The Ben Shapiro Show - I’m Shocked – SHOCKED! – To Find NBA Gambling Going On!

00:00:00.000 A gigantic NBA scandal breaks out with prosecutions galore.

00:00:04.000 Plus, Bernie Sanders just let the cat out of the bag.

00:00:06.000 It's AOC 2028 and the latest on the government shutdown first.

00:00:10.000 Your reminder that Daily Wire Plus members get this show uncensored, ad-free, and an hour earlier than anyone else on planet Earth.

00:00:16.000 You can also chat live with me and thousands of other people just like you during every single episode.

00:00:20.000 Plus, we're adding even more premium entertainment to the library.

00:00:23.000 The cinematic thriller Nefarious just dropped on Daily Wire Plus right in time for Halloween.

00:00:27.000 If you're not a member yet, now would be the time to join as we celebrate 10 years of the Daily Wire with the deal of the decade.

00:00:32.000 Become a member for as little as seven bucks a month.

00:00:34.000 Join now at dailywire.com.

00:00:36.000 Well, folks, the biggest news in the country is a gambling scandal that involves the NBA and also the mafia.

00:00:43.000 So it's getting really spicy out there.

00:00:45.000 The Wall Street Journal has the details according to the Wall Street Journal.

00:00:49.000 More than 30 people, including Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami heat guard Terry Rosier, were charged on Tuesday as part of a sweeping investigation into illegal gambling, rigged poker games, and match fixing in the NBA.

00:01:00.000 Federal prosecutors unveiled an indictment against more than two dozen defendants that outlined a nationwide scheme backed by organized crime families to run corrupt poker games and learn victims by offering them a chance to play alongside figures, including Chauncey Billups, then a former player, and former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones.

00:01:17.000 The revelations instantly ranked among the most damaging in NBA history, throwing into question the integrity of the NBA product just six years after the NBA opened its doors to the lucrative legalized gambling industry.

00:01:29.000 I'm going to get to that in a moment, the legalized gambling portion of all of this.

00:01:32.000 There are really two indictments.

00:01:34.000 So, indictment number one has to do with actual game fixing.

00:01:39.000 That indictment charged six defendants, including Rosier, with a criminal betting scheme using insider information and performance manipulation to profit off NBA games.

00:01:47.000 This would be what you would consider to be normal game fixing, typical game fixing.

00:01:51.000 Apparently, Rosier would take himself out of games at a certain point in order to make the under in terms of minutes played or points scored.

00:01:59.000 Or there would be information shared with gamblers that said that somebody wasn't playing tonight and that would change the odds.

00:02:05.000 Going all the way back to sort of the guys and dolls days of American sports and mafia, or going all the way back to the 1990 Black Sox, like that kind of sports fixing. 0.59

00:02:16.000 Then there is a second case here, and that case involves Chauncey Phillips being used at what was called a face card, meaning like a famous person, to get other people to come and gamble with him at these mafia poker games that were rigged, where they were using shuffling machines and x-ray tables.

00:02:33.000 Prosecutors said that co-conspirator eight, which would have been billups, told members of the gambling ring the team intended to tank or wrest players to try to lose and improve its drafts position in a March 24th, 2023 game in which the Blazers were playing the Chicago Bulls.

00:02:47.000 Now, again, that is not surprising.

00:02:50.000 That part is not surprising.

00:02:51.000 The attempt to turn that into a game-fixing accusation is kind of silly because, again, unfortunately, teams in the NBA tank in order to obtain draft position all the time.

00:03:00.000 And everybody knows it.

00:03:02.000 There are always teams that are attempting to basically lose more games because you have a better shot at obtaining a higher draft pick if you lose more games.

00:03:10.000 That's not a gigantic shock.

00:03:11.000 However, the gamblers wagered about $100,000 on a Portland loss before the lineup was made public, netting them a significant profit.

00:03:18.000 And the Blazers lost by some 28 points.

00:03:22.000 Rozier kind of similarly was accused of telling people close to him he planned to make an early exit from a 2023 game.

00:03:27.000 He was playing for the Charlotte Hornets in order for gamblers to hit the under on bets tied to his performance.

00:03:33.000 And again, prosecutors say gamblers obtained insider information from several NBA players and coaches, including Rosier and Jones, and then distributed that information to a network of bettors in order to profit from another half dozen NBA games through March of 2024.

00:03:46.000 Here's the FBI director Cash Patel outlining the sports rigging operation.

00:03:52.000 But as you now know, individuals such as Chauncey Phillips, Damon Jones, and Terry Rosier were taken into custody today, former current NBA players and coaches.

00:04:03.000 What you don't know is that this is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years.

00:04:11.000 The FBI led a coordinated takedown across 11 states to arrest over 30 individuals today responsible for this case, which is very much ongoing.

00:04:21.000 And unfortunately, this is not the first such scandal to plague the NBA in the last couple of years.

00:04:25.000 Just last year, there was a case about a Toronto Raptors forward named Jante Porter, who was banned from the league for life because he conspired with gamblers to fix his performance in NBA games.

00:04:35.000 He pled guilty to a criminal charge after faking injuries to manipulate his points total and hit the under on prop bets related to his individual performance in two NBA games in January and March 2024.

00:04:45.000 And he said that he participated in that scheme because he himself was in hockey to a bunch of gamblers that he had huge gambling debts.

00:04:55.000 So here is the New York's FBI Assistant Director, Christopher Ria, explain what happened with Chauncey Billips in that case.

00:05:03.000 This alleged illegal gambling operation hustled unwitting victims out of tens of millions of dollars and created a financial pipeline for La Cosa Nostra to help fund and facilitate their organized criminal activity. 0.88

00:05:21.000 Victims were attracted to play alongside well-known professional athletes and coaches like Chauncey Billips, only to be unknowingly deceived through rigged shuffling machines, fixing the odds in their favor, as alleged, and as you just heard from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

00:05:41.000 The Eastern District of New York District Attorney Joseph Nosella, he said to the gamblers that their days of winning were over.

00:05:50.000 My message to the defendants who've been rounded up today is this.

00:05:54.000 Your winning streak has ended.

00:05:57.000 Your luck has run out.

00:05:59.000 Violating the law is a losing proposition, and you can bet on that.

00:06:05.000 All righty, coming up, David Cohn joins us to talk about the NBA scandal.

00:06:08.000 First, buy gold and get free silver.

00:06:10.000 That's right, for every $5,000 purchased from Birch Gold Group this month in advance of Veterans Day, they'll send you a free patriotic silver round that commemorates the Gadsden and American flags.

00:06:19.000 Look, gold just hit $4,000 an ounce.

00:06:21.000 It's up over 50% since the beginning of this year.

00:06:24.000 Birch Gold can help you own it by converting an existing IRA or 401k into a tax-sheltered IRA in physical gold.

00:06:30.000 Plus, they'll send you free silver honoring our veterans on qualifying purchases.

00:06:33.000 And if you're current or former military, Birch Gold has a special offer just for you.

00:06:36.000 They're waiving custodial fees for the first year on investments of any amount with an A-plus rating with the Better Business Bureau, tens of thousands of happy customers, many of whom are my listeners.

00:06:45.000 I encourage you to diversify your savings into gold.

00:06:49.000 Birch Gold, the place I trust with my precious metals investing.

00:06:52.000 I called them just a few months ago and re-upped.

00:06:54.000 Text my name Ben to the number 98.98.98 for a free end foot and to claim your eligibility for free silver with qualifying purchase before the end of the month.

00:07:01.000 Again, text my name Ben to 9898.98 DOIT today.

00:07:05.000 Go check them out right now, BirchGold at 9898.98.

00:07:08.000 Text my name Ben to get started.

00:07:09.000 Also, you can't always count on big institutions to prioritize your health.

00:07:13.000 It's up to you to take charge.

00:07:14.000 With liver health concerns on the rise across the United States every year, dose for your liver is one of the simplest ways to protect and support yours.

00:07:20.000 Unlike capsules or powders, dose is a liquid supplement you take as a quick two-ounce daily shot.

00:07:25.000 It tastes just like fresh squeezed orange juice.

00:07:26.000 Your liver is one of the hardest working organs in your body.

00:07:29.000 It's important to give it the help it needs.

00:07:30.000 Your liver acts like a filter.

00:07:32.000 It works behind the scenes on over 500 essential functions every single day.

00:07:36.000 Things like helping with digestion, energy production, fat metabolism, even storing important vitamins.

00:07:40.000 When it's running smoothly, you'll feel the difference in your daily rhythm.

00:07:43.000 Dose is formulated to support your liver's day-to-day function, helping it handle unwanted elements so it can keep doing its job with ease.

00:07:49.000 With zero sugar, zero calories, zero junk, it's a simple addition you can feel good about.

00:07:53.000 With clinical studies backing its impact on liver health markers, dose is grounded in real science, not guesswork.

00:07:58.000 So why not give your liver the daily support it deserves?

00:08:01.000 New customers can save 35% on your first month of subscription by going to dosedaily.co slash Shapiro or entering Shapiro at checkout.

00:08:08.000 That's D-O-S-E-D-A-I-L-Y dot C-O slash Shapiro for 35% off your first month subscription.

00:08:15.000 Okay, so what does all of this mean?

00:08:17.000 Joining us to discuss is David Cohen, co-host of Crane and Company, available over at Dailywire Plus.

00:08:23.000 So David, obviously, this is a gigantic scandal that is now engulfing the NBA.

00:08:27.000 It's a little confusing.

00:08:28.000 Why don't you walk me through it?

00:08:29.000 Yeah, well, I wish we were talking about the World Series starting tonight, Ben, but it's not every day you get a gambling sting operation in the NBA.

00:08:36.000 So FBI Director Cash Patel came out yesterday and stated that this was a nationwide takedown across 11 states, resulting in 30 arrests.

00:08:45.000 And what I really want people to understand here is these are two separate indictments, but there are three overlapping defendants, so they are related cases.

00:08:53.000 Let's start with the first indictment.

00:08:55.000 This is your more typical on-court game fixing.

00:08:58.000 This is where Miami Heat shooting guard Terry Rozier's name is coming into play.

00:09:03.000 It's alleged that he was involved in some of that game fixing, notifying gamblers when he would play, when certain players would not play, or even more specifically, removing himself possibly from games after only nine minutes so that his prop bet point total under would hit, things like that.

00:09:22.000 And that's going to be very problematic, Ben, moving forward for all sports leagues as legalized gambling has sort of ushered into this space.

00:09:29.000 The second indictment, related but a separate incident, this is where we get into La Cosa Nostra, Italian Mafia, pretty much every crime family name that you've ever heard in any movie or TV show.

00:09:43.000 And this is where Chauncey Billips' name and Damon Jones comes into play.

00:09:47.000 Now, if you're like me, Ben, you remember Chauncey Billips as being one of those pillars of those great Detroit Pistons teams 20 years ago, winning finals MVP.

00:09:54.000 He's now the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers and apparently was involved with these mafia families in fixing poker games.

00:10:02.000 So he would lure in quote unquote fish, high-stakes rollers, where he would be the quote-unquote face card because people want to play poker with famous celebrities and famous athletes.

00:10:15.000 And then they would take their money through rig shuffle machines, through x-ray tables, pretty much any instrument and gadget that James Bond ever had was being used in this scenario.

00:10:26.000 And not for nothing, Ben, I think it is humorous that the night before Chauncey Billup's arrest here, he used the phrase, let the chips fall where they may.

00:10:36.000 So sort of an apropos idiom there, the day before you're arrested for a poker scheme.

00:10:43.000 So, David, when I look at that, what I see is one scandal that, you know, is kind of a normal criminal scandal.

00:10:49.000 And here I'm talking about the billups poker games because we have seen situations before.

00:10:55.000 There have been movies made about them with criminal poker games that are happening, illegal poker games.

00:11:00.000 The fact that the mafia is coming up makes this more colorful.

00:11:03.000 And the fact that obviously there's a famous person like Billup involved makes it more colorful as well.

00:11:07.000 But it seems to me that the bigger scandal here, the one that really should be worrying everybody is the Terry Rosiera scandal.

00:11:13.000 The idea that you actually have game fixing or effects on actual NBA performance, that's the one that should scare everybody.

00:11:22.000 What is the NBA saying about that?

00:11:25.000 And how does that play into the debate over legalized gambling, for example?

00:11:28.000 I was really interested to hear your take on this because I agree with that point 100%.

00:11:32.000 One situation, you have a mafia family who's trying to take people's money and they're using famous people to do it.

00:11:37.000 And it's sort of an isolated incident.

00:11:40.000 Not that it's not nothing in Chauncey Billup.

00:11:42.000 Look, all of these guys are facing 20 years in prison, even though they may not be held right now until their court appearance.

00:11:49.000 Obviously, this is an ongoing investigation.

00:11:51.000 But I agree with you 100% because gambling is legalized now and you have incidents like yesterday, ESPN is reporting on this story and they have ESPN bets at the bottom of the screen and that is not going away.

00:12:04.000 And so, you know, part of me, Ben, you and I have discussed at length the Black Sox scandal and shoeless Joe Jackson.

00:12:11.000 It was bad enough in an era where you weren't getting paid a lot of money, but you had no respect for the game that you were playing or the teammates that you had.

00:12:20.000 It was bad enough then.

00:12:22.000 But in an era contemporarily here where you're getting paid millions and millions of dollars, these players, even if you're just on a roster, you make more than doctors make.

00:12:31.000 There's absolutely no excuse that you would go out and just, you know, throw everything away so that you can win a couple bets.

00:12:38.000 And it sounds like there were multiple franchises that were involved in this across these 11 states with these indictments.

00:12:45.000 I think you will be happy to know that the Boston Celtics, they did not come up in this investigation as far as I'm aware.

00:12:52.000 A rare bright spot for the Boston Celtics these days.

00:12:55.000 But when I look at this, obviously I saw what ESPN did.

00:12:58.000 I saw that ESPN had the ESPN bet marquee underneath on the screen and they pulled it down in the middle of the conversation. 0.99

00:13:04.000 I thought to myself, that's incredibly stupid. 0.99

00:13:06.000 And the reason that's incredibly stupid is because it is not a crime for you or for me or for anybody else to go and put 10 bucks on a sports game. 0.99

00:13:13.000 And I'm not sure why ESPN would be shy about that or make the implication that because you or I are allowed to go over to Vegas and lay down a few bucks on tonight's Clippers game, that somehow Terry Rosier breaking the law implicates everybody else in that. 0.99

00:13:27.000 That's sort of like saying that we have to pull down all Budweiser ads because there's a drunk driver who decided to get behind the wheel and then hit somebody.

00:13:36.000 That's not the way these things work.

00:13:38.000 And it's bizarre to me that we live in such a sort of black and white society that the minute somebody does something criminal, it indicts the practice as a whole.

00:13:45.000 Now, again, this doesn't mean that I think the gambling is like the greatest thing that ever happened.

00:13:49.000 But I also don't generally have tremendous objections to people going and playing a hand of poker at the local casinos, so long as they're being responsible and they're just having fun with friends.

00:13:57.000 I mean, I will admit that I play poker with friends on occasion.

00:14:01.000 As do I. You know, if you don't care about the money that you're losing and that's just the way that you're blowing off some steam and having fun, I really don't see a huge problem with that.

00:14:06.000 That's the difference between gambling addiction or somebody actually participating in what would be, if it were in the stock market, insider trading, effectively.

00:14:15.000 100%.

00:14:16.000 If you look at that money as if it's entertainment, like you're paying to go to a ballgame, I agree with you 100% on that.

00:14:22.000 And look, you're tapping into things that we have these serious conversations here on Crane and Company, and we've had them with you, which is, you know, there are some times where you have daily wire members who don't necessarily have any respect or any tolerance for the concept of gambling.

00:14:37.000 But I like the analogy that you use with alcohol.

00:14:40.000 Some people don't touch alcohol at all.

00:14:42.000 Some people don't gamble at all.

00:14:44.000 Some people engage with alcohol use recreationally and don't have a problem.

00:14:47.000 And then there are some people who cannot be near alcohol and they cannot gamble at all because they have a serious problem.

00:14:53.000 And we try and, on a daily basis, reach out to those people and say, hey, this is not for you if you are putting your family in jeopardy.

00:15:00.000 But the more serious side of this is a player actually participating in on-court game fixing.

00:15:08.000 And Ben, I just worry.

00:15:10.000 I just worry that this is not going away.

00:15:13.000 Obviously, the NFL had a situation two years ago that was much less egregious where you had players simply gambling on other teams.

00:15:21.000 But because they're all friends and they have inside information on who may play or who may not play, the NFL did crack down on that hard, even though there was no evidence that they were necessarily throwing games or altering their performance at all.

00:15:33.000 And you saw a situation where Calvin Ridley, for instance, wide receiver, was suspended for an entire year, or Jamison Williams, wide receiver for the Lions, I think was suspended for roughly half a year.

00:15:43.000 So the NFL came down hard on that.

00:15:45.000 I just, I think we're going to see more and more instances like this.

00:15:48.000 I just worry at what point does someone at the executive level get implicated because that's when we're really going to sort of cross the Rubicon there and sport is really going to be tainted.

00:16:01.000 Yeah, I mean, we've already seen, obviously, scandals involving referees.

00:16:04.000 Tim Donaghy, going back to 2007, who was indicted for betting on games after an FBI investigation.

00:16:11.000 He admitted to betting on games that he had officiated in the early 2000s.

00:16:14.000 We saw that about 20 years ago.

00:16:15.000 And now we're seeing this with Terry Rosier.

00:16:17.000 I just wonder if this is going to crop up every so often with people who are corrupt and if there's any way to really avoid that.

00:16:23.000 But obviously, it is going to be a black stain on what is, you know, I think a rising league.

00:16:28.000 I mean, if you had to bet on the leagues in America that are that are in fairly good shape and seem to be increasing in size and appeal, the NBA seems like a pretty good bet.

00:16:36.000 This is going to be a serious headwind for them for sure.

00:16:38.000 David, really appreciate the time and the insight.

00:16:40.000 Thank you for having me.

00:16:42.000 Well, as I was discussing with David Cohn right there, when it comes to this NBA gambling scandal, I think that there are kind of two societal messages that are worth talking about here.

00:16:51.000 Obviously, the inherent corruptibility of man is a very, very real thing.

00:16:54.000 People become corrupt.

00:16:55.000 People do bad things.

00:16:56.000 That is not a shock.

00:16:57.000 There are kind of two fascinating aspects to these two scandals.

00:17:01.000 One is the legalized gambling aspect, where people are saying that the broadening of legalized gambling, that that is responsible for this sort of activity.

00:17:11.000 And I think not.

00:17:12.000 I really think not.

00:17:14.000 It certainly makes it easier to make money off of your illegal activity, but it is not illegal for you or for me or for any of your friends to go over to the local casino and place a bet or go on one of the betting services and place like a prop bet for 10 bucks because, you know, you consider it just a fun night out.

00:17:30.000 Again, I don't recommend that anybody expend serious quantities of cash betting.

00:17:35.000 It's a dumb way to lose your money.

00:17:37.000 However, I'm also going to say freely that I enjoy playing poker with friends. 0.95

00:17:41.000 And, you know, for me, if I lose a few bucks to friends, it matters to me, not one iota.

00:17:46.000 And it's a fun night out.

00:17:47.000 And I sort of believe about legalized gambling the same thing that I believe about drinking alcohol, which is in excess terrible, bad for addicts.

00:17:55.000 Don't get in a car after you've had too many drinks.

00:17:58.000 And also, I'm not going to treat it as though there is some tremendously evil thing going on when you have a beer, nor do I think all Budweiser commercials need to be banned because there are people who drive drunk.

00:18:10.000 That does not seem like a rational response with regard to legalized gambling.

00:18:14.000 So trying to blame Terry Rozier's activities here or Jon Tay Porter's activities here on legalized gambling, they did an illegal thing.

00:18:23.000 If they'd done a legal thing, we wouldn't be talking about it.

00:18:25.000 They did an illegal thing.

00:18:27.000 Know your limits and don't do illegal things would be the lesson right there.

00:18:30.000 And I think it's easy sometimes for us to say, okay, well, well, now we should just ban activities wholesale.

00:18:34.000 I need to have to look at the downside of banning the activities.

00:18:37.000 And when it comes to activities like, for example, legalized gambling, if you ban legalized gambling, you should just understand the gambling will likely continue.

00:18:45.000 And not only will it continue, it will be run not by more legitimate outlets.

00:18:49.000 It will be run by, you know, the mafia, which will then actually do the same thing that you saw in the Chauncey Billups case.

00:18:54.000 It'll manipulate.

00:18:55.000 It will cheat.

00:18:56.000 It will go after people and take their money illegally again.

00:19:01.000 Again, there's always a balance here.

00:19:02.000 You can make the argument I'm making about a bunch of activities that I think should be banned.

00:19:06.000 But I also don't think that gambling in and of itself is of the same ilk of evil as many of the other sort of vice-driven activities that people tend to lump together.

00:19:16.000 I don't think gambling, for example, is on the same order as, say, prostitution.

00:19:20.000 People tend to put these sort of vice crimes together.

00:19:22.000 I don't think these are the same things.

00:19:23.000 They're very different crimes.

00:19:25.000 They're very different sins.

00:19:26.000 And pretending that all things are the same is a simplistic way of thinking.

00:19:31.000 Again, it's not to say that gambling is like what you should be doing with your life, but it is to say that over-the-top government regulation of particular activities very often is going to result in precisely the counter of what you're attempting to achieve.

00:19:44.000 All righty, coming up, Bernie Sanders seems to be picking his 2028 nominee.

00:19:48.000 And guess who?

00:19:49.000 Guess who I told you.

00:19:50.000 So, first, here's a simple question: When was the last time a headline told you the full story?

00:19:54.000 In today's news cycle, headlines move really fast, they often only scratch the surface.

00:19:58.000 Data, real government data, gives you the full picture behind those stories if you know where to find it.

00:20:02.000 Enter USA Fact, it's a not-for-profit organization that pulls numbers straight from government sources.

00:20:06.000 No agenda, no distortions, just free information on the issues people argue about every day, like inflation, taxes, border crossings, and more.

00:20:13.000 You can explore articles like what is the current inflation rate?

00:20:15.000 How are public schools in the U.S. funded?

00:20:17.000 Or even what's in that big, beautiful bill.

00:20:19.000 Here's the best part: they don't inflate the numbers, they contextualize them and include easy-to-understand charts without commentary.

00:20:24.000 So, instead of reading a take, you're seeing a trend.

00:20:26.000 That's what we should demand: data that doesn't hide behind opinion.

00:20:29.000 So, if you're done just reading those headlines and you're ready to learn the facts, head on over to usafacts.org because it's time we all had access to the data we deserve.

00:20:37.000 Again, that's something we try to do here on the show.

00:20:39.000 USA Fact is a great source for trustable, reliable information.

00:20:44.000 You can check out what's lurking below the headlines in terms of the data by heading on over to usafacts.org.

00:20:49.000 That's USAFacts.org.

00:20:51.000 Also, when we started Daily Wire, it felt like we had to figure everything out with minimal help: editorial guidelines, studio setup, production schedule, branding.

00:20:57.000 It was overwhelming.

00:20:58.000 New decisions were necessary every day.

00:21:00.000 Finding that one tool that simplifies everything when you start a business, it becomes a game changer and a lifesaver for millions of businesses.

00:21:05.000 That tool is Shopify.

00:21:07.000 Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S. We use it for our own Daily Wire shop to make sure things are running smoothly and efficiently so you can get all the goods.

00:21:18.000 Well, you might be asking, what if I can't design a website?

00:21:21.000 Or I'm worried people haven't heard of my brand?

00:21:22.000 Not a problem.

00:21:23.000 Shopify's got you covered soup to nuts with beautiful, ready-to-go templates that match your brand style and help you find your customers through easy-to-run email and social media campaigns.

00:21:32.000 And if you need a hand with everyday tasks, their AI tools created specifically for commerce can help enhance product images, write descriptions, and more.

00:21:38.000 Plus, their award-winning customer support is available 24/7 to share advice if you ever get stuck.

00:21:44.000 Turn those dreams into and give them the best shot at success with Shopify.

00:21:48.000 Sign up for your $1 per month trial.

00:21:50.000 Start selling today at shopify.com/slash Shapiro.

00:21:52.000 Go to shopify.com/slash Shapiro.

00:21:54.000 That's Shopify.com/slash Shapiro.

00:21:58.000 And meanwhile, Bernie Sanders yesterday let the cat out of the bag.

00:22:02.000 He was being interviewed by Axios, and he said what I think we've all been thinking, which is that AOC is almost certainly going to run for president in 2028 with the backing of Bernie Sanders.

00:22:13.000 She is an incredibly intelligent person, and in the best sense of the word, a very, very good politician.

00:22:19.000 I've been out on the streets with her.

00:22:21.000 People come up, and how she responds to people is so incredibly genuine and open.

00:22:27.000 You know, it's just something that's a gift that she has.

00:22:30.000 It's a quality that she has.

00:22:32.000 She's a great speaker out there.

00:22:34.000 She comes from the working class.

00:22:36.000 She was a kid.

00:22:36.000 She was cleaning houses with a mother.

00:22:39.000 She knows what it's like not to have any money.

00:22:41.000 And she's going out fighting for working families all over this country. 0.82

00:22:45.000 And I think as a young person who six years ago was a waitress, becoming politically prominent has been incredibly inspiring.

00:22:58.000 Okay.

00:22:59.000 She's not inspiring.

00:23:01.000 But I guess that to the wild left, she is inspiring. 0.97

00:23:03.000 I mean, sure, she is a dunderhead who says unintelligent things every five seconds, but Bernie Sanders is also a dunderhead and he's been able to get away with it for, you know, 2,000 decades at this point, since he was a contemporaneous follower of Methuselah, I believe. 0.98

00:23:17.000 Well, Bernie Sanders, he has taken over the Democratic Party wholesale at this point. 0.99

00:23:21.000 The Democratic Party is moving further and further to the left, of course.

00:23:25.000 One of his chosen acolytes is, of course, the Maine Democrat who is now running for the Senate and leads in the polls by leaps and bounds in the Senate Democratic primary race, Graham Plattner.

00:23:37.000 Plattner, according to new reporting from our own Luke Roziak over at Dailyware.com, was a member of a radical left group whose members have been linked to a slew of attacks, including an assault on an ICE facility that was designated a terrorist attack this month as part of a crackdown on Antifa.

00:23:51.000 Maine's Democrat Senate primary was upended after CNN reported that Plattner called himself a communist in posts on Reddit, where he wrote that if people, quote, expect to fight fascism without a good semi-automatic rifle, they ought to do some reading of history.

00:24:04.000 The forum name, Socialist RA, refers to the Socialist Rifle Association, a group whose members have been repeatedly linked to violent political crimes.

00:24:12.000 On July 4th, a group of militants allegedly swarmed law enforcement at an ICE facility in Elvarado, Texas, and opened fire at the unarmed DHS correctional officers.

00:24:20.000 One of them, Benjamin Henelsong, is charged with shooting a police officer in the neck.

00:24:24.000 He was a member of the Socialist Rifle Association's Dallas-Fort Worth chapter.

00:24:28.000 Last week, the DOJ charged two suspects in that attack, Cameron Arnold and Zachary Evitz, with providing material support to terrorists, calling their crew an Antifa cell.

00:24:37.000 It was the first use of the terrorism statute against domestic extremists since Trump ordered a crackdown on far-left political violence.

00:24:43.000 Arnold, like the founders of the Socialist Rifle Association, is transgender and goes by the name Autumn Hill.

00:24:50.000 Membership in that rifle association isn't required for users to post on that Reddit forum.

00:24:55.000 But apparently, a New England publication revealed that Plattner explicitly described his membership in the group.

00:25:01.000 Images of the main chapter include training: there's a man training in a pink tutu shooting a gun, and one who has facial hair matching Plattner's.

00:25:12.000 So, good times.

00:25:14.000 This is a person who the Nazi tattooed, Antifa training, pseudo man of the people, oyster farmer, who actually went to a $75,000 a year prep school when he was younger.

00:25:28.000 Plattner, that is Bernie Sanders' chosen guy in the Senate race in Maine, and he could very well win that Senate seat or at the very least be the Democratic nominee for that Senate seat.

00:25:38.000 And herein lies the problem for the Democrats.

00:25:40.000 If they wish to embrace this sort of radicalism, I do not think the American people will move alongside them.

00:25:45.000 I do not think the American people are for it.

00:25:48.000 Now, I know there are a lot of Republicans who are then rooting for the socialists to take over the Democratic Party.

00:25:54.000 I do not.

00:25:55.000 I've been saying this since 2020 at the very latest when Bernie Sanders was running against Joe Biden.

00:26:01.000 What I said in 2020 was that I preferred Joe Biden to be the nominee rather than Bernie Sanders, even if Bernie was more likely to lose to Donald Trump.

00:26:08.000 Why?

00:26:09.000 Because the risk factor in having a socialist leader was higher than the risk factor in having a dead leader like Joe Biden.

00:26:18.000 That even if Joe Biden had slightly higher odds to win the presidency than Bernie Sanders, if I have to calculate out the damage that a Bernie Sanders presidency would do versus a Joe Biden presidency, astronomically higher via Bernie Sanders than via Joe Biden, no matter how bad Joe Biden was, I feel the same way about the Democratic Party falling wholesale to the wild left Democratic socialists.

00:26:38.000 If they do that, yes, there is a lower chance that they will win power anytime soon.

00:26:41.000 However, to pretend that chance doesn't exist is to whistle past the graveyard.

00:26:45.000 Let's say, for example, that the Democratic Party in 2028 right now has a 40% shot of winning the White House with some sort of pseudo-moderate like a Gavin Newsom or a Westmore.

00:26:55.000 And let's say they have a 30% shot of winning the White House with a clear, insane socialist like AOC at the top of the ticket.

00:27:02.000 The damage that would be done by a Westmore or a Gavin Newsom, let's say that it's a 7 out of 10.

00:27:07.000 And the damage done by an AOC would be like a 10 out of 10.

00:27:11.000 And well, if I'm just doing the math there, I would rather take the low risk scenario, even if there's a greater risk that person might become president, than take the absolutely disaster apocalyptic scenario of having a Democratic Party controlled by the nut jobs with the still somewhat plausible shot of taking power. 0.90

00:27:29.000 This is why the rise of the Zorn Mamdani left is truly, truly troubling. 0.99

00:27:34.000 And the people who are fomenting this, I think, ought to be noted here.

00:27:40.000 There's been this sort of bizarre move on the right to treat people who are fellow travelers of the Trump election in 2024 as though they are leaders, thought leaders in conservatism or for the country.

00:27:54.000 And listen, anytime you create a victorious electoral coalition, there are going to be a bunch of different opinions within that electoral coalition.

00:28:01.000 But if you are a new convert to the conservative or Republican cause for one election, I'm not sure that you get to lead the church.

00:28:09.000 You don't get to go directly from the back pews to being the pastor or the priest.

00:28:14.000 And one of the mistakes I think that we make in politics is treating people who are sort of the new converts, because we're excited to have them, as though they ought to be the actual thought leaders.

00:28:21.000 And here I'm calling out some of these so-called manosphere boys, the kind of pod bro boys, who are new converts sometimes to conservatism, who show up late to the party and they bring friends, and that's great.

00:28:32.000 There are lots more friends at the party now, but who probably ought not be trusted with the future of conservatism or be considered actual thought leaders just because they are reacting to the excesses of the left.

00:28:44.000 Because sooner or later, they end up flipping and going right back to the left.

00:28:48.000 And it seems as though the answer there is sooner.

00:28:51.000 Because, again, it is not coming from any thoroughgoing ideological commitment to conservatism or to conservative principles.

00:28:58.000 It's kind of just reactionary ping-ponging.

00:29:01.000 And you cannot have reactionaries who ping pong between political positions as the leadership voices of your movement. 0.96

00:29:07.000 That would be a dumb thing to do.

00:29:10.000 The reason I'm talking about this is because yesterday, Zorn Mamdani was featured on a podcast done by the comedian Andrew Schultz.

00:29:18.000 Now, again, I think Schultz is a funny guy.

00:29:20.000 I think that his specials are quite funny.

00:29:22.000 He's a talented comedian.

00:29:24.000 He and I have some rather large disagreements.

00:29:27.000 But there are a bunch of people who have suddenly deemed Schultz to be sort of an important voice on the quote-unquote conservative side of the aisle.

00:29:33.000 I don't think Andrew would consider himself to be on the conservative side of the aisle.

00:29:36.000 In fact, I know he doesn't.

00:29:38.000 And so I was not particularly surprised to find him glossing Zoran Mamdani on his show, like a lot.

00:29:46.000 Here is Zoran.

00:29:47.000 Here was Andrew Schultz basically propping up Zorin Mamdani, an overt socialist with jihadist leanings.

00:29:53.000 When I say jihadist leanings, I mean here that he is sympathetic to jihadists.

00:29:56.000 He is globalized the Intifada is a jihadist call. 0.83

00:30:00.000 He refuses to say Hamas should disarm, which, if you care about Palestinians, you should want Hamas to disarm. 1.00

00:30:07.000 And he used to rap about freeing the Holy Land Five, who were, in fact, a front group for Hamas as charged by the federal government.

00:30:16.000 He has posed alongside people who are unindicted co-conspirators in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

00:30:22.000 And here's Andrew Schultz basically glossing him because, again, I don't think that Andrew Schultz thinks of himself as a deep political thinker.

00:30:28.000 So, you know, in my opinion, no one else should, probably.

00:30:32.000 I also think this idea that like New Yorkers are going to flee because of a 2% increase, it's like, I've been everywhere else.

00:30:38.000 You're not going anywhere.

00:30:39.000 Kamal Ackman's not going nowhere.

00:30:41.000 He's going to be in the Hamptons all one place to write those tweets.

00:30:44.000 That's it.

00:30:44.000 New York City.

00:30:48.000 And you've got the Smarmie smile.

00:30:50.000 And again, it's all the pod bros joking with Mom.

00:30:52.000 Oh, he's so hilarious.

00:30:53.000 Oh, he's so charming.

00:30:54.000 Oh, there was more of Andrew Schultz really massaging Mamdani.

00:31:01.000 I don't think anybody's moving, and I honestly feel that way.

00:31:04.000 And like, I'm in the tax record.

00:31:06.000 We're going to tax more.

00:31:06.000 Like, dude, if you're going to deliver all this for 2%, give it.

00:31:09.000 I'm 100% supportive.

00:31:10.000 It makes life easier for New Yorkers.

00:31:12.000 It's my one identity in my entire life is a New Yorker.

00:31:14.000 It's the thing I care the most about.

00:31:16.000 But what I will say is that I think that there are going to be people in government that are going to try to restrict you from doing that.

00:31:23.000 And I know that you're aware of that.

00:31:25.000 Okay, first of all, he doesn't have the power to increase state taxes by 2%.

00:31:30.000 And yes, by the way, people who are mobile will move.

00:31:33.000 Historically, they do.

00:31:35.000 I mean, because it's not the 2% increase that's going to do it.

00:31:38.000 It's the belief that there is a trajectory of income tax increases that is only going to Stephen.

00:31:43.000 I know because I did it.

00:31:45.000 I am a person who grew up not rich, and then I made a lot more money.

00:31:48.000 And then the state of California kept trying to dig more and more and more of my money.

00:31:51.000 And that was a major factor in me taking my company and moving it to Tennessee and me personally moving to Florida, both zero state income tax states.

00:31:59.000 The idea that you can incessantly just grab money from people and that at no point will they move, especially when they are the most mobile class in the country, is beyond.

00:32:08.000 I mean, listen, if Schultz wants to pay more cash to the government, he's free to do that.

00:32:12.000 There's a box you can check on your IRS forms that allows you to send more money to the federal government.

00:32:17.000 I assume there's one on the state forms that allows you to send more money to the state government.

00:32:22.000 If Andrew Schultz wants to start a charity or he gives more monies, there can be free bus fare in New York.

00:32:26.000 He's free to do that as well.

00:32:28.000 But, you know, this idea that you can change policy with no ramifications for anyone else is sort of bizarre.

00:32:36.000 And again, this goes back to the central point.

00:32:38.000 Andrew's entitled to all of his opinions, obviously.

00:32:40.000 He has a very popular show.

00:32:41.000 He's a popular comedian.

00:32:42.000 To pretend that he's some sort of great shakes politically, at least on the right side of the aisle, he himself would not, Andrew would not tell you that he is a thought leader on the right side of the aisle.

00:32:52.000 I keep pointing this out because there are people who keep trying to treat him that way.

00:32:55.000 And there are people who do the same thing with like Tim Dylan or Joe Rogan or a bunch of other people who themselves would tell you they are not on the right.

00:33:02.000 Don't do that if you're on the right. 0.90

00:33:04.000 It's silly. 1.00

00:33:05.000 It is stupid. 1.00

00:33:08.000 The reason that Andrew Schultz moved to the right is because he got tired of the censoriousness of the left. 1.00

00:33:13.000 But anti-left does not make you conservative.

00:33:17.000 And that is important when you're defining which voices get to shape and lead the coalition that is going to be running from the right side of the aisle.

00:33:23.000 Again, here's Andrew Schultz continuing to gloss an open socialist who hates capitalism, Zoran Mamdani.

00:33:31.000 I'm worried about entrenched politics.

00:33:35.000 And I'm worried about the people that fund them because they're the same people that have been fundraising against you.

00:33:40.000 Okay.

00:33:41.000 And I'm worried about them bending to their whim.

00:33:45.000 And what scares me a little bit is there are going to be people that are incentivized for you to fail.

00:33:52.000 And then if that pendulum swings all the way the other way, how many more people get hurt?

00:34:01.000 And I guess my question is like, do you ever worry about that?

00:34:03.000 Or do you have to be so blinders on?

00:34:08.000 Wow.

00:34:08.000 I mean, the tough questions there.

00:34:10.000 Tough questions.

00:34:12.000 Again, my point here is not that Andrew Schultz needs to be some sort of right-winger.

00:34:16.000 He isn't.

00:34:17.000 So people should stop treating him like that because he isn't one.

00:34:20.000 And the same thing goes anytime you're trying to define the sort of boundaries, what conservatism looks like.

00:34:25.000 You might want to actually ask yourself, definitionally, is this person in the corner of the ideas that I share?

00:34:31.000 Or are they a fellow traveler against the thing that I don't like for the moment?

00:34:36.000 And it can be either.

00:34:38.000 It doesn't make it a bad thing, but it would be a foolhardy move to say that people who joined the Trump coalition in the waning moments of the 2024 election are somehow conservative voices and thought leaders who we must pay tremendous outsized attention to.

00:34:53.000 I just don't think that that's correct.

00:34:54.000 All righty, coming up, Andrew Cuomo getting himself in hot water because someone near him made a mean comment about Zorn Mamdani.

00:35:00.000 Oh, no.

00:35:01.000 First, there's a reason I'm proud to say Pure Talk is my wireless company.

00:35:05.000 They don't just talk the talk, they walk the walk, especially when it comes to supporting our veterans.

00:35:09.000 This month, Pure Talk is choosing to support K-9s for Warriors, an incredible organization that rescues and trains dogs and pairs them with veterans struggling with PTSD.

00:35:17.000 These are men and women who served with honor.

00:35:19.000 When they come home, that brotherhood, that support network they had in the military too often disappears.

00:35:23.000 Canines for Warriors steps up to fill that gap, giving these heroes purpose, companionship, and healing.

00:35:28.000 That's exactly why Pure Talk, a veteran-led company, supports them.

00:35:31.000 Choose a wireless company that shares your values.

00:35:33.000 And with talk, text, plenty of 5G data for just 25 bucks a month, you could also be saving a lot of money.

00:35:39.000 I use PeerTalk all the time for all my calls, and they have great coverage and they cost me less money.

00:35:43.000 And I like what they're doing with that money in terms of charity.

00:35:45.000 Go to puretalk.com slash Shapiro to make the switch today.

00:35:48.000 Again, head on over to PureTalk.com/slash Shapiro Switch to America's wireless company, Pure Talk.

00:35:54.000 Again, great price, great coverage.

00:35:56.000 What do you have to lose?

00:35:57.000 Go check them out right now.

00:35:58.000 PureTalk.com slash Shapiro.

00:35:59.000 That's PureTalk.com/slash Shapiro.

00:36:02.000 Okay, meanwhile, the Democratic Party continues to fall under the sway of Mom Dani.

00:36:05.000 Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, he doesn't want to give up the ghost of Mom Dani, but he also doesn't want to let go of Mom Dani.

00:36:11.000 Here he was basically avoiding all hard questions on Mom Dani.

00:36:17.000 What do you say about the criticism that Momdani is getting from the Jewish community, specifically a lot of rabbis signing documents saying he's a potential threat to the Jewish community in New York?

00:36:29.000 What's your reaction to that?

00:36:31.000 Well, I'm going to continue to stand up strongly for the Jewish community, of course, to uplift the special relationship that the United States and Israel continue to have with each other and lean in on supporting, hopefully, a path toward a just and lasting peace in Israel.

00:36:46.000 I'm thankful that all the hostages have been returned.

00:36:49.000 I'm thankful that humanitarian assistance is being surged into Gaza.

00:36:54.000 Well, I mean, thank you for not answering the question at all.

00:36:58.000 He was asked about the New York City mayoral race directly.

00:37:00.000 He said he'll have more to say on that in the future.

00:37:02.000 Well, I'm sure you will after the election takes place.

00:37:07.000 Early voting starts in just two days.

00:37:09.000 Will you finally make an endorsement, Leader Jeffries?

00:37:13.000 Well, as you indicated, Wolf, early voting starts in a few days.

00:37:16.000 And, you know, I look forward to saying much more about the mayor's race, as I've promised, in advance of that moment.

00:37:23.000 I haven't gotten a chance to actually review the debate clips from last evening.

00:37:30.000 Yeah, well, I mean, they can only avoid this meat grinder for so long.

00:37:35.000 Meanwhile, Mom Dani is asking, deeply outraged, over a situation that arose on Sid Rosenberg's show.

00:37:41.000 So Sid had on Andrew Cuomo, and Rosenberg made some sort of joking comment about how Zorin Mamdani would have cheered 9-11 and Cuomo kind of chuckled at it.

00:37:50.000 And this apparently is a scandal for the Islamophobia.

00:37:53.000 Here's the deal: Cuomo is not saying that every Muslim in New York would have celebrated 9-11.

00:37:59.000 That's not what he's saying.

00:38:00.000 Zorin Mamdani, unfortunately, has a long record of basically massaging terrorist entities.

00:38:08.000 He does.

00:38:09.000 I wish that weren't true, but he could stop doing it.

00:38:13.000 He could, you know, like condemn Hamas, actually.

00:38:19.000 I love the news cycles in which we're more outraged with the person who reacts to the bad thing than the bad thing itself.

00:38:24.000 Here is Andrew Cuomo getting himself in trouble.

00:38:28.000 And people's lives are at stake.

00:38:30.000 God forbid another 9-11.

00:38:32.000 Can you imagine Mondami in the seat?

00:38:37.000 I could.

00:38:38.000 He'd be cheering.

00:38:41.000 It's another problem.

00:38:44.000 But can you imagine that?

00:38:46.000 No.

00:38:49.000 So again, it was Rosenberg who really made the joke there.

00:38:52.000 Cuomo was then getting slammed.

00:38:54.000 And Momdani was like, this is just disgusting. 0.89

00:38:56.000 It's just disgusting.

00:38:57.000 How dare he, again, if you are a New York voter and you're more offended by Sid Rosenberg's joke or Andrew Cuomo not slapping down Sid Rosenberg for making the joke than you are by the fact that Zorin Mamdani legitimately like a week ago refused to say that Hamas should disarm and posed last week with an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing then Let me just say, I don't think that you care very much about terrorism. 0.77

00:39:24.000 It's not a priority for you.

00:39:25.000 Eric Adams, for what it's worth, did endorse Andrew Cuomo yesterday after dropping out of the race.

00:39:29.000 This is something I wish Curtis Sleevo would do.

00:39:31.000 So we actually had a one-on-one race.

00:39:32.000 Here is Eric Adams yesterday.

00:39:35.000 That's what I'm fighting for.

00:39:37.000 I'm fighting for the family of New York.

00:39:40.000 That's why I'm here today to endorse Andrew Cuomo to be part of this fight.

00:39:46.000 And I'm going to give him my all these next few days.

00:39:52.000 So, you know, again, we'll see whether that matters at all.

00:39:55.000 If Sleevo doesn't drop out, it probably will not.

00:39:58.000 Meanwhile, the Democrats who continue to radicalize, they actually made a move yesterday that I think is actually kind of politically insane.

00:40:06.000 They insisted that federal workers not be paid during the shutdown.

00:40:10.000 So Republicans keep pushing forward these clean CRs, these clean, continuing resolutions.

00:40:13.000 Democrats keep stopping them.

00:40:15.000 So then Senate Republicans put forward a bill to continue at least paying people during this government shutdown.

00:40:22.000 Senator Ron Johnson had put forward a bill to pay employees who are on the job despite the closure.

00:40:27.000 It failed 54 to 45 along mostly partisan lines.

00:40:32.000 Republicans blocked two bills to pay all federal workers.

00:40:35.000 Democrats tried to pass that by unanimous consent.

00:40:37.000 So that would have just, I guess, allowed for all federal workers, even the ones who are currently furloughed, to be paid for not doing their jobs.

00:40:47.000 The shutdown continues into its fourth week.

00:40:49.000 The Trump administration, according to the Washington Post, has moved money around to pay some of the workers who are required to come in, mostly in military and law enforcement.

00:40:56.000 About 750,000 federal workers have been furloughed without pay during the shutdown.

00:41:00.000 Workers whose jobs involving protecting life and government property have been expected to continue working without pay, including air traffic controllers, TSA officers, employees of law enforcement agencies.

00:41:12.000 Senator Johnson said, we're talking about making sure that 2.8 million federal employees aren't worried about getting their next paycheck.

00:41:17.000 That overwhelms, quite honestly, the smaller differences.

00:41:20.000 Democrats are arguing that Johnson's bill gave the White House budget director Russ Vaughat too much leeway to determine which workers would get paid and which ones would not, which give me a break.

00:41:29.000 I mean, seriously, give me a break.

00:41:32.000 Meanwhile, Chuck Schumer is trying to make the case that because Donald Trump is trying to reconstruct the east wing of the White House as a ballroom, that means that Donald Trump doesn't care about the shutdown.

00:41:41.000 Dude, all you have to do is vote in favor of the continuing resolution.

00:41:45.000 This would be a you problem, not a Trump problem.

00:41:50.000 It's hard to fathom someone more out of touch and oblivious to our nation's struggles than the current president.

00:41:58.000 Let's take the ballroom, for instance.

00:42:00.000 Oh, my goodness.

00:42:07.000 Come on.

00:42:09.000 This is the image Donald Trump doesn't want America to see.

00:42:14.000 This is the picture Donald Trump told his people to hide from the American people.

00:42:22.000 And do you know what the picture represents?

00:42:25.000 It's not just the desecration of the White House.

00:42:28.000 It shows that Donald Trump is not focused on fixing health care, but rather on vanity projects.

00:42:38.000 You guys can vote for this anytime. 1.00

00:42:40.000 This is so tiresome and stupid. 0.99

00:42:42.000 Meanwhile, by the way, the governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin has now declared a state of emergency because SNAP is set to expire November 1st without a continuing resolution. 0.99

00:42:52.000 Governor Youngkin said the Democratic shutdown will cause SNAP benefits to run out for over 850,000 Virginians in need starting November 1st.

00:42:59.000 I refuse to let hungry Virginians be used as leverage by congressional Democrats.

00:43:03.000 I'm declaring a state of emergency.

00:43:05.000 The Commonwealth will provide food benefits until congressional Democrats put the interests of Virginians in need ahead of their politics.

00:43:12.000 So this is something that Democrats are facing down.

00:43:15.000 According to Politico, it's a shutdown cliff that could hit Democrats hard.

00:43:17.000 Again, November 1st, SNAP, that's the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Which helps to feed more than 40 million people.

00:43:24.000 It starts to run out of funds November 1st.

00:43:26.000 25 states plan to cut off benefits starting on that date.

00:43:30.000 Democrats are going to have to explain why they would prefer for SNAP funding to expire rather than just signing on to a normal continuing resolution.

00:43:40.000 So, again, this seems to be a gigantic mistake.

00:43:43.000 Senator Josh Howley of Missouri said, What's it going to take for Democrats to say, jiha, maybe people should be able to eat?

00:43:49.000 One White House official told Politico the shutdown is Democrat performance art.

00:43:53.000 The audience starves while the elitist critics applaud.

00:43:56.000 That seems basically about right.

00:43:59.000 So, again, Democrats, I do not know the game that they are playing, but it does not seem to be a particularly smart game.

00:44:05.000 Meanwhile, Caroline Lovitt was at the White House yesterday speaking with the press, and she was asked about illegal immigrants receiving health care because this has been an argument made by the administration, including Vice President Vance on this show, that basically what Democrats are stumping for is changes to the one big beautiful bill that would allow for fungible money to be given to states that will effectively go to funding health care for illegal immigrants.

00:44:28.000 Here was Caroline Levitt talking about it from the White House.

00:44:32.000 An illegal alien from Laos was arrested for murder, robbery, and felony possession of a firearm.

00:44:38.000 An illegal alien from Guatemala who was arrested for burglary.

00:44:43.000 An illegal alien from El Salvador who was arrested for strangulation, DUI, and burglary.

00:44:50.000 An illegal alien from Mexico who was arrested for attempted murder.

00:44:55.000 The Democrats' open border policies allowed these threats into our country, and then they provided them with free health care.

00:45:02.000 The president and the Republicans, through the One Big Beautiful bill, implemented a common sense reform to end this fraudulent scheme.

00:45:13.000 So, again, I think this is not an argument that's going particularly well for the Democrats.

00:45:17.000 Again, the fact that they are relying on the destruction of the current East Wing as though this is like a major scandal that Americans are going to get up in arms about, that is their big move here.

00:45:29.000 I mean, good luck with this.

00:45:30.000 Seriously, good luck.

00:45:32.000 First of all, it is not going to be taxpayers who are paying for this.

00:45:34.000 According to the New York Post, billionaire donors and top corporations are footing the bill.

00:45:39.000 The 90,000 square foot Grand Hall will soon sit at the north end of the mansion's executive East Wing, thanks to contributions from companies including Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Meta.

00:45:52.000 That also includes Coinbase and Gemini, the Winklevoss twins, Mary Maddelson, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and his family as well.

00:46:00.000 President Trump said it's four sides of glass, beautiful glass, but totally appropriate in color and in window, shape, and everything else with the White House.

00:46:07.000 It will seat 900 people.

00:46:09.000 It would be near the East Wing, but not touching it, apparently.

00:46:12.000 And somehow, again, like this seems to be one of the least controversial things ever.

00:46:16.000 Like, I wouldn't care if Barack Obama did this.

00:46:19.000 I mean, first of all, I think Barack Obama would build something incredibly ugly.

00:46:21.000 If you take a look at his presidential library, which looks like a sand crawler from Star Wars Episode IV, with maybe fewer windows, I think he had worse construction taste than President Trump. 0.64

00:46:34.000 And I'm not even a fan of the gilding that the Trump administration has done in the Oval.

00:46:38.000 But the idea that this is like a major thing and people are freaking out about it, I'm just having a tough time seeing it, folks.

00:46:44.000 I really am.

00:46:44.000 People have actual real problems in their lives.

00:46:46.000 Here is Caroline Levitt sparring with a reporter over the new ballroom. 0.98

00:46:52.000 You mentioned any construction project comes with changes.

00:46:55.000 The president had initially said that this project wouldn't interfere with or touch the current structure.

00:46:59.000 Now he says to do this properly, he realized that the East Wing had to be demolished.

00:47:04.000 This is the people's house.

00:47:05.000 Why not inform the public of that change and when it was decided that the East Wing would have to be demolished?

00:47:11.000 Look, again, with any construction project, changes come.

00:47:15.000 And we have informed all of you.

00:47:17.000 We've been keeping you apprised of this project.

00:47:19.000 We've shown you the renderings.

00:47:20.000 And if you look at the renderings, it's very clear the East Wing was going to be modernized.

00:47:24.000 Instead, in fact, I said that in the briefing when we initially introduced this plan to all of you and to the public.

00:47:33.000 Again, this is not a major scandal.

00:47:35.000 Now, what's amazing to me is the Democrats do have a bit of a target-rich environment, but they're ignoring all the stories they should be focusing on.

00:47:40.000 So, for example, a story that I think is problematic.

00:47:43.000 Yesterday, President Trump pardoned Chang Peng Zhao.

00:47:46.000 He's the convicted founder of the crypto exchange Binance following months of efforts by the Zhao to boost the Trump family's own crypto company.

00:47:53.000 This is according to the Wall Street Journal.

00:47:55.000 The president signed the pardon on Wednesday.

00:47:57.000 People familiar with the matter said.

00:47:58.000 President Trump recently indicated to advisors he was sympathetic to arguments of political persecution related to Zhao and others.

00:48:06.000 Caroline Levitt said the Biden administration's war on crypto is over.

00:48:10.000 Now, the problem, of course, is that Binance has some pretty serious problems involved with it.

00:48:15.000 It was barred from operating in the country in 2023 for violating U.S. anti-money laundering requirements.

00:48:23.000 He served four months, so he's not in prison right now.

00:48:27.000 And Binance has been a very, very large supporter of World Liberty Financial, which is the Trump family's crypto venture.

00:48:35.000 And World Liberty Financial is, shall we say, a bit dicey.

00:48:40.000 World Liberty Financial, the assets that it is putting up for sale, are essentially tokens that are not fungible.

00:48:46.000 They're not really saleable.

00:48:48.000 They don't give you voting power of any real sort.

00:48:50.000 And there are a lot of people pouring money into World Liberty Financial.

00:48:53.000 This is not to say that everything World Liberty Financial related is a problem, but if you keep having situations where people who are under legal scrutiny keep pouring money into World Liberty Financial, and then they find themselves on the other end of pardons, it seems to me like Democrats, if they were smart, would be focusing on that.

00:49:10.000 But apparently they're not.

00:49:12.000 They're choosing to focus on the East Wing of the White House.

00:49:14.000 Now, again, I think most Americans are going to overlook all of that.

00:49:17.000 I've said it before.

00:49:18.000 I'll say it again.

00:49:20.000 The biggest danger to the Trump administration is this sort of activity, having to do particularly with the crypto world, connected with an economic downturn.

00:49:31.000 If the economy goes the wrong way, then all of the sort of edgy play in which members of the Trump administration and family members are engaged is going to become the number one issue.

00:49:42.000 That's how you get President AOC.

00:49:43.000 The way you get President AOC is not because she's a good candidate. 0.97

00:49:46.000 You get an economic downturn.

00:49:47.000 You get Democrats in the media jumping on the yelling about World Liberty Financial and all the deals being made in the Middle East and with Chinese figures.

00:49:58.000 And that turns into an oligarchy campaign, which is what AOC is already laying the groundwork for.

00:50:03.000 That is a real problem.

00:50:06.000 Now, Caroline Lovitt addressed this yesterday.

00:50:08.000 She was asked about the pardon of the Binance founder.

00:50:11.000 Here's what she had to say.

00:50:15.000 I would respond and say the president is exercising his constitutional authority to grant clemency requests.

00:50:21.000 And the president and the White House have a very thorough examination of every pardon request that comes to the president's desk.

00:50:28.000 It is thoroughly reviewed by the White House counsel office.

00:50:30.000 And I spoke with our great White House counsel about the pardon after it happened.

00:50:35.000 This was an overly prosecuted case by the Biden administration.

00:50:38.000 Even the judge in the case admitted that the Biden administration was pursuing an egregious over-sentencing of this individual.

00:50:49.000 So, again, maybe that's true.

00:50:52.000 The bottom line here is that making that connection is going to be a target-rich environment for Democrats if the economy goes down.

00:51:00.000 Now, the good news is that right now it looks like the economy is doing just fine.

00:51:04.000 The latest CPI report is out.

00:51:06.000 It came in relatively cool.

00:51:10.000 There was an expected increase in the CPI of 3.1%.

00:51:13.000 It's actually at 3% annually.

00:51:16.000 According to CNN, the September CPI inflation report shows prices rose at a slower than expected rate of 0.3% last month, but annual price hikes for a range of consumer goods rose to the fastest pace so far this year.

00:51:27.000 The Federal Reserve is very likely to continue cutting those interest rates.

00:51:30.000 The White House has said there's very unlikely, it's unlikely that there will be inflation in October.

00:51:36.000 Now, again, inflation is still running 50% too high, according to the Fed's own benchmarks.

00:51:40.000 The Fed is supposed to be at 2%.

00:51:41.000 It's a 3%.

00:51:43.000 Does that mean that they're going to stop cutting?

00:51:45.000 Probably not, because there are some indicators that the economy is starting to slow a little bit, including cuts in retail.

00:51:51.000 So, according to the Wall Street Journal, Target plans to cut around 1,800 corporate roles as part of an effort to remake its strategy to reverse a period of stagnant sales.

00:51:59.000 Target announced on Thursday it will lay off around 1,000 global corporate employees and cut 800 open roles.

00:52:04.000 The move will cut around 8% of its approximately 22,000 corporate employees with around 80% of the cuts in its U.S. ranks.

00:52:13.000 Meanwhile, EV sales are down.

00:52:15.000 Tesla's profits have been dropping.

00:52:18.000 Its net income dropped 37% in the third quarter despite growing vehicle sales, marring an otherwise record-setting quarter for a company ahead of the November vote on a new pay package for chief executive Elon Musk.

00:52:31.000 So the bet that Tesla investors are making is really not EV sales.

00:52:35.000 It's about AI.

00:52:36.000 And it's about the use of data and the development of AI via Tesla.

00:52:40.000 Tesla is a tech company masquerading as a car company.

00:52:44.000 The jump in revenue is being aided by that expiring electric vehicle credit.

00:52:49.000 It expired September 30th.

00:52:51.000 And so people kind of rushed to get the Teslas to beat the rush, basically.

00:52:55.000 Listen, I have a Tesla.

00:52:56.000 I love Tesla.

00:52:57.000 I think it's a great car.

00:52:58.000 I enjoy driving it more than any other car I've ever driven.

00:53:02.000 Also, again, these are some indicators that people are starting to downscale in terms of their expenditures.

00:53:09.000 People are instead shifting, it appears, their buying habits and cars to kind of the old-style pickups and SUVs because oil prices are comparatively low right now.

00:53:19.000 And, you know, without that $7,500 tax credit with regard to EVs, it might be cheaper for people to go and get a Ford.

00:53:27.000 Bottom line is, again, as always, every administration, the strength of the administration rests on economics.

00:53:34.000 If the economy continues to move under President Trump, he'll be fine.

00:53:39.000 If it doesn't, that is how you get a radical left backlash.

00:53:43.000 Joining me online is John Bickley.

00:53:44.000 He's co-host of Morningwire.

00:53:46.000 They have been covering this week another insane story out of the state of Massachusetts, where foster parents have now lost their license after they refused to sign a policy that said that they would have to respect the gender-affirming care chosen by minors.

00:54:02.000 John, what's going on with this story?

00:54:05.000 Hey, yeah, this is a major case.

00:54:07.000 It could be a precedent-setting case.

00:54:09.000 We'll see what happens with this.

00:54:11.000 In some ways, there's a real opportunity here, I think, for Christians and people that are just pro-freedom of religious expression, free speech.

00:54:21.000 So, what's happened here is that Lydia and Heath Marvin, they're both Christians, they're both foster parents.

00:54:28.000 They usually take on really special needs, medical needs, kids under the age of four.

00:54:34.000 They've had eight in the last five years.

00:54:37.000 So, what happened here is that their license was suddenly revoked in April.

00:54:43.000 The reason is, let me read the full: the LGBTQIA plus policy out of the state requires you to affirm the gender identity of the kid, also dress them in gender-neutral clothing, as I understand it.

00:54:59.000 They said, Look, this is a violation of our religious perspective.

00:55:03.000 These are deeply held beliefs.

00:55:05.000 We cannot sign this policy.

00:55:07.000 Suddenly, their license is revoked.

00:55:10.000 Again, they've been a crucial family for the state.

00:55:13.000 Eight kids that most families could not actually take, would not be willing to take, could not take because of the special medical needs.

00:55:21.000 Suddenly, they're taken out of the potential pool of families that can take in kids.

00:55:29.000 So, what they've said is: look, this is obviously religious discrimination.

00:55:33.000 They're partnering with Alliance Defending Freedom, Alliance Defending Freedom, ADF, such an awesome organization.

00:55:40.000 We've talked about them a lot at Daily Wire.

00:55:42.000 They're taking on this case.

00:55:44.000 This is another case in Massachusetts.

00:55:46.000 There's actually something that happened last year, a similar case, Alliance Defending Freedom, again, stepping in on that one.

00:55:52.000 So, they're claiming, you know, again, religious discrimination.

00:55:55.000 And I think one of the big keys here is the timing.

00:55:58.000 So, we have the Trump administration who is really leaning in on wiping out all kinds of anti-Christian, anti-religious discrimination.

00:56:07.000 They've gotten involved.

00:56:09.000 So, this is where I think that we have an opportunity in the state of Massachusetts to really change the situation there.

00:56:16.000 There's tens of millions of dollars on the line, as we've seen from the Trump administration.

00:56:21.000 They're not afraid of pressuring major states like California to make sure that they're following their policies, that they're not discriminating in these kinds of ways.

00:56:31.000 So, they're involved.

00:56:33.000 There's a major already we have some statements from the state that are pretty weak, kind of saying, Hey, look, we're just trying to protect children.

00:56:43.000 That argument doesn't hold up when you say, Well, you're also not allowing families that are actually taking real action to protect children's lives, raise children that have special needs again.

00:56:55.000 So, major case here.

00:56:57.000 We're going to see where this goes, but I have a good feeling that Massachusetts is going to be feeling a lot of pressure in the coming weeks.

00:57:06.000 Well, Massachusetts has been psychotic on these issues for decades at this point.

00:57:10.000 I remember when I was in law school over in Cambridge, Massachusetts, there was a case that came down in 2006 in which Catholic adoption agencies literally shut down across the state.

00:57:20.000 They've not operating that for 20 years because of the same-sex adoption policies that were put in place by the state of Massachusetts that said that if you're a Catholic adoption agency and you say that a child should go to a mom and a dad rather than two moms or two dads, that this is an act of discrimination and therefore you can't operate in the state of Massachusetts.

00:57:36.000 And Catholic adoption agencies literally shut down in the state of Massachusetts and have not been operating there for two decades because of this.

00:57:43.000 The kids always seem to come last.

00:57:44.000 The kids never seem to be a priority for all these people who are significantly more interested in the social implications of gender ideology than they are in the actual fate of kids who require parents and kids who require adoptive and foster parents.

00:58:02.000 Yeah, for sure.

00:58:03.000 And you might remember this.

00:58:04.000 I mean, there's Supreme Court precedents that is set that specifically addresses Catholic adoption agencies out of Philadelphia.

00:58:13.000 So this was a situation, I think it's 2021 Supreme Court decision, Fulton versus City of Philadelphia.

00:58:21.000 And the city was discriminating against this Catholic, they call themselves the Catholic adoption services.

00:58:29.000 They would not let them participate because they would not affirm, they would not allow in same-sex couples as potential adoptees because of, again, deeply held religious beliefs of Catholics.

00:58:45.000 And eventually, SCODUS ruled against the city.

00:58:48.000 So there is precedent here that I think works against the state of Massachusetts.

00:58:54.000 Again, they might back down before this goes further.

00:58:58.000 If they don't, they could be in real trouble.

00:59:00.000 Trump administration is going to lean in.

00:59:02.000 And SCOTUS, we've seen how they're already leaning on cases.

00:59:05.000 It kind of reminds me actually of some recent, we've seen some recent oral arguments where we've heard similar arguments in the Supreme Court.

00:59:15.000 And we've seen even some of the liberal justices having a hard time rationalizing some of these policies that are these, like, for instance, anti-conversion therapy, so-called conversion therapy arguments.

00:59:30.000 I think Massachusetts would lose and lose big if this goes up the chain.

00:59:36.000 Well, that is John Bickley.

00:59:38.000 He is co-host of The Morning Wire, available at Daily Wire Plaza and everywhere else, the podcast very well.

00:59:42.000 John, really appreciate the time and the updates.

00:59:46.000 Thanks for having me on, Ben.

00:59:47.000 All righty, folks.

00:59:48.000 Coming up, we'll get into the situation in the Middle East.

00:59:53.000 There seems to be a bit of a misinterpretation about what's going on in the Israeli parliament.

00:59:56.000 I will explain.

00:59:57.000 First, remember, in order to watch, you have to be a member.

00:59:59.000 If you're not a member, become a member.

01:00:00.000 Use code Shapiro.

The Ben Shapiro Show - October 24, 2025

I’m Shocked – SHOCKED! – To Find NBA Gambling Going On!

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript