The Ben Shapiro Show - Ep. 262 - Trump's Best Moment EVER

Trump's Q&A after his first State of the Union address was widely panned, but that doesn't mean it didn't have its own special place in the hearts of Americans. Ben Shapiro explains why Americans are ready for Trump to step up to the plate and deliver the change he's preached for so long, and why it's time for the media to allow him freedom to pursue that change. He also points out that Americans are tired of the media and other elites who oppose Trump, and want to see him free himself from the shackles of Washington, D.C., and the bureaucracy that keeps them stuck in their old ways, and allow them to do their job. Ben Shapiro is the host of The Ben Shapiro Show on Fox News Radio and host of the Daily Wire's "The Weekly Standard" and is a regular contributor to the New York Times, CNN, CBS, and other media outlets. He is also a frequent contributor to The Daily Wire and the Weekly Standard, and is one of the most influential conservative publications in the country. He is the author of several books, including The Weekly Standard s own newsletter, The Civility Project, and has been featured on CNN, Fox News, NPR, and The Hill, among other publications, and many other publications. You can find Ben Shapiro on all social medias including The Hill and The Huffington Post, and subscribe to his podcast The FiveThirtyEight. Ben's newest book is out now on Amazon Prime Video on the Apple Podcasts app on the App Store and Podchaser. Subscribe to Ben Shapiro's newest podcast on the Fourcast on Apple Podcast, wherever you get your eardrums are listening to the latest episode of the Ben Shapiro s newest podcast. and listening to him on the show on the airwaves on your favorite podcast on all things political and social media platforms. If you like what he's listening to, be sure to subscribe to Ben's podcast on social media? Subscribe and subscribe on iTunes and other podcasting platforms are mentioned in his podcast on The Ben's new podcast, The Six Sigma Podcasts! Subscribe on iTunes! and other links mentioned in this podcast are linked in the show. Thanks for listening to this podcast? Subscribe in the podcast? Subscribe on Podcharity Thank you for listening and sharing Ben's work? and his podcast is linked in your bio on this podcast on my social media in his profile on Instapay?

00:00:00.000 President Trump's approval ratings are nothing special.

00:00:03.000 Actually, they're extraordinarily low by historic standards.

00:00:05.000 He's clocking in at 44%, according to the latest NBC News Wall Street Journal poll.

00:00:09.000 His support base is highly polarized, with 85% of Republicans behind him and just 9% of Democrats.

00:00:15.000 If those rates dropped steadily for the next two years, and given the level of polarization, they certainly could, Republicans would be in serious danger of losing the House, since low presidential approval ratings correlate significantly with House elections.

00:00:27.000 Then again, Trump's support base may be stable.

00:00:29.000 Here is why.

00:00:30.000 According to that same poll, approximately 57% of voters say that Trump is doing about as well as they expected.

00:00:36.000 Meanwhile, his approval ratings far outclass those of Congress, which has just a 29% approval rating.

00:00:41.000 That's a nonpartisan statistic.

00:00:43.000 And 31% approve of Democrats in Congress, while 32% approve of Republicans in Congress.

00:00:48.000 The most unpopular figure in American politics?

00:00:50.000 That's still House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, with 19% of people feeling positively about her in any way, against 44% who feel negatively about her.

00:00:59.000 The Democratic Party's negatives double up the Republican Party's.

00:01:02.000 This relatively positive feeling toward Republicans means 60% of respondents are hopeful and optimistic about the future of the country, only 40% are pessimistic.

00:01:10.000 And that's with a sample that shows just 37% of respondents who voted for Trump himself in the presidential election.

00:01:16.000 None of this says that everybody is comfortable with Trump.

00:01:18.000 Fifty-two percent say Trump's chaotic style is unique to this administration and suggests real problems, but the American people largely agree with Trump's agenda.

00:01:27.000 Eighty-six percent say a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.

00:01:34.000 53% say the news media and other elites are exaggerating the problems with the Trump administration because they're uncomfortable and threatened with the kind of change Trump represents.

00:01:41.000 While 37% of respondents say they want Democrats in Congress setting the agenda, 19% say Republicans in Congress should do so, and 37% say Trump should do so.

00:01:51.000 57% of Americans say Trump is likely to bring change, 63% of those people say he'll bring the right kind of change.

00:01:57.000 41% of Americans say the economy will get even better.

00:02:00.000 And 73% of those people attribute that success to Trump.

00:02:03.000 Only 4% of Americans think Obamacare works well the way it is.

00:02:07.000 And here is the best statistic of all for Trump personally.

00:02:11.000 38% of Americans say they like him personally, regardless of whether they like or dislike his policies.

00:02:16.000 All of this suggests that Americans are giving Trump a chance, and that they're tired of the media failing to do so.

00:02:20.000 They think Trump is going to bring change.

00:02:22.000 They want to allow him freedom to pursue that change.

00:02:24.000 Democrats and members of the media who keep saying Trump can't be trusted with the tiller of government ought to have an easy solution.

00:02:29.000 Give Trump all the leeway he wants, and then watch him pursue policies they think are unpopular.

00:02:34.000 By acting as foils for Trump, the media and the left actually prop him up.

00:02:38.000 They allow him to position them as obstacles to making change.

00:02:41.000 Look, Trump is in control.

00:02:42.000 He's the president.

00:02:43.000 The American people are ready to see him perform.

00:02:45.000 Now it's time for him to step up and create the change he's preached for so long.

00:02:48.000 I'm Ben Shapiro.

00:02:49.000 This is The Ben Shapiro Show.

00:02:54.000 We're going to get to that amazing quasi-State of the Union address in just a second.

00:02:58.000 And it really was.

00:02:59.000 It was the best Trump has ever been.

00:03:00.000 And we're going to go through it.

00:03:01.000 We're going to talk about what it meant in terms of rhetoric, what it meant in terms of policy, why it was such a success even though he was basically preaching a lot of big government programs, where he was truly successful, and why the Democrats just can't help stepping on their own beliefs.

00:03:14.000 Before we get there, we have to talk about our friends over at Tracker.

00:03:17.000 So, if you are somebody who loses stuff all the time, right?

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00:03:28.000 That's what Tracker is for. 0.99

00:03:30.000 When you lose your stuff, it makes you feel like a moron. 0.99

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00:03:43.000 So we put the tracker, it's this little coin-sized device, you put it on everything from your phones, your wallets, your keys, and it allows you to immediately find your wallet or your phone or your keys so you never have to worry about losing them again.

00:03:55.000 You know, we all lose that stuff.

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00:04:08.000 And even ask your Amazon Alexa, and your phone rings even when it's on silent.

00:04:12.000 So it rings through.

00:04:13.000 So this is a big thing with my wife.

00:04:14.000 She always loses her phone, and then it's on silent.

00:04:16.000 You put the Tracker on the phone, and then when you hit the Tracker device,

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00:04:23.000 It's an amazing, amazing device.

00:04:24.000 We have a couple of them in our house.

00:04:26.000 Tracker.com is the place to get it.

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00:04:58.000 Okay, so, Donald Trump gave the speech of his life last night.

00:05:01.000 It was the best speech he's ever given by far.

00:05:03.000 I'm not sure who wrote it, but it was really well written.

00:05:05.000 It was really good.

00:05:06.000 When I first saw the excerpts, I thought that it was horribly written because it had things about shouting your dreams and all this kind of nonsense that sounds like it's from a Joan Baez

00:05:13.000 We're good to go.

00:05:29.000 I don't know.

00:05:50.000 Ryan was a part of a highly successful raid that generated large amounts of vital intelligence that will lead to many more victories in the future against our enemy.

00:06:18.000 Ryan's legacy is etched into eternity.

00:06:23.000 Thank you.

00:06:51.000 Right, the Democrats sit down.

00:06:52.000 You can see Kamala Harris sitting down, the senator from California.

00:06:57.000 Keep going, keeps going, look at the applause.

00:06:58.000 Now watch what the Democrats are doing, because that's the key to this clip.

00:07:01.000 That's it?

00:07:02.000 Okay, so as this clip continued, the Democrats continued to sit.

00:07:06.000 Here is some screenshots of what it looked like as this two-minute ovation continued.

00:07:10.000 Now some Democrats were saying, well, you know, we just sat down because the ovation was up.

00:07:14.000 No, it wasn't, right?

00:07:15.000 Look at that.

00:07:16.000 Stark partisan divide.

00:07:17.000 That row down the center right there, that separates the Republicans from the Democrats.

00:07:20.000 Even the Supreme Court justices are standing and clapping at this point.

00:07:23.000 And you can see in the far right of your screen, there's Nancy Pelosi next to Bernie Sanders.

00:07:27.000 Neither of them is standing and neither of them is clapping for this woman.

00:07:31.000 And that's not the only screencap like that.

00:07:33.000 Here's another screencap from the reverse angle.

00:07:35.000 You see Al Franken here is standing and clapping.

00:07:38.000 We're good to go.

00:07:54.000 And once they're seated, they're seated and they don't get up again.

00:07:57.000 And it just demonstrates.

00:07:58.000 So why?

00:07:58.000 Why were they so eager to sit down?

00:08:00.000 I mean, this is a real question.

00:08:01.000 You know, people are treating this like this is a silly question.

00:08:03.000 Why were they so eager to sit down?

00:08:04.000 And the answer is they didn't want the optic of the entire chamber applauding for a long period of time with Trump as president.

00:08:10.000 In other words, they dislike Trump more than they like the military.

00:08:13.000 They dislike Trump more than they like this, the wife of this Navy SEAL.

00:08:17.000 And that's what was going on there.

00:08:18.000 You know, I got a call this morning from Debbie Wasserman Schultz's office.

00:08:21.000 They're very embarrassed about all of this.

00:08:23.000 And they wanted to clarify that she was sitting and clapping.

00:08:26.000 And I said, OK, well, Benny Johnson over at Independent Journal Review, he reported that she wasn't clapping.

00:08:30.000 In any case, what would be so bad about standing?

00:08:32.000 What would be so bad about standing?

00:08:33.000 In fact, George W. Bush at one point,

00:08:36.000 Excuse me, Barack Obama, rather, brought a wounded warrior to the 2014 State of the Union Address.

00:08:44.000 Full standing ovation from both sides of the aisle, but when it's Donald Trump bringing somebody to the State of the Union Address, and it was really moving.

00:08:50.000 I mean, you can see she's weeping for her husband, and she's signaling to heaven, I love you baby, as she's looking up to

00:08:56.000 I don't

00:09:12.000 Very powerful and very useful.

00:09:14.000 And what was just as amazing is watching the reaction of the Democrats to all of it.

00:09:19.000 So we're going to go through it right now.

00:09:21.000 So Trump opens by doing something smart.

00:09:23.000 There's been a lot of criticism that he hasn't paid enough attention to black Americans.

00:09:28.000 There was a lot of criticism recently that he hadn't paid enough attention to a spate of attacks on Jewish cemeteries.

00:09:35.000 Mike Pence tried to take the kind of

00:09:37.000 Tonight, as we mark the conclusion of our celebration of Black History Month, we are reminded of our nation's path towards civil rights and the work that still remains to be done.

00:10:05.000 Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week's shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies

00:10:19.000 We are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms.

00:10:27.000 Each American generation passes the torch of truth, liberty, and justice in an unbroken chain all the way down to the present.

00:10:38.000 That torch is now in our hands, and we will use it to light up the world.

00:10:46.000 He continues along these lines, but the fact is that Trump is, a lot of this is stock speech, but it works because, as you'll see, the Democrats don't agree with the stock speech.

00:10:56.000 So, the art of politics, the real art of politics is, it's like sumo wrestling.

00:11:01.000 Basically, what you want to do is you want to bring the audience into the circle with you and then throw your opponent out.

00:11:05.000 You want to bring the audience in and you want to say, I agree with you, you agree with me.

00:11:08.000 You know who doesn't agree with us?

00:11:10.000 That guy.

00:11:11.000 Right?

00:11:11.000 And Democrats made it real easy last night because every time Trump said something that was eminently true, the Democrats would sit on their hands or they would fuss or they would moan.

00:11:19.000 And that continued all night long.

00:11:22.000 So Donald Trump, you know, continues along these lines.

00:11:25.000 I am here tonight to deliver a message of unity and strength, and it is a message deeply delivered from my heart.

00:11:34.000 A new chapter of American greatness.

00:11:45.000 Is that better?

00:12:04.000 Our allies will find that America is once again ready to lead.

00:12:09.000 All the nations of the world, friend or foe, will find that America is strong, America is proud, and America is free.

00:12:18.000 Okay, so he does that, and then the next thing he does is he begins describing some of the problems that we're facing and what he is here to fix.

00:12:26.000 Some of this is true and some of it isn't, but it's, again, smart speech writing because he's creating this contrast.

00:12:32.000 He's saying, here's what it was and here's what I'm going to fix.

00:12:35.000 So here he describes sort of where we were, and then he moves to, here's the big movement that's built up around me.

00:12:40.000 Again, all this is very smart.

00:12:42.000 I will not allow the mistakes of recent decades past to define the course of our future.

00:12:49.000 For too long, we've watched our middle class shrink as we've exported our jobs and wealth

00:12:56.000 Thank you.

00:13:26.000 Smart of him to do all of this.

00:13:28.000 This is him just describing all the problems.

00:13:29.000 Then he talks about the earth shifting beneath our feet and the rebellion starting as a quiet protest.

00:13:33.000 All of this is smart.

00:13:35.000 It's when he gets to the stuff where he talks about drug dealers and criminals that it's clear the Democrats are not on the same wavelength.

00:13:41.000 And Trump is very good at drawing the contrast between himself and the so-called enemy.

00:13:45.000 And in this case, the enemy is not just the people on the left.

00:13:48.000 The enemy is the drug dealers and the illegal immigrants. 1.00

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00:15:05.000 That's right.

00:15:22.000 Back to Donald Trump.

00:15:23.000 So Donald Trump continues along these lines, and there's one point here where he says something really smart.

00:15:31.000 There are a bunch of phrases that he uses that are really, really smart.

00:15:33.000 One of the phrases that he uses that's really smart is he says, what would you say to the American family that loses their jobs, their income, or a loved one because America refused to uphold its laws and defend its borders?

00:15:43.000 That's the sort of smart phraseology that you need from Donald Trump.

00:15:46.000 You need him to pose his policies in opposition to Democrats who don't pay attention to those policies.

00:15:51.000 It's smart.

00:15:52.000 And the Democrats react by sitting on their hands because, of course, they don't want people vetted coming into the country.

00:15:58.000 And Trump does.

00:15:59.000 Again, very smart.

00:16:01.000 And you can see, I mean, we'll go to the parts of the speech where you can see the Democrats are just sitting there on their hands doing nothing.

00:16:08.000 It's pretty amazing.

00:16:09.000 It's pretty amazing.

00:16:11.000 There's one point, I don't know if we can find it because the clips are kind of cut together.

00:16:14.000 There's one point where it says, where he starts talking about police and sheriffs.

00:16:18.000 He says police and sheriffs are members of our community.

00:16:21.000 And it's pretty, it's pretty amazing to watch the Democrats sit on their hands as he talks about how wonderful the police and the sheriffs are.

00:16:27.000 Police and sheriffs.

00:16:29.000 And we must support the victims of crime.

00:16:54.000 I have ordered the Department of Homeland Security to create an office to serve American victims.

00:17:01.000 The office is called VOICE, Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement.

00:17:07.000 We are providing a voice to those who have been ignored by our media and silenced by special interests.

00:17:14.000 Okay, what's funny is when he says that final line, and the police line they sat on their hands too, but this is the biggest one.

00:17:19.000 He says, free nations are the best vehicle for expressing the will of the people, and America respects the right of all nations to chart their own path.

00:17:25.000 My job is not to represent the world, my job is to represent the United States of America.

00:17:29.000 When he says that, the obvious answer is, that's true.

00:17:33.000 Right?

00:17:33.000 The Constitution of the United States makes you President of the United States.

00:17:36.000 It doesn't make you President of Sudan or President of Somalia or President of France.

00:17:39.000 It makes you President of the United States.

00:17:41.000 And amazingly enough, I mean truly amazing, the Democrats sit on their hands for this.

00:17:45.000 The applause is muted.

00:17:46.000 They have nothing to say.

00:17:48.000 Because they don't think of themselves that way and it exposes again

00:17:52.000 The vast difference between kind of right-wing policy and left-wing policy and right-wing philosophy and left-wing philosophy.

00:17:57.000 And this is not a conservative-liberal divide as much as it really is a right-wing-left-wing divide because there is a difference.

00:18:01.000 The right-wing-left-wing divide is that right-wingers actually believe in nationalism.

00:18:04.000 They believe in America.

00:18:05.000 Now, what we think about America, they're split.

00:18:08.000 But we believe in America and we believe the president ought to be upholding the interests of the people of America.

00:18:13.000 The left-wing doesn't believe that.

00:18:14.000 A lot of people on the left, progressives, they believe that they are world citizens.

00:18:18.000 That they are not citizens of the United States.

00:18:20.000 They are citizens of the world.

00:18:21.000 I believe I'm a citizen of the United States, a country with a creed.

00:18:25.000 People on the left believe that they are citizens of the world because the entire world should be united by an internationalist creed that may or may not jibe with what America wants.

00:18:33.000 That's a huge problem, and it's the reason why Donald Trump has really seen this upsurge, because there still is such a thing as nationalism.

00:18:40.000 You know, I've ripped down the idea of blood-and-soil nationalism, but I've never said that nationalism itself, as a feeling, is the thing that's wrong with the world.

00:18:50.000 In fact, what I've said is that nationalism is necessary but not sufficient.

00:18:54.000 If you're a good American, you must be nationalistic, but that's not enough.

00:18:56.000 You also have to be philosophically American.

00:18:59.000 So you can say, America's a great country, I want to stand with the flag, but you have to know what the flag stands for.

00:19:03.000 There are two parts to this, right?

00:19:04.000 Nationalism, and then beyond that, there's patriotism.

00:19:07.000 And you need both.

00:19:08.000 You need both.

00:19:09.000 You can't have one without the other, or it doesn't work.

00:19:12.000 If you're patriotic for ideals without being patriotic for the nation, then you don't understand what America is all about.

00:19:18.000 If you're patriotic for the nation without being patriotic for the ideals, you also don't understand what America is all about.

00:19:24.000 But at least Trump is providing this nationalistic perspective, and people on the left are rejecting it wholesale.

00:19:29.000 They won't cheer for this, because they think that they're global citizens, they're world citizens.

00:19:33.000 And so, you know, you end up with this bizarre situation where he's saying he's President of the United States, not of the world, and the left is basically confused by this, because they think the President of the United States ought to be the head of the UN.

00:19:43.000 Now, we'll continue by talking about the downside to Trump's speech, and that was the actual policy discussion.

00:19:48.000 We'll get to that in just a second, but to see that, you have to go over to dailywire.com, you can check it out there, dailywire.com.

00:19:55.000 And that is $8 a month.

00:19:57.000 If you want an annual subscription, then you can get that at dailywire.com as well.

00:20:01.000 Right now you get a free copy of the Arroyo DVD, which is a terrific fictional film set on the southern border about one rancher trying to take on the system that is allowing his land to be used as a thoroughfare for drug cartels and illegal immigration.

00:20:13.000 It's dailywire.com.

00:20:14.000 Check it out over there or go to iTunes or SoundCloud later to download the rest of the show.

00:20:18.000 You can leave your reviews at iTunes and join us.

00:20:22.000 We are the largest conservative podcast in the nation.

The Ben Shapiro Show - March 01, 2017

Ep. 262 - Trump's Best Moment EVER

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