The Ben Shapiro Show - Goodbye To All That | Ep. 791

00:00:00.000 Robert Mueller drops the mic, Democrats pick it up, and did President Trump hide the USS John McCain?

00:00:05.000 It's like an entire ship.

00:00:06.000 I'm Ben Shapiro.

00:00:06.000 This is the Ben Shapiro Show.

00:00:08.000 A lot going on in the news, most of it chaotic and confusing, But don't worry, we will iron it all out for you when you leave today.

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00:01:26.000 All right, so it is the day after Robert Mueller's big press conference.

00:01:29.000 Ooh! 0.96

00:01:30.000 And Mueller spoke.

00:01:31.000 And it was amazing.

00:01:33.000 And the heads exploded.

00:01:34.000 And... Okay, so let's analyze what exactly Robert Mueller said, because everybody seems a little more confused today than they were yesterday, because Mueller did not clarify anything.

00:01:44.000 In fact, Mueller basically just threw fuel on the fire of impeachment talk without actually adding any new information to the mix.

00:01:52.000 There was no real reason for his statement.

00:01:54.000 The only thing I think it revealed is that the purpose of his investigation was always confused and confusing.

00:02:00.000 So I want to go through what Mueller actually said, because there were a few key messages in his valedictory speech.

00:02:07.000 So he began his statement by recognizing that his original brief was to investigate Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.

00:02:14.000 Here's what Mueller had to say.

00:02:15.000 This was his original brief.

00:02:16.000 Remember, this is why he was hired.

00:02:18.000 It wasn't really about obstruction.

00:02:21.000 He was hired specifically with regard to the Trump-Russia collusion stuff, the first half of his report, where he basically found nothing of importance.

00:02:29.000 Two years ago, the acting attorney general asked me to serve as special counsel, and he created the special counsel's office.

00:02:39.000 The appointment order directed the office to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

00:02:48.000 This included investigating any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign.

00:02:57.000 As alleged by the grand jury in an indictment, Russian intelligence officers, who were part of the Russian military, launched a concerted attack on our political system.

00:03:08.000 Yep, it is.

00:03:09.000 So this was his original brief.

00:03:11.000 His original brief was the Russia stuff.

00:03:13.000 And then it quickly morphed into the obstruction stuff.

00:03:15.000 And that is the stuff we are talking about today.

00:03:17.000 Why?

00:03:17.000 Because the Russia stuff turned out to be basically nothing.

00:03:20.000 And this is what's got Trump fulminating this morning.

00:03:23.000 After two years of hearing that he was a Russian tool, now the case is that Donald Trump was involved in obstruction of the fact that he was not, in fact, a Russian tool.

00:03:31.000 And he's very upset about all of this, and I think rightly so.

00:03:34.000 So President Trump tweeted out this morning about this.

00:03:37.000 Russia, Russia, Russia.

00:03:38.000 That's all you heard at the beginning of this witch hunt hoax. 0.81

00:03:41.000 Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.

00:03:42.000 And now, Russia has disappeared because I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected.

00:03:47.000 It was a crime that didn't exist, so now the Dems and their partner, the fake news media, say he fought back against this phony crime that didn't exist, this horrendous false accusation, and he shouldn't fight back, he should sit back and take it.

00:03:57.000 Now, I don't think there's a lot in this tweet that is deeply wrong.

00:04:05.000 The phraseology that people are using against Trump here is actually from that first tweet.

00:04:10.000 In that first tweet, Trump says, And people are jumping on the phraseology, Russia helping me to get elected, because this is Trump's first admission that Russia was trying to get him elected, something that he has denied for a very long time.

00:04:25.000 That's also Trump just being awkward on Twitter, because that's what Trump does for a living.

00:04:29.000 Trump clarified this in a statement to the press afterward.

00:04:32.000 He said, Russia didn't help me get elected.

00:04:35.000 Russia was just trying to interfere with the election.

00:04:37.000 He's trying to walk back what he said on his tweet.

00:04:39.000 All of this is not useful to the president, at the very least.

00:04:45.000 No, Russia did not help me get elected.

00:04:48.000 You know who got me elected?

00:04:49.000 You know who got me elected?

00:04:51.000 I got me elected.

00:04:52.000 Russia didn't help me at all.

00:04:54.000 Russia, if anything, I think, helped the other side.

00:04:57.000 What you ought to ask is this.

00:04:58.000 Do you think the media helped Hillary Clinton get elected?

00:05:02.000 She didn't make it.

00:05:04.000 But you take a look at collusion between Hillary Clinton and the media.

00:05:07.000 You take a look at collusion between Hillary Clinton and Russia.

00:05:12.000 She had more to do in the campaign with Russia.

00:05:17.000 I helped get me elected is pretty astonishing stuff.

00:05:21.000 That's pretty good stuff.

00:05:22.000 And meanwhile, the second message that Mueller put forward really, and this is where I think Trump does have a right to be somewhat outraged by the extent of the investigation, is that it really never should have included obstruction.

00:05:33.000 And Mueller was giving these mixed messages yesterday in his farewell message here.

00:05:38.000 These mixed messages about why he was investigating obstruction in the first place.

00:05:43.000 So he moved on to this explanation.

00:05:45.000 Unlike the election interference investigation, which started as a counterintelligence investigation inside the FBI, the obstruction investigation began as a criminal investigation.

00:05:53.000 It was not an investigation of Russia.

00:05:55.000 It was an investigation of Trump and his associates for criminal activity.

00:05:59.000 But Mueller said yesterday he did not actually have the authority to conclude that investigation.

00:06:06.000 Mueller said regarding Russian interference that it was critical to obtain a full and accurate information from every person they questioned.

00:06:14.000 But he also explained that the president can't be charged with a federal crime.

00:06:19.000 So if he can't be charged with a federal crime, then what exactly were you investigating?

00:06:24.000 Like you don't have The police cannot investigate me for a crime that doesn't exist and that I can't be charged for.

00:06:30.000 That is not their purview.

00:06:31.000 And yet here was Mueller saying, I knew from the very start I could not indict the sitting president.

00:06:35.000 So then what the hell was he doing?

00:06:36.000 Longstanding department policy.

00:06:41.000 A president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office.

00:06:46.000 That is unconstitutional.

00:06:48.000 Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view, that too is prohibited.

00:06:56.000 The special counsel's office is part of the Department of Justice and by regulation it was bound by that department policy.

00:07:04.000 Charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider.

00:07:11.000 So then what were you doing?

00:07:13.000 Everybody's looking around today going, so what was this all about?

00:07:16.000 If you could not consider a prosecution at any point and you were unwilling to recommend impeachment straight out or say that the president committed a crime straight out, he wasn't even willing to say the president committed a crime in the absence of the DOJ statute.

00:07:28.000 He didn't even do that.

00:07:30.000 He just said, I'm not going to come to a conclusion on that because I can't indict And because I can't indict, I'm not going to formally accuse the president.

00:07:38.000 Right?

00:07:38.000 This is the second thing.

00:07:39.000 This is the sort of second aspect of this.

00:07:41.000 He says the DOJ cannot even utilize the criminal justice system to formally accuse the president if he can't be indicted.

00:07:47.000 This is 2D.

00:07:49.000 Here is Mueller explaining that one.

00:07:51.000 The opinion says that the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.

00:08:02.000 OK, so then what were you doing?

00:08:05.000 What was this all about?

00:08:06.000 And this is what drives the actual reason for thinking that Mueller was looking for impeachment.

00:08:12.000 He has no other rationale for doing this.

00:08:14.000 He himself says, I can't indict him.

00:08:16.000 I can't even accuse him such that an indictment would be appropriate.

00:08:20.000 So if I can't do either of those things, then why am I doing this?

00:08:23.000 So he says, well, maybe we're doing it because we need to make sure that the memories are fresh.

00:08:28.000 Memories of what?

00:08:29.000 Evidence of what?

00:08:31.000 Here's his excuse for the investigation.

00:08:34.000 The opinion explicitly permits the investigation of a sitting president because it is important to preserve evidence while memories are fresh and documents available.

00:08:45.000 That evidence could be used if there were co-conspirators who could be charged now.

00:08:50.000 But there were no co-conspirators charged now in obstruction.

00:08:53.000 There were no crimes alleged by Mueller.

00:08:56.000 So then what the hell was all of this about?

00:08:58.000 The answer is what this really was about is impeachment.

00:09:02.000 That's really what this was about.

00:09:03.000 He said that there was a process, but the process was basically constitutional in nature.

00:09:09.000 In other words, I did this as a predicate to impeachment.

00:09:12.000 I think it's the only way to read Mueller's press conference, which means that he was acting as a tool for the legislative branch inside the executive branch, which is unconstitutional.

00:09:20.000 He's a member of the legislature.

00:09:21.000 He's a member of the executive branch.

00:09:23.000 The executive branch is unitary.

00:09:25.000 He does not work for Congress.

00:09:27.000 He works for the president.

00:09:29.000 People who work for the president typically are not charged with investigating the president.

00:09:32.000 This is why for a long time there was something called the Independent Counsel Act, which made a member of the executive branch subject to the legislature.

00:09:39.000 And Justice Scalia famously wrote that he thought that this was unconstitutional.

00:09:43.000 That the idea of having an independent counsel who doesn't really work for the president and also doesn't really work for the Congress, that creates a weird fourth branch of government that doesn't really exist.

00:09:53.000 So the only takeaway from this is basically that Mueller wanted Trump to go down, but he wouldn't call for prosecution.

00:09:59.000 Here's Mueller explaining that effectively.

00:10:02.000 There was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy.

00:10:06.000 If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.

00:10:12.000 We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.

00:10:16.000 We concluded that we would, would not reach a determination one way or the other.

00:10:22.000 About whether the president committed a crime.

00:10:25.000 What in the world?

00:10:26.000 I mean, this is it's an amazing statement, right?

00:10:29.000 What he's saying here is we weren't willing to charge a crime.

00:10:31.000 We couldn't charge a crime because of indictment, but we're not going to exonerate the president.

00:10:35.000 That was one minute after he said this quote.

00:10:38.000 It would be unfair to potentially accuse somebody of a crime when there can be no court resolution of the actual charge.

00:10:44.000 And then he proceeded to say, well, I can't exonerate him.

00:10:48.000 So he pulled a James Comey.

00:10:49.000 He pulled a James Comey.

00:10:51.000 And you remember that James Comey, the former FBI director, basically went out there and said, Hillary Clinton is guilty as sin, but I'm changing the law in order to let her off the hook.

00:10:58.000 And a lot of folks were like, whoa, that seems wildly inappropriate.

00:11:02.000 Why exactly is he doing that?

00:11:04.000 And a lot of people called for James Comey to be fired based on that.

00:11:07.000 I was one of them.

00:11:09.000 Now you have Robert Mueller basically doing the same thing.

00:11:13.000 You have Mueller doing the exact same thing.

00:11:16.000 So Mueller, I think, actually dragged himself through the mud here.

00:11:20.000 I think he dragged himself through the mud.

00:11:22.000 Now, there's one thing that he said that I think cut in favor of the Attorney General Bill Barr, who's also become a target of Democrats.

00:11:28.000 We'll get to that in just a second.

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00:12:29.000 Alrighty, so back to Robert Mueller.

00:12:34.000 The one thing that Mueller said that cut in favor of the Trump administration is he basically suggested that Bill Barr, the Attorney General, was not trying to hide anything.

00:12:41.000 Here's his explanation of this.

00:12:43.000 Conducted an independent criminal investigation and reported the results to the Attorney General as required by department regulations.

00:12:53.000 The Attorney General then concluded that it was appropriate to provide our report to Congress and to the American people.

00:13:01.000 At one point in time, I requested that certain portions of the report be released.

00:13:06.000 The Attorney General preferred to make the entire report public all at once, We appreciate that the Attorney General made the report largely public, and I certainly do not question the Attorney General's good faith in that.

00:13:21.000 Decision.

00:13:22.000 Okay, so there he is undercutting the Democratic line that Bill Barr has been lying to them consistently, the Attorney General of the United States has been lying consistently.

00:13:28.000 Now, the media are not letting go of the idea that Bill Barr lied.

00:13:31.000 So they've been playing on a loop these sort of contradictions between Robert Mueller's statements and William Barr's statements before Congress.

00:13:40.000 So there are a couple of contrasts between the statements that we have to analyze to see who's lying or who's telling the truth or if there's really any conflict to begin with.

00:13:48.000 I'll point out that the supposed conflicts were Cleared up quasi, in a way, by Kerry Kupec, the spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, and Peter Carr, the spokesman for the Special Counsel's Office.

00:13:57.000 They released a joint statement right after Mueller's statement.

00:14:01.000 They said, quote, The Attorney General has previously stated that the Special Counsel repeatedly affirmed that he was not saying that, but for the OLC opinion, he would have found the President's obstructed justice.

00:14:10.000 The Special Counsel's report and his statement today made clear that the office concluded it would not reach a determination one way or the other about whether the President committed a crime.

00:14:18.000 There is no conflict between these statements.

00:14:20.000 I pointed this out yesterday in our analysis that when Mueller said that the DOJ regulations prohibited him from reaching a conclusion, That did not actually contradict the statement made by Barr that Mueller said that even in the absence of the OLC ruling, he might not have prosecuted the president.

00:14:37.000 There is no conflict between those two points.

00:14:40.000 But let's play some of these clips back-to-back.

00:14:42.000 Barr versus Mueller on, for example, the evidence of collusion.

00:14:45.000 Because there does seem to be some shading that is going on here.

00:14:48.000 Here's William Barr talking about the evidence of collusion versus what Robert Mueller had to say about evidence of collusion.

00:14:54.000 The special counsel's report did not find any evidence that members of the Trump campaign or anyone associated with the campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in these hacking operations.

00:15:08.000 In other words, there was no evidence of the Trump campaign collusion with the Russian government's hacking.

00:15:15.000 The first volume of the report details numerous efforts emanating from Russia to influence the election.

00:15:22.000 This volume includes a discussion of the Trump campaign's response to this activity, As well as our conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy.

00:15:33.000 Those two things are not actually in conflict.

00:15:35.000 So you have Mueller saying that there is insufficient evidence of conspiracy.

00:15:40.000 That is a softer thing than no evidence of collusion.

00:15:43.000 But conspiracy and collusion are two different things.

00:15:45.000 Conspiracy is an actual criminal charge.

00:15:47.000 Collusion is a general political accusation.

00:15:49.000 So when Barr says there's no evidence of collusion, That's correct.

00:15:54.000 And when Mueller says there's insufficient evidence of conspiracy, that is also correct because conspiracy is a criminal charge.

00:16:00.000 Collusion is not a legal term.

00:16:02.000 So the purported conflict between Barr and Mueller on this point, I don't find particularly convincing.

00:16:07.000 In a second, we'll get to the other supposed conflict between Barr and Mueller.

00:16:10.000 So there's another conflict supposedly between William Barr, the attorney general's testimony, and what Robert Mueller said in his statement yesterday.

00:16:18.000 And this one surrounded obstruction of justice.

00:16:20.000 So here's what Barr had to say versus what Mueller had to say.

00:16:23.000 After carefully reviewing the facts and legal theories outlined in the report and in consultation with the Office of Legal Counsel and other department lawyers, the Deputy Attorney General and I concluded that the evidence developed by the Special Counsel is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction of justice offense.

00:16:45.000 If we had had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.

00:16:52.000 We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.

00:16:56.000 Okay, those two things, again, are not in conflict.

00:16:59.000 When William Barr says, right there, that the obstruction of justice evidence isn't sufficient for a prosecution, that is the same thing, effectively, as Robert Mueller saying, we can't exonerate him, but also, we didn't recommend prosecution.

00:17:14.000 Again, Barr was using a legal standard and Mueller is going further than that.

00:17:18.000 I think that President Trump, frankly, has reason to be angry at Robert Mueller.

00:17:22.000 I'm a little more upset at Robert Mueller today than I have been for a couple of years.

00:17:25.000 I've been very much in Robert Mueller's corner.

00:17:27.000 I believe that this is a guy who is trying to do his job.

00:17:30.000 But I think it appeared from his statements yesterday that he surpassed his original brief and that his original brief was not supposed to encompass a lot of the stuff that he ended up doing.

00:17:41.000 If Congress wants to investigate this stuff, that is their purview.

00:17:43.000 They have every right to do that.

00:17:45.000 But to effectively become a tool for impeachment was beyond his mandate, beyond the scope of his mandate.

00:17:52.000 Now, what has happened, effectively speaking, is that all of this has now been tossed into the lap of Congress, which is where it should have begun in the first place.

00:17:58.000 If Democrats want to impeach, they have every ability to do that.

00:18:01.000 The media were blowing this up, suggesting that Robert Mueller had now made the case for impeachment.

00:18:05.000 The editorial board over at The Washington Post says, quote, Special Counsel Robert Mueller broke his long silence Wednesday telling a news conference that his two-year Russia investigation is closed and that he did not have anything to say publicly beyond what was written in the report.

00:18:18.000 But the key passages he chose to highlight underlined the dishonesty of President Trump and Attorney General William Barr in seeking to dodge and mischaracterize his conclusions.

00:18:26.000 The central allegations of the investigators, Mueller said, was that there were multiple systematic efforts to interfere in our elections.

00:18:31.000 Yet today, it has not been fully acknowledged by Mr. Trump.

00:18:35.000 Okay, that's fair enough.

00:18:36.000 Trump has constantly said that he doesn't think that it was important that Russia basically interfered in the election.

00:18:41.000 That's a fair criticism, but that's not really a criticism of Barr.

00:18:44.000 Then the Washington Post says, Mr. Barr claimed there was not a case to be made against Mr. Trump for obstruction of justice based on Mueller's findings.

00:18:50.000 So it's significant that Mueller restated what his report actually says, that if we had confidence the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.

00:18:57.000 Again, those two things are not in conflict.

00:18:59.000 This is the Washington Post creating a falsehood.

00:19:02.000 When Barr says there was not a case to be made, that it was not sufficiently prosecutable, that is not in conflict with Mueller saying that we can't exonerate.

00:19:10.000 We can't exonerate and we can prosecute are two very different terms.

00:19:14.000 We can't exonerate OJ Simpson, but we also can't prosecute him.

00:19:18.000 He's already been acquitted.

00:19:19.000 There are a lot of reasons why you can't prosecute someone who also cannot be exonerated.

00:19:23.000 This happens legitimately all the time in the American criminal justice system.

00:19:29.000 Mr. Mueller could have avoided much confusion and short-circuited the administration's attempt to manipulate public opinion, says the Washington Post, if he had made his statement weeks ago in conjunction with the release of a lightly redacted version of his report.

00:19:40.000 So the Washington Post continues to try to claim that there's some cover-up that went on, even though Mueller explicitly said there was no cover-up that went on in the middle of this press conference.

00:19:51.000 The left is basically hoping to hang their hat on Mueller's press conference.

00:19:56.000 And what's amazing is that they continue to call out for Mueller to do the work they won't do.

00:20:01.000 Here's the problem for the Democrats and for the left now.

00:20:04.000 The ball is in their court and they don't actually want the ball in their court.

00:20:07.000 They want Mueller to come back.

00:20:08.000 It's like the end of Shane.

00:20:10.000 You got Brandon Wilder.

00:20:13.000 Out there on the planes, shouting out for shame to come back.

00:20:17.000 There's a, there's a, there's a, Robert, Robert!

00:20:19.000 I mean, just calling across the, and Mueller is just riding away into that painted distance.

00:20:24.000 That's all that's going on here.

00:20:26.000 Like, Robert De Niro, it's so funny, Robert De Niro, why he has an opinion column in the New York Times is beyond me.

00:20:33.000 Robert De Niro is most famous for reading lines other people write for him.

00:20:36.000 But he played Mueller on SNL, and this apparently means he has expertise on obstruction.

00:20:41.000 The power of celebrity.

00:20:43.000 Pretty incredible.

00:20:44.000 So Robert De Niro has a piece in the New York Times called Robert Mueller.

00:20:46.000 We need to hear more.

00:20:48.000 And it's an open letter to Robert Mueller from Robert De Niro in the New York Times.

00:20:53.000 Yes, everything is insanely stupid.

00:20:56.000 Dear Mr. Mueller, it probably hasn't escaped your attention that I play a version of you on Saturday Night Live.

00:21:02.000 Yes, because that was deeply important for Robert Mueller.

00:21:04.000 I'm sure he sits up every night thinking about you.

00:21:06.000 As Robert Mueller, my character is intimidating because he is so honest and upright.

00:21:10.000 I do it for comic effect.

00:21:11.000 That's the intention, anyway.

00:21:12.000 But there's also a lot of truth to it.

00:21:14.000 To put it another way, it's good-natured fun, but not entirely good-natured.

00:21:17.000 There's a level of satire directed at the current administration.

00:21:20.000 To be fair, not everyone appreciates the humor.

00:21:22.000 The president has tweeted there's nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live, and that it's very unfair and should be looked into.

00:21:28.000 The what or with whom the show would be colluding is unclear, but then I don't have to tell you about problems with the terms collusion.

00:21:34.000 You barely mentioned the word in your report, and then only to explain why you're not using it.

00:21:38.000 That could be a punchline on Saturday Night Live.

00:21:40.000 How does this crap get through the editorial process at the New York Times?

00:21:44.000 Truly, this is incoherent gibberish.

00:21:47.000 I'm so glad Roberts is like Martin Sheen sounding off on presidential executive orders because he once played a president on television.

00:21:55.000 It's a joke in and of itself.

00:21:57.000 Robert De Niro says, As I prepared for my role on the show, I got to know you a lot better.

00:22:01.000 I read about your lifetime devotion to public service and your respect for the rule of law.

00:22:05.000 I watched how you presided over the special counsel's office, apparently without leaks, and you never wavered, even in the face of regular vicious attacks from the president and his surrogates.

00:22:14.000 While I and so many Americans have admired your quiet, confident, dignified response in ignoring that assault, it allowed the administration to use its own voice to control the narrative.

00:22:23.000 There's a lot of speculation about the president being tone-deaf to facts, but there's not much disagreement about the tone.

00:22:27.000 Whether you take delight in it, as his loyal supporters do, or you're the unfortunate target of his angry rhetoric, the hostile way he expresses himself registers with anyone.

00:22:36.000 Say what you will about the president, and I have.

00:22:38.000 When it comes to that lying, exaggerating, bullying thing, no one can touch him.

00:22:41.000 And here, Mr. Mueller, is where you come in.

00:22:43.000 Where you need to come in.

00:22:45.000 In your news conference, you said that your investigation's work speaks for itself.

00:22:48.000 It doesn't.

00:22:49.000 It may speak For itself to lawyers and lawmakers who have the patience and obligation to read through the more than 400 pages of carefully chosen words and nuanced conclusions.

00:22:58.000 You've characterized the report as your testimony, but you wouldn't accept that reason from anyone your office interviewed.

00:23:02.000 Additional information and illumination emerge from responses to questions.

00:23:06.000 I know you're uncomfortable in the spotlight, as the president is out of it.

00:23:09.000 I know you don't want to become part of the political spectacle.

00:23:12.000 I know you will, however, reluctantly testify before Congress if called, because you respect the system and follow the rules.

00:23:19.000 So much heroism.

00:23:20.000 You are the voice of the Mueller Report.

00:23:21.000 Let the country hear that voice.

00:23:23.000 With great respect, Robert De Niro.

00:23:25.000 Come back.

00:23:26.000 Come back, Shane.

00:23:27.000 Why won't you just tell...

00:23:29.000 Why?

00:23:30.000 Why won't you just...

00:23:32.000 Please, come back.

00:23:34.000 Robert, it's just...

00:23:36.000 Oh my goodness.

00:23:37.000 It's just amazing.

00:23:39.000 Just amazing stuff.

00:23:40.000 Well, Mueller isn't coming back, and his report does say what it says, and that means that it's basically up to the Democrats now whether they want to impeach.

00:23:46.000 We're going to get to that in just one second.

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00:24:49.000 All right.

00:24:49.000 So the left has now responded to all of this.

00:24:52.000 They now recognize that impeachment is what's on the table.

00:24:56.000 This was best summed up by Chris Matthews.

00:24:59.000 I'm a mistake.

00:25:01.000 Last night, I got very excited after Mueller's statement.

00:25:04.000 Get up, come to the show.

00:25:05.000 Come on in here.

00:25:06.000 Let's have a Robert Mueller talk.

00:25:08.000 Pretty amazing.

00:25:10.000 And then we talk about impeachment.

00:25:11.000 Love impeachment.

00:25:12.000 Pretty great.

00:25:13.000 Like peaches. 0.94

00:25:14.000 Impeaching.

00:25:15.000 All sorts of great things.

00:25:16.000 Go! 0.95

00:25:17.000 For months now, they've said, well, we just want to hear from this.

00:25:20.000 We just want to hear from the Senate.

00:25:21.000 We need a Republican senator. 1.00

00:25:23.000 Or we want to hear from another witness.

00:25:24.000 We want to hear from Papadopoulos.

00:25:26.000 Who else want to hear from?

00:25:27.000 Carter Page.

00:25:27.000 They want to hear from Mueller.

00:25:29.000 They're not going to hear from Mueller.

00:25:30.000 This is it.

00:25:31.000 So the train whistle's blowing.

00:25:34.000 And Pelosi's got to make a decision.

00:25:35.000 And it can't be a waiting game like I'm being audited, like Trump plays.

00:25:39.000 It can't be a game of kicking the can down the road.

00:25:42.000 It's now, or no, or never.

00:25:44.000 And I think that's the tough question for her.

00:25:46.000 It's always been.

00:25:47.000 Are you willing to say no to impeachment?

00:25:49.000 And I think it's totally up in the air what she's going to do.

00:25:52.000 I mean, the train is leaving the station.

00:25:53.000 I love trains.

00:25:54.000 They go choo-choo and chugga-chugga. 1.00

00:25:55.000 If you're not on that train, you're in front of the train.

00:25:58.000 Nancy Pelosi, are you going to be on the train?

00:26:00.000 Nancy Pelosi?

00:26:01.000 Get on the train, Nancy.

00:26:02.000 Or don't get on the train.

00:26:03.000 I don't care.

00:26:04.000 I'm going to go back home and play with my trains.

00:26:05.000 Ah!

00:26:10.000 But he's not wrong.

00:26:11.000 I'm mocking him because he's Chris Matthews, but he is not, in fact, incorrect.

00:26:15.000 What Mueller did here, he basically said, OK, Congress, this one's on you.

00:26:18.000 Enjoy yourself.

00:26:19.000 And Nancy Pelosi has not a lot of taste for this, according to McClatchy. 0.99

00:26:24.000 Most congressional Democrats heard one message in Robert Mueller's public statement on Wednesday.

00:26:27.000 It's up to you to punish President Donald Trump.

00:26:30.000 But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled unwillingness on Wednesday to take a leap that many on the political left have already made.

00:26:35.000 Impeachment.

00:26:36.000 Investigating and potentially impeaching Trump dominated Capitol Hill talk on Wednesday, both behind closed doors where influential Democrats urged starting an inquiry and out loud among progressives demanding action.

00:26:47.000 Pelosi did not utter the word Wednesday in a terse five-paragraph statement issued two hours after Mueller left it to Congress to investigate Trump further.

00:26:56.000 The Congress holds sacred its constitutional responsibility to investigate and hold the president accountable for his abuse of power.

00:27:02.000 The Congress will continue to investigate and legislate to protect our elections and secure our democracy.

00:27:06.000 The American people must have the truth.

00:27:08.000 Now, the reality is that the House Judiciary Committee has not been calling the proper witnesses.

00:27:08.000 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

00:27:14.000 They've not been subpoenaing the proper witnesses.

00:27:16.000 They've not been asking the proper questions.

00:27:18.000 In fact, it is not even clear that they are going to subpoena Robert Mueller in all of this.

00:27:22.000 There were rumors floating around Capitol Hill yesterday that even Democrats don't want Mueller to testify for a couple of reasons.

00:27:28.000 One, Mueller may get up there and say, yeah, I didn't reach a determination on obstruction.

00:27:32.000 That's up to you guys.

00:27:33.000 I'm not going to sit here and do your work for you.

00:27:35.000 I was not allowed to do that by the by the rules of the DOJ, and I didn't reach a conclusion.

00:27:40.000 So maybe Democrats don't want to hear that message.

00:27:42.000 There's also the possibility that I was hearing that Democrats are concerned that Mueller will look bad in front of Republicans.

00:27:47.000 We'll say, OK, so why did you even do this stuff in the first place if the DOJ prohibited you from the very beginning from either recommending an indictment or indicting yourself?

00:27:56.000 Here's Jerry Nadler yesterday basically acknowledging that he is not interested in calling Robert Mueller, which is an amazing switch for the Democrats.

00:28:03.000 Remember, Robert Mueller was the most important person to hear from for the Democrats for two years.

00:28:08.000 For two years, they were buying votive candles.

00:28:11.000 For two years, they were suggesting that Robert Mueller is going to save them from Trump.

00:28:14.000 And even for the past two months, since William Barr released his four-page letter, the Democrats have been claiming that we need to hear directly from Mueller.

00:28:22.000 Well, Mueller spoke yesterday for a grand total of about 9 minutes and 40 seconds.

00:28:25.000 And that's all that they're going to get.

00:28:27.000 And Democrats apparently are satisfied with that, which suggests maybe they know they're not going to get much more out of Mueller that is going to benefit them.

00:28:33.000 Here is Nadler, the head of the House Judiciary Committee, effectively saying, yeah, I'm not interested in calling Mueller at this point.

00:28:40.000 Mr. Mueller told us a lot of what we need to hear today.

00:28:51.000 It's very important to be clear on what he told us, on what the Special Prosecutor told the American people.

00:28:56.000 He reaffirmed what was in the investigation.

00:29:00.000 Which was in the report about the investigation, which found substantial evidence that Russia attacked our political system, that the Trump campaign benefited from Russia's interference, that Trump and those around him repeatedly welcomed Russia's support, and that throughout the investigation, Trump sought to obstruct justice and undermine Mueller and the investigation over and over again.

00:29:21.000 OK, well, again, he's saying, I'm not going to call Mueller.

00:29:24.000 We got all we need.

00:29:24.000 I'm going to do what I'm going to do.

00:29:26.000 The Democrats are not going to do anything here.

00:29:26.000 But here's the reality.

00:29:28.000 They're not going to do anything here.

00:29:29.000 They're going to they're going to smear Trump.

00:29:31.000 They're going to suggest that Trump engaged in obstruction of justice.

00:29:35.000 The 2020 Democrats are going to suggest that Trump is impeachable without actually having to own all of this.

00:29:39.000 Kamala Harris yesterday said, absolutely, we've got to impeach. 0.78

00:29:42.000 And she's indicative of the general Democratic mindset at this point.

00:29:46.000 What was the message that Mr. Mueller was sending to you, a sitting member of Congress?

00:29:52.000 And do you have a reaction to the president's tweet saying that this case is closed and nothing has changed?

00:29:59.000 Well, I try not to respond to those tweets, but I will say that I think what is clear is that I think it's a fair inference from what we heard in that press conference, that Bob Mueller was essentially referring impeachment to the United States Congress.

00:30:15.000 Okay, so she actually went further than that on MSNBC.

00:30:17.000 She actually said that President Trump should be prosecuted and locked up.

00:30:20.000 So we have shifted from lock her up to lock him up.

00:30:22.000 And Kamala Harris has a long history of attempting to lock people up many times unjustly. 1.00

00:30:26.000 Here is Kamala Harris saying that the president should go to jail.

00:30:30.000 I am also clear from reading what he wrote in that report that the only reason they did not return an indictment against this president on obstruction of justice is because of an opinion from the Department of Justice that suggests that you cannot indict a sitting president.

00:30:48.000 But there is no question that the evidence supports a prosecution of that case.

00:30:56.000 So taking it to the point of your next question, absolutely.

00:31:00.000 OK, so this is easy for the 2020 candidates to say it's not so easy for Nancy Pelosi.

00:31:04.000 They are going to slow play it, despite Chris Matthews saying that it's time for Democrats to poop or get off the pot.

00:31:10.000 They are not going to do that.

00:31:12.000 Nancy Pelosi is going to slow play this. 1.00

00:31:14.000 Nancy Pelosi is not interested in moving forward with impeachment. 0.95

00:31:16.000 She's got too many moderate members of her own caucus who exist in suburban areas where the vote is closely split. 1.00

00:31:23.000 And she's deeply afraid those people lose their seats.

00:31:26.000 As McClatchy reports, Representative Lucy McBath, a Georgia Democrat who won her seat last year with 50.5% in a district Trump narrowly won in 2016, refuses to mention impeachment.

00:31:36.000 She says, The Democrats in moderate areas are not going to talk impeachment.

00:31:38.000 We need this administration to stop stonewalling Congress, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

00:31:42.000 The Democrats in moderate areas are not going to talk impeachment.

00:31:45.000 Pelosi knows it.

00:31:46.000 There is not the support in the Democratic caucus for impeachment right now.

00:31:50.000 So all this has become is just more political fodder, which means in the end, it doesn't mean anything.

00:31:54.000 The American people are tired of this.

00:31:56.000 The American people are not interested in impeachment.

00:31:58.000 The American people are bored with this story.

00:32:01.000 The American people already came away with the proper conclusion.

00:32:03.000 Trump was not exonerated on obstruction because he's not prosecutable on it.

00:32:06.000 And also this stuff is not impeachable.

00:32:08.000 That is the exact right conclusion.

00:32:10.000 Democrats are not on board with it because it doesn't fit their story.

00:32:14.000 But it is the reality, and Nancy Pelosi knows that full well.

00:32:18.000 In a second, we'll get to some other Democratic strategies for 2020 that are, I think, kind of scary for some of America's freedoms.

00:32:25.000 We'll get to that in just a second.

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00:33:54.000 OK, we're going to get to other democratic strategies for 2020 coming up.

00:33:59.000 Strategies that are going to have some pretty significant implications for your freedoms.

00:34:02.000 First, head on over to Daily Wire and subscribe.

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00:34:41.000 A month after my 18th birthday, I was called up.

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00:34:46.000 I flew 36 combat missions over Germany.

00:34:49.000 I was a medic.

00:34:51.000 We were just assigned a mission and it happened to be D-Day landing.

00:34:54.000 Mainly it was chaos.

00:34:56.000 I was so frightened.

00:34:58.000 I was blacked out.

00:34:59.000 And then my mind was flashing through.

00:35:02.000 There's a son, a father.

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00:35:44.000 Okay, so there's some other tactics that Democrats are trying for 2020.

00:35:55.000 I don't think impeachment is going to be sufficient for them for 2020 because I don't think they're actually going to pursue it.

00:36:01.000 Well, the other tactic they're trying for 2020 is this sort of nefarious tactic where they signal to social media companies that social media companies ought to shut down material they don't like.

00:36:10.000 This is really dangerous stuff.

00:36:12.000 So I think after 2016, Democrats refused to acknowledge that Hillary Clinton was a garbage candidate who lost because she was a garbage candidate.

00:36:18.000 Instead, it must have been Russian election interference.

00:36:20.000 Instead, it must have been Facebook and fake news and all these other excuses.

00:36:24.000 Well, one of the things they are focused like a laser on is that come 2020, they do not want alternative methods of distribution to the mainstream media.

00:36:32.000 And so they're focusing it on social media companies.

00:36:34.000 They're threatening them with legislation.

00:36:36.000 They're threatening them with regulation.

00:36:38.000 And so you have the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, now suggesting that because there was a video of her on Facebook, just of her slowed down a little bit.

00:36:46.000 So it sounded like she was drunk a little bit, like this humorous video.

00:36:49.000 And this shows that the Facebook leaders wittingly helped the Russians, wittingly helped. 0.94

00:36:53.000 I mean, this is an affarious accusation.

00:36:55.000 There is no way in hell that the Facebook leadership, that Mark Zuckerberg, was like, yeah, I'm helping the Russians throw this election to Trump.

00:37:01.000 I'm sure that was going through Mark Zuckerberg's head.

00:37:03.000 Nor is it the job of Mark Zuckerberg to censor stuff on his platform that is not illegal.

00:37:09.000 That is not Mark Zuckerberg's job.

00:37:10.000 I've been saying for a very long time that to treat the social media companies as though they are the ultimate arbiters of good and evil, of truth and falsity, is simply nonsense.

00:37:20.000 If you want to say that Facebook should remove things that violate the law, violent, incitement, slanderous materials, copyright violations, fine.

00:37:28.000 But if you want to say that Facebook is supposed to remove everything Nancy Pelosi doesn't like or they unwittingly help the Russians, or in her case, she says, wittingly help the Russians, this is a pretty close to overt threat against Facebook designed to get Facebook to change its policies in advance of the 2020 election.

00:37:43.000 That's what's going on here.

00:37:45.000 When something like Facebook says, I know this is false, but it's a lie, but we're showing it anyway.

00:37:55.000 Well, to me, it says two things.

00:37:57.000 One, that I was giving them the benefit of the doubt on Russia, but clearly they, I thought it was unwitting, but clearly they wittingly were accomplices and enablers of false information to go across Facebook.

00:38:15.000 Just ridiculous.

00:38:16.000 So Facebook was apparently, according to Nancy Pelosi, wittingly helping Trump win the election.

00:38:21.000 So it's not Facebook, it's Mark Zuckerberg who colluded with the Russians, according to Nancy Pelosi.

00:38:26.000 This is her threatening Facebook.

00:38:27.000 And it's not just her, Hillary Clinton, who can never accept the fact that she lost the election because she's the worst candidate ever.

00:38:32.000 That's the actual story of the election.

00:38:34.000 Everybody has created this weird mythos about the last 10 years in American politics where Barack Obama was not the electoral outlier.

00:38:41.000 Barack Obama was the new normal.

00:38:43.000 And then because Barack Obama was the new normal, Trump's victory was some unbelievably shocking thing where he built this brand new coalition.

00:38:49.000 No, the actual story is this.

00:38:51.000 Hillary Clinton is the normal Democrat.

00:38:52.000 Barack Obama is the abnormal Democrat.

00:38:54.000 Donald Trump got basically the same percentages as normal Republicans do, even though he is an abnormal Republican.

00:39:01.000 So when he beat Hillary Clinton, that was mostly about Hillary sucking at her job, about her not being able to hold the new gains that Barack Obama had made.

00:39:10.000 And yet for Hillary Clinton, it's all Facebook's fault.

00:39:13.000 So here is, she's making the same point.

00:39:15.000 All of this is designed to softly push, not so softly, push Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey over at Twitter and the people over at Google to basically bias their tech in favor of Democrats come 2020.

00:39:26.000 That's what this is about right here.

00:39:27.000 It's dangerous stuff.

00:39:29.000 When Facebook refused to take down a fake video of Nancy Pelosi, it wasn't even a close call.

00:39:36.000 The video is sexist trash.

00:39:38.000 And YouTube took it down, but Facebook kept it up.

00:39:42.000 So let's send a message to Facebook that those who are in Facebook's communities would really like Facebook to pay attention to false and doctored videos before we are flooded with them over the next months.

00:39:58.000 OK, this idea that she's going to cram down on Facebook her vision of what is true and what is false is going to get dangerous very, very quickly.

00:40:06.000 It's not restricted to the United States, by the way.

00:40:07.000 The left is on the move across the world in terms of trying to crack down on social media because they don't like the idea of free platforms.

00:40:15.000 My view on this, and I've been targeted by a lot of people on social media for things up to and including death.

00:40:20.000 So I'm very well aware of social media being misused.

00:40:24.000 But trying to crack down on social media as a platform and instead turn it into some sort of left-wing publishing site, that's what a lot of folks on the left want.

00:40:32.000 It's created an enormous amount of blowback in Germany, where Angela Merkel's heir apparent is facing criticism.

00:40:39.000 Her name is Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

00:40:41.000 She replaced Merkel as the leader of the ruling CDU last year.

00:40:44.000 That's Merkel's party.

00:40:46.000 She denied that she was promoting censorship after her comments, which were prompted by a YouTube video by a popular 26-year-old blogger named Rezo.

00:40:53.000 In the video, seen by millions ahead of the EU Parliament vote, Rezo called on voters to reject the two parties for betraying the young by not addressing the climate crisis.

00:41:01.000 Kramp-Karrenbauer said, quote, I asked myself, what would be the response in this country if, say, 70 newspapers issued a joint appeal two days before the election saying, don't vote CDU or SPD?

00:41:10.000 Those would be the sort of center-right or center-left parties.

00:41:14.000 She says, that would have been a clear propagandizing before the election.

00:41:16.000 I believe it would have unleashed a lively debate.

00:41:18.000 So the question remains, what are the rules from the analog era, and how do they apply in the digital era?

00:41:24.000 It sounds like she wants to regulate the social media company.

00:41:26.000 She wants to regulate YouTube so that you can't electioneer before a campaign. 0.84

00:41:29.000 The political class, the political elite, do not like the fact that they cannot control podcasts like this one.

00:41:35.000 They do not like the fact that they cannot control distribution of information on Facebook and YouTube and Twitter.

00:41:40.000 They don't like that.

00:41:41.000 And so they are attempting to push pressure cram down their vision of society on the already left-leaning leaders of these various tech companies who are willing to hear it, number one, because many of them are on the left, and number two, because they wish to escape the governmental censure that is going to be promoted by people like Speaker Pelosi and like Hillary Clinton.

00:42:01.000 That's some pretty dangerous stuff.

00:42:03.000 When we say that freedoms are at issue, this is a fundamental freedom that is at issue right now.

00:42:08.000 And meanwhile, President Trump not doing himself any grand favors with this story.

00:42:13.000 So this one is not really President Trump's fault.

00:42:17.000 Apparently, there's a story originally from the Wall Street Journal all about how The U.S.S.

00:42:23.000 John McCain supposedly was hidden from Donald Trump.

00:42:27.000 The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the White House wanted the U.S.S. 0.96

00:42:30.000 John McCain out of sight during President Trump's visit to Japan.

00:42:34.000 They reported U.S.

00:42:35.000 military officials worked to ensure that President Trump wouldn't see the warship that bears the name of the late senator, a frequent target of the president's ire.

00:42:42.000 This story is by Rebecca Ballhouse and Gordon Lewbald.

00:42:45.000 So the White House wanted the U.S. 0.98

00:42:46.000 Navy to move out of sight the warship U.S.S.

00:42:48.000 John McCain ahead of President Trump's visit to Japan.

00:42:52.000 The ship was named after the father and grandfather of the late senator, a war hero who became a frequent target of Mr. Trump's ire, and the senator's name was added to the ship in 2018.

00:43:00.000 In a May 15th email to U.S.

00:43:02.000 Navy and Air Force officials, a U.S.

00:43:03.000 Indo-Pacific Command official outlined plans for the president's arrival.

00:43:07.000 In addition to instructions for proper landing areas for helicopters and preparations for the USS Wasp, where the president was scheduled to speak, the official issued a third director.

00:43:15.000 USS John McCain needs to be out of sight.

00:43:18.000 Please confirm number three, that was that directive.

00:43:21.000 We'll be satisfied, the official wrote.

00:43:23.000 When a Navy commander expressed surprise about the directive for the USS John McCain, the U.S.

00:43:27.000 Indo-Pacific Command official replied, first, I heard of it as well.

00:43:30.000 He said he'd work with the White House military office to obtain more information.

00:43:34.000 Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan, according to the Wall Street Journal, was aware of the concern about the presence of the USS John McCain in Japan and approved measures to ensure it didn't interfere with the president's visit, according to a U.S.

00:43:45.000 official.

00:43:46.000 Trump has fired back on this report.

00:43:47.000 He said, quote, "I was not informed about anything having to do with the Navy ship USS John McCain during my recent visit to Japan.

00:43:54.000 Nevertheless, the First Lady and I love being with our great military men and women.

00:43:58.000 What a spectacular job they do." Now, the Washington Post is reporting that President Trump has spoken out more about this.

00:44:06.000 He said, quote, I don't know what happened.

00:44:07.000 I was not involved.

00:44:08.000 I would not have done that.

00:44:10.000 He said, I was not a big fan of John McCain in any shape or form.

00:44:13.000 Now, somebody did it because they thought I didn't like him, OK?

00:44:15.000 And they were well-meaning.

00:44:17.000 It's that last line that's not really great.

00:44:19.000 They were well-meaning?

00:44:21.000 When your own staff is trying to protect you from a ship that has a dead man's name on it and you didn't like the dead guy?

00:44:29.000 That doesn't speak well of your thin-skinnedness when it comes to John McCain.

00:44:33.000 But the fact that Trump didn't know about it obviously means that you can't put it on Trump.

00:44:37.000 You put it on his staff.

00:44:38.000 And his staff obviously should have just said, whatever, it's a ship.

00:44:42.000 And if Trump can't get over it, then it's then on Trump.

00:44:45.000 But from the staffer's position, I understand you're trying to shield the President, you're trying to prevent a blow-up in public from the President of the United States.

00:44:52.000 The fact that Trump has these personality foibles is not A good thing, for sure.

00:44:56.000 For sure.

00:44:56.000 A senior White House official confirmed on Wednesday the person who issued the directive did not want the warship with the McCain name seen in photographs during Trump's visit.

00:45:03.000 The official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations said the president was not involved in the planning, but the request was made to keep Trump from becoming upset.

00:45:12.000 So there are a lot of folks in the White House, apparently, who are attempting to prevent President Trump from basically feeling quasi-angst at the fact that there is a ship named after John McCain.

00:45:26.000 Now, it is reported by the Navy Chief of Information that the name of the USS John McCain was not obscured during the President's visit to Yokosuka on Memorial Day.

00:45:34.000 The Navy is proud of that ship, its crew, its namesake, and its heritage.

00:45:38.000 Trump himself obviously tweeted that he had nothing to do with this.

00:45:42.000 this katie tur reports from nbc a spokesperson for the u.s pacific fleet said the picture of a tarp there's a picture from friday of a tarp over the mccain name a spokesperson for the u.s pacific fleet said the picture of the tarp is from friday it was taken down on saturday all ships remained in normal configuration during the president's visitor said commander nate christensen so the media did in fact push this too far The media suggested that Trump himself was responsible for this.

00:46:10.000 The media suggested that the ship was in fact hidden when apparently it was not.

00:46:15.000 But a couple of things can be true at once.

00:46:16.000 One, the media can get overzealous on these stories.

00:46:18.000 Two, people around the president need to not protect him from things that are stupid.

00:46:22.000 If Trump can't handle it, Trump can't handle it.

00:46:24.000 It's a dumb story.

00:46:25.000 It's a silly story.

00:46:27.000 And honestly, President Trump should just let McCain go.

00:46:29.000 People have their opinions about McCain.

00:46:31.000 I didn't like McCain as a senator particularly much.

00:46:34.000 I didn't think that he was a wonderful senator.

00:46:36.000 But he was a military hero.

00:46:38.000 He was an obvious military hero.

00:46:39.000 That deserves all of our respect and commendation, no matter why I think pretty much everybody agrees on this.

00:46:45.000 So again, these sorts of sensitivity issues for the president need to need to go away.

00:46:50.000 Meanwhile, in other news, this is a bizarre story out of Israel.

00:46:53.000 So you remember there was just an Israeli election like five minutes ago.

00:46:55.000 And it was like, wow, look at that.

00:46:57.000 Netanyahu won again.

00:46:58.000 Well, now there's going to be another election.

00:47:00.000 I will say here that it is worthwhile noting that Israel has now had two elections inside of a year or will have two elections inside of a year.

00:47:07.000 That's as many elections as the Palestinians have had ever.

00:47:11.000 Ever.

00:47:12.000 Because Israel is a democracy and a wild, chaotic, functioning parliamentary democracy at that.

00:47:19.000 Nonetheless, it's a very weird circumstance.

00:47:21.000 The first time in Israeli history that an elected governmental leader has been unable to form a coalition.

00:47:26.000 According to the Washington Post, in a stunning turn, Israel will head to elections for a second time in less than six months after President, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government before a midnight Wednesday deadline.

00:47:37.000 Rather than give someone else the chance to do so, his party advanced a bill to dissolve parliament and trigger new elections in September.

00:47:43.000 Netanyahu was unable to bring Avigdor Lieberman, his former defense minister, into a coalition that would give the prime minister a majority at parliament.

00:47:49.000 That's Knesset.

00:47:50.000 The two veteran politicians were at loggerheads over legislation sought by Lieberman to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, a measure bitterly resisted by Netanyahu's powerful political allies in the religious parties.

00:48:01.000 There's a lot of controversy over Orthodox service in the military because the military is a pretty secular place.

00:48:08.000 There are what they call Hester units, which are units that are specifically of the Orthodox and tend to be more in line with Orthodox rules.

00:48:15.000 The expansion of those Hester units would obviously be the proper solution here.

00:48:18.000 The move for new elections leaves Israel in political disarray as it now embarks on an expensive nationwide vote that has no guarantee of shifting the balance of power among the They're going to do this again for no apparent reason.

00:48:30.000 It's very awkward stuff.

00:48:32.000 But again, proof that a functioning democracy is still in Israel. 0.92

00:48:36.000 Apparently there was a vote of 74 to 45 to dissolve the body just a month after being sworn in.

00:48:41.000 Gil Hoffman, chief political correspondent for the Jerusalem Post said, this is devastating to the average Israeli who's really tired of such selfish politics. 0.84

00:48:47.000 There's no way to explain the situation to the average Israelis who are saying their politicians aren't working for their interests.

00:48:54.000 Would not be a surprise.

00:48:55.000 I mean, it's a risky move by Netanyahu.

00:48:56.000 Would not be a surprise to see the Blue and White Party gain seats because people are angry at Netanyahu and angry at Lieberman.

00:49:03.000 So, pretty fascinating stuff happening over in Israel.

00:49:07.000 Alrighty, time for some things that I like and then some things that I hate.

00:49:11.000 So things that I like.

00:49:13.000 Shannon Bream is just a wonderful person.

00:49:15.000 She has a really fun and inspiring new book called Finding the Bright Side.

00:49:19.000 And it really is just a memoir from her talking about all of the issues that she has faced in her career, in her life.

00:49:25.000 And it's a pretty great conservative little book.

00:49:28.000 It's really a lot of fun to read.

00:49:30.000 She talks about her conservative religious upbringing.

00:49:32.000 She talks about going to Liberty University.

00:49:34.000 She talks about how she got into the TV business.

00:49:37.000 Shannon is the light of a human.

00:49:38.000 And this book is a lot of fun and an easy read.

00:49:41.000 So go check it out.

00:49:42.000 Finding the Bright Side.

00:49:42.000 The Art of Chasing What Matters.

00:49:44.000 It's a kick.

00:49:45.000 Okay, other things that I like.

00:49:46.000 So Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, was getting a lot of flack over the last couple of days because he was specifically asked about whether if Ruth Bader Ginsburg were to leave the court, for example, and Trump were to nominate a replacement, whether they'd fill that vacancy in the last year of his presidency.

00:50:01.000 Now, the reason that that has become an issue is because McConnell said that the Senate was not going to vote in the last year of President Obama's presidency on Merrick Garland.

00:50:09.000 Now, it is also important to note that Mitch McConnell said at the time, the reason for that is because we have a split in the parties.

00:50:14.000 It is not the job of a Republican Senate to approve a Democratic nominee.

00:50:17.000 Now, I've always said I didn't understand why that logic obtained only for the last year of a presidency.

00:50:23.000 Why did Mitch McConnell have to approve of anybody that was put forward?

00:50:27.000 There's an advice and consent rule for Senate. 0.96

00:50:29.000 The Senate does not have to approve anybody.

00:50:31.000 Mitch McConnell made it time-bound, basically saying if Hillary won, they'd vote on Merrick Garland.

00:50:36.000 But there's no reason for him to say even that.

00:50:38.000 In any case, Mitch McConnell was asked if he would fill a vacancy in the last year of Trump's first term.

00:50:44.000 And McConnell's like, yeah, for sure.

00:50:46.000 Should a Supreme Court justice die next year before your opposition be on filling that spot?

00:50:52.000 We'd fill it.

00:50:54.000 Okay, so people are laughing because supposedly this is a hypocritical, hard-nosed move by McConnell.

00:51:02.000 And that's very taciturn stuff from Mitch McConnell.

00:51:06.000 But what he's saying there is obviously correct.

00:51:09.000 Democrats are going to approve a Democratic nominee.

00:51:11.000 Republicans will approve a Republican nominee If there is a split, then at the very least, A delay seems somewhat appropriate.

00:51:17.000 I would say the delay can be indefinite.

00:51:19.000 I don't think that Republicans are bound to vote for Merrick Garland, even if Obama had nominated him in the very first year of his presidency.

00:51:26.000 Okay, time for some things that I hate.

00:51:32.000 So, the move by major corporations to virtue signal on politics is really quite terrible.

00:51:40.000 Disney has now come out and said maybe they'll move their production outside of Georgia if the Georgia law goes into effect.

00:51:45.000 Bob Iger said that.

00:51:46.000 Netflix has said maybe we'll move our production out of Georgia if Georgia's heartbeat bill goes into effect.

00:51:52.000 Well, this is about as gutless a statement as it's possible to make.

00:51:55.000 If you don't like pro-lifers in Georgia, they voted for it. 0.90

00:51:57.000 Pull your money.

00:51:58.000 And then we will know, all of us pro-lifers, all of us will know that we just will not see your movies.

00:52:03.000 In fact, we can do you severe damage by seeing your movies and just renting them on Amazon.

00:52:09.000 We just won't go to the theater and pay you 30 bucks a ticket.

00:52:11.000 Instead, we will just wait till it comes out on Amazon and rent it for $2.99.

00:52:16.000 And we'll bankrupt you.

00:52:18.000 You want to play this game?

00:52:18.000 If the left wants to play this game, where they refuse to do business with people with whom they disagree on politics and on crucial issues like abortion, Well, then they're gonna pay the price.

00:52:28.000 There are plenty of us.

00:52:29.000 There are plenty of us who are not interested in... I'm a Netflix subscriber.

00:52:33.000 I'm sure a lot of people who are listening to this show and watching this show are Netflix subscribers.

00:52:38.000 If Netflix pulls its money from Georgia, I will end my Netflix subscription.

00:52:42.000 I have no interest in promoting a company that seeks to devalue my political point of view as a matter of its business.

00:52:49.000 Netflix is in the business of making entertainment.

00:52:51.000 They're not in the business of shaping political opinions around the country.

00:52:55.000 If they believe they are, then I'm not going to give my money to them because I don't give my money to leftist lobbying groups.

00:53:00.000 And the same thing is true of Disney.

00:53:02.000 I am more than willing to delay my enjoyment of a Disney movie by watching it at home in the comfort of my home, renting it and spending $2.99 instead of $45 to bring my wife and kids to a movie.

00:53:12.000 If this is the game that Hollywood wants to play, there will be consequences to this game.

00:53:17.000 So go for it, Hollywood.

00:53:19.000 Put your money where your mouth is.

00:53:19.000 Make it happen.

00:53:21.000 Or otherwise, this is just a bunch of virtue-signaling nonsense, and the reason that you're holding off on pulling from Georgia is because you want the tax benefits, you want to be able to virtue-signal to all your liberal members, your leftist coterie, without actually having to pull the money.

00:53:34.000 Also, worthwhile noting, while Disney is talking about pulling all of their production from Georgia because of the heartbeat bill, you know, they also were producing Star Wars The Last Jedi.

00:53:45.000 You know where they filmed?

00:53:45.000 Croatia, Ireland, and Bolivia.

00:53:48.000 At the time, in Croatia, abortion is still illegal after 10 weeks.

00:53:53.000 In Ireland, abortion was illegal overall.

00:53:55.000 In Bolivia, abortion was and is illegal.

00:53:57.000 Didn't see Disney pulling any of its production from there.

00:54:00.000 I'm eager to see Hollywood be forced to pay higher production costs by producing only in countries that agree with it politically.

00:54:07.000 We'll see how they like production in Sweden.

00:54:10.000 Pretty incredible stuff.

00:54:11.000 Other things that I hate today.

00:54:13.000 So, speaking of Brands that are getting involved in politics in the stupidest possible way.

00:54:19.000 The Associated Press is reporting that Gucci has what they call the Cruise 2020 collection.

00:54:24.000 It debuted to a VIP audience this week in Rome.

00:54:27.000 It was themed around the subject of abortion because I know when I'm buying jeans, I'm thinking about killing babies.

00:54:32.000 The collection featured a purple jacket with the slogan My Body, My Choice on the back and a sweater emblazoned with the date May 22, 1978, marking the day abortion became legal in Italy, according to the Associated Press.

00:54:42.000 The brand's creative director, Alessandro Michele, says the theme is no coincidence.

00:54:46.000 He was inspired, he says, by the sudden pro-life resurgence in the United States The restrictions in the United States, Michelle said, made me consider how much women should be highly respected.

00:54:55.000 Sometimes in life, choices are difficult, but I believe it is the most difficult decision for a woman.

00:54:59.000 I respect that decision.

00:55:00.000 I respect that decision as I respect the idea that the uterus is a garden. 0.99

00:55:04.000 I wanted to portray the idea that to interrupt a pregnancy does not wipe out the garden, the flower that is the uterus of every woman.

00:55:10.000 Well, you know what makes the uterus a garden in this particular metaphor? 0.76

00:55:14.000 It would be the fact that it grows things like a garden.

00:55:16.000 You know what?

00:55:17.000 The uterus grows.

00:55:18.000 You know, it grows in a uterus.

00:55:21.000 Babies!

00:55:22.000 And if you kill the babies, it's not really a garden anymore.

00:55:26.000 Now it's just... a thing.

00:55:28.000 So that's kind of a weird take.

00:55:30.000 Again, the same logic applies.

00:55:32.000 If we are going to see all of these brands endorse wild left sloganeering, All you're going to see is pop-up brands that do not do this, who are going to pick up the lion's share of the revenue that leaves.

00:55:45.000 Capitalism always wins.

00:55:47.000 And if this is the game that these corporations want to play, there will be consequences to those games.

00:55:51.000 Alrighty.

00:55:51.000 We'll be back here later with two additional hours of programming, or we'll see you here tomorrow.

00:55:55.000 I'm Ben Shapiro.

00:55:55.000 This is The Ben Shapiro Show.

00:55:56.000 This is The Ben Shapiro Show.

00:56:04.000 Executive producer, Jeremy Boring.

00:56:05.000 Senior producer, Jonathan Hay.

00:56:07.000 Our supervising producer is Mathis Glover.

00:56:09.000 And our technical producer is Austin Stevens.

00:56:11.000 Edited by Adam Sajevitz.

00:56:12.000 Audio is mixed by Mike Karamina.

00:56:14.000 Hair and makeup is by Jesua Olvera.

00:56:16.000 Production assistant, Nick Sheehan.

00:56:17.000 The Ben Shapiro Show is a Daily Wire production.

00:56:19.000 Copyright, Daily Wire 2019.

00:56:22.000 Robert Mueller won't go away, Joe Biden can't be found, and ugly guys break their faces to look hotter.

00:56:28.000 Finally, the mailbag.

The Ben Shapiro Show - May 30, 2019

Goodbye To All That | Ep. 791

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