data was really shoddy.

00:31:27.000 That was the Malaysian study.

00:31:29.000 That they came out fairly early on in the pandemic.

00:31:31.000 And again, the data were really shoddy, particularly with regard to anything that wasn't a KN95 that was glued to your face.

00:31:38.000 But you still have the HHS pushing that.

00:31:40.000 So the incompetence is at every level of the administration. 0.97

00:31:43.000 The Transportation Department, led by a person who is very bad at his job, but is gay, which I guess alleviates most of your problems. 1.00

00:31:51.000 Now, the Secretary of Transportation, he's had pretty much nothing to say about this, Pete Buttigieg. 0.89

00:31:57.000 He does have things to say about paternity leave.

00:31:59.000 He does have things to say about apparently too many white people in the construction industry, which raises the question as to whether he has ever seen a construction crew anywhere in the United States.

00:32:07.000 Um, but he, um, he apparently has nothing to say about the fact that according to the Washington Post, 11 days after a train derailed, spilling toxic chemicals and causing a massive fire in East Palestine, Ohio, officials told residents to use bottled water until testing could confirm whether the local water supply was safe to drink.

00:32:23.000 As questions continue to swirl around the cause of the February 3rd accident and the official response to it, the disaster's still-emerging list of effects became clear.

00:32:30.000 Water officials are tracking a large plume of contamination flowing down the Ohio River.

00:32:34.000 About 3,500 fish in local waterways have been killed by the chemical release.

00:32:38.000 Cleanup crews are excavating a grossly contaminated 1,000-foot area around the train tracks where butyl acrylate, puddled, and vinyl chloride burned.

00:32:46.000 Ohio Health Director Bruce Vanderhoef said, for right now, I think bottled water is the correct answer.

00:32:51.000 Things are going amazing.

00:32:53.000 Every department of the- just like clockwork, man.

00:32:55.000 I mean, they're really making the trains run on- well, I mean, you can't really say that they're making the trains run on- at least they're not blowing up- well, you can't really- you can't really say that.

00:33:04.000 Just doing an amazing job.

00:33:07.000 Every aspect of this administration firing on all cylinders.

00:33:11.000 Meanwhile, by the way, the SBA, the Small Business Administration under Joe Biden, is not even going to try to claw back fraud.

00:33:20.000 According to the Daily Wire, the federal government will not even attempt to recover some coronavirus-related loans that did not meet the conditions for forgiveness.

00:33:27.000 In what could amount to a greenlighting of theft from an $800 billion program, the SBA said it will not seek to collect on loans that should have been paid back, but were not, as long as the amount is $100,000 or less.

00:33:35.000 Why?

00:33:35.000 Well, because equity, of course, That's the real reason is because if we do that, then equity is going to be endangered.

00:33:46.000 Because apparently, I guess it's racist or something to tell people they should pay back loans that they actually took.

00:33:51.000 And every area of this administration is a disaster area and people are going to notice this sort of stuff.

00:33:57.000 Over at the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, the only Republican member of the FTC, has now resigned.

00:34:03.000 Why?

00:34:03.000 Well, because of the abusive use of the FTC as a political tool by Lena Kahn, who is attempting to remake federal antitrust laws to target political opponents via the FTC.

00:34:15.000 A woman named Christine Wilson, who is the only Republican appointee to the FTC.

00:34:19.000 She says, Since Ms.

00:34:20.000 Khan's confirmation in 2021, my staff and I have spent countless hours seeking to uncover her abuses of government power.

00:34:25.000 That task has become increasingly difficult as she has consolidated power within the office of the chairman, breaking decades of bipartisan precedent and undermining the commission structure Congress wrote into the law.

00:34:35.000 So again, the FTC has been used for corrupt purposes by President Biden.

00:34:39.000 quote, under President Biden, FTC leadership has abused the merger review process to impose a tax on all mergers, not only those that hinder competition.

00:34:45.000 Progressive tried but failed to enact a legislative moratorium on mergers in early 2020 and to pass other restrictions since.

00:34:51.000 And now Ms. Khan does it by fiat. 1.00

00:34:53.000 And so now the Republican appointed commissioner at the FTC has resigned in protest.

00:34:58.000 Meanwhile, as we'll get to in a second, the State Department is bankrolling groups that are secretly blacklisting conservative There is not an area of this administration that is not permeated by either incompetence or malice.

00:35:08.000 There's not one area of this administration.

00:35:10.000 It's astonishing.

00:35:11.000 It's like political cancer that is now metastasized to every department in the federal government.

00:35:18.000 Speaking of the medication that is necessary, let's talk about your family for a second.

00:35:22.000 So the reality is, let's say that you are living in East Palestine.

00:35:26.000 You've now been forced to flee your home because the federal government decided it would be a great idea to blow up phosphine gas near your house.

00:35:32.000 Well, one of the things that you might need is Jace Medical.

00:35:35.000 You might need the Jace case because You left your medications at home and the local CVS ain't open.

00:35:39.000 I mean, they fled that CVS as well.

00:35:40.000 This is one reason why Chase Medical is useful.

00:35:43.000 Anytime there is a disaster, one of the things that happens is it becomes very hard to get the medications that you need.

00:35:49.000 I mean, the FDA just declared a global shortage of certain medications and warned that critical antibiotics are right now in extreme short supply.

00:35:55.000 So do yourself a favor and get the JACE case right now.

00:35:58.000 It's a pack of five prescription antibiotics you should have on hand at all times.

00:36:01.000 For common emergencies, we have this at our house, visit jacemedical.com.

00:36:04.000 Take a few minutes, fill out their online form.

00:36:06.000 Your information is then reviewed by a board-certified physician.

00:36:08.000 Your medication will be dispensed by a licensed pharmacy at a fraction of the regular cost.

00:36:12.000 Enter code BEN at checkout for a discount on your order.

00:36:14.000 That's J-A-C-E medical.com, promo code BEN.

00:36:19.000 Also, to celebrate President's Day this year, The Daily Wire is running our President's for Sale sale.

00:36:24.000 40% off new annual memberships.

00:36:25.000 The big guy?

00:36:26.000 Probably got 10%, but we are giving you 40%.

00:36:28.000 Joe Biden would take that deal.

00:36:31.000 Get access to the world of Daily Wire Plus with fearless documentaries, gripping movies, Dennis Prager's The Masters program, the entire library of Dr. Jordan Peterson's work, including New productions like Exodus, Logos & Literacy, and On Marriage all available to watch right now, coming down the pipeline to a TV or laptop near you.

00:36:46.000 New episodes from my series, The Surge, or Jordan's Exodus Part 2, which I actually took part in, or are much anticipated.

00:36:52.000 DW Kids content.

00:36:54.000 Yes, I know, you're looking at Disney and thinking to yourself, when does DW Kids come?

00:36:56.000 It's coming.

00:36:57.000 Also, our first dramatic series, Pendragon, is coming out later this year to sweeten the deal, like Joe Biden's favorite ice cream flavor, chocolate.

00:37:05.000 We're also giving you up to 40% off select items in the Daily Wire shop.

00:37:10.000 Take advantage of the Our Presidents for Sale sale right now.

00:37:12.000 You know he would.

00:37:13.000 Just go to dailywire.com slash subscribe.

00:37:14.000 Become a member today.

00:37:15.000 That's dailywire.com slash subscribe.

00:37:18.000 So as we say, the Biden administration, every area of it has been infected by incompetence and banality.

00:37:23.000 And this is also true of the State Department.

00:37:25.000 That, of course, is no shock. 0.99

00:37:26.000 The State Department is the most isolated of the federal government, is a repository of all scum and villainy. 0.99

00:37:31.000 The State Department is just terrible. 0.96

00:37:32.000 The Washington Examiner and Gabe Kaminsky report this week that the Department of State has now funded a deep-pocketed disinformation tracking group that is secretly blacklisting and trying to defund conservative media.

00:37:43.000 Costing the news organization's vital advertising dollars.

00:37:45.000 Apparently, the Global Disinformation Index, a British organization with two affiliated U.S.

00:37:49.000 nonprofit groups, is feeding blacklists to ad companies with the intent of defunding and shutting down websites peddling alleged disinformation.

00:37:56.000 That same disinformation group has received $330,000 from two State Department-backed entities linked to the highest levels of government.

00:38:03.000 So you basically have the State Department funding nonprofits to push boycotts of particular conservative media.

00:38:09.000 GDI compiles a dynamic exclusion list that it feeds to corporate entities like the Microsoft-owned advertising company Zander, according to emails.

00:38:17.000 Zander and other companies are in turn declining to place ads on websites that GDI flags as peddling disinformation. 0.98

00:38:23.000 So again, every area of the federal government has been corrupted by the perversity of the ideology of this administration, and this is where stupidity flips over into malice pretty quickly.

00:38:33.000 Meanwhile, the fact of the matter is that Joe Biden is quite vulnerable in 2024, which means the Republican side of the aisle is going to fill up quite quickly. 0.86

00:38:41.000 Because Joe Biden is an incompetent president, because Joe Biden has no personal magnetism or charisma, because Joe Biden is effectively just a dead body the Democrats have stapled to some sort of dolly and are wheeling around upright, trying to make sure that the nominee is not Kamala Harris, this means that there are a lot of Republicans who are going to jump in the water.

00:38:56.000 So the other day, Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and former Trump ambassador to the United Nations.

00:39:02.000 She launched her own 2024 campaign.

00:39:05.000 This makes her the first official candidate outside of Donald Trump on the right side of the aisle.

00:39:10.000 That pool, as I say, is going to fill up very quickly.

00:39:12.000 Here is a bit of the ad that she put out launching her campaign.

00:39:16.000 I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants.

00:39:19.000 Not black. 1.00

00:39:21.000 Not white. 0.73

00:39:22.000 I was different.

00:39:24.000 But my mom would always say, your job is not to focus on the differences, but the similarities.

00:39:30.000 And my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America.

00:39:37.000 Some look at our past as evidence that America's founding principles are bad.

00:39:42.000 They say the promise of freedom is just made up.

00:39:47.000 Some think our ideas are not just wrong, but racist and evil.

00:39:52.000 Nothing could be further from the truth.

00:39:54.000 The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history.

00:39:59.000 China and Russia are on the march. 0.90

00:40:02.000 They all think we can be bullied, kicked around, You should know this about me.

00:40:07.000 I don't put up with bullies.

00:40:09.000 I'm Nikki Haley and I'm running for president.

00:40:16.000 So by polling data, Nikki Haley is charting in the low double digits, which is not a bad place to start. 0.91

00:40:20.000 Now again, she's the only other candidate other than Trump who's actively declared at this point.

00:40:24.000 There's widespread expectation that the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, is probably going to run for president.

00:40:28.000 He has a giant war chest that he has amassed for his last gubernatorial run.

00:40:31.000 A lot of that money was left over.

00:40:33.000 He also has very high popularity ratings inside the Republican Party.

00:40:35.000 What the polls show right now is that theoretically, Nikki Haley could play a spoiler role in a three-way race between Trump and DeSantis. 0.73

00:40:42.000 That she could actually deprive more votes from DeSantis than she takes from Trump, and in the process, elevate Trump to the nomination.

00:40:49.000 But, let's just analyze her candidacy on sort of its own merits.

00:40:53.000 So, here are the good things about Nikki Haley's candidacy.

00:40:55.000 Obviously, she's articulate.

00:40:56.000 She's very photogenic.

00:40:58.000 Nikki Haley did an excellent job as UN ambassador.

00:41:00.000 That also happens to be, like, the world's best job.

00:41:02.000 Being ambassador to the UN is great.

00:41:04.000 It really is. 0.99

00:41:04.000 You just go into a place where everyone is garbage, and you call them garbage. 0.99

00:41:07.000 It is the world's best job in government. 1.00

00:41:10.000 You are faced with dictators and you say you're a dictator and a bad person.

00:41:13.000 It's a great, great job.

00:41:14.000 She was a good, fairly popular governor of South Carolina.

00:41:18.000 She's run into some issues with her base.

00:41:20.000 She got crossways of the base for taking a sort of moderate line with regard to the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state capitol.

00:41:29.000 And it was placed in a museum instead, for example.

00:41:32.000 She also got a foul of the base after January 6th when she took a very harsh line against Donald Trump post-January 6th, and then seemed to sort of reverse herself a little bit. 1.00

00:41:39.000 Also, obviously, one of the elephants in the room with regard to her candidacy is that she had said she would not run if Trump would run, and obviously she's reversed herself on that now.

00:41:46.000 I don't take any of those sorts of promises seriously.

00:41:48.000 When people say, I won't run if X runs, or I'm not going to run, or I promise on... Who cares?

00:41:52.000 I don't care.

00:41:52.000 The real question is, would she make a good president?

00:41:54.000 And the answer is Nikki Haley would in fact make a good president. 0.99

00:41:57.000 The drawbacks of her candidacy, sort of broadly speaking, are that Americans tend to not be as focused on foreign policy as they are on domestic policy.

00:42:04.000 So you would assume that she's going to have to focus a lot on her tenure as the South Carolina governor, as opposed to her tenure at the UN. 0.98

00:42:11.000 Because when it comes to foreign policy, like probably Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State, is going to run for president.

00:42:16.000 Americans don't care that much about foreign policy until it's immediate.

00:42:19.000 And so running as a foreign policy guru really doesn't do you a hell of a lot of good.

00:42:24.000 Americans right now are particularly focused on domestic policy.

00:42:26.000 That's going to be difficult for her to sort of outflank people like Ron DeSantis on those issues or say Brian Kemp if he decides to run for president from Maryland or Glenn Youngkin if he decides to run for president from Virginia. 0.95

00:42:37.000 She's also sort of has just run this sort of gauntlet because she was a member of the Trump administration.

00:42:42.000 The left is going to tie her to Trump.

00:42:44.000 And because she left the Trump administration early and has had some things critical of Trump, some on the right who really like Trump are angry at Nikki Haley.

00:42:50.000 This makes her candidacy complicated.

00:42:52.000 But she, again, is a very talented politician. 0.97

00:42:56.000 The thing that I find fascinating about her her announcement of her run is the way the left has reacted.

00:43:03.000 And it really demonstrates how much the left loves and wants Trump.

00:43:06.000 They really do.

00:43:07.000 So imagine, for a second, that you really don't want Trump to be the guy, right?

00:43:10.000 Let's say you're on the left and supposedly Trump is Hitler, right?

00:43:14.000 The only thing that separates them is the little mustache.

00:43:16.000 You're on the left and you're one of these people who believes that Trump is essentially a Nazi who's putting America in danger of authoritarianism.

00:43:22.000 So, anybody who declares against Trump, you should immediately be like, ah, this person would be great.

00:43:26.000 This person would be like, man, I would rather have Nikki Haley as the nominee than Donald Trump.

00:43:29.000 If you're on the left and this is your perspective, wouldn't you think that's the case?

00:43:32.000 Instead, the media immediately left to attack Nikki Haley with extraordinary alacrity.

00:43:38.000 They're really angry at Nikki Haley for running.

00:43:41.000 Because they kind of want Trump to be the nominee.

00:43:43.000 Number one, he's ratings.

00:43:44.000 I mean, that dude is absolute ratings gold for a lot of these networks.

00:43:47.000 And two, they think that he's much more beatable than some of the other candidates on the right side of the aisle. 0.98

00:43:51.000 So their immediate reaction to Nikki Haley is to attack her in some of the dumbest ways I've ever seen.

00:43:55.000 So there was an article in Politico that suggested that Nikki Haley had on a government state form, and here she is touting her diversity as an Indian-American woman. 0.92

00:44:05.000 And on her forms, early government forms, she lists herself as Caucasian.

00:44:11.000 Yes, because there was no actual category for Southeast Asian or South Asian rather.

00:44:16.000 There was no actual category on that on the forms.

00:44:18.000 And so Indian Americans had to choose between black and white.

00:44:21.000 And so she chose white.

00:44:23.000 But Politico put like five reporters on that story.

00:44:27.000 And then there was the meme that was going around the other day that Nikki Haley is... She says America's not racist? 1.00

00:44:32.000 Well, why she use the name Nikki?

00:44:34.000 After all, her full name is more Indian sounding.

00:44:37.000 Her middle name is Nikki, and she's been going by Nikki like her entire life.

00:44:40.000 That is not unusual.

00:44:42.000 And then, of course, you have Joy Reid, one of our nation's most unintelligent commentators, suggesting that the thing about Nikki Haley is that she's just a Trumpie. 0.98

00:44:49.000 She's Trump's person, which is weird since she's now running against him.

00:44:53.000 Stuart, she's tried to inoculate herself by that, by saying, no, no, no, I'm not one of the bad ones.

00:44:57.000 I hate the 1619 Project just as much as you do. 0.78

00:44:59.000 And you know, she's had this sort of, she talks about her Indian American heritage, but she focuses not on her Sikh background, but on her conversion to Christianity.

00:45:07.000 Like, she's definitely tried to fit in.

00:45:09.000 But I just want to put up the 2016 cast of characters that ran against Trump.

00:45:13.000 They all said Trump was no good.

00:45:14.000 Trump was an anathema to conservatism.

00:45:18.000 Trump wasn't a real conservative. 0.57

00:45:19.000 Trump wasn't a real Republican. 1.00

00:45:20.000 Trump was disgusting. 1.00

00:45:21.000 Trump was misogynistic. 1.00

00:45:23.000 And they all took the knee. 0.95

00:45:25.000 So did Nikki Haley, Stuart.

00:45:29.000 In the end, everything she tries to say about being an alternative to Trump, no she's not.

00:45:32.000 She's Trump's person.

00:45:36.000 She's Trump's person, guys.

00:45:38.000 Which is weird since she's now running. 0.60

00:45:39.000 But again, everyone must be lumped in with Trump so you can say that they're bad.

00:45:44.000 Do I love nothing better than for Donald Trump to be the nominee?

00:45:47.000 Will B. Goldberg doing the same thing?

00:45:48.000 Does Nikki Haley has lost her mind for even running?

00:45:51.000 Has she, though?

00:45:52.000 I mean, I gotta say that the people you guys are talking about running on your side of the aisle, if Joe Biden should plot, are people like Kamala Harris, the world's most untalented person.

00:46:01.000 Like there's never... Karine Jean-Pierre is only the world's most untalented press secretary.

00:46:04.000 Kamala Harris is the world's most untalented human. 0.99

00:46:07.000 Like of all the humans on Earth, she has the least talent.

00:46:09.000 It's like God sucked every element of talent out of her before he created her in a laboratory. 0.98

00:46:13.000 In any case, here's Whoopi Goldberg saying that Nikki Haley is a crazy person, says Whoopi Goldberg, a person who has literally said that everyone in America is racist and everyone in human history might be racist, except for Hitler, who is not racist because Jews are white. 0.95

00:46:25.000 Here's Whoopi Goldberg, a genius.

00:46:28.000 So, Nikki, you know, since you have been asleep all this time and you just woke up, You're just finding out that there are things about our country that are not perfect.

00:46:44.000 And for us to pretend that it is and that nothing happened is ridiculous.

00:46:48.000 So you're not saying anything new. 0.61

00:46:53.000 And you of all people should know better.

00:46:56.000 Because you used to actually have some sanity and knew right from wrong.

00:47:02.000 And then you lost your mind and went in some new direction.

00:47:07.000 Oh, you used to have sanity, and you're right.

00:47:09.000 Why is it that the minute that any Republican declares for president, this is when they lose their mind?

00:47:13.000 They did the same routine with John McCain, by the way.

00:47:14.000 They loved John McCain, precisely until the point he won the Republican nomination, at which point John McCain became a rabid right-winger in the mold of George W. Bush, right?

00:47:21.000 This is the way that they always work.

00:47:23.000 Listening to Whoopi Goldberg declaim on politics is just an amazing experience. 1.00

00:47:27.000 It's almost an out-of-body experience watching someone this stupid talk about politics. 0.99

00:47:32.000 This is a person that, presumably, some people watch on The View. 0.99

00:47:37.000 Um, and this is a person who literally said yesterday that she can't tell the difference between Rick Scott and Tim Scott.

00:47:45.000 There are some differences, Whoopi.

00:47:49.000 We deserve to have two strong parties.

00:47:50.000 This is a massive step up.

00:47:52.000 We do deserve to have two strong parties.

00:47:55.000 So, you know, Tim Scott, black Tim Scott, right? 0.95

00:47:59.000 Because there are two Scots, and I don't know how to differentiate them without a picture. 0.97

00:48:06.000 Rick Scott and Tim Scott.

00:48:08.000 Tim Scott is black, right?

00:48:10.000 Okay. 0.53

00:48:13.000 Oh, wow.

00:48:13.000 Nailed it, Whoopi.

00:48:15.000 Nailed it.

00:48:18.000 Tim Scott, speaking of, is another person who may be running for president as well.

00:48:22.000 Now, the great fear for people who don't actually like Donald Trump the best among all the nominees is that you get a repeat of 2016 in which there are so many Republican candidates in the pool that it basically fragments the field and Donald Trump runs the gauntlet with like 20-25% support.

00:48:35.000 That could theoretically happen, right?

00:48:37.000 Tim Scott is also a good candidate.

00:48:38.000 He also wants to run for president.

00:48:40.000 Tim Scott actually is surprisingly not all that young.

00:48:44.000 Tim Scott is 57 years old.

00:48:45.000 Actually, Nikki Haley is only 51. 0.92

00:48:48.000 But Tim Scott wants to run, presumably.

00:48:52.000 You got Rhonda Sands who wants to run. 1.00

00:48:53.000 Glenn Youngkin might want to run.

00:48:54.000 Brian Kemp wants to run.

00:48:55.000 There's been talk about Kristen Uno from New Hampshire running.

00:48:58.000 Larry Hogan from Maryland talking about running.

00:48:59.000 So you could have a very full stage once again.

00:49:01.000 And if Donald Trump's the most prominent person on that stage and the rest of the field doesn't consolidate, that does in fact put him, statistically speaking, in the driver's seat.

00:49:08.000 Now I think that the field is going to clear a little bit, but You know, the question is going to be, how fast?

00:49:14.000 Meanwhile, Democrats are going to do their best to rip down everybody who is not Donald Trump.

00:49:19.000 Because, let's just face it, this is a Democrat strategy.

00:49:23.000 They have the same strategy in 2024 that they had in 2016, which is they think that Donald Trump is the most beatable.

00:49:28.000 Now, they may get their wish and then find that their wish has been thwarted by the monkey's paw, that Donald Trump gets the nomination, then he wins.

00:49:35.000 That is certainly quite possible.

00:49:36.000 However, if you're just looking at how the media are treating the possible alternatives to Donald Trump, it's very obvious that they prefer Donald Trump to the alternatives because they think that this will allow them a better shot at victory.

00:49:47.000 Okay, time for some things I like and then some things that I hate.

00:49:51.000 So, things that I like today.

00:49:53.000 Nicola Sturgeon has now been forced out.

00:49:56.000 She was the leader of Scotland.

00:49:59.000 She said that she was stepping down after having been the first female and longest serving First Minister.

00:50:04.000 She called it the privilege of her life to have led the country's devolved government for eight years.

00:50:10.000 She noted that many will be upset by her shock announcement.

00:50:12.000 So what exactly drove her out?

00:50:14.000 Well, one of the things that drove her out was outrage over her gender recognition reform, which would have allowed anybody in Scotland over the age of 16 to change gender designation without a medical diagnosis.

00:50:24.000 She tried to claim that this was not the final straw, that this is not what pushed her out.

00:50:27.000 It kind of pushed her out.

00:50:28.000 So you will recall that there was a big scandal in Scotland because a rapist, a male rapist, had been talking, they were talking about moving that male rapist to a women's prison. 1.00

00:50:38.000 Where presumably he could be very rapey, some more, with his very female penis. 1.00

00:50:43.000 And Nicholas Sturgeon be like, no, he's a lady. 1.00

00:50:45.000 He's a super duper lady. 1.00

00:50:48.000 The reform was hailed by transgender campaigners as a landmark move, but according to the New York Post, anger boiled over last month when it emerged a shaven-headed rapist was sent to a female prison after declaring she was a transgender female.

00:50:59.000 I love the fact the New York Post is still going to Go along with this in its very language.

00:51:03.000 Stop doing this, members of the media. 1.00

00:51:06.000 It turns out that a clean-shaven male who rapes women with his female penis is not a female. 1.00

00:51:10.000 He's a dude. 1.00

00:51:12.000 Sturgeon said, I have been and always will be a feminist. 0.98

00:51:16.000 She went after JK Rowling because JK Rowling had accused her of being a destroyer of women's rights. 1.00

00:51:21.000 By the way, the face-tattooed bald woman was a man. 1.00

00:51:25.000 Yeah, that might be the reason why she had to step down. 0.87

00:51:27.000 She said, I will stand up for any stigmatized, discriminated against, marginalized, and vulnerable group in society.

00:51:32.000 Yes, that is a stigmatized, discriminated against, marginalized, vulnerable person is the very male rapist who wishes to locate himself inside a female prison.

00:51:41.000 Really strong stuff there from Nicola Sturgeon, but now she's gone.

00:51:44.000 So that is the thing that I like.

00:51:45.000 I'm glad that we have now seen the back of Nicola Sturgeon and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

00:51:51.000 Speaking, by the way, of insane stories surrounding transgender issues, our show here, Crane and Company, The folks there sat down with an NCAA women's swimmer named Riley Gaines to talk about Leah Thomas because Riley Gaines was on the swim team with Leah Thomas and it was quite shocking.

00:52:09.000 Here's a little bit of what it sounded like.

00:52:11.000 If we let it, there will be men pretending to be women that ruin women's sports. 1.00

00:52:16.000 But ranking first was a person I had never heard of before.

00:52:19.000 And of course, this name was Leah Thomas.

00:52:20.000 Leah Thomas did, in fact, formerly swim on the men's team for three years.

00:52:25.000 I thought, surely the NCAA wouldn't let this person compete with us.

00:52:29.000 The NCAA official looks at me and says, great job.

00:52:32.000 Y'all tied.

00:52:33.000 The trophy goes to Leah.

00:52:34.000 And he said, well, for photo purposes, Leah has to have it.

00:52:37.000 Wow.

00:52:38.000 Leah Thomas, who used to be Will Thomas, is now dating someone that used to be a man that's now a woman, and they consider themselves lesbians.

00:52:47.000 Very interesting dynamic.

00:52:49.000 The things they practice actively are interesting.

00:52:53.000 They cut off parts of their male parts, but left other parts. 1.00

00:52:58.000 These testicles are in a jar. 1.00

00:53:00.000 Stop. 1.00

00:53:01.000 We were being sidelined to validate the feelings and the identity of a man.

00:53:08.000 Okay, so you can go check out that interview over at Crane & Company.

00:53:11.000 It's pretty shocking stuff.

00:53:12.000 They also have a Twitter thread out today going through some of the details about Leah Thomas.

00:53:15.000 This is not the most womanly woman who ever womaned.

00:53:17.000 I'm just gonna put that out there.

00:53:19.000 And not the kind of dude that you would want in a locker room with the ladies. 0.99

00:53:23.000 I hate to say it.

00:53:24.000 Okay, time for some things that I hate.

00:53:26.000 So we have a follow up from our good friend Chelsea Handler.

00:53:35.000 So Chelsea Handler is angry that people were making fun of her for a really bad comedy video that she dropped on Valentine's Day.

00:53:41.000 It was a comedy video in which she explained how wonderful it was to be a single alcoholic woman who smokes a lot of pot. 0.99

00:53:49.000 And she talked about how it was great to be childless.

00:53:50.000 She was the happiest person.

00:53:52.000 Who is childless, she said, through her very obvious tears.

00:53:55.000 And she made this issue the issue, right?

00:53:57.000 None of us were talking about Chelsea Handler and her decisions not to have kids because, frankly, no one cared.

00:54:01.000 And you decided to make it front and center.

00:54:03.000 Well, this drove her on the set of The Daily Show yesterday.

00:54:06.000 The Daily Show is just getting unfunnier and unfunnier.

00:54:08.000 I mean, like, they've now reached a comedy vacuum.

00:54:11.000 There is no actual physical matter in this comedy space for The Daily Show.

00:54:18.000 It's just a complete vacuum.

00:54:20.000 And nature abhors a vacuum, so apparently they've put Chelsea Handler there or something. 0.95

00:54:24.000 So, Chelsea Handler had another monologue about how happy she is.

00:54:26.000 She's so happy, you guys!

00:54:27.000 She's so happy!

00:54:29.000 She's the happiest person!

00:54:31.000 Why are you calling her sad and a wine lady? 0.89

00:54:33.000 Why are you?

00:54:34.000 She's so happy!

00:54:36.000 Here we go.

00:54:37.000 One thing that I have made abundantly clear is that I do not want children.

00:54:42.000 I say it on stage, I say it in interviews, it's the first thing I say to myself in the mirror when I wake up each morning, right before I tell myself, God, you're a dynamic woman.

00:54:52.000 Kids don't respect me, and quite frankly, the feeling is mutual.

00:54:57.000 And the fact is, there are millions of women just like me, but for some reason, every single one of us, at some point in our lives, is shamed by society for not wanting a baby.

00:55:06.000 These Fox News trolls are right about one thing.

00:55:08.000 I am miserable. 0.98

00:55:09.000 In fact, I was just scrolling through my Instagram feed the other day, realizing how miserable I am. 0.92

00:55:14.000 I'm miserable on the beach.

00:55:16.000 And then here I am, miserable on the top of a mountain.

00:55:19.000 And then here I am, miserable scuba diving.

00:55:23.000 And then I'm miserable again, smoking a joint in a hot tub.

00:55:29.000 She, well, I mean, she's gonna tell you how not miserable she is.

00:55:33.000 Does she look like a happy person to you?

00:55:34.000 Does she seem like a very, very happy person?

00:55:37.000 She's so overjoyed?

00:55:38.000 Okay, so here's the thing.

00:55:39.000 Whether she chooses to have kids or not, you know, frankly, I don't care. 0.90

00:55:44.000 What I do care about is that society actually should favor the choice to have kids over the choice not to have kids.

00:55:49.000 It's very important that people have kids.

00:55:51.000 It makes them better people, obviously.

00:55:53.000 I mean, I don't think Chelsea Handler is anybody's idea of a saint. 1.00

00:55:56.000 But beyond the individual fulfillment that comes from having children, a society that is not built around the future generation is a selfish and stupid society. 0.99

00:56:04.000 And that is precisely what we have constructed for ourselves. 1.00

00:56:06.000 Not only that, it is a society that is demographically doomed to destruction.

00:56:10.000 And so when you change the norm from it is good to have kids to we are utterly indifferent as to whether people have kids.

00:56:16.000 What you end up with is a dying civilization.

00:56:18.000 And that is precisely what we are seeing today.

00:56:21.000 There is a Pew Research Center poll from November of 2021, and it shows a growing share of childless adults in the United States don't expect to ever have children.

00:56:30.000 Quote, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that a rising share of U.S.

00:56:33.000 adults who are not already parents say they're unlikely to ever have children.

00:56:37.000 Their reasons range from just not wanting to have kids to concerns about climate change and the environment.

00:56:40.000 So, I mean, this would this would be the giveaway.

00:56:42.000 Who doesn't want to have kids? 1.00

00:56:43.000 Lefties.

00:56:44.000 That is the giveaway.

00:56:46.000 Because the reason, if you're not having kids because you're worried that it's gonna be hotter in a hundred years than it is today, let me explain to you the vast span of human history when temperature has changed fairly radically, and also when we have air conditioning and people can expect to live eight decades.

00:57:00.000 I mean, like, to pretend that your kids are in some innately greater danger because of gradual changing of the climate over the course of a century, and so you shouldn't have the kids, is insane.

00:57:12.000 It's totally crazy.

00:57:14.000 And then there are the people who just say they don't want to have kids because obviously they want to be like Chelsea Handler and be able to take Instagram photos of themselves for the pleasure of strangers smoking a joint in a hot tub.

00:57:22.000 And apparently this is how you find fulfillment and true meaning in your life.

00:57:26.000 As you get topless into a jacuzzi the way that Chelsea Handler would and you smoke a joint and you put it on your Instagram and then randos cheer for you and it makes you feel really good for a second before you drink a bleep load of wine as I said yesterday and then fall asleep on your couch while drooling into your cat's fur.

00:57:40.000 According to Pew Research, some 44% of non-parents aged 18 to 49 say it's not too or not at all likely that they will have children someday.

00:57:47.000 That's an increase of 7 percentage points from the 37% who said the same in a 2018 survey.

00:57:52.000 Meanwhile, 74% of adults younger than 50 who are already parents say they are unlikely to have more kids virtually unchanged since 2018.

00:57:59.000 So what does this mean for society?

00:58:02.000 Well, it means that we're going to go bankrupt.

00:58:03.000 I mean, let's say that you're a big fan of the social welfare state.

00:58:06.000 Congratulations on having trashed the entire pyramid scheme that you guys rely upon, the demographic pyramid scheme.

00:58:12.000 One of the things that is very obvious is that countries that enter demographic decline because of a values change have a very tough time reversing that demographic decline.

00:58:19.000 There's an article in the New York Times from Andrew Jacobs and Francesca Perez titled, Can China Reverse Its Population Decline?

00:58:26.000 Just Ask Sweden. 0.76

00:58:27.000 And they point out that China's population has now begun to decline.

00:58:31.000 And they say even places that have not begun to lose population yet, like Australia, France, and Britain, have been grappling with demographic decline for years as life expectancy increases and women have fewer children.

00:58:40.000 History suggests that once a country crosses the threshold of negative population growth, there is little its government can do to reverse it.

00:58:46.000 As a country's population grows more top-heavy, a smaller, younger generation bears the increasing cost of caring for a larger, older one.

00:58:52.000 So it turns out that there are in fact societal consequences to a cultural shift from caring about the future and having kids to not caring about the future and not having kids.

00:59:04.000 We are a society that doesn't care very much about our children.

00:59:07.000 We don't.

00:59:07.000 We've decided, in large scale, at least according to our cultural arbiters, that kids are mainly useful so you can go on Instagram and virtue-signal about how you're transing them.

00:59:15.000 This is the thing that really, really matters, is how liberal you can make your kids, or how you can screw up your kids, and then you can brag to your friends about how tolerant and diverse you are.

00:59:23.000 Or, alternatively, don't have kids at all, because the best life is the life that is lived without reference to time and the future.

00:59:30.000 Countries such as the United States and Germany have been able to rely on robust immigration, even with relatively low birth rates, according to the New York Times.

00:59:36.000 And of course, when you mention this, when you say, well, probably the United States, we should actually start having kids of our own. 0.74

00:59:40.000 No, you're a racist.

00:59:41.000 We should continue to import people from places where they have more kids. 1.00

00:59:44.000 That's a strategy, I suppose.

00:59:47.000 The good news is that the Chinese government is fully aware of the problem, said Yang Kai, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

00:59:52.000 The bad news is there's very little they can do about it.

00:59:55.000 So two decades ago, Australia tried a baby bonus program that paid the equivalent of nearly $6,000 a child at its peak.

01:00:02.000 At the time the campaign started in 2004, the country's fertility rate was around 1.8 children per woman.

01:00:07.000 By 2008, the rate had risen to a high of two.

01:00:09.000 By 2020, six years after the program ended, it was 1.6.

01:00:11.000 So in other words, you'd have sort of a temporary boost in birth.

01:00:15.000 But what ends up happening is that you're actually front-loading the birth.

01:00:17.000 What the studies tend to show is that when you pay people to have babies, then parents who are going to have three babies will have three babies, but they'll do it in a shorter time span in order to take advantage of the government money.

01:00:27.000 But it's very difficult to convince somebody who doesn't want to have a baby that now they should have two babies because you're going to offer them money.

01:00:33.000 John Bongard's demographer at the Population Council says, you're not going to reverse the trend.

01:00:36.000 If you throw in the kitchen sink and make childbearing more attractive, you may be able to prevent the population from falling off a cliff. 0.89

01:00:42.000 Even the success of some of these efforts has had limits.

01:00:46.000 No country has been able to reach a sustained return to a 2.1% replacement rate.

01:00:50.000 The United States rate fell below 2.1% in 1970s, and then slowly rose back toward the replacement rate by 2007, then collapsed again after the Great Recession.

01:00:59.000 Sweden has done the same thing.

01:01:00.000 In 1980, they introduced what they called the speed premium, which was, if you have babies within a certain amount of time, then you get a subsidy.

01:01:07.000 It increased the population increase to about two.

01:01:12.000 The population growth rate.

01:01:14.000 And then it started to decline again.

01:01:18.000 Birth rate in Sweden fell throughout the 1990s.

01:01:20.000 Over the last 50 years in Sweden, the fertility rate has fluctuated significantly, rising roughly in tandem with economic boons.

01:01:26.000 You've seen the same thing in Hungary.

01:01:27.000 Hungary has really incentivized childbearing through financial rewards.

01:01:30.000 And what they've seen is a slight uptick in the number of kids by family.

01:01:35.000 At the time that efforts began in Hungary by Viktor Orban in 2010, Hungary's fertility rate was just over 1.2.

01:01:40.000 That was among the lowest in Europe.

01:01:42.000 Over the 2010s, the rate climbed to around 1.6.

01:01:44.000 It's unclear whether it's going to be able to sustain.

01:01:49.000 Or whether it's going to dip off again.

01:01:51.000 Now, what is the reason for all of this?

01:01:53.000 Well, it's true that in every country, as countries get richer, people tend to have fewer kids.

01:01:58.000 That is because traditionally, in societies that are poorer, people tend to see kids as economic assets, and as societies become richer, your kid becomes an economic burden.

01:02:05.000 Just in pure econ terms, right?

01:02:07.000 The amount of money that you're going to spend on the education and upbringing of your kid in a rich country Tremendously outweighs the economic benefit of having a child.

01:02:14.000 If you're in a very poor country, kids become labor very early, they become part of the family farm, they are sources of efficiencies.

01:02:20.000 That does not hold true in richer countries.

01:02:22.000 So you start to see birth rates decline.

01:02:23.000 This happens literally everywhere.

01:02:25.000 But, there are certain cultures where people continue to have kids.

01:02:29.000 Even in developed countries.

01:02:30.000 Even in economically advanced countries.

01:02:32.000 Which parts of those cultures?

01:02:35.000 You guessed it.

01:02:35.000 The parts that take religion seriously.

01:02:37.000 Mormons are still having kids. 1.00

01:02:38.000 Religious Catholics are still having kids. 1.00

01:02:40.000 Orthodox Jews are still having kids. 0.96

01:02:41.000 Religious Muslims are still having kids. 1.00

01:02:43.000 Anyone who takes the injunction to have kids seriously on a moral level and recognizes that there is a generation beyond their own, that the height of human existence does not lie in taking a picture of yourself scuba diving and putting it on Instagram when you are 50 years old the way that Chelsea Handler is.

01:02:57.000 Any part of society that recognizes those fundamental truths is likely to continue growing.

01:03:01.000 Any part that does not is likely to continue fading.

01:03:03.000 Secularism, in other words, bears the seeds of its own destruction because it leads to societal sterility on a population level.

01:03:11.000 And that is what you are seeing in the West.

01:03:13.000 And so if you wish to reverse this decline, then perhaps our society should stop on a cultural level.

01:03:19.000 Normalizing and championing child-free living as though it is an alternative good to choosing to have kids.

01:03:25.000 It is better to have kids than not to have kids.

01:03:27.000 That should not be a controversial statement.

01:03:29.000 The fact that it is signals why our civilization is in a state of serious decline.

01:03:33.000 Alrighty guys, the rest of the show is continuing right now.

01:03:35.000 You're not going to want to miss it.

01:03:36.000 We'll be talking with Marissa Strait over at Prager University about the predations of social media and how it's cracking down on conservatism. 0.89

01:03:42.000 If you're not a member, become a member.

01:03:43.000 Use code Shapiro at checkout for two months free on all annual plans.

The Ben Shapiro Show - February 15, 2023

Biden’s America: Massive Inflation, Chinese Spy Balloons, And Exploding Trains | Ep. 1669

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript