The Ben Shapiro Show - Could Trump’s MASTERSTROKE End The Russia-Ukraine War?

00:00:00.000 Alright folks, a ton coming up on today's show.

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00:01:42.000 Well, folks, as the media and Democrats fuminate over President Trump's supposed capitulation to Vladimir Putin, precisely the opposite thing seems to actually be happening.

00:01:51.000 So leave it to the media and to the left to actually deliberately misinterpret what is going on.

00:01:56.000 So yesterday, President Trump met with Vladimir Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine.

00:02:00.000 He also met with a bunch of European leaders, and we'll get to all of it.

00:02:03.000 And the outcome of the meetings, again, you're not going to have an outcome until there's a real full negotiated outcome.

00:02:09.000 But what it seems to be moving towards is some Ukrainian territorial concessions in return for Ukraine getting serious security guarantees, serious security guarantees.

00:02:20.000 And it's unclear what those security guarantees would look like.

00:02:23.000 It would presumably be some form of European trigger force in Ukraine that would imply a mutual defense pact.

00:02:30.000 It wouldn't exactly be NATO, but it would kind of be NATO light that had been talked about by Steve Whitcoff, the special negotiator and special envoy on this issue.

00:02:37.000 According to the New York Times, at the meeting among President Trump, President Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine and other European leaders on Monday in Washington, there's frequent discussion of security guarantees to make sure Russia does not invade again.

00:02:47.000 Prime Minister Kirstammer of Britain has talked about assembling a force drawn from a coalition of the willing that would be stationed in Ukraine after a ceasefire or peace agreement.

00:02:55.000 No one has detailed publicly what that force would look like.

00:02:58.000 And it's unclear, you know, again, the details of that thing.

00:03:01.000 That's what's going to have to be hashed out here.

00:03:04.000 One concept is a sort of peacekeeping force presumably armed that would supplement the Ukrainian military put in place for defensive purposes.

00:03:11.000 Russia will probably push back against that.

00:03:13.000 The problem is to be a credible deterrent, you need tens of thousands of troops.

00:03:17.000 The second possibility is a tripwire force that again would sort of trigger the possibility of the mutual defense coming into effect if Russia were to walk across the border.

00:03:26.000 And a third possibility would be a sort of observer force that could be a few hundred troops or so to report on incoming military action that could be accomplished with satellites and ground cameras.

00:03:37.000 The question here is what exactly Ukraine will accept and what is sufficient to guarantee that Russia does not try this again because of course they did this in 2014 and then they did it again in 2022.

00:03:47.000 They have a long history of repeated aggressions against the same states grabbing territory incrementally.

00:03:54.000 And so the security guarantees would have to presumably be something relatively severe.

00:03:59.000 I mean, there has to be something there that is serious.

00:04:02.000 Otherwise, the Ukrainians are going to say, well, you know what, we're going to keep fighting this thing because why exactly are we going to push off three years into the future the possibility that you abandon us if Russia walks across that border again? 0.83

00:04:12.000 Now for the Russians' part, they're pushing back against this because their goal is to leave Ukraine utterly defenseless and prostrate before them. 0.86

00:04:19.000 That, of course, is the goal.

00:04:20.000 The New York Times points out that Russian officials had rejected that idea of the sort of NATO Article 5 like arrangement.

00:04:27.000 Even before Monday's meeting, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Jakarova said that Russia, quote, categorically rejects any scenario that envisages the appearance in Ukraine of a military contingent with the participation of NATO countries.

00:04:41.000 And so there is a big gap apparently between the Russians and the Europeans and Americans about what these security guarantees should look like, but we are moving towards something now, maybe we don't get there.

00:04:51.000 Maybe we don't get there.

00:04:52.000 Maybe it's possible that Russia walks away from the table, but the fact that President Trump is willing to hold Russia's feet to the fire by even talking about these kinds of significant security guarantees is a major move from the president and pretending that that's a pro-Russia move is silly.

00:05:09.000 If there were a significant security guarantee, a sort of NATO light, an Article 5 light approach to Ukraine in exchange for territorial concessions in Donbass, that would be a master stroke from the President of the United States, because otherwise this thing keeps going.

00:05:24.000 Otherwise this thing keeps going.

00:05:26.000 It's that simple.

00:05:27.000 Now, again, the details of what that looks like unclear at this point.

00:05:31.000 According to the Germans, they don't want to send troops to Ukraine.

00:05:35.000 Shocker.

00:05:37.000 Apparently, the German foreign minister, a person named Johann Wadefull said, quote, we are the only European troop contributor to station a combat ready brigade in Lithuania. 0.92

00:05:44.000 Doing that and also stationing troops in Ukraine would probably be too much for us, which by the way is really pathetic.

00:05:49.000 You can't put like two combat ready segments of your of your military in Ukraine and also Lithuania.

00:05:57.000 What are you busy doing Germany, the great industrial powerhouse on the European continent?

00:06:02.000 European leaders see durable security guarantees for Ukraine according to Politico as key to any potential peace deal that may emerge between Kiev and Moscow.

00:06:09.000 The issue that will be a top item on the agenda for the rest of the week.

00:06:12.000 Waterfall said we're hearing signals from Washington.

00:06:15.000 They're prepared to provide security guarantees.

00:06:17.000 This must then be worked out together with the Europeans with Germany naturally having to play an important role.

00:06:22.000 And again, as we said, Steve Whitcoff had suggested that much more robust security guarantees and EU admission might be on the table as well as an Article 5 like protection.

00:06:31.000 So again, this is the direction these talks are moving.

00:06:35.000 And this is to the great consternation of both the media and the Democrats who claimed that Donald Trump was a Putin cat's paw.

00:06:42.000 They thought that Trump was going to welcome Zelensky to the White House yesterday by berating him and telling him he needed to basically surrender in the war.

00:06:48.000 No security guarantees, no economic health, no, nothing.

00:06:52.000 And none of that happened.

00:06:53.000 In fact, it was pretty warm.

00:06:54.000 Here was Zelensky arrivy.

00:07:09.000 This time he wore a suit.

00:07:11.000 You can see, you know, the president and Zelenskyy getting along here.

00:07:15.000 This is not an antagonistic meeting.

00:07:18.000 Zelenskyy was confronted by a reporter who had gotten on his case about not wearing a suit at the last meeting, knowing that was a buggaboo of President Trump's.

00:07:27.000 Brian Glenn, who is dating Marjorie Taylor Greene, which says something about his personal judgment.

00:07:33.000 In any case, he complimented Zelenskyy for wearing a suit and Zelenskyy, you look fabulous in that suit.

00:07:44.000 I said the same thing.

00:07:46.000 I said the same thing.

00:07:48.000 I said someone that attacked you last time.

00:07:51.000 I remember that.

00:07:54.000 No, my first question for you, President Zelensky, in the same suit.

00:08:00.000 You see, I changed.

00:08:04.000 Zelensky right back at this reporter and said, well, I changed my suit and you obviously didn't.

00:08:10.000 You're wearing the same suit.

00:08:12.000 Which is pretty funny, actually.

00:08:14.000 Well, Zelensky was asked during this Oval Office tet-a-tet about whether he was going to make territorial concessions.

00:08:19.000 And Zelenskyy smartly says, you know, I'm going to leave this in the hands of President Trump.

00:08:23.000 He's a good negotiator.

00:08:26.000 Are you prepared to keep sending Ukrainian troops to their deaths for another couple of years or are you going to agree to redraw the maps?

00:08:36.000 Thank you for your question.

00:08:37.000 So, first of all, you know, we live under everyday attacks.

00:08:41.000 You know that today there have been a lot of attacks and a lot of wounded people and the child was dead.

00:08:47.000 It's a small town, one, one year and a half.

00:08:51.000 So we need to stop this war to stop Russia and we need support.

00:08:58.000 We will do our best for this.

00:09:01.000 So, and I think we showed that we are strong people and we supported the idea of the United States, of personally of President Trump to stop this war, to make a diplomatic way of finishing this war.

00:09:16.000 And we are ready for trilateral, as President said.

00:09:19.000 This is a good signal about trilateral.

00:09:21.000 I think this is very good.

00:09:23.000 Thank you.

00:09:25.000 By the way, one of the things that Zelenskyy also said is that as part of any of the security guarantees put forward by Europe and the United States, Ukraine would buy $90 billion in American weapons via Europe.

00:09:36.000 NATO would essentially pay for it, not America, the rest of the NATO nations, and the United States military would benefit from it, the military-industrial complex, so to speak.

00:09:46.000 The defense industries in the United States would end up benefiting from that, presumably.

00:09:51.000 He said a formal agreement still had to be arranged.

00:09:54.000 President Trump was asked about the possibility of a trilateral meeting between the United States, Russia, and Zelensky directly.

00:10:00.000 I just spoke to President Putin indirectly, and we're going to have a phone call right after these meetings today.

00:10:07.000 And we may or may not have a trilat.

00:10:10.000 If we don't have a trilat, then the fighting continues.

00:10:13.000 And if we do, we have a good chance.

00:10:14.000 I think if we have a trilat, there's a good chance it may being it but he's he's expecting my call when we're finished with this meeting.

00:10:24.000 Okay so as soon as that particular Oval Office head of tet ended all the Europeans showed up and you can see a picture here of the full lineup of leaders at the White House and it basically looks like a G7 convention.

00:10:37.000 I mean this is a major lineup here.

00:10:39.000 You got everybody from Ursula von der Leyen to Kier Starmer to Emmanuel Macron to George Maloney of Italy and a bunch of others showing up at the White House and it apparently the meetings were very warm they went very very well Mark Rudy was one of the people there is the head of NATO.

00:10:55.000 He says that President Trump is a pragmatic peacemaker.

00:10:59.000 This was a very successful day.

00:11:03.000 And I agree with you that President Trump is a pragmatic peacemaker, as you, I think, said.

00:11:10.000 And what he did this year, breaking the deadlock, starting the conversation with Putin, but also putting pressure.

00:11:18.000 We have had the NATO summit, the 5%, which was a big foreign policy success of President Trump.

00:11:24.000 And then he decided to again have lethal weapons go into Ukraine paid for by the Europeans. 0.51

00:11:31.000 And he put secondary sanctions, tariffs on India.

00:11:34.000 So he's putting pressure, but he's also looking for ways to solve this, to bring this war to an end.

00:11:41.000 More on President Trump, Ukraine, the Europeans plus, redistricting, and a couple of special guests coming up.

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00:14:08.000 Rudy also continued by saying that Ukraine is indeed prepared to discuss territorial concessions.

00:14:13.000 Again, the outlines of the deal are taking form if there is to be a deal.

00:14:17.000 Here is Rudy explaining.

00:14:20.000 Everybody is clear, including the president, that when it comes to territory, it is the Ukrainian president who has discussed this in the trilateral and then probably more conversations after that with the Russian leadership, with Vladimir Vladimir Putin of Russia.

00:14:39.000 But today it was clear that for the Ukrainians to be willing to discuss territory and as part of an overall solution to this terrible war and to stop the killing, first we need to have full clarity collectively, US, the Europeans and the others in this coalition of the willing on what security guarantees will mean.

00:15:01.000 And Rudy also continued by suggesting that security guarantees were basically the main issue that is still to be hashed out here.

00:15:08.000 The situation is this, that the US and some other countries have said that they are against NATO membership for Ukraine.

00:15:14.000 The official NATO position since the summit in 2024 is that there is an irreversible path for Ukraine into NATO.

00:15:22.000 But what we are discussing here is not NATO membership.

00:15:25.000 What we are discussing here is Article 5 type of security guarantees for Ukraine and what they exactly will entail will now be more specifically discussed.

00:15:38.000 Zelenskyy, for his part, he expressed gratitude to both President Trump as well as the EU leaders for their hard work on the possibility of a peace deal.

00:15:47.000 I think that we had a constructive, specific meeting, and I'm very thankful to all the leaders who are here and you help a lot, and so we are happy that we have such big unity today.

00:16:03.000 Thank you, Mr. President.

00:16:04.000 Thank you very much, Mr. President.

00:16:09.000 Okay, so again, all of this was very positive.

00:16:12.000 Now, apparently in the middle of the meeting with the Europeans, President Trump stepped out to arrange a meeting or try to arrange a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Zelensky.

00:16:21.000 Putin directly, according to a report from Axios.

00:16:24.000 He stepped out of the room and did a little bit of He then put out a statement on Truth Social, quote, I had a very good meeting with distinguished guests, President Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron of France, President Alexander Stubb of Finland, President, Prime Minister George Maloney of Italy, Prime Minister Kirstarmer of the UK, Chancellor of the the Federal Republic of Germany Friedrich Mears, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Secretary General of NATO Mark Rudy in the White House, which ended in a further meeting in the Oval Office.

00:16:49.000 During the meeting, we discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, which guarantees would be provided by the various European countries with a coordination with the United States of America.

00:16:57.000 Everyone is very happy about the possibility of peace for Russia-Ukraine.

00:17:00.000 At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin and began the arrangements for a meeting at a location to be determined between President Putin and President Zelensky.

00:17:08.000 After that meeting takes place, we'll have a trilat, which would be the two presidents plus myself.

00:17:12.000 Again, this is a very good early step for war that has been going on for almost four years.

00:17:15.000 Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Whitcoff are coordinating with Russia and Ukraine.

00:17:21.000 Thank you for your attention to this matter.

00:17:23.000 So again, we'll have to see how all this plays out.

00:17:26.000 President Trump then called in to Fox and Friends this morning to explain why he stepped out of the room in order to do a call with Vladimir Putin.

00:17:33.000 And one of the things at the table was one of the gentlemen who's a great guy, but he said, I hope I didn't insult him.

00:17:41.000 He said, well, let's meet in another month or two and let's see if we can start making some money.

00:17:46.000 He said, a month or two, you can have another forty thousand people dead in a month or two.

00:17:51.000 You have to do it tonight.

00:17:53.000 And I did actually.

00:17:54.000 I called President Putin and we're trying to work out a meeting with President Zelensky.

00:17:59.000 We'll see what happens there.

00:18:00.000 And then if that works out, if it works out, then I'll go to the trilateral and close it up.

00:18:07.000 Okay, so we still there's a lot of steps between here and there.

00:18:10.000 We still have to see whether Vladimir Putin actually is interested in ending the war in any serious way.

00:18:15.000 Again, you have to understand that for the Russians, and we've discussed this at length, the Russian goal in Ukraine was originally to just eat the whole thing, was to eat all of Ukraine.

00:18:23.000 And then it turned out that they were unable to actually achieve that.

00:18:26.000 And so their simultaneous goal has been to prevent Ukraine from entering NATO, from entering the EU, from becoming quote unquote Europeanized.

00:18:34.000 They want Ukraine to essentially become a satellite state in the way that Belarus is a sort of satellite state of the Russians.

00:18:40.000 And they believe that Ukraine is sort of a moat in their eye, that because Ukraine has become increasingly pro European, increasingly pro western, and increasingly swiveled away from Russia, that because of that, Ukraine represents a serious impediment to the reestablishment of anything like a Russian empire.

00:18:58.000 And the goal of Vladimir Putin is to reestablish Russia not just as a regional power, but as a global superpower on par with the United States, on par with China.

00:19:07.000 That is his goal.

00:19:08.000 And Ukraine represents an insult to that because Ukraine obviously was a part of the Soviet Union because there's a long history between Ukraine and Russia, including times when Russia has dominated parts of Ukraine or the whole of Ukraine.

00:19:21.000 And so the idea that a giant chunk of what Putin considers to be Russia actually is turned away from Russia is an insult to him and to the new Russian empire that he's attempting to create.

00:19:32.000 So the idea that he's going to accept security guarantees from the West in exchange for a little bit more territory, the only way that he believes that that will be useful to him is if he believes that the West is going to reneg, that he believes the West is basically going to pull out the same way that the West did with regard to, say, Hong Kong and China.

00:19:48.000 And President Trump, for his part, he believes that he can still make a deal.

00:19:50.000 And again, this is one of the things that's kind of amazing about President Trump.

00:19:54.000 He's a consummate deal maker, for sure.

00:19:56.000 He's very optimistic about deals all the time.

00:19:58.000 He thinks he can make a deal in any situation.

00:19:59.000 Now, the good thing about President Trump is that he's heterodox in his views, which means he sometimes does very creative things.

00:20:05.000 But also, if things don't happen, he then will respond.

00:20:08.000 He is responsive.

00:20:09.000 He doesn't just stick with the idea.

00:20:11.000 The idea that that endless diplomacy is something that President Trump is going to pursue here is not true.

00:20:16.000 If Russia will not come to the table, if he feels that Putin is jacking him around again, then he'll walk away.

00:20:23.000 He will.

00:20:24.000 He is not going to be bullied by Vladimir Putin here.

00:20:26.000 With that said, he is optimistic.

00:20:27.000 He was caught in a hot mic talking about the idea that he thinks that Putin wants to make a deal.

00:20:31.000 Thank you.

00:20:54.000 So that was President Trump explaining that he thinks that Putin wants to make a deal with him for him.

00:20:59.000 And we'll find out whether that's true or not.

00:21:01.000 I mean, bottom line is the proof is in the pudding and none of the details have been worked out, but we are moving toward a thing.

00:21:06.000 And to pretend that somehow Trump is doing Putin's work here is to ignore everything that's actually going on in favor of a pre-established narrative.

00:21:13.000 That's that's the actual thing that's amazing here.

00:21:15.000 There are some members of the heretofore left who at least are being honest about this.

00:21:19.000 Michael McFaul, who is President Obama's Russian ambassador, he says, listen, President Trump is actually doing a pretty good job here.

00:21:27.000 I think there was a very positive meeting and whoever had the idea to bring all these European leaders together in addition to President Zelensky, that was a brilliant, brilliant idea.

00:21:38.000 And having it come so quickly after Alaska was also very important because now they've changed the talking points here.

00:21:46.000 Just in this meeting alone, they've walked back.

00:21:49.000 some of the positions that the president was echoing when he met with President Putin.

00:21:54.000 So this is very positive progress.

00:21:59.000 So, you know, again, if you're honest, even if you're a Democrat, you should be acknowledging that President Trump not only is not doing anything wrong here, he's actually moving the ball forward.

00:22:08.000 Now, whether we get to the end zone or not is an entirely separate question.

00:22:12.000 And there's a lot of ground to cover between here and there.

00:22:14.000 But to pretend that this was somehow a gigantic Trump capitulation to Putin is to ignore the actual reality of the situation.

00:22:22.000 And it demonstrates the wild disconnect between reality and what Democrats think of President Trump.

00:22:26.000 Susan W Rice, who is of course a high ranking foreign policy adviser under Barack Obama and then a domestic policy adviser under Joe Biden, former US ambassador to the United Nations.

00:22:37.000 She was suggesting that Trump was somehow caving to Putin.

00:22:39.000 Where is the evidence for this?

00:22:41.000 Where?

00:22:43.000 Trump always likes to put a positive spin on his own work and even a dishonest spin in some instances frequently.

00:22:53.000 And so I think that, you know, he had said for weeks, if not months, that a ceasefire immediately was necessary and that that was what he saw in Alaska.

00:23:04.000 And if he didn't get it, he was going to be very angry and there were going to be severe consequences.

00:23:09.000 And he melted in like a puddle of ice in the Alaska sunshine. 0.99

00:23:18.000 It's just ridiculous. 0.98

00:23:19.000 I'm sorry, ridiculous. 0.58

00:23:20.000 And coming from Susan Rice, who again was a top foreign policy adviser under Barack Obama, who literally pledged flexibility to the Russians in exchange for them going quiet before the 2012 election, and then proceeded to hand over control of Syria to them, which by the way resulted in catastrophe in that entire region, and handing control of Crimea and the Donbass to them, which happened in 2014.

00:23:43.000 I mean, it's an amazing thing to watch these Democrats now pretend that they are hardcore on Russia.

00:23:48.000 Meanwhile, Tom Friedman, who is the dumbest human alive, I mean, Tom Friedman, columnist for the New York Times, who apparently receives all of his foreign policy knowledge from random cab drivers in random countries around the world. 0.98

00:24:00.000 He appeared on CNN to explain that President Trump is acting like he's neutral between a rapist and his victim. 0.98

00:24:05.000 I have a question.

00:24:06.000 How does he think negotiation presumably works?

00:24:08.000 What's he supposed to do?

00:24:09.000 Putin walks in, he just smacks him, he just backhands him.

00:24:12.000 What the hell is Thomas Friedman talking about? 1.00

00:24:14.000 What a ridiculous person Thomas Friedman is. 0.99

00:24:17.000 Well, he easily could have written a tweet that said President Putin can end the war right now by getting out of Ukraine and stopping raping the country next door. 0.99

00:24:27.000 So what it tells me is that we have a president who is kind of neutral between the rapist and his victim.

00:24:36.000 And I find that very troubling going into this.

00:24:42.000 I'm sorry. 1.00

00:24:43.000 He is just he's the most ridiculous person. 0.99

00:24:45.000 The fact that he is taken seriously as a foreign policy analyst is beyond me. 0.99

00:24:48.000 Claire McCaskill, former senator from Missouri.

00:24:50.000 She's doing the same routine.

00:24:51.000 She says that these meetings were Trump and Putin versus the good guys, presumably Zelensky and the Europeans.

00:24:56.000 There's only one problem.

00:24:57.000 That's not what the evidence is.

00:25:01.000 I mean, I when you.

00:25:02.000 When you are facing someone who has been as inappropriate as Trump was with Zelenskyy a few months ago, you bring your friends, you bring the democracies of the world, you bring the nations that have always been standing by us, we have stood by each other.

00:25:23.000 And the West respects democracies, they respect the rights of their citizens and the idea that they're all there and it's Trump and Putin versus all the good guys.

00:25:38.000 Oh my goodness.

00:25:40.000 You know, this sort of disconnect is why people are willing to buy basically any dumb conspiracy theory.

00:25:46.000 Because if you listen to MSNBC, President Trump just handed over Ukraine to Vladimir Putin, and it's not true.

00:25:51.000 It's not true at all.

00:25:53.000 Nancy Pelosi, meanwhile, is tweeting out something similar.

00:25:56.000 Yesterday she tweeted out, it's curious to see the similarities between the people close with President Trump.

00:26:01.000 On the one hand, we have Vladimir Putin has ordered the kidnapping of tens of thousands of Ukrainian children and uses the rape of women as a weapon of war.

00:26:07.000 This conduct is eerily similar to the moral depravity of Trump's other friend Jeffrey Epstein.

00:26:12.000 With his close relationships to both men, it's no surprise Trump won't release the Epstein files and wants Ukraine to see land to Putin. 0.89

00:26:17.000 What a despicable person. 0.88

00:26:19.000 My goodness, Nancy Pelosi. 0.99

00:26:22.000 Just the number of lies in that very, very short tweet, astonishing from Nancy Pelosi.

00:26:28.000 But again, that half the country's just misinformed, truly misinformed.

00:26:32.000 Now understand my view on this.

00:26:34.000 I've been very clear.

00:26:34.000 I think the United States should be funding Ukraine sufficient to stop the Russian invasion.

00:26:38.000 In fact, I think that the United States has a strong interest in funding Ukraine and army Ukraine sufficient to push back Russian territorial gains in the Donbass, if possible.

00:26:47.000 I've been saying that for years.

00:26:48.000 I've never changed my mind on that subject.

00:26:50.000 I said that in August 2022 they should look for an off-ramp because that seemed to be the most auspicious time for an off-ramp.

00:26:57.000 along the lines what Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State, was talking about.

00:27:01.000 But then after Putin basically walked away and so did Zelenskyy, then the idea that you were going to let Ukraine fall to the Russians became ridiculous.

00:27:09.000 So it is not as though I personally am sort of neutral on the question of what happens in Ukraine with regard to Vladimir Putin. 0.87

00:27:17.000 I think the Russians are a nefarious force in the world. 1.00

00:27:18.000 I think Vladimir Putin is one of the worst actors on planet Earth. 0.86

00:27:21.000 And also, President Trump was not handing him to the keys of the car.

00:27:25.000 I mean, that's like there's no evidence that's the case.

00:27:27.000 And so the consistent lying here remains a source of astonishment to me.

00:27:32.000 All right, coming up, we'll get to the latest on redistricting.

00:27:35.000 The Texas Democrats came back.

00:27:37.000 So Brave Sir Robin is back first.

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00:29:42.000 Okay.

00:29:43.000 Meanwhile, remember that time that Texas Democrats, Texas Democrats, they were the resistance.

00:29:48.000 They ran away bravely like Sir Robin from Monty Python.

00:29:51.000 They ran, ran far away in order to prevent the Texas House from achieving a quorum, thus to prevent redistricting.

00:29:58.000 Well, it turns out they came back and then the redistricting happened.

00:30:01.000 According to the Wall Street Journal, roaring cheers from supporters greeted Texas House Democrats as they returned to the Capitol midday on Monday after a two-week walk out.

00:30:08.000 Their return all but ensures the passage of a Republican-backed redistricting plan sought by President Trump, but the Democrats' allies think the walkout did a good job of drawing national attention to the GOP redistricting effort and generating pushback to it.

00:30:19.000 So a bunch of Democrats showed up in the well of the state capital to chant about how they had really fought back.

00:30:26.000 They'd put Texans first and they'd fought back by running away and then eventually coming back. 0.99

00:30:32.000 Oh, no, no, no. 0.97

00:30:38.000 Just more ridiculous signaling. 0.99

00:30:41.000 Look at those heroes. 0.84

00:30:43.000 Look at those stalwart heroes getting the big cheers they deserve for going on a two week unpaid vacation to Chicago and Washington, DC, and then coming back just in time for Republicans to do what they wanted to do in the first place.

00:30:55.000 According to the Wall Street Journal, Texas House Democrats on Monday confirmed they were back in Austin and ready to end their 15-day quorum break after encouraging states like California to take measures to counter the proposed redistricting in Texas.

00:31:07.000 Republican governor Greg Abbott ordered the second 30-day special session after the Democrats' walk out stymied the first.

00:31:13.000 A procedural move disallowing members from leaving the chamber without permission remained in force on Monday.

00:31:17.000 House Speaker Dustin Burroughs said that Democrats who had been absent would be released only under the custody of state troopers until the body reconvenes later this week.

00:31:24.000 Basically, you are coming to work whether you like it.

00:31:27.000 or not.

00:31:28.000 So it turns out that that was all a giant fail.

00:31:31.000 But the good news is, I guess, that JB Pritzker got to have his moment blotting out the sun.

00:31:36.000 JB Pritzker put out a tweet saying, thank you, Representative Wu.

00:31:39.000 This is Eugene Wu, who is a representative who fled to Illinois, one of the most gerrymandered states in America in order to prevent redistricting in Texas.

00:31:47.000 Pritzker said, thank you, Representative Wu, for trusting us to defend democracy alongside you.

00:31:52.000 We need more fighters like the Texas House Democrats.

00:31:55.000 Do you?

00:31:55.000 Because they lost.

00:31:57.000 I noticed that.

00:31:59.000 Now, it'll be interesting to see, by the way, how the Texas redistricting actually impacts the map because right now a bunch of districts are going to get redrawn.

00:32:09.000 And in 2024, President Trump won every Republican-held house district in Texas by double digits.

00:32:17.000 And there are some districts that were starting to turn red because of the large-scale movement of Hispanics away from the Democratic Party.

00:32:24.000 But it is possible that in future elections, those Hispanic voters may turn back toward the Democratic Party.

00:32:29.000 In fact, there's some decent poll data suggesting some disillusionment with the Republican Party on behalf of some of the Texas Hispanic population, particularly along the border with Mexico.

00:32:39.000 This is a point that's being made by Eli McCown Dawson over at Nate Silver's substack that the Texas House districting might not actually achieve what it seeks to achieve because there are five Texas districts that are supposed to flip from blue to red in nine thirty second, thirty fifth congressional districts.

00:32:58.000 Harris won all three of those districts in 2024 under the old congressional map.

00:33:02.000 Under the new map, parts of each district would be moved into more suburban areas that voted for Trump in 2024.

00:33:08.000 And that means that he would have won all three districts in 2024 and 2020.

00:33:13.000 But the other two districts, the 28th and 34th are a less straightforward win for Republicans.

00:33:17.000 The 28th and 34th are located in South Texas on the border with Mexico.

00:33:20.000 They are both majority Hispanic.

00:33:23.000 And so it is possible.

00:33:24.000 possible that, you know, again, those are districts that Biden won actually in 2020 and that in 2024, President Trump won.

00:33:32.000 But if there is a reversion to the mean in terms of Hispanic voting patterns, then you could see a world where actually Hispanics drive in Texas those districts back into the arm of the Democrats, which means you won't gain five seats, they'll essentially gain one.

00:33:45.000 I mean, that is possible as well.

00:33:47.000 So again, this is the thing about redistricting.

00:33:49.000 No matter how much you think you can redistrict a bunch of seats of the opposition out of existence, if the people don't like the way that the politics is going, they will vote the other way.

00:34:00.000 Meanwhile, California Democrats, according to the Washington.

00:34:03.000 Post, are going to take their first official steps this week in the national battle over redrawing congressional maps as they return to Sacramento to adopt a measure asking voters to approve new boundaries for 2026, 2028 and 2030 that could create as many as five new house seats for their party.

00:34:16.000 The aggressive legislative maneuvering by governor Gavin Newsom and Democrats who control the legislature is intended as a check on President Trump and his effort to tilt the midterm elections in Republican favor.

00:34:25.000 They are pushing forward.

00:34:26.000 Again, the goal for the Democrats is to make Gavin Newsom the 2028 nominee.

00:34:30.000 I mean, that's really what they are attempting to do at this point. 1.00

00:34:33.000 Gavin Newsom, for his part, continues to tweet like an idiot. 1.00

00:34:37.000 I don't understand exactly what he is doing at this point. 1.00

00:34:40.000 It is quite bizarre.

00:34:41.000 He's putting out these all caps tweets that are designed to, ow, imitate President Trump in some way.

00:34:49.000 He put out a tweet yesterday showing himself on Mount Rushmore. 0.97

00:34:53.000 And I know he thinks he's trolling, but he just looks like a doofus. 0.99

00:34:56.000 I mean, truly a doofus. 0.95

00:34:57.000 Now, that doesn't mean he might not be the nominee, he might be. 0.93

00:35:00.000 I mean, Democrats are very susceptible, as we say, to all of this sort of posturing and virtue signaling, which is why they will cheer when Cory Booker speaks for 24 hours or Hakeem Jeffries stands up there with a catheter for 7 hours and jabbers.

00:35:12.000 But, you know, is that actually going to effectuate a stop to President Trump's policies?

00:35:16.000 I think not.

00:35:17.000 Unlikely.

00:35:17.000 Now, meanwhile, the media, which have been doing all the dirty work for the Democrats for literally my entire lifetime, they're in a very serious situation.

00:35:24.000 So there was a report yesterday that MSNBC is now rebranding itself.

00:35:29.000 It will no longer be called MSNBC.

00:35:32.000 They are celebrating a change in their branding.

00:35:34.000 Here was Joe Scarborough announcing this morning a new name for the network by the end of the year.

00:35:43.000 We will become MS Now, which stands for my source for news, opinion and the world.

00:35:49.000 And look, Andrew, they even have a graphic up.

00:35:53.000 I like it.

00:35:54.000 There it is, actually.

00:35:55.000 It looks very sporty.

00:35:59.000 It sounds like a charity for fighting multiple sclerosis.

00:36:02.000 What is MS Now?

00:36:04.000 There are A lot of very good jokes online.

00:36:07.000 One person posted, I'm not looking for Miss Now.

00:36:09.000 I'm looking for Miss Wright. 0.56

00:36:11.000 I don't even know what that's about.

00:36:13.000 Why?

00:36:14.000 Why not just like what?

00:36:17.000 They could have come with something better than that.

00:36:19.000 Seriously, like something better.

00:36:21.000 Why MS now?

00:36:22.000 You just want to keep the same number of letters?

00:36:24.000 Are you that desperate to ensure the reusability of your five-letter captions or something?

00:36:31.000 You couldn't come with anything better than that.

00:36:34.000 Very, very weak sauce.

00:36:36.000 I believe that the original origin of MSNBC was that it was Microsoft and NBC and that's how it became MSNBC.

00:36:44.000 So now they're just trying to rebrand.

00:36:46.000 Okay, it's a it's a weird move.

00:36:48.000 It's a weird move.

00:36:48.000 But again, that is simply because they are having serious ratings problems and they've been having serious ratings problems for quite a while.

00:36:55.000 MSNBC, they're trying everything they can to actually rebrand in a serious way.

00:37:00.000 According to the New York Post, it was mercilessly raked over the coals by the internet.

00:37:06.000 People talking about maybe it was most surely no one watching or BS now.

00:37:13.000 Apparently it was they were forced to do this, I guess, because of the upcoming spin-off by by Comcast to a new publicly traded company called Versant.

00:37:20.000 So a short sell whatever owns MSNBC or MS now, as they say, they're getting rid of the peacock.

00:37:28.000 One former media executive told the post, I don't know what's worse, Versant or MySource News Opinion World, whoever came up with these names deserves to be shown the door.

00:37:37.000 It is very weird.

00:37:38.000 It is a very weird move by MSNBC.

00:37:42.000 Don't don't don't really get it.

00:37:44.000 But you know, don't get a lot about their coverage.

00:37:46.000 Meanwhile, joining us online is Harmony Dillon. 0.95

00:37:48.000 She, of course, is assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice.

00:37:52.000 And of course, before she joined the administration, her law.

00:37:54.000 Her law practice focuses on a wide variety of issues, including she helped us out when we were suing the federal government over Joe Biden's vaccination mandate.

00:38:00.000 Harmony, thank you so much for the time.

00:38:01.000 Really appreciate it.

00:38:03.000 Yeah, thanks for having me, Ben.

00:38:06.000 So why don't we start with the situation in Washington, DC?

00:38:09.000 Obviously, the president has sent federal forces into Washington, DC, which he has the authority to do.

00:38:14.000 He has also said that he wants to take control of the police department, which he also has the authority to do.

00:38:20.000 What is the goal here?

00:38:20.000 How is the DOJ going to be involved in prosecution of crime in the District of Columbia?

00:38:25.000 Well, you're seeing it in real time.

00:38:28.000 The president has seen the news like everyone who lives here.

00:38:30.000 I'm a DC resident now working at the DOJ and everyone is aware of the pervasive crime.

00:38:35.000 It isn't just in one area or the other.

00:38:37.000 It's literally near the White House, near Capitol Hill, and you can't escape it.

00:38:41.000 And so this is what is happening is now we're seeing a completely ineffective local law enforcement.

00:38:46.000 So the federal government is taking over.

00:38:48.000 You're seeing our U.S. attorney, Judge Pirro prosecuting street crime.

00:38:54.000 There's arrests happening overnight, dozens and dozens.

00:38:57.000 And this is the type of law enforcement that the local authorities could have done for the last several decades and simply for political reasons chose not to do.

00:39:06.000 And so I personally feel much safer as a DC resident and I'm hearing that from people who aren't involved in politics as well.

00:39:13.000 I wish this could happen all over the country, but of course the president has the authority to do it here and not elsewhere.

00:39:18.000 Our Attorney General here in the building, Pam Bondi, is also very invested in this.

00:39:22.000 She's meeting regularly with police.

00:39:24.000 And, you know, this is just a whole night and day situation here in DC.

00:39:30.000 Yeah, it's kind of amazing the difference between the chattering classes on TV, what they're saying about this, talking about tyranny, and what is actually happening in the District of Columbia, where the federal government does have plenary power to actually do things like prevent crime, because of course it is a federal district.

00:39:44.000 It is not an independent state.

00:39:46.000 What has been the reaction so far of residents inside D DC say all this?

00:39:50.000 I haven't heard a single negative reaction from anybody who's a non-multimillionaire TV host who lives here in the district.

00:39:59.000 I think people are happy about it.

00:40:01.000 I mean, you do see crime tape all over the place before this happened and the crime is pervasive.

00:40:07.000 And so I actually moved to New York in the 1990s when Rudy Giuliani was the mayor and it was a similar situation where overnight you start to use that broken window theory and prosecute all the street crime and the turnstile jumpers and all that.

00:40:24.000 And suddenly, the whole tone of the place chang picks up, value goes up, people move in.

00:40:30.000 I hope that happens to our city as well.

00:40:34.000 Well, meanwhile, the Civil Rights Division over at the Department of Justice has changed its orientation and is actually trying to enforce civil rights, including on issues like Title IX.

00:40:44.000 What's the latest on the DOJ's approach to Title IX?

00:40:48.000 Well, Title IX has been something that we jumped right into at the beginning, and this has been a big priority for the Trump administration, and it's at multiple levels.

00:40:56.000 So at the college level, we are engaging in conversations with universities that we're entering into settlement negotiations with, and many of those have Title IX components.

00:41:06.000 For example, University of Pennsylvania has agreed to not allow boys to compete, men to compete in young women's sports.

00:41:14.000 We're looking at situations where universities are requiring sororities, fraternities to admit people of the opposite sex than what their preferences is, and we're trying to get them to stop doing that.

00:41:26.000 We're emphasizing privacy, but I want to also let your viewers and listeners know that we're actually also focusing on K through 12.

00:41:35.000 That's a very important priority.

00:41:36.000 And right here in our backyard in DC in the suburban Maryland areas, you're seeing open defiance of federal law and Title IX in these suburbs you're seeing uh these schools punish uh two boys who complained about a woman a young woman identifying as a boy coming into their locker room we believe both boys and girls have privacy rights and they're being violated by virginia schools we're seeing this happen in other schools as well and i'm engaged in litigation on behalf of the doj

00:42:07.000 in california against california interscholastic federation which administers the school sports in california and allows boys to compete in girls sports take their trophies take their opportunities for scholarships and take away their self-confidence this is completely unacceptable contrary to the law and we're not going to stand for it at this Department of Justice.

00:42:28.000 Actually, one report that's coming out from the backyard over there is Loudoun County.

00:42:32.000 Their public schools are now going to maintain a policy apparently allowing so-called transgender students, boys who believe they are girls or the reverse, to use facilities that match their gender identity despite an order from the DOE.

00:42:42.000 How is the DOJ going to be dealing with situations like this?

00:42:46.000 Well, we also sent a letter to Loudoun County on this issue, and I saw this member of the school board, I believe, or administrator mouth off about this, how they're going to ignore the civil rights division of Department of Education and presumably DOJ.

00:43:01.000 We'll see about that.

00:43:03.000 I don't think that's going to happen.

00:43:06.000 Well, that is Harmit Dillon, assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the US Department of Justice doing a fantastic job there.

00:43:11.000 Harmit, really appreciate the time.

00:43:12.000 Thanks for what you're doing.

00:43:14.000 Thank you for having me, Ben.

00:43:15.000 Meanwhile, the lamentations, the wailing, lamentations, gnashing of teeth, rending of garments on behalf of Stephen Colbert continues a pace.

00:43:23.000 Yesterday, Conan O'Brien issued a statement talking about how sad he was about Stephen Colbert, who was speaking at the Television Academy Hall of Fame.

00:43:32.000 He said, It's just, it's just very, very sad what happened to Stephen Colbert.

00:43:35.000 Honestly, it's sadder what happened to Conan in Late Night.

00:43:38.000 I'm old enough to remember when Conan was in Late Night and he's better than all these gu guys were. 1.00

00:43:42.000 Here he is very, very sad about the demise of Stephen Colbert's wildly over expensive late night show.

00:43:49.000 Late night television as we have known it since around 1950 is going to disappear.

00:43:55.000 But those voices are not going anywhere.

00:43:58.000 People like Stephen Colbert are too talented and too essential to go away.

00:44:03.000 It's not going to happen.

00:44:05.000 Yeah, he's not going anywhere.

00:44:08.000 Stephen is going to evolve and shine brighter than ever in a new format that he controls completely.

00:44:17.000 He is going to go on and thrive at MS Now, where he will undoubtedly be the late night host at MS Now, whatever that means.

00:44:25.000 So good luck.

00:44:26.000 By the way, I love when people act as though things sort of passively happen in the universe. 0.61

00:44:30.000 The reason that late night is dead is because you guys killed it.

00:44:33.000 Greg Gottfeld is doing fine in late night.

00:44:35.000 It's just that you guys aren't funny and you guys hate the right.

00:44:38.000 And so every single one of your hosts was berated for the great sin of not treating the right as anathema.

00:44:44.000 That's a you problem, my dude.

00:44:46.000 That is a Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel problem.

00:44:49.000 Late night didn't kill itself.

00:44:50.000 Alright, coming up, Taylor Swift has actually released a new album cover and it's kind of, you know, like a little.

00:44:57.000 on the R to X rated side, which is a little shocking for her.

00:45:01.000 I know you may not care about that, but you know what you will care about?

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00:46:14.000 Meanwhile, in other cultural news.

00:46:17.000 I have to note that Taylor Swift has a new album cover.

00:46:19.000 I know we have to give these updates.

00:46:20.000 Apparently they're more newsworthy than actual news, but I I have been told by many sources, myriad and sundry, that it's very important that we talk about Taylor Swift's new album cover.

00:46:29.000 So here's what Taylor Swift's new album cover looks like.

00:46:33.000 Here is the here is the image.

00:46:35.000 And by the way, she is so overexposed.

00:46:38.000 My goodness.

00:46:39.000 If you search Taylor Swift on Google, which I just did because I'm trying to look up her album cover, there's like actual Google graphics that appear with animation of glitter falling because she has released the Life of a Showgirl album cover.

00:46:55.000 And apparently it is her in like a bathroom stall or something. 0.99

00:47:00.000 I'm very confused as to what is going on here.

00:47:03.000 She is bent over at the waist, putting her arms against a wall while wearing a showgirl outfit that's cut up thigh high, essentially. 1.00

00:47:15.000 And all right.

00:47:17.000 Okay.

00:47:17.000 So I'm looking through her old Taylor Swift album covers now.

00:47:20.000 Well, first of all, I have to say it looks like she's done some facial work because she looked very different in 2006.

00:47:24.000 In any case, Taylor Swift 2006 looks like it's like a normal country album cover.

00:47:28.000 And then I guess her 2008 album, same kind of thing, 2010 album, same kind of thing.

00:47:34.000 2012 album, just a close-up of her face.

00:47:37.000 Then there's the 1989 album where she is, it's basically a Polaroid of her wearing an outfit from 1989.

00:47:43.000 There's her Reputation album where it looks as though she's kind of doing a quasi Madonna thing with her hair slicked back.

00:47:50.000 Her Lover album, she is clad.

00:47:51.000 Her Folklore album, she's just out in the forest.

00:47:54.000 Her Evermore album, she's still out in the forest.

00:47:58.000 Midnight, she is carrying a lighter.

00:48:02.000 The Tortured Poets Department we start to get into.

00:48:04.000 It was really the last two years we start to get into the sort of like, let me lie on a bed in kind of softcore pornographic fashion.

00:48:11.000 So a tortured post department, she's lying on a bed, reclining on a bed. 0.87

00:48:15.000 And now Life of a Showgirl, she has multiple album covers, I guess.

00:48:21.000 One of them is her half underwater wearing a showgirl outfit, kind of, which I don't know why she would wear that in the bath.

00:48:29.000 That seems like not a great way to be.

00:48:31.000 And then there's her bending up against the wall, almost like, what's her face?

00:48:35.000 You know, Sabrina Carpenter.

00:48:38.000 I don't know who these people are, but I will say that it is slightly regressive, no?

00:48:46.000 I mean, like it's kind of weird that all of your feminist.

00:48:49.000 heroes are now engaged in semi-pornographic album covers.

00:48:53.000 That's kind of strange, isn't it?

00:48:56.000 I understand that it was transgressive back in the 1980s when Madonna was doing it, but it's not transgressive anymore.

00:49:02.000 It's actually sort of bizarrely regressive.

00:49:05.000 And again, from a conservative point of view, I'm not generally in favor of people selling their works by becoming scantily clad.

00:49:12.000 It's not my thing.

00:49:13.000 But just from a feminist perspective, I'm confused why feminists think this is some sort of advancement. 1.00

00:49:18.000 Very strange.

00:49:19.000 And meanwhile, other controversy in the cultural sphere.

00:49:23.000 So apparently there have been these male cheerleaders that everybody's been steadfastastly ignoring since like 2018, but now they've broken back into the open.

00:49:32.000 And some video has emerged of one Minnesota Vikings cheerleader who is a flamingly gay man who is kind of doing a Dylan Mulvaney impression without the sex change. 0.55

00:49:46.000 And I'm just wondering why, like why, why is this why? 0.65

00:49:51.000 Here we go.

00:49:57.000 Like why is he doing the female moves? 1.00

00:49:59.000 Why is this like he looks like he looks like an idiot. 1.00

00:50:02.000 I'm sorry. 1.00

00:50:02.000 looks like a complete ridiculous moron. 1.00

00:50:04.000 He's dancing around and swiveling his hips and... 1.00

00:50:11.000 Now again, as a conservative, I'm not a big fan of the female cheerleaders on the sideline either because I just think that it's become sort of a glorified stripper whole thing. 1.00

00:50:19.000 But having a dude do it is ridiculous, like laughably ridiculous. 0.95

00:50:24.000 It's like Bugs Bunny putting on a dress and lipstick and dancing around out there. 0.95

00:50:29.000 And we're supposed to believe that this is sort of liberating.

00:50:32.000 Who's the audience for this?

00:50:33.000 Legitimately, who is the audience for this? 0.89

00:50:36.000 It's just ridiculous. 1.00

00:50:37.000 He looks like an idiot. 1.00

00:50:38.000 Okay. 1.00

00:50:39.000 I will say that, as I've pointed out before, my understanding is that male cheerleading did not involve effeminate gyrations by men typically.

00:50:47.000 It typically involved either like raw-raying or actually physically picking up ladies and throwing them in the air. 1.00

00:50:54.000 As I suspected, this is not how cheerleading originally went.

00:50:57.000 So I asked our sponsors over at Comet, what is the history of male cheerleading and when did it start to involve men dancing like women?

00:51:03.000 Quote, male cheerleading has its origins in the late 19th century, specifically in the 1860s and 1870s at Ivy League College sporting events in the United States.

00:51:10.000 Initially, cheerleading was exclusively a male activity, with men known as yell leaders, leading crowds with chants and basic movements focused on audience engagement and school spirit.

00:51:18.000 The activity remained predominantly male until World War I and especially World War II, when men went off to fight and women began to take over roles on cheerleading.

00:51:25.000 during the early male dominated years, cheerleading was not associated with dance or the more stylized movements often linked with femininity. 0.94

00:51:31.000 The routines were simple.

00:51:33.000 The main role of male cheerleaders was to lead crowd chants and encourage spirit rather than performing dances.

00:51:38.000 It was female cheerleaders who introduced more synchronized routines, tumbling acrobatics and the use of paper pompoms, gradually transforming cheerleading into chant focused crowd leadership to a performance-based activity involving dance elements. 1.00

00:51:48.000 The transition to men participating in dance style routines similarly similar to those traditionally associated with women occurred much later.

00:51:55.000 For decades, the style of male cheerleading continued to emphasize strength, athletic stunts, and cheerleading leadership rather than dance.

00:52:00.000 It was only as cheerleading developed into competitive and more performance-oriented sport in the late 20th century, especially from the 1980s onward with televised competitions and camps that both male and female cheerleaders began participating in routines involving dance, tumbling and stunts.

00:52:12.000 Even then, men typically performed partner stunts, tumbling and lifts while women led in dance style movements and choreography.

00:52:20.000 So in other words, this is relatively new. 1.00

00:52:22.000 And we mean like the last few years, this ridiculous, ridiculous, silly, stupid, idiotic, maronic looking routine in which the men are just doing female movements. 1.00

00:52:32.000 And yes, women move differently than men. 1.00

00:52:35.000 I love that we live in a society where what's supposed to jab an ice pick into our eye socket in order to get rid of our prefrontal cortex and we're supposed to pretend that men and women move similarly.

00:52:44.000 They do not. 1.00

00:52:45.000 That is stupid. 1.00

00:52:46.000 And a man doing the same moves as a woman looks like a moron, period. 1.00

00:52:50.000 That's all. 1.00

00:52:52.000 And I mean, we all know what this is, right? 0.82

00:52:54.000 I mean, what this is supposed to be is, hey, look, a gay man who's dancing like a woman, stop pretending in all the coverage of this. 0.97

00:53:00.000 It is irritating. 0.77

00:53:01.000 The sort of gaslighting is irritating.

00:53:03.000 I don't care about this very much, honestly, because like I, as I've said, I don't like any of the sort of modern cheerleading routines.

00:53:09.000 I think that they're oversexualized and they look like they're something straight out of a, out of a strip club.

00:53:13.000 But what, what does get my goat is, is the gaslighting.

00:53:17.000 Well, you know, males have been.

00:53:19.000 cheerleaders for centuries for going back almost 200 years.

00:53:22.000 Males have been cheerleading. 0.96

00:53:23.000 It's like, no, it's not the same thing. 1.00

00:53:25.000 Once again, you're taking turns and you're robbing them of their meaning and then you're supplanting them with an alternative, stupid meaning. 0.97

00:53:32.000 And then you are pretending that, well, you think men were dancing like this smuck back in 1870 or 1940 or hell, 1990? 0.99

00:53:40.000 Not a thing, not a thing. 0.99

00:53:42.000 And pretending it is a thing leads to the normalization of something that looks incredibly dumb. 0.82

00:53:46.000 Meanwhile, there is something happening in the culture. 0.87

00:53:48.000 And I think one of those things that's happening is the normalization of being just kind of a normy conservative.

00:53:54.000 Chris Pratt, the actor who is in Guardians of the Galaxy among many other successful movies.

00:54:01.000 Chris Pratt for a long time has been ripped up by the internet for not being sufficiently to the left.

00:54:07.000 And now he's basically saying, you know, there's a lot of people out there who have Trump derangements in Rome. 0.91

00:54:11.000 They're totally insane. 0.81

00:54:11.000 Here he was with Bill Maher. 0.81

00:54:14.000 And in politics, you inherit enemies.

00:54:16.000 And when you jump on, you know, the bandwagon with who is, you know, the most divisive president ever, it makes sense that you're going to be made to look.

00:54:30.000 terrible.

00:54:31.000 And so I don't know what to believe because I'm sitting with Bobby and I go, so hey, let's talk about this.

00:54:35.000 Let's talk about it.

00:54:36.000 It's like we're just playing cards or playing mafia or having fun or having.

00:54:38.000 fun or having dinner.

00:54:39.000 I'm not going to pick his brain to find out exactly which of those things are true.

00:54:42.000 I just kind of assume that none of them are.

00:54:44.000 And for the most part, I wish him well, man.

00:54:46.000 I hope there's certain things that he oversees that seem to be supported in a bipartisan way, like getting terrible toxic stuff out of our kids' food.

00:54:56.000 I think that's a great thing.

00:54:57.000 And so like, just if you just do that, that's amazing.

00:55:00.000 I'd hate to be so mired in hatred for the president that any success from his administration is something I'd be, have an allergic reaction to be like, oh, well, if they do it, I don't want it to happen.

00:55:11.000 I'll feed my, I'll put Clorox in my children's cereal myself.

00:55:15.000 You know what I'm saying?, come on, be reasonable here.

00:55:18.000 There's certain things that would be good to have.

00:55:20.000 I want them all to be successful.

00:55:23.000 Wow, things that you weren't allowed to say until five minutes ago in Hollywood.

00:55:27.000 So the times are changing.

00:55:28.000 Similarly, Anthony Mackie has been actually out there saying some relatively conservative things.

00:55:33.000 Again, as long as we're in the Marvel Universe, here he was a few months ago on the Pivot podcast talking about the death of the American Mail.

00:55:40.000 In the past twenty years, we've been living through the death of the American Mail.

00:55:46.000 They have literally killed masculinity in our homes and our communities, for one reason or another.

00:55:52.000 But I raised my boys to be young men.

00:55:55.000 And however you feel about that, you feel about that.

00:55:58.000 But my boys will always be respectful.

00:56:00.000 They will always say yes, sir, yes, ma'am.

00:56:02.000 No, sir, no, ma'am.

00:56:03.000 They will always say thank you.

00:56:04.000 They will always open the door for a lady. 1.00

00:56:06.000 They will always make sure that their mother is taken care of and provided for.

00:56:10.000 They will always be men.

00:56:12.000 And that's always since they were two years old.

00:56:15.000 Every time I left for a job, I tell my fifteen year old, you the man out of the house.

00:56:19.000 You make sure these doors are locked every night.

00:56:21.000 This alarm is on.

00:56:22.000 You text me or you call me every night before you go to bed and you wake up.

00:56:26.000 I love that.

00:56:26.000 Because we're men.

00:56:29.000 Okay, again, this coming back in a style is a good thing.

00:56:32.000 It is a good thing.

00:56:33.000 Males need something to do. 1.00

00:56:35.000 Males are quite important to society.

00:56:37.000 And when you rob them of their purpose, when you rob them of their initiative, when you rob them of their roles, what you end up with is a crisis, a real crisis.

00:56:45.000 Really interesting piece by Robert Putnam and Richard Reeves over at the New York Times called The Boy Crisis of 2025 meet the Boy Problem of the 1900s.

00:56:53.000 In the early years of the 20th century, America had a boy problem. 1.00

00:56:56.000 Boys on the street making trouble, boys becoming truants, boys getting caught up in crime.

00:56:59.000 The problem spread across the United States alongside the disruptions of technological change, immigration and growing socioeconomic inequality.

00:57:06.000 Policy makers stepped in with universal public schooling, for example, but it was the civic response that was truly extraordinaryary.

00:57:11.000 In less than a decade, most of today's major child-serving organizations were founded.

00:57:15.000 Big Brothers, the Federated Boys' Clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and 4H.

00:57:19.000 Many boys and men are struggling today too.

00:57:21.000 In an America once again disrupted by technological change, immigration, and growing inequality.

00:57:25.000 Since 2010, suicide rates among young men have risen by a third.

00:57:28.000 They are now higher than they are among middle-aged men.

00:57:31.000 The share of college degrees going to men has fallen to 41%, lower than the women's share in 1970.

00:57:35.000 One in ten men aged 20 to 24 is effectively doing nothing, neither enrolled in school nor working.

00:57:40.000 That's twice the rate in 1990.

00:57:42.000 This crisis demands a response equivalent to what the progressive era delivered, not just in public policy, but equally important from our civic institutions.

00:57:51.000 And he talks about, you know, what government is attempting to do and men and boys being left behind.

00:57:57.000 And he quotes, you know, a bunch of different political figures talking about this problem, pushes from Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan and Spencer Cox in Utah and Wes Moore in Maryland.

00:58:10.000 And Moore, for example, in his 2025 State of the State address in Maryland, he said, our mission is to uplift men and boys.

00:58:16.000 It's not in conflict with our values to leave no one behind.

00:58:18.000 It's in concert with them.

00:58:20.000 As the father of a son and a daughter, I want both my children growing up with all of their God-honoring and God-given opportunities.

00:58:26.000 But the reality is that the major fall off for boys and men is in the civil sphere.

00:58:32.000 It is not in the governmental sphere.

00:58:34.000 It is not about the government spending more money on boys and men.

00:58:36.000 It really isn't.

00:58:38.000 What it is about is the death of many of those same social institutions.

00:58:43.000 They write, It takes a village to raise a child, but some of the villagers must be men.

00:58:47.000 This is where civic institutions should come in, providing places and spaces where boys and young men learn what it means to be a grown man.

00:58:53.000 But in 2025, they're struggling to fulfill that role for two main reasons.

00:58:56.000 First, there are simply fewer organizations with an explicit mission to serve boys and men.

00:59:01.000 Most of the ones formed during the last boy crisis have gone coed, sometimes as a result of a merger.

00:59:05.000 Most now serve more girls than boys.

00:59:08.000 An exception is boys and girls clubs, which renamed itself in 1990 and still serves slightly higher shares of boys, 55% than girls.

00:59:16.000 In other cases, previously male serving institutions have gone coed while their sister organizations have remained single sex.

00:59:22.000 So boy scouting no longer exists.

00:59:24.000 They're now scouting America, but there's still girl scouts, for example.

00:59:27.000 The YMCA banned gender discrimination in 1978.

00:59:31.000 Second, there's a dearth of male volunteers making it harder to provide services for boys and young men.

00:59:36.000 Only 20% of young 4H volunteers are men.

00:59:40.000 Organizations are beginning to respond.

00:59:42.000 There's an attempt to reach out, but one hindrance is to male volunteering is the fear of being seen as a potential predator.

00:59:47.000 This has also reduced the enthusiasm among some parents for single sex environments.

00:59:51.000 The abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts understandably led many parents to worry about their children in male-oriented organizations.

00:59:58.000 Settlement for claims against the Boy Scouts has reached seven billion dollars more than the annual expenditure of many U.S. states, but the attention to child safety in those organizations is now paramount.

01:00:08.000 Okay, but here's the reality.

01:00:09.000 You know what used to solve this problem was church groups.

01:00:12.000 You know what used to solve this problem was social groups that were led by men for men.

01:00:15.000 The thing that is not mentioned anywhere in this article is the rise of feminism, which said that it was uniquely bas bad for men to hang out together, for men to train boys to be boys.

01:00:26.000 The reason that Boy Scouts of America changed to Scouting America is because of feminism. 1.00

01:00:31.000 It is because of the movement to destroy maleness as a concept. 0.54

01:00:36.000 The idea was that girls can also be Boy Scouts because boy has no meaning.

01:00:41.000 The complete androgyny that was pushed by the left for decades on end had a predictable result, which was sure it meant that women could engage in more male-centric occupations, but it also meant that men were basically told that there was nothing special about them, nothing that they were uniquely supposed to do.

01:00:59.000 You know, for most people, when you say that you should act like a man, most people know what that means.

01:01:03.000 They know what that means, but we forcibly told ourselves that we weren't allowed to say things like that.

01:01:10.000 There was something bad about gender stereotypes.

01:01:12.000 Teaching a boy to be a man was somehow a terrible thing. 0.93

01:01:14.000 You had to teach him to become an androgynist widget who might choose to become transgender or feminine later in life. 0.84

01:01:20.000 Well, that's a terrible thing for a boy.

01:01:21.000 It is a terrible thing for a boy.

01:01:22.000 Boys need to learn to be men.

01:01:24.000 They need to learn to defend and protect and be dutiful.

01:01:27.000 And you know what?

01:01:28.000 There are there are actual esthetic measures that are that are important to that.

01:01:33.000 So yes, young boys wearing dresses is a bad thing.

01:01:35.000 It is not a good thing.

01:01:37.000 It's not a matter of apathy, of moral apathy, nor should it be.

01:01:42.000 Boys should be trained to dress like their dad. 1.00

01:01:45.000 They should be trained to act like their dad and their granddad and their great granddad.

01:01:49.000 That is an important.

01:01:50.000 And when you lose that, what you end up with is indeed androgynous widgets, atoms in a machine that are not in coordination with no molecules ever get formed.

01:01:59.000 And then the society comes apart and males fail.

01:02:02.000 And that's what we are watching right now.

01:02:03.000 We're watching it more and more.

01:02:04.000 And then out of a desperate need for both attention and camaraderie, people find these groups online that essentially tell them that they are wanted and they are needed and they are necessary but only as a resistance to quote unquote the system.

01:02:20.000 And the more wild and outrageous the group, the more solid the core, the more solidarity is required, the more skin in the game.

01:02:28.000 And that's how you end up with the sort of polarization of men.

01:02:31.000 That's how you end up with the extremism of young men.

01:02:33.000 It is because it is a direct reaction to the dissolution of all the social fabric that supported young men, built them up, trained them and made them useful to the societies in which they live.

01:02:43.000 Alrighty folks, the show continues for our members right now.

01:02:45.000 We'll get to Fed Chair Jerome Powell has a speech today that is really.

01:02:49.000 going to shape the next few months of economics in the United States.

01:02:52.000 Remember, in order to watch, you have to be a member.

01:02:54.000 If you're not a member, become a member.

01:02:55.000 Hughes Co.

01:02:55.000 Shapiro checked out for two months free on all annual plans.

The Ben Shapiro Show - August 19, 2025

Could Trump’s MASTERSTROKE End The Russia-Ukraine War?

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