The Ben Shapiro Show - September 07, 2026


My Question for JD Vance


Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

191.51

Word count

2,646

Sentence count

180


Transcript

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00:00:00.000 I know, I know, I know.
00:00:01.000 The vice president of the United States had things to say about Tucker Carlson, and you've been waiting with bated breath for my take.
00:00:06.000 Well, here it is.
00:00:07.000 As we've been discussing for years at this point, Tucker Carlson is not a conservative, not in any market way at all.
00:00:12.000 And of course, this week he came out and basically backed Abdul Al Sayyid, the pro-jihadi, America hating Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan.
00:00:20.000 JD Vance is very closely aligned with Tucker Carlson.
00:00:22.000 He, of course, is very close friends with Tucker Carlson.
00:00:26.000 He's repeated this ad nauseum.
00:00:27.000 He was asked yesterday at the White House about his relationship with Tucker Carlson, and here was his answer.
00:00:34.000 Tucker is a friend, despite the fact that we disagree on a number of things.
00:00:38.000 And I'm not going to play the game where I throw friends under the bus because I have political disagreements with them.
00:00:43.000 I think that is a terrible place for the United States to go.
00:00:49.000 Okay, nobody is saying you have to quote unquote throw a friend under the bus because you have a political disagreement.
00:00:54.000 As we'll discuss in a moment, I'm not sure that when your friend is standing for Nazi historians or alternatively cheering for comedians who mock Erica Kirk. Or bringing on guests who call your wife a Jeet, I'm not sure that that is a person that you just have a political disagreement with.
00:01:12.000 But on a political level, this is totally inept.
00:01:16.000 Again, I'll get to the morality in a second, but it's totally inept because what Vance is doing here is totally defanging the entire campaign against El Syed, connecting him with Hassan Piker.
00:01:25.000 Because El Syed is saying exactly the same thing about Hassan Piker that JD Vance is saying about Tucker Carlson, like exactly the same thing.
00:01:32.000 Here was El Syed on Piker, you know, on Stephen A. Smith's show.
00:01:38.000 The idea that you just categorically disavow an individual, that to me doesn't make sense given that there are going to be things that people say that you deeply disagree with.
00:01:48.000 You should disavow those things.
00:01:49.000 America brought 9 11 on itself.
00:01:51.000 Even that.
00:01:54.000 And then he disavowed it himself.
00:01:55.000 Stephen A. Like, that's not a consistent reading of what the man actually thinks.
00:02:00.000 Now, again, this taking that campaign away from Republicans because you have a personal relationship with a public figure, Tucker Carlson, is a wild thing to do.
00:02:08.000 And again, if JD Vance thinks that this is somehow.
00:02:11.000 Going to not come up all the way from here until 2028.
00:02:13.000 He's delusional.
00:02:15.000 And now he's giving almost word for word the same defenses of Tucker Carlson and his nut jobbery that Barack Obama gave about psychotic Reverend Jeremiah Wright back in 2008.
00:02:29.000 And this helps explain perhaps my relationship with Reverend Wright.
00:02:34.000 As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me.
00:02:39.000 He strengthens.
00:02:41.000 My faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children.
00:02:47.000 I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community.
00:02:52.000 I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother.
00:02:59.000 I mean, that was insane at the time, and now we got JD Vance doing the same thing.
00:03:02.000 Again, this is politically inept.
00:03:05.000 It's politically inept.
00:03:06.000 Okay, but actually, then there's the moral question.
00:03:09.000 Okay, so the question here.
00:03:11.000 Is not whether JD Vans hangs out with Tucker and goes on fishing trips.
00:03:15.000 You can see JD Vans trying to avoid the question by saying, Well, I'm personal friends with Tucker.
00:03:19.000 I'm not going to denounce my friends.
00:03:20.000 Hey, lots of people have lots of nutty friends.
00:03:22.000 Nobody's asking that.
00:03:23.000 I mean, some people care about that.
00:03:25.000 There are some people who make the argument that at a certain point, you probably should stop being friends with people because what you have with them is not a political disagreement, but a moral disagreement.
00:03:33.000 That sure, you could have a friend who believes things so morally egregious that you probably shouldn't be friends with them.
00:03:39.000 So, for example, if your friend were to be the world's most sympathetic ear to Nazi apologists, I don't know.
00:03:45.000 That's maybe a reason not to be friends with them.
00:03:48.000 I think I just want to.
00:03:50.000 I can tell that you hate compliments, but I just want to say I think you are the most important popular historian working in the United States today.
00:03:59.000 Or let's say that your friend were to laugh at conspiracy theories implicating the widow of Charlie Kirk in Charlie's murder.
00:04:08.000 But you were really good friends with Charlie, but your other friend was laughing at conspiracy theories and bolstering them, implicating TPUSA.
00:04:18.000 And all the rest in Charlie Cruz.
00:04:19.000 I don't know.
00:04:20.000 That might not be like a person you definitely need to be friends with.
00:04:25.000 Takes the gun apart, leaves the screwdriver there, puts it under a towel.
00:04:29.000 Spider Man's his way off the top of a building, runs across campus with the gun apparently under a towel.
00:04:34.000 Nobody sees this.
00:04:35.000 He runs into the woods, puts the gun back together again without the screwdriver.
00:04:39.000 He's a regular MacGyver, this guy.
00:04:41.000 And then he hides the gun in the backyard of a house owned by Palantir.
00:04:45.000 And if you think anything else besides that, you're a crazy Jew hating conspiracy nut.
00:04:52.000 I mean, like, if your friend, I don't know, were to host, say, America's most famous pro Nazi streamer, you know, a person who labeled your own wife a dirty Jeet, and were to actually say that that person is a better person than Ted Cruz because Ted Cruz supports Israel, I don't know.
00:05:08.000 Do you have, again, I'm not going to tell you you can't be friends with that person, but I mean, sometimes it's not just a political disagreement.
00:05:18.000 Who do you think is more morally repulsive?
00:05:20.000 Ted Cruz?
00:05:22.000 Who do you think is more morally repulsive?
00:05:24.000 Ted Cruz.
00:05:26.000 Ted Cruz is a sitting U.S. Senator who has called for the killing of people who did nothing wrong, whole populations who advocated for this war.
00:05:37.000 Nick Fuentes is like a kid.
00:05:38.000 He's like 26 or 70.
00:05:40.000 He has no power except his words.
00:05:45.000 Now, again, you might say that these are not just mere political disagreements, that this person seems like not a great person with whom you should be friends.
00:05:52.000 But here is the thing about me on a personal level I don't actually care very much about the friendship thing.
00:05:57.000 I don't care whether the vice president and Tucker go square dancing or barn raising in Maine or demon hunting in the forest together.
00:06:03.000 I don't care.
00:06:03.000 It makes no difference to me.
00:06:05.000 I said the same exact thing to Megyn Kelly when she defended Candace Owens on the basis of friendship.
00:06:10.000 While Candace Owens was slandering Erica Kirk, you can be friends with whoever you want, but not every one of your friends ought to be a nationally important voice.
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00:07:20.000 Here's what I do care about.
00:07:22.000 I care if the VP thinks that Tucker Carlson is a valuable voice in the movement that I inhabit.
00:07:29.000 Because here's the thing the VP has been extraordinarily praiseworthy of Tucker Carlson's views throughout the last few years.
00:07:35.000 Here he was in 2021 talking about his meeting with Tucker Carlson.
00:07:40.000 I'll never forget the first time that I ever met Tucker Carlson was at a JP Morgan event where.
00:07:50.000 Yeah, yeah.
00:07:50.000 His favorite.
00:07:52.000 Where I listened to what he said and then he listened to what I said.
00:07:56.000 And we both found each other and were like, oh my God, you're the guy who's exactly right about what's going on in the country.
00:08:04.000 And I, ever since then, have thought to myself the person who is most challenging to the worldview of.
00:08:12.000 Of people who I think are harming communities like mine is Tucker.
00:08:16.000 Okay, so that was back in 2021.
00:08:19.000 And of course, more recently, in December of 2025, when I suggested that perhaps there ought to be some ideological border control in conservatism, specifically mentioning Tucker at both Heritage Foundation and then also at TPUSA, JD Vance then went on stage at TPUSA and said, no, no one must, no one, no lines must ever be drawn.
00:08:36.000 And then he went on Sarah Bamari's podcast on Unheard, and Sarah Bamari asked him, quote, A lot of people want you to weigh in on one side of that.
00:08:44.000 They want you to denounce directly the Groypers and maybe Tucker Carlson for entertaining the Groypers.
00:08:48.000 Will you?
00:08:50.000 And, um, Vansford said, first of all, I don't think Tucker Carlson is a Groypers.
00:08:54.000 Then he says, Tucker's a friend of mine.
00:08:54.000 Okay.
00:08:56.000 And do I have disagreements with Tucker Carlson?
00:08:58.000 Sure.
00:08:58.000 I have disagreements with most of my friends, especially those who work in politics.
00:09:01.000 You know this.
00:09:02.000 Most people who know me know this.
00:09:03.000 I'm also a very loyal person.
00:09:05.000 I'm not going to get into the business of throwing friends under the bus, right?
00:09:07.000 Same exact stick that he used yesterday.
00:09:09.000 Here's the important part.
00:09:10.000 Quote, I can express substantive disagreements with them, but I find the idea that Tucker Carlson Who has one of the largest podcasts in the world, who has millions of listeners, who supported Donald Trump in the 2024 election, who supported me in the 2024 election?
00:09:23.000 The idea that his views are completely anathema to conservatism and that he has no place in the conservative movement is frankly absurd.
00:09:30.000 And I don't think anybody actually believes it.
00:09:31.000 That is a direct quote.
00:09:33.000 That is a direct quote from JD Vance.
00:09:37.000 And then he goes on to say that, you know, if you are anti Semitic or promoting anti Semitism, you don't have a place in the conservative movement, which I'm okay.
00:09:46.000 I mean, it's a little weird.
00:09:49.000 It's a little weird because, you know, like, is Tucker Carlson still a vital voice in the conservative movement?
00:09:55.000 I don't care whether he is going to dinner with Tucker Carlson in his off hours.
00:09:59.000 And other people would ask whether you ought to have friends who pursue the same kinds of bullshit that Tucker does on a regular basis.
00:10:05.000 But that's your problem.
00:10:07.000 Lots of people have lots of crazy friends.
00:10:08.000 Do you think Tucker Carlson is a vital voice inside conservatism?
00:10:12.000 And if you do, why?
00:10:14.000 Considering that this is the same man who says that Israelis and Zionists and neocons run the American government.
00:10:20.000 That the president is literally a slave to the Zionists, that he ought to be impeached, and that in fact the president, JD Vance's boss and running mate, might in fact be the Antichrist.
00:10:31.000 Here's a leader who's mocking the gods of his ancestors, mocking the God of gods, and exalting himself above them.
00:10:40.000 Could this be the Antichrist?
00:10:42.000 Well, who knows?
00:10:45.000 I mean, I don't know.
00:10:47.000 Is he an important voice in conservatism?
00:10:49.000 You know, the guy who actively is campaigning now for pro jihadi America haters in actual elections today?
00:10:55.000 Why are they running him again?
00:10:57.000 Anyone want to tell me that?
00:10:59.000 Mike Rogers is really.
00:11:02.000 I wouldn't vote for Mike Rogers at gunpoint.
00:11:05.000 There's no one who should be farther from a position of power than Mike Rogers.
00:11:11.000 I mean, is this an important voice in concern?
00:11:14.000 Right?
00:11:14.000 That's the question.
00:11:15.000 And JD Vance knows that's the question.
00:11:16.000 So that's why he's avoiding the question by talking about friendship.
00:11:19.000 No one cares, dude.
00:11:20.000 I don't care whether you grab coffee.
00:11:21.000 I don't care if you go shopping together.
00:11:23.000 I don't care if you smoke cigars in the back room.
00:11:25.000 Doesn't matter to me.
00:11:27.000 Is he an important voice that you think ought to be a crucial part of your coalition going forward in terms of defining the policy?
00:11:34.000 You know, the guy who says openly that America ought to swivel toward multipolarity and cede global power to Russia and China, and then, you know, heads off to Russia to blow Vladimir Putin and tour Russian grocery stores.
00:11:47.000 There we go.
00:11:49.000 So I guess you put in 10 rubles here and you get it back when you put the cart back.
00:11:56.000 So it's free, but there's an incentive to return it and not just bring it to your homeless encampment.
00:12:03.000 Okay.
00:12:04.000 This is the grocery cart escalator.
00:12:07.000 This is designed, I'm figuring this out now, where the wheels don't move.
00:12:12.000 They lock on the grocery cart escalator.
00:12:15.000 Look, Ma, no hands.
00:12:16.000 This is some vital conservatism we're watching right now.
00:12:18.000 This is vital conservatism.
00:12:20.000 Or is it really vital to the conservative movement to have people who say that they would not support the Republican Party because it's not loyal to the United States?
00:12:27.000 You're the current Republican vice president of the United States running for the nomination of the Republican Party.
00:12:32.000 That's the question.
00:12:34.000 I would not support the Republican Party.
00:12:36.000 There's no chance I would support the Republican Party.
00:12:38.000 Not going to support the Democratic Party.
00:12:40.000 I don't know what I'm going to do.
00:12:41.000 But at this point, you know, how could you support, how could I or any American voter support a political party that's not loyal to the United States that puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens?
00:12:53.000 Like, that's, that's, you know, it's not possible to vote for people like that.
00:12:59.000 So, is Tucker Carlson still a vital voice?
00:13:01.000 That's the question for the VP.
00:13:03.000 And if so, How so?
00:13:04.000 And if why, then why?
00:13:07.000 Why?
00:13:08.000 Those are the questions that JD Vance is going to face from now until the 2028 election.
00:13:13.000 And here's the thing maybe he is doing this truly out of friendship.
00:13:15.000 Maybe Tucker is just such an awesome hang that he wishes to put his own political career on the line for a person who has no problem harming him.
00:13:24.000 Again, put aside the primaries, where again, the vice president is right now the prohibitive favorite.
00:13:29.000 But if you think that the media isn't going to notice that JD Vance has super glued himself to Tucker Carlson, you're nuts.
00:13:36.000 And that is going to come along with a political and, yes, a moral cost.
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