The Ben Shapiro Show - Our Dying Institutions | Ep. 1011

00:00:00.000 As states debate lockdown policies, new information emerges about officials across the aisle engaging in corruption surrounding COVID-19, Democrats freak out over new Michael Flynn investigation revelations, and the Biden campaign staggers forward.

00:00:12.000 I'm Ben Shapiro.

00:00:13.000 This is The Ben Shapiro Show.

00:00:14.000 The Ben Shapiro Show is sponsored by ExpressVPN.

00:00:23.000 Your data is your business protected at expressvpn.com slash Ben.

00:00:29.000 Well, it is beginning to dawn on people that this thing might not go away all that fast.

00:00:34.000 It's been amazing to watch as the calculations have shifted fairly dramatically about the hopes for what is going to happen next with this virus.

00:00:41.000 So it started off with, okay, if we just slowed the spread for 15 days, we'll have this thing under control.

00:00:46.000 And hopefully at that point, we can start to loosen things up.

00:00:48.000 Then the media started to shift the strategy to, OK, we got to lock down until there's a vaccine.

00:00:52.000 And then it became clear that a vaccine is really not in the offing anytime soon.

00:00:57.000 And now you have the WHO, which we've been assured, by the way, by YouTube, that if you contradict the information coming forth from the WHO, they'll remove your videos.

00:01:06.000 Doesn't matter that the WHO got this thing completely wrong, said there was no human-to-human transmission in the middle of January.

00:01:11.000 Never mind that the WHO was recommending against masks at the beginning of March.

00:01:15.000 Well, the WHO is now reporting that this thing may never go away.

00:01:18.000 That COVID-19 may just become a permanent feature of life, just like the seasonal flu, which is honestly what was always sort of the worst case scenario suggestion here.

00:01:30.000 And it's also the most likely scenario because the fact is it's very difficult to develop completely effective vaccines.

00:01:34.000 Even vaccines that are somewhat effective are not completely effective.

00:01:39.000 And the fact is that we don't have a great therapeutic for this at this point.

00:01:42.000 There may be some therapeutics that come along that change the cases at the margin, but it's very difficult to target a disease that specifically targets the most vulnerable in the population.

00:01:52.000 In some ways, it's easier to target a disease that targets the least vulnerable in the population because then you can bring all of the immune system at your disposal.

00:01:58.000 But when you're 81 and you have a weak immune system and then this is killing you off, It's very difficult to figure out how to stop a disease that is killing off people mostly in old age homes.

00:02:06.000 When I say mostly in old age homes, I'm saying that advisedly.

00:02:09.000 40-60% of all deaths across Europe have been happening in old age homes.

00:02:12.000 In the United States, something like 40-60% in all states outside of New York, and it's not clear in New York how many people have died in old age homes.

00:02:19.000 have been happening in old age homes.

00:02:20.000 The reason it's not clear in New York is because if you are elderly and you were in an old age home and then you go to a hospital and you die in the hospital, it is not clear whether New York is classifying your death as a nursing home death or whether they are classifying it as a hospital-based death.

00:02:34.000 Well, now the WHO is saying this thing may never be wiped out entirely.

00:02:38.000 According to Michael Ryan, the WHO's Emergencies Director, we have a new virus entering the human population for the first time.

00:02:43.000 It's very hard to predict when we will prevail over it.

00:02:45.000 The virus may just become another endemic virus in our communities.

00:02:48.000 This virus may never go away.

00:02:50.000 HIV has not gone away.

00:02:51.000 We have come to terms with the virus.

00:02:53.000 Worth noting, it took us 30 years to come up with excellent treatments for HIV.

00:02:57.000 Really, it took several decades for us to come up with treatments for HIV that significantly lengthened human life.

00:03:04.000 WHO warned there's no way to guarantee that easing restrictions will not trigger a second wave of infection.

00:03:08.000 So now they've given us two pieces of information.

00:03:10.000 One is, it may never go away.

00:03:12.000 And two is, as soon as you let out of lockdown, people are going to get it.

00:03:15.000 Well, sorry, but those two factors mean that we had best just adjust to the new reality, and that is that we are all going to be involved in some form of risk mitigation, depending on your level of vulnerability in society.

00:03:30.000 And meanwhile, we still have open debates over what exactly the death count is from COVID-19.

00:03:35.000 According to the Daily Beast, President Trump and members of the Coronavirus Task Force are pushing officials at the CDC to change how the agency works with states to count coronavirus-related deaths.

00:03:43.000 This is not an unimportant factor, because the reality is that when we are assessing risk, we do have to determine how many people are actually dying from coronavirus and how many people are dying, quote-unquote, with coronavirus, meaning that you have pneumonia, you get coronavirus, and then you die of the pneumonia.

00:03:56.000 You're 85 and you have several pre-existing conditions and then coronavirus hits you and then you die of one of the pre-existing conditions.

00:04:03.000 Is that a COVID-19 death or is that not a COVID-19 death?

00:04:07.000 They're pushing for revisions that could lead to far fewer deaths being counted than originally reported according to five administration officials working on the government's response to the pandemic.

00:04:16.000 Though he has previously publicly attested to the accuracy of the COVID-19 death count, the president in recent weeks has privately raised suspicion about the number of fatalities in the United States, which recently eclipsed 80,000 recorded deaths.

00:04:26.000 Now again, this is not mere semantics.

00:04:29.000 These conversations matter.

00:04:31.000 They matter also in other areas of health, for example.

00:04:34.000 So in the United States, there's always this talking point that the United States has a very high infant mortality rate.

00:04:39.000 Well, that is because we count in the infant mortality rates babies that are born prematurely.

00:04:44.000 There are a lot of other countries that don't.

00:04:45.000 So if a baby is born at six months and then dies, we count that as an infant death.

00:04:49.000 That may not be counted in parts of Europe the same way, and so that actually skews the statistics.

00:04:53.000 You have to compare apples to apples, especially when you're looking at which countries are handling this better than other countries.

00:04:59.000 The White House has pressed the CDC to work with states to change how they count coronavirus deaths.

00:05:03.000 Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the administration's Coronavirus Task Force, has urged CDC officials to exclude from coronavirus death count reporting some of the individuals who either do not have confirmed lab results and are presumed positive or who have the virus and may not have died as a direct result of it, according to three senior administration officials.

00:05:18.000 We've actually seen this play out in New York City, where a bunch of people were dying inside their homes.

00:05:22.000 And so basically, New York said, what are our excess deaths over last year at this time?

00:05:26.000 And then based on that, we will just assume that everybody who died, died from COVID-19.

00:05:31.000 Officials inside the CDC are pushing back against the request.

00:05:33.000 They're claiming it could falsely skew the mortality rate when state and local governments are already struggling to ensure that every person who dies as a result of coronavirus is counted.

00:05:41.000 So on the one hand, you have people suggesting that there is over-reporting.

00:05:44.000 On the other hand, you have people suggesting that there is under-reporting.

00:05:46.000 But in the end, In the end, that really only matters because this thing has become political.

00:05:51.000 In other words, we know what we know.

00:05:53.000 And we also know what we don't know.

00:05:54.000 Meaning, we know now that this thing is highly deadly to the elderly and to people with pre-existing conditions.

00:06:01.000 We know that it is significantly more deadly to those people than it is to people who are young and healthy.

00:06:05.000 We also know that the focus on testing is somewhat overstated.

00:06:09.000 And when I say somewhat overstated, I mean rather massively overstated by the media.

00:06:12.000 Because the reality is the United States has radically ramped up tests.

00:06:15.000 As we have ramped up tests, the number of positives has actually gone down.

00:06:18.000 And not only that, the media have basically lied to the American people about what testing and tracing are designed to do.

00:06:23.000 They're not, in fact, designed to quash the virus itself.

00:06:25.000 They're simply designed to prevent spikes, epidemic spikes, that overwhelm the healthcare system, because that's all we can do at this point.

00:06:31.000 We can't actually stop people from getting this over time.

00:06:34.000 We cannot stop people from obtaining this virus over time, and then some people dying of that virus over time.

00:06:39.000 What we can do is protect the most vulnerable in our society, and we can ensure that there aren't massive spikes, that we sort of flatten it out such that we don't overwhelm the healthcare system.

00:06:48.000 But we have been told by the media that testing is sort of the solution, which is why it comes as disturbing news that these rapid White House tests could actually miss half of positive COVID-19 cases, according to an NYU study.

00:06:59.000 The Abbott test, which is a company used by the White House to track COVID-19, could have missed positive coronavirus cases, according to a study done by NYU.

00:07:06.000 The study found that Abbott's IDNow test missed at least one-third of positive tests when compared to rival tests, and up to 48% in dry nasal swabs, the test currently recommended by the White House.

00:07:16.000 So when people talk about the level of testing and how testing is going to save us all, they're missing the fact that there's an awful lot of uncertainty about the testing.

00:07:23.000 In other words, there are no easy solutions here.

00:07:25.000 There are no easy solutions.

00:07:27.000 And I'll tell you what is not a palatable solution, is the lockdown until forever solution.

00:07:31.000 Nonetheless, that seems to be the solution that the media are pushing.

00:07:36.000 The media would like to see lockdown until forever.

00:07:38.000 We'll get to that in just one moment.

00:07:40.000 First, let's talk about the fact that right now, you need to ensure that you are protected on the HR front if you run a business, and you need to save money if you run a business.

00:07:47.000 Now is not the time to be uncertain about how you run your business.

00:07:50.000 And this is why you need to make sure that you are covered when it comes to your HR issues, especially with all the brand new regulations that have come out about how you're going to run your business when you reopen, or if you are already open.

00:07:59.000 Wrongful termination suits minimum wage requirements, labor regulations.

00:08:02.000 HR manager salaries are not cheap.

00:08:04.000 They can average $70,000 a year.

00:08:06.000 B-A-M-B-E, Bambi, was created specifically for small business.

00:08:10.000 You get a dedicated HR manager, you craft HR policy, maintain your compliance, all for just 99 bucks a month, which is a great saving of money and also it allows you to get back to the stuff you care about in your business, such as producing the products and services that people actually want.

00:08:22.000 Your dedicated HR manager is available by phone, email, or real-time chat.

00:08:27.000 From onboarding to terminations, they customize your policies to fit your business and help you manage your employees day-to-day, all for just $99 a month.

00:08:33.000 Month-to-month, no hidden fees.

00:08:35.000 You can cancel anytime.

00:08:36.000 It's a great way to make your business run more efficiently and prevent yourself from incurring all sorts of HR liability, which can really wreck your business.

00:08:43.000 Go to Bambi.com slash Shapiro right now to schedule your free HR audit.

00:08:47.000 You can't afford not to have HR.

00:08:49.000 It's B-A-M-B-E-E, BAM2B.com slash Shapiro.

00:08:52.000 Bambi.com slash Shapiro.

00:08:54.000 Go check them out right now.

00:08:56.000 Okay, so...

00:08:57.000 The media continue to push forward the notion that if we reopen in nearly any way, shape or form, that more people will die.

00:09:05.000 And so we have to remain closed forever.

00:09:07.000 And thus, the headlines that you're seeing from the media are all based on the presumption that America is in a full state of disaster.

00:09:14.000 But the answer is that America is not actually in a full state of disaster.

00:09:16.000 In fact, a lot of the states that are opening up are not seeing this massive spike in cases.

00:09:20.000 People are generally being responsible.

00:09:22.000 Meanwhile, the media are rewarding people who are speaking out as though disaster is coming.

00:09:26.000 And this is what I talked about yesterday, a little bit on the show.

00:09:29.000 There is a thing that happens in media and sort of in human psychology.

00:09:34.000 We could call it the Nostradamus effect.

00:09:35.000 So Nostradamus is very famous and everybody knows his name because every so often you can pick and choose a few sentences from Nostradamus and say, wow, isn't that amazing?

00:09:43.000 Thousands of years ago, Nostradamus was predicting that X would happen.

00:09:47.000 I see the same thing when people talk about the Bible codes, where they say, okay, well, if you look at the Bible, and it's lined up in a particular way, and you look at the Hebrew letters vertically, and then you look at them diagonally, and then you look at them horizontally, with a code that says that there's a volcano that's going to erupt any day.

00:10:01.000 And then it erupted.

00:10:02.000 Wow, look at that.

00:10:03.000 That's amazing.

00:10:04.000 Okay, in other words, when you predict disaster, and you're right, then you are rewarded by being given the title of prophet.

00:10:11.000 If you predict disaster, and then disaster never arrives, nobody ever says to you, oh, you're just a doomsayer.

00:10:17.000 Nobody ever says to you, oh, I guess you got that wrong, so I guess we're not going to pay so much attention to you next time.

00:10:21.000 In other words, if you are in the prediction business, you should always predict disaster.

00:10:24.000 You should always predict the unexpected.

00:10:26.000 You should always predict the black swan.

00:10:28.000 Because all you have to do about the black swan is be right.

00:10:30.000 If you're the person who predicted the black swan event, then everybody rewards you for having predicted the black swan event.

00:10:35.000 Never mind that the rest of the time you were completely, completely wrong.

00:10:39.000 That one time you were exactly right.

00:10:41.000 And so what the media are doing right now is they are bringing forth everyone who's predicting doom and gloom.

00:10:45.000 Now, will they go back three weeks from now and point out when people were wrong?

00:10:49.000 So, there are a bunch of people who three weeks ago, when Brian Kemp in Georgia was talking about opening up, they said, there's gonna be a massive spike in cases, the hospitals are gonna be overwhelmed.

00:10:56.000 We haven't seen that in Georgia.

00:10:57.000 Any apologies from anybody?

00:10:58.000 Of course not.

00:11:00.000 But, if there was somebody back in January who said, this is going to be a global pandemic, we're going to have to shut down all the businesses, that person, of course, is going to be rewarded.

00:11:07.000 Now, maybe that person was living in the woods and was predicting this sort of stuff for 40 years, right?

00:11:12.000 It's amazing how fast we shift from, look at those dumb preppers building their basements and stocking up on canned goods, to, man, those people sure had some foresight building their basements and stocking up on the canned goods.

00:11:22.000 In the prediction business, nobody ever remembers that you made a black swan prediction that didn't come true.

00:11:27.000 This is why it is of high irritation to me when the Black Swan predictions about what's going to happen next are really ramped up by the media.

00:11:36.000 So today, the big story is that there's a guy named Dr. Rick Bright.

00:11:39.000 So Rick Bright, we should remember, was pushed out.

00:11:43.000 He was fired from his position over at BARDA.

00:11:47.000 Which is one of the chief agencies that was supposed to investigate strategies on the pandemic.

00:11:53.000 He filed a whistleblower complaint after being pushed out, suggesting the reason that he was pushed out is because he wasn't too high on hydroxychloroquine.

00:11:59.000 And when the administration was pushing hydroxychloroquine as a possible solution, that he was in their warning, and therefore they just got rid of him.

00:12:06.000 Well, in prepared testimony obtained by CNN, he warned, Okay, thank you for the vague prediction of doom.

00:12:11.000 That is totally helpful.

00:12:11.000 Also, thank you for the not-presenting-any-actual-strategy for fixing this thing.

00:12:14.000 pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities.

00:12:18.000 Okay, thank you for the vague prediction of doom.

00:12:21.000 That is totally helpful.

00:12:23.000 Also, thank you for the not presenting any actual strategy for fixing this thing.

00:12:28.000 Nothing I like better than public health officials saying, and if we're not smart here, bad things will happen.

00:12:34.000 Thanks.

00:12:36.000 Here is Dr. Rick Bright, who is testifying today.

00:12:38.000 This is getting all sorts of media attention.

00:12:39.000 Now, again, this is all predicated on the notion that Rick Bright is a victim of the anti-science Trump administration, which has been taking the advice of Drs.

00:12:46.000 Birx and Fauci, as well as many other doctors, into consideration.

00:12:51.000 Bright, of course, again, claimed that he was ousted because of the hydroxychloroquine issue.

00:12:56.000 But the truth is that, according to the HHS, this guy was in conflict with his higher-ups for literally years.

00:13:02.000 Dr. Bright and Dr. Robert Kadlec, an assistant health secretary for preparedness and response, clashed repeatedly, according to officials, when Dr. Bright Carefully followed procedures, they said he was a polarizing figure within the Department of Health and Human Services, where concerns had circulated about a management style that was described as confrontational.

00:13:17.000 Those officials said there had been discussions about removing Bright for many months.

00:13:20.000 They came to a head after emails were leaked to Reuters last week detailing internal discussions about chloroquine.

00:13:25.000 A senior administration official said Alex Azar told the Coronavirus Task Force members in their meeting on Wednesday about Bright's departure from BARDA, describing it as a promotion to the vice president.

00:13:34.000 Officials left the meeting and learned of Bright's public statement.

00:13:37.000 Also, by the way, according to Caitlin Oakley, spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, it was Dr. Bright who requested an emergency use authorization from the FDA for donations of chloroquine that Bayer and Sandoz recently made to the Strategic National Stockpile.

00:13:52.000 So the story the media want to tell is this whistleblower pushed out because he's secretly telling you the truth, which is everybody's going to die.

00:14:01.000 And they're pushing him out because they don't want the bad news.

00:14:03.000 Alternatively, this is a career health official who clashed with people inside his own department and was demoted for it, or was at least thrown off one job.

00:14:11.000 He retains his job at the government, by the way.

00:14:13.000 I think he still works inside the CDC.

00:14:16.000 And now, he is getting all sorts of publicity, and so why not predict, vaguely, that doom will come upon us, unless you take unspecified action?

00:14:23.000 There's no political risk to doing so.

00:14:26.000 This is why, honestly, when it comes to expert analyses of the situation, experts should provide you information.

00:14:33.000 Not predictions.

00:14:34.000 Information.

00:14:35.000 Information about risks.

00:14:36.000 And then, it is your job, as an individual human being, to calculate those risks, and to be responsible, and not pass those risks on to others.

00:14:43.000 But the idea that people up high in government are going to make rules for you, they are all political actors just like you and I are.

00:14:49.000 They are calculating their own self-interest the way you and I are.

00:14:51.000 They're doing so in many cases unknowingly because they are human beings.

00:14:56.000 This notion that godlike experts sit up on high and then craft the best rules for the people is not true when it comes to how your toilet flushes and it ain't true when it comes to pandemics.

00:15:06.000 We'll get to Rick Bright's testimony in just one second.

00:15:09.000 First, Let's talk about the fact that the future is unpredictable.

00:15:13.000 Who could have predicted back in February when Bernie Sanders was the likely Democratic nominee and the stock market was at $30,000 and the unemployment rate was at 3.5% that we would all be stuck in our homes right now?

00:15:24.000 Who could have predicted such a thing?

00:15:25.000 The answer is nobody, but it's because you can't predict the future that you should insure against it.

00:15:29.000 This is why everybody who is responsible should have Life Insurance.

00:15:32.000 PolicyGenius compares quotes from the top life insurance companies all in one place just for you.

00:15:37.000 It takes just a few minutes to compare quotes from the top insurers and find your best price.

00:15:40.000 That doesn't just save you a lot of legwork.

00:15:41.000 You could save $1,500 or more a year using PolicyGenius to compare life insurance policies.

00:15:46.000 Once you apply, the PolicyGenius team will handle all the paperwork and the red tape for free.

00:15:50.000 They're in contact with the life insurance companies every day, monitoring developments, helping customers navigate every single step.

00:15:56.000 So, if you're one of many people looking to buy life insurance right now, but you're not sure where to start, head on over to PolicyGenius.com.

00:16:02.000 PolicyGenius will find you the best rate, handle the process completely, and then you don't have to worry about the financial cost of the risk because now you have done the responsible thing and been responsible.

00:16:11.000 Go to PolicyGenius.com to be a responsible human being.

00:16:13.000 Get all the insurance you need.

00:16:14.000 They also do home insurance and disability insurance and auto insurance.

00:16:17.000 Policygenius.com for all of your insurance needs.

00:16:20.000 Okay, so Dr. Rick Bright getting all sorts of attention today.

00:16:23.000 He is testifying and he says that this could be the darkest winter in modern history.

00:16:27.000 Well, thanks for the picker-upper there, doctor.

00:16:28.000 Really, really appreciate it.

00:16:30.000 You know, because none of us were thinking that this is going to be a tough time.

00:16:33.000 With the unemployment rate approaching 25%, none of us were really thinking that this is going to be rough.

00:16:36.000 But now that you've said it, I guess we can take it seriously that this is going to be rough.

00:16:41.000 In other words, we know.

00:16:42.000 Now what should we do?

00:16:44.000 And why should we take your advice super seriously as opposed to the advice of Fauci, Birx, Dr. Martin McCary, who we've had on the program from Johns Hopkins, who has a good piece in the New York Times today.

00:16:53.000 Here is Rick Bright, again, being given the hero's welcome because really, the reason he's being given the hero's welcome, he doesn't have anything super relevant to say.

00:17:00.000 He's being given the hero's welcome because he doesn't like Trump.

00:17:02.000 The media don't like Trump.

00:17:04.000 Interests align.

00:17:06.000 Our window of opportunity is closing.

00:17:09.000 If we fail to improve our response now, based on science, I fear the pandemic will get worse and be prolonged.

00:17:17.000 There will likely be a resurgence of COVID-19 this fall.

00:17:21.000 It will be greatly compounded by the challenges of seasonal influenza.

00:17:25.000 Without better planning, 2020 could be the darkest winter in modern history.

00:17:31.000 Okay, well thanks for that.

00:17:32.000 Winter is coming.

00:17:34.000 That's very, very exciting news.

00:17:35.000 Okay, what are his suggested steps?

00:17:37.000 A national testing strategy.

00:17:39.000 Oh, you mean like how there is one and how they're trying to roll it out and also how states are generally responsible for deciding how much testing they actually need in their states because the national government isn't good at things?

00:17:49.000 And also he says we need a plan for equitable distribution of essential equipment and supplies.

00:17:52.000 Oh, you mean how the federal government actually got like a hundred thousand ventilators and we now have way too many ventilators?

00:17:58.000 Because it turns out the ventilators are actually not only ineffective but in some cases counterproductive for treatment?

00:18:03.000 Dr. Bright, of course, is really getting all this attention, not because he has great advice to offer, but simply because he is claiming that he was silenced for his unwillingness to go along with the sanguine views of the administration.

00:18:14.000 Which, again, the evidence for that is scanty at best.

00:18:18.000 In another not-shock, Bright is going to air his complaints about the Trump administration pandemic in response to a House Oversight Committee Overseen by Representative Anna Eshoo, a Democrat who represents a Northern California district home to a company that received more than $110 million in awards from BARDA while Bright led the office.

00:18:37.000 In other words, she is allied with Bright.

00:18:39.000 Other companies with offices in Eshoo's district benefited from more than $100 million in awards from BARDA in the decade prior to Bright's leadership.

00:18:45.000 This is according to Politico.

00:18:48.000 Eshoo, who helped craft the 2006 legislation to create the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, that's what BARDA is, and has since worked to bolster it authorities, also has been a longtime booster of Bright.

00:18:58.000 So basically he's testifying in front of his allies who also, not coincidentally, are going to boost his opinions of President Trump.

00:19:06.000 So yes, this thing has become incredibly political and none of that is a giant surprise.

00:19:10.000 And again, it doesn't have to be political.

00:19:12.000 So we've had on our program before, Dr. Marty McCary.

00:19:15.000 We've had on Dr. McCary repeatedly on the radio show.

00:19:17.000 And Dr. McCary is a professor of health policy at Johns Hopkins.

00:19:20.000 He served in both the Obama administration as well as an advisor to the Trump administration.

00:19:23.000 He has a piece at the New York Times in which he explains what he thinks should be done.

00:19:26.000 And guess what?

00:19:27.000 It sounds exactly like what people like me have been saying need to be done.

00:19:30.000 Right?

00:19:31.000 He says that what we need is as much masking as possible when you are in a place where you could infect somebody else.

00:19:35.000 This does not mean like Los Angeles, by the way. 0.96

00:19:37.000 In LA, Eric Garcetti, the guy's just in, he's, he's, A posturing dolt.

00:19:43.000 He sends out a mass text to everyone in Los Angeles last night, telling everyone that it is now mandatory that you wear a mask when you go outside.

00:19:50.000 Not when you go into a store.

00:19:52.000 Not when you go into a crowded area.

00:19:53.000 Not when you can't socially distance.

00:19:55.000 Not when there's a possibility of not socially distancing when you go outside.

00:19:58.000 So if you're in your car by yourself, presumably you have to mask.

00:20:00.000 If I'm in my front yard playing with my kids, supposedly I'm supposed to mask.

00:20:04.000 If I'm out at the beach and I'm 400 feet away from everybody, I'm supposed to mask. 0.99

00:20:08.000 All of which matches Eric Garcetti's idiotic policies with regard to the beaches out here. 0.96

00:20:12.000 He says you're allowed to swim, you're allowed to walk, you're allowed to run on the beach, you're not actually allowed to sit on the beach and picnic. 0.99

00:20:18.000 Doesn't matter if you're 300 feet away from everybody.

00:20:21.000 And you have to be wearing a mask the whole time, by the way.

00:20:23.000 So my plan this weekend, I'm gonna take my kids down to the beach, I'm going to put a mask on them, Then, I'm going to... Well, they're in the car, because we have to make sure that in the car they don't affect people in other cars.

00:20:33.000 Then, I'm going to bring a cannon.

00:20:35.000 I'm going to fire my children out of a cannon into the ocean.

00:20:38.000 And along the way, like right before they get into the water, I'm going to ensure that they strip off the mask.

00:20:43.000 Then, I'm going to dive into the water after them, put the mask back on them, take a trampoline, bounce them off the trampoline, back into the car, and we can go home.

00:20:50.000 Like, none of... What the hell are we talking about here? 1.00

00:20:52.000 This is all idiocy. 1.00

00:20:53.000 By the way, you know what Marty McCary suggests? 1.00

00:20:55.000 This is Dr. McCary from Johns Hopkins.

00:20:56.000 He suggests that we spend more time outside.

00:20:59.000 We were told that we shouldn't spend more time outside by the authorities who know.

00:21:02.000 Also, we must prioritize safeguarding nursing homes.

00:21:04.000 Why, who has been saying this for weeks on end?

00:21:07.000 He says, through April, several studies using antibody testing found that asymptomatic infections are 10 to 20 times more common than previously observed, lowering the true case fatality rate.

00:21:16.000 The data taught us that young, healthy Americans have a fatality rate similar to that of seasonal flu.

00:21:21.000 Deaths among those young and healthy are rare.

00:21:24.000 In fact, community immunity from seasonal viruses is often achieved through younger people developing antibodies.

00:21:28.000 Why?

00:21:29.000 It sounds almost like what I have been talking about for a very long time, which is make sure the most vulnerable are protected and then let other people go out and interact with one another with enough protections that we don't spike over the healthcare system.

00:21:40.000 He says, protect those at high risk.

00:21:41.000 The data show that those with preexisting medical conditions like diabetes, lung disease, or a weakened immune system are among the most vulnerable.

00:21:46.000 Based on the degree of risk and prevalence of the virus in the region, we should advise these high-risk individuals, particularly the elderly, to avoid interactions with others until the risk of contagion is extremely low.

00:21:55.000 So basically, McCary's plan is exactly the same as mine.

00:21:58.000 And by the way, pretty much the same as the Trump administration's.

00:22:01.000 But Trump is very bad. 0.98

00:22:02.000 He's very, very bad.

00:22:03.000 And the people we need to listen to are people who are spouting doom and gloom without any specific proposals for how to move past the doom and the gloom.

00:22:11.000 In just a second, we're going to get to controversies over what we should do with policy, and then we'll get to the fact that the experts that we are supposed to be listening to Very often, they are self-interested because people are people. 0.97

00:22:22.000 There's this weird idea that in a pandemic, founding ideology goes out the window because it's an emergency, dammit! 0.69

00:22:27.000 And human nature has changed. 0.93

00:22:29.000 The founders were right.

00:22:30.000 Human beings are not angels.

00:22:31.000 They're not devils. 1.00

00:22:31.000 They're human beings, which means that we are stupid, and we are corrupt, and we are venal, and we are self-interested. 1.00

00:22:37.000 And it also means that if you're stupid, corrupt, venal, and self-interested, probably you shouldn't be making policy for the entire country. 1.00

00:22:43.000 And maybe I know my kids' names better than the policymakers who are saying they're going to protect my kids. 1.00

00:22:48.000 I'll get to that in just one second.

00:22:50.000 First, let's talk about the fact that you're spending an enormous amount of time in front of screens right now.

00:22:53.000 It could be affecting your sleep.

00:22:55.000 Blue light really affects your sleep.

00:22:56.000 Also, it can be giving you headaches.

00:22:58.000 You're spending just tons of time on your computer or watching movies.

00:23:01.000 All that stuff can really impact your eyes.

00:23:03.000 You can get all sorts of blurriness and dizziness.

00:23:06.000 This is why people for a long time have been saying they need blue light glasses.

00:23:06.000 It's really bad.

00:23:10.000 But you need the best kind, not the kind where they kind of like just Film the glasses with some crappy blue light material that immediately peels off as soon as you get it from Amazon.

00:23:19.000 Instead, what you need are Felix Grey glasses.

00:23:21.000 It filters out 90% of blue light in the most damaging range, eliminates 99% of glare, through a proprietary industry-leading lens technology available only at Felix Grey.

00:23:29.000 These things are extraordinarily durable, and they will last you really, really like years.

00:23:34.000 9 in 10 Felix Grey customers report significant symptom relief.

00:23:37.000 There's a reason I wear Felix Grey myself.

00:23:38.000 Felix Grey frames are hand-finished from durable, super lightweight Italian acetate.

00:23:42.000 They look good.

00:23:43.000 You can order online.

00:23:44.000 The glasses will ship directly to you with hard case and lens cloth included.

00:23:47.000 Try them for 30 days risk-free.

00:23:49.000 If your screens aren't easier on the eyes, then you can send it back for a full refund, so you really have nothing to lose.

00:23:53.000 Go to FelixGrayGlasses.com slash Ben for the absolute best quality blue light filtering glasses on the market.

00:23:58.000 That's FelixGrayGlasses.com slash Ben.

00:24:00.000 F-E-L-I-X G-R-A-Y Glasses.com slash Ben.

00:24:03.000 Do what I did, start taking care of your eyes and you'll feel better, you'll work smarter.

00:24:06.000 Shipping and return is totally free at FelixGrayGlasses.com slash Ben.

00:24:10.000 Really a great product.

00:24:11.000 Go check them out right now.

00:24:12.000 Okay, so.

00:24:13.000 The political controversy continues to grow as it becomes clear that a lot of the policies that are being crafted are basically violating constitutional provisions in particular states.

00:24:24.000 The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected the extension of the state's stay-at-home order, siding with Republican legislators in a high-profile challenge of the emergency authority of a statewide official during the coronavirus pandemic.

00:24:34.000 This is according to the New York Times.

00:24:35.000 I've been suggesting this for a while.

00:24:36.000 There will come a point when, listen, all of our constitutional freedoms have been abridged.

00:24:39.000 There's no question about that, right?

00:24:40.000 You don't have any freedom to associate.

00:24:41.000 You really don't have any freedom to leave your home.

00:24:44.000 You don't have freedom of contract.

00:24:46.000 You don't have most of the basic freedoms that you were guaranteed as Americans.

00:24:49.000 You're not able to effectuate in this current environment.

00:24:52.000 And under public health systems, that is not wrong.

00:24:56.000 But when you move beyond the data, where the data no longer support the stay-at-home orders, where the data no longer support the idea that you have any strategy, and where you're just telling people that you can abridge their constitutional rights so that you don't get the political blowback of not abridging their constitutional rights, this is when courts are going to start stepping in.

00:25:12.000 Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, had extended the prohibition on most travel and operations of quote-unquote non-essential businesses until May 26th in a 4-3 ruling The court said that Wisconsin's top health official had not followed the proper process in setting the strict limits for residents.

00:25:25.000 Although the opinion centered on the technical method by which the limits had been set, several conservative justices conveyed their dismay at the restrictions themselves.

00:25:32.000 Justice Daniel Kelly wrote, This comprehensive claim to control virtually every aspect of a person's life is something we normally associate with a prison, not a free society governed by the rule of law.

00:25:40.000 Within hours of the ruling, some taverns were making plans for reopening.

00:25:44.000 Evers said, this turns the state to chaos.

00:25:46.000 People will get sick.

00:25:47.000 Republicans own the chaos.

00:25:48.000 Or alternatively, you know what you could have done?

00:25:50.000 You could have gone to the legislature.

00:25:52.000 It turns out you could have gone to the legislature.

00:25:53.000 But governors have been taking this sort of heavy-handed action.

00:25:57.000 Mayors have been taking this heavy-handed action without actual reference to policy.

00:26:01.000 And this is the reality.

00:26:03.000 At a certain point, the rubber is going to hit the road when people decide that the orders that are being promulgated no longer serve the public interest.

00:26:09.000 There are only a few reasons why you pay attention to a law.

00:26:11.000 You, me, everybody.

00:26:12.000 The reasons you pay attention to a law.

00:26:14.000 One, if you don't, you'll go to jail.

00:26:16.000 Two, because the law is well founded.

00:26:19.000 Or three, because they pay you to do so.

00:26:20.000 There's some sort of benefit in doing so.

00:26:22.000 So Democrats basically In these sort of heavy-handed orders, the ones that are not well calibrated, some of the stuff you're seeing in Michigan, for example, some of the stuff that you've seen in California, some of the stuff that you're seeing in upstate New York, those orders that are not calibrated to public health, that are not calibrated to actually slowing the spread, that are overbroad, and that make distinctions between quote-unquote non-essential businesses and essential businesses, as though governors know the difference, or as though there is a clear-cut difference.

00:26:48.000 Those orders, as I say, if there are three reasons to obey a law, and one of those reasons is because the law is smart and good and wise, and that reason is not being fulfilled, that means that you're basically left with two available options.

00:27:01.000 One is you threaten people, and the other is you cajole people. 0.72

00:27:03.000 So Democrats are trying both.

00:27:05.000 They're threatening people and they're cajoling people.

00:27:07.000 So they're threatening people by basically suggesting that they're going to use law enforcement to go after folks.

00:27:12.000 I'm just going to say this, good luck with that.

00:27:14.000 Seriously, good luck with that.

00:27:16.000 Things are gonna get really ugly when it turns out that somebody is socially distancing on a beach, and then the police show up and try to arrest that person, the person says they're not doing anything wrong, and then the police tase the guy and he gets caught on tape.

00:27:26.000 Things are gonna get quite ugly.

00:27:27.000 In fact, this sort of happened in New York.

00:27:29.000 There was a black person in, I believe it was the Brooklyn area, who was basically taken down by police for not socially distancing.

00:27:38.000 And this led Mayor Bill de Blasio to then say, well, you know, it seems like we're disproportionately arresting black people for not socially distancing.

00:27:44.000 This means we need to go up to Prospect Park and we need to tell all the white people that they're gonna be arrested. 0.87

00:27:48.000 Okay, at a certain point, people are just gonna be like, no, you know what?

00:27:50.000 I'm not up for this.

00:27:52.000 The heavier the hand of government, the more people actually feel the effect of the law, which is why, as a general rule, what the founders suggested, which is that do not pass a law or regulation unless you are willing to enforce it with a gun, that is good advice. 0.92

00:28:04.000 You can make the suggestion, and then you have to allow people to risk assess.

00:28:08.000 You can see that this is going to get ugly.

00:28:10.000 Governor Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan yesterday, she said, my orders are not suggestions.

00:28:13.000 In other words, I'm going to use law enforcement to enforce this sort of stuff.

00:28:16.000 Well, that's all fun and games until things get ugly.

00:28:19.000 Okay, and that is not to suggest that people should not obey the orders, that they should break the law in ways that affect other people.

00:28:25.000 But if somebody says to Governor Whitmer, listen, I'm opening my store, and we're doing 50% of our normal business, and we're socially distancing, and people are wearing masks, and then Whitmer says, I'm coming in there guns blazing, then Whitmer is wrong, and people have the right to disobey that order.

00:28:41.000 That is an unconstitutional order.

00:28:43.000 Here's Governor Whitmer.

00:28:45.000 What we need to do is continue what we have done.

00:28:48.000 It's working.

00:28:49.000 And for people that want to voice their frustration, that's fine.

00:28:56.000 But I expect people to follow the law.

00:28:59.000 These executive orders are not a suggestion.

00:29:03.000 They're not optional.

00:29:04.000 They're not helpful hints.

00:29:08.000 Okay, so again, this is when things are getting ugly.

00:29:10.000 So on the one hand, you have the threat, and on the other hand, you have the bribe.

00:29:14.000 And the bribe is, we are going to pass a $3 trillion recovery package that is going to offer you universal basic income.

00:29:20.000 We're going to bail out all the states.

00:29:21.000 We're going to pay you to stay at home.

00:29:23.000 And that sounds really nice and good until you realize that the economy cannot be sustained this way.

00:29:27.000 So right now, the United States can take out enormous amounts of debt.

00:29:29.000 We can.

00:29:30.000 We can continue to take out enormous amounts of debt because we are the world's best bet in terms of an economy.

00:29:34.000 But that only lasts as long as you have not changed the underlying fundamentals of the economy.

00:29:38.000 The reason that the world can bet that America will pay off her bonds is because the world believes that when all this snaps back, we will snap back to being a very strong economy that is not heavily regulated and run from the top down.

00:29:50.000 If the world started to believe that the American economy had shifted so dramatically, that American business was going to be run top down by the government, and that there was going to be heavy incentive for people never to work again, then guess what?

00:29:59.000 It would be very difficult to sell our debt.

00:30:01.000 In other words, it's easy to float debt when people think that when your credit is good, people are willing to float you debt.

00:30:06.000 The minute that it becomes clear that you're using that credit card to buy Lamborghinis instead of invest in your business, people are less willing to float you the debt.

00:30:14.000 And this is what Democrats are proposing. 0.99

00:30:15.000 This $3 trillion package that they're pushing right now is chock full of garbage. 0.79

00:30:21.000 And now they're pushing this idea that they want to fill in every salary in America under $90,000 until January so that they can simultaneously ban people from going to work.

00:30:30.000 So you're incentivizing states to continue to lock down at that point.

00:30:34.000 You're incentivizing people not to go to work at that point.

00:30:37.000 That's being pushed by Representative Jayapal and several other Democrats in the House of Representatives.

00:30:43.000 Meanwhile, Democrats across the country are looking for the federal government to bail out their bad pension deals.

00:30:48.000 Rick Scott, the former governor of Florida, now senator from Florida, he said yesterday, we can't bail out these states.

00:30:52.000 What we're basically doing right now is we're using the pandemic as an excuse to pass bad policy that undermines the future stability and growth potential of the United States economy.

00:31:03.000 I don't want to bail out liberal states that don't want to watch their budgets.

00:31:08.000 It's real simple to me.

00:31:09.000 It's not fair.

00:31:09.000 It's not fair to my taxpayers.

00:31:11.000 People moved to my state to get away from the high taxes in New York, Illinois, and California, and now they don't want to tax their citizens, they want us to tax federal taxpayers.

00:31:21.000 That's not right.

00:31:22.000 Okay, Rick Scott, of course, is exactly correct about this.

00:31:24.000 As governor of Florida, he ran a population that's the size of the population of the state of New York, and he actually basically balanced the budget.

00:31:32.000 Okay, meanwhile, Andrew Cuomo continued to blow out the debt, and now he's turning to the federal government and begging.

00:31:36.000 It's amazing how begging the federal government for help if you're a Democrat actually makes you popular with the press.

00:31:40.000 It's pretty incredible.

00:31:42.000 Okay, so as I say, there are three possibilities that Democrats can use, and anybody could use, really, to push bad policy.

00:31:47.000 One is the threat, the Whitmer strategy. 0.68

00:31:50.000 Two is the bribe, that's the Nancy Pelosi strategy. 1.00

00:31:52.000 And then three is you scare the crap out of people and you tell them they're going to die if they walk outside. 0.61

00:31:57.000 And this is why you have seen so many people in the press who are bucking up against Trump.

00:32:02.000 So yesterday, there was a big controversy because Anthony Fauci testified before the Senate.

00:32:06.000 And before the Senate, Anthony Fauci suggested that the schools might have to remain closed in the fall.

00:32:12.000 President Trump responded by saying, I don't know what evidence he's basing that on.

00:32:15.000 We should probably reopen the schools.

00:32:16.000 Here was President Trump yesterday.

00:32:18.000 To me, it's not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools.

00:32:22.000 The only thing that would be acceptable, as I said, is professors, teachers, etc.

00:32:26.000 over a certain age.

00:32:27.000 I think they ought to take it easy for another few weeks, five weeks, four weeks, who knows, whatever it may be.

00:32:32.000 But I think they have to be careful because this is a disease that attacks age and it attacks health.

00:32:41.000 And if you have a heart problem, if you have diabetes, if you're a certain age, it's certainly much more dangerous.

00:32:50.000 Okay, he's correct about all of this.

00:32:52.000 This led to massive blowback.

00:32:53.000 He's not paying attention to the science, President Trump.

00:32:55.000 He's not paying attention to the science.

00:32:56.000 Scott Gottlieb, who knows more than you.

00:32:58.000 Okay, Scott Gottlieb knows more than you in the media.

00:33:01.000 We've had Scott Gottlieb on this program.

00:33:02.000 Amazing.

00:33:03.000 CNN will have a panel of experts on coronavirus that will include a former HHS secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, who, her great public health experience before that was she was governor of Kansas.

00:33:12.000 And they're having on the former CDC director under Barack Obama.

00:33:15.000 So a couple of Barack Obama officials.

00:33:16.000 And known coronavirus expert, Greta Thunberg, It's gonna be on CNN tonight to advise us all.

00:33:22.000 You know, other people in the media have had on Dr. Birx, have had on Marty McCary, have had on Dr. Gottlieb.

00:33:29.000 Yeah, that would all be on my show.

00:33:30.000 Okay, so Dr. Gottlieb suggested that we might be contending with COVID going into the fall, but it might not be in September.

00:33:36.000 It might occur later in the fall.

00:33:37.000 We should at least make an attempt to open the schools if this is not spreading widely.

00:33:41.000 He says, I think this is a local decision.

00:33:43.000 It's not a national level decision at this point.

00:33:45.000 There's also an article in Wired talking about the fact that all over the world, people are reopening their schools because kids are not particularly vulnerable to this thing.

00:33:55.000 According to an article published in the Journal of American Medical Association, JAMA, which is sort of industry standard, just 1% of patients were under 10 years old.

00:34:02.000 Another 1% were aged 10 to 19.

00:34:04.000 And there were zero deaths in the youngest cohort.

00:34:07.000 This is all in China. 0.72

00:34:09.000 In the United States, we have seen in the United States like maybe double digit deaths for people under the age of 20. 1.00

00:34:15.000 So the idea that we're supposed to retain school closures in this environment, that if Trump says no, that this is because Trump is very bad, it's idiotic. 1.00

00:34:23.000 So all three of these strategies are bound to fail. 0.99

00:34:24.000 Okay, bribery is not going to work because it is just not sustainable.

00:34:28.000 Threats are not going to work because eventually when you use a gun against somebody who's actually doing something reasonable, people are going to rebel.

00:34:33.000 And third, your scare strategies are not going to work unless you can continue to put out misinformation.

00:34:38.000 You know what scares me more, honestly, than coronavirus for people my age?

00:34:43.000 You know what scares me more? 1.00

00:34:44.000 The probability that complete and utter morons are going to actually be controlling our policy top-down in stupid fashion while being corrupt. 1.00

00:34:53.000 We'll get to the corruption of our public officials in just one second. 1.00

00:34:56.000 First, Let's talk about the fact everybody needs a great pair of wireless earbuds these days.

00:35:00.000 But before you go dropping hundreds of bucks on a pair, you need to check out the wireless earbuds from Raycon.

00:35:04.000 You already know Raycon earbuds start at about half the price of any other premium wireless earbud on the market, and that they sound just as great as other top audio brands you know.

00:35:11.000 Their newest model, the Everyday E25 earbuds, are the best ones yet.

00:35:14.000 Six hours of playtime, seamless Bluetooth pairing, more bass, a more compact design that gives you a nice noise-isolating fit.

00:35:19.000 Raycon's wireless earbuds are incredibly comfortable.

00:35:21.000 They are perfect for conference calls or for binging podcasts, unlike some of your other wireless options.

00:35:26.000 Raycon earbuds are stylish and discreet.

00:35:27.000 They also have a variety of fits for your ears.

00:35:29.000 So a lot of the other wireless earbuds that you have, it's one size fits all, and then they fall out of your ear.

00:35:33.000 Raycon comes with a variety of fits.

00:35:34.000 It comes on like a metal card, and then you can customize the fit of the Raycon to your ear.

00:35:38.000 They come in a variety of colors as well.

00:35:40.000 They're cool looking.

00:35:41.000 They sound great.

00:35:42.000 Now's the time to get the latest and greatest from Raycon.

00:35:44.000 Get 15% off your order at buyraycon.com slash ben.

00:35:47.000 That is B-U-Y-R-A-Y-C-O-N dot com slash ben.

00:35:51.000 Okay, we're going to get to the fact that the public officials who say that you should listen to them, a lot of them are actually not the people that you would trust to babysit your children.

00:36:08.000 Okay, we're going to get to that in just one second.

00:36:10.000 First, I want to take a moment to tell you about The Daily Wire's newest, most exclusive membership tier, All Access.

00:36:15.000 The All Access membership tier is our premium level of membership.

00:36:17.000 All Access members get to participate in All Access Live.

00:36:20.000 That is our brand new interactive programming feature featuring one of us DailyWire hosts as we hang out with you each night, 8 p.m.

00:36:27.000 Eastern, 5 p.m.

00:36:28.000 Pacific.

00:36:29.000 Michael Moles will be hosting you tonight, so get excited.

00:36:31.000 All Access members also get to join us for live, exclusive online Q&As.

00:36:35.000 DailyWire's new discussion feature available on both the website and the DailyWire app.

00:36:38.000 They also get the benefits of other membership tiers, including By the way, I don't think Knowles is hosting tonight.

00:36:43.000 I think I am hosting tonight.

00:36:44.000 So don't be scared.

00:36:45.000 It'll be okay.

00:36:46.000 You won't have to deal with Knowles tonight.

00:36:46.000 I'll be with you tonight.

00:36:48.000 with dedicated editorials from moi.

00:36:50.000 All Access membership also includes the singular irreplaceable leftist tiers Tumblr.

00:36:54.000 By the way, I don't think Knowles is hosting tonight.

00:36:55.000 I think I am hosting tonight.

00:36:56.000 So don't be scared.

00:37:00.000 It'll be okay.

00:37:01.000 I'll be with you tonight.

00:37:02.000 You won't have to deal with Knowles tonight.

00:37:03.000 If you want to deal with Knowles, you can do that tomorrow night.

00:37:05.000 Head on over to dailywire.com slash subscribe to join.

00:37:07.000 Daily Wire is all access club with a new membership or an upgrade.

00:37:10.000 Get 10% off with coupon code SHAPIRO.

00:37:12.000 That is dailywire.com slash subscribe and we will see you there.

00:37:15.000 You're listening to the largest, fastest growing conservative podcast and radio show in the nation.

00:37:19.000 All right.

00:37:25.000 So do I really want our public officials making hard and fast and broad rules about this sort of thing?

00:37:31.000 I understand. 1.00

00:37:32.000 As I've said before, the government's a giant lumbering idiot with a gun. 1.00

00:37:35.000 Sometimes you need a giant lumbering idiot with a gun. 1.00

00:37:37.000 And in the early days of the pandemic when we didn't know anything, the idea that the government was just going to step in and shut everything down, I didn't object to it. 1.00

00:37:43.000 You'll recall.

00:37:44.000 I said, OK, maybe this is necessary.

00:37:45.000 Time will tell whether this is necessary.

00:37:47.000 Maybe we have to stop our health system from being overwhelmed and getting the excess deaths that rise above the line when the curve rises above the line.

00:37:54.000 OK, fine. 1.00

00:37:55.000 But then it turns out that the giant lumbering idiot is Lenny, and he is strangling you when he thinks he is petting you. 1.00

00:38:02.000 And it is a problem. 1.00

00:38:04.000 Okay, and the giant lumber, let us never forget that the public officials who run this country are just as venal and corrupt and self-interested as anybody else, and very often they're making just as many mistakes as anybody else.

00:38:16.000 So-called experts, they're expert on, very often they're expert on the question of statistical analysis, and they are very inexpert on the question of what policy ought to be adopted.

00:38:29.000 So here's the question.

00:38:30.000 Who do you trust?

00:38:32.000 Do you trust you to make decisions about your own welfare and your own well-being?

00:38:36.000 Do you trust your neighbors?

00:38:37.000 I think one of the problems here is as we've lost a sense of community that we feel like, okay, maybe my neighbor is going to be irresponsible and is going to sneeze all over me.

00:38:37.000 Right?

00:38:43.000 So I need the government to tell my neighbor to stay away from me.

00:38:46.000 Or do you look at your community and figure, look, everybody is basically responsible around here.

00:38:49.000 I'm going to socially distance.

00:38:50.000 They're going to socially distance.

00:38:51.000 I know my neighbor.

00:38:52.000 My neighbor doesn't want me to die.

00:38:53.000 I don't want my neighbor to die.

00:38:55.000 The loss of community has been a serious problem because it turns out that the attempt to use government in order to create community is a failure because government is not capable of making the sort of pinpoint decisions that are necessary to balance competing interests.

00:39:09.000 The government can just come in and smash you.

00:39:11.000 That's it. 0.84

00:39:12.000 Okay?

00:39:13.000 And the people who run the government are no better than you.

00:39:15.000 They're no worse than you. 1.00

00:39:16.000 And that means that you're gonna get your fair share of stupidity and corruption. 1.00

00:39:20.000 The story that's being wildly underplayed by the media, I mean, this truly is an amazing story. 1.00

00:39:24.000 There's a health official for overseeing nursing homes in Pennsylvania.

00:39:28.000 70% of all state coronavirus-related deaths in Pennsylvania have occurred in nursing homes.

00:39:32.000 The health secretary is a person named Dr. Rachel Levine.

00:39:35.000 Okay, Dr. Rachel Levine is We had a policy.

00:39:40.000 The policy was that during the COVID-19 outbreak, that facilities in the state continue to accept coronavirus patients who had been discharged from hospitals but were unable to return to their homes.

00:39:50.000 So if you're 80 and you're diagnosed with COVID, you went right back into the nursing home where you promptly infected everyone and everybody died.

00:39:55.000 This is Rachel Levine's stated policy.

00:39:58.000 Now, Dr. Rachel Levine also had a mother.

00:40:00.000 His mother is 95 years old.

00:40:02.000 His mother was in a personal care home.

00:40:04.000 And mom said, you know what?

00:40:06.000 I'm kind of feeling unsafe here.

00:40:07.000 Dr. Rachel Levine promptly took mom out of the old age home and took her home. 0.71

00:40:12.000 So the same state official who was saying, don't worry, we're keeping the nursing home safe by forcing COVID-19 patients back in, was also saying, oh yeah, by the way, I'm taking my mom out of the nursing home.

00:40:23.000 How that has received so much less attention than, for example, Kelly Loeffler, the senator from Georgia who's been accused of sort of trading on insider information about coronavirus, is beyond me.

00:40:33.000 Like, truly, one of those decisions led to the direct deaths of nearly 3,000 people, and one of those decisions led to the personal enrichment of a senator.

00:40:42.000 It seems to me one is much more serious than the other.

00:40:44.000 They can both be serious, but one seems much more serious.

00:40:46.000 By the way, there's still questions as to what Kelly Loeffler knew and whether she was, in fact, trading on the insider information.

00:40:53.000 Also, but that doesn't undermine the general point, which is that everybody is self-interested.

00:40:58.000 Today, FBI agents seized the cell phone data of Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, a ranking Republican from North Carolina, as part of an investigation into his stock sales.

00:41:06.000 Burr and his wife sold between $600,000 and $1.7 million in stocks, over 30 transactions between late January and through mid-February.

00:41:14.000 Before the stock market plunged and his warnings of the coronavirus pandemic became more severe.

00:41:18.000 The bulk of stocks sales from Burr took place on February 13th, just before he made a speech predicting extreme measures would have to be taken to check the spread of the virus.

00:41:27.000 So honestly, if he was saying that in the coming days it's going to get really bad and selling his stocks at the same time, there really is no scandal.

00:41:36.000 If you're conveying to the public that things are getting really bad and also I'm selling my stocks, that's not a scandal.

00:41:42.000 It's only a scandal if you're telling the public everything is fine while you're selling your stocks.

00:41:46.000 That would be a real problem.

00:41:48.000 A spokesperson told CBS News in March, Burr filed a financial disclosure form for personal transactions made several weeks before the U.S.

00:41:54.000 and financial markets showed signs of volatility due to the growing coronavirus outbreak.

00:41:58.000 It is illegal for members to trade stocks based on information the public doesn't have.

00:42:03.000 Burr was among the three senators who voted against the legislation banning such trading in 2012, and he said that he relied solely on public news reports to guide his decision regarding the sale of stocks.

00:42:13.000 Now he's under FBI investigation.

00:42:14.000 Do you want those people making rules for you? 0.56

00:42:16.000 How about, like, the New York City health head?

00:42:18.000 Do you think that we should be making Oxiris Barbo?

00:42:21.000 Do you think that we should have her making the public health rules? 1.00

00:42:24.000 In early March, she was telling everybody everything was fine in New York City. 0.97

00:42:27.000 Not only that, according to the New York Post, New York City's health commissioner blew off an urgent NYPD request for half a million surgical masks as the coronavirus crisis mounted, telling a high-ranking police official, quote, I don't give two rats asses about your cops. 0.92

00:42:42.000 That was the NYC health commissioner. 0.99

00:42:45.000 I don't give two rats asses about your cops. 0.96

00:42:48.000 And then, of course, she's going to rely on the cops to enforce social distancing measures by tackling people. 1.00

00:42:54.000 Oxiris Barbo made the heartless remark during a brief phone conversation in late March.

00:42:58.000 Late March?

00:42:59.000 Okay, not even February.

00:43:01.000 Late March, when New York was shut down with NYPD Chief of Department Terrence Monaghan.

00:43:05.000 Monaghan asked Barbo for 500,000 masks.

00:43:07.000 She said she could only provide 50,000. 0.98

00:43:09.000 She said, I don't give two rats asses about your cops. 1.00

00:43:11.000 I need them for others. 0.95

00:43:14.000 The conversation took place as increasing numbers of cops were calling out sick with symptoms of COVID-19, but before the department suffered its first casualties.

00:43:21.000 The NYPD has recorded 5,490 cases of coronavirus among its 55,000 cops and civilian workers.

00:43:28.000 Patrick Lynch, president of the Police Benevolence Association, called for Barbeau to be fired over her despicable and unforgivable comments.

00:43:34.000 The department appealed to City Hall.

00:43:35.000 They arranged for the NYPD to get 250,000 surgical masks.

00:43:38.000 These are the people who run your policy.

00:43:40.000 You trust those people?

00:43:42.000 Really, I mean, are these people you trust?

00:43:44.000 And this does cross streams.

00:43:45.000 This does cross streams in a pretty significant way with the Michael Flynn story.

00:43:50.000 Because the Michael Flynn story also shows that people who are in charge of your policy are no better than you.

00:43:54.000 This is why you have checks and balances in American government.

00:43:57.000 It is why we do not want an economy run top down.

00:44:00.000 It is why we don't actually want policy run top down.

00:44:02.000 We want policy as localized as humanly possible.

00:44:05.000 And the constant calls of the media, we must have a national strategy.

00:44:08.000 We must have a coordinating figure at the top of American government in every way.

00:44:12.000 No, that's actually the opposite of what you need.

00:44:14.000 What you need is as decentralized a process as possible for determining risk and reward calculations.

00:44:20.000 That's what you need.

00:44:21.000 What you need is resources that are made available, and maybe you need a centralized clearinghouse for those resources made available, like the ventilator situation.

00:44:28.000 So you need the resources made available.

00:44:30.000 But let's also be clear about this.

00:44:32.000 If the states competed to buy ventilators, you think that companies are not going to shift into ventilator production?

00:44:38.000 The fact is that the Defense Production Act was basically invoked for public policy purposes.

00:44:42.000 It was basically invoked, not for public policy even, for public representation purposes.

00:44:46.000 It was for PR.

00:44:48.000 It was basically so that the federal government could tell the media we're doing everything that we can do.

00:44:52.000 The Defense Production Act doesn't actually mean more ventilators are made.

00:44:55.000 It just means that the first ventilators that are made go to the federal government.

00:45:00.000 States competing to pay for ventilators means that companies shift into ventilator production.

00:45:04.000 Like, everybody understood this.

00:45:04.000 ASAP.

00:45:07.000 So, the notion that the federal government is the first stop here, or that federal policymakers are capable of doing this stuff, it's amazing.

00:45:13.000 There are so many people these days who are saying that this demonstrates the need for expertise.

00:45:18.000 Experts provide you information.

00:45:19.000 What this demonstrates is that experts are not capable of making good, broad-based decisions for hundreds of millions of human beings.

00:45:27.000 That what you actually need in the end is what the founders always talked about, which is localism first and foremost.

00:45:32.000 That what you actually need are checks and balances on American government.

00:45:36.000 Imagine if there had been a check and balance on the CDC when it came to... Imagine information free-flowing and checks and balances on the CDC in the early days of the pandemic.

00:45:46.000 Imagine that the information had been flowing through much more freely from the CDC and the FDA to states and localities.

00:45:53.000 Localities, for example, And we knew what was going on with coronavirus much earlier.

00:45:57.000 And that information was really coming out much earlier.

00:46:00.000 And the CDC had not been banning people from doing preliminary tests in Washington.

00:46:05.000 The CDC literally told people, labs that were capable of doing early coronavirus testing not to do it.

00:46:10.000 Because it violated CDC protocols.

00:46:13.000 The experts are there to provide information.

00:46:15.000 They're not there to provide the quote-unquote decisions that rule your life.

00:46:19.000 You are supposed to make those decisions in coordination with your immediate neighbors.

00:46:23.000 Because guess who's most situated to know about what you and your neighbors need?

00:46:27.000 You and your neighbors.

00:46:28.000 Okay, time for A Thing That I Hate.

00:46:30.000 All right, so speaking of corruption, Mark Kelly is doing really well in this U.S.

00:46:39.000 Senate race in Arizona, running against Martha McSally.

00:46:43.000 Martha McSally, of course, lost a Senate race to Kristen Sinema, and then she was appointed to fill the open Senate seat that was provided when John McCain passed away. 1.00

00:46:52.000 Well, Mark Kelly is running against her.

00:46:53.000 He's raised oodles of money, and now he is caught up in a corruption scandal of his own, according to RealClearPolitics.

00:46:58.000 And this thing is not receiving anything like the sort of attention it should be, because Mark Kelly's a Democrat.

00:47:03.000 The former NASA astronaut who commanded the second-to-last space shuttle mission and spent 25 years in the Navy readily acknowledges the myriad threats China poses to the United States. 0.84

00:47:12.000 But the reality is that he has some fairly corrupt ties with China.

00:47:17.000 Kelly has been far more reticent about the investment by a Chinese company in a commercial space exploration venture he co-founded.

00:47:22.000 The company, tech giant Tencent, is one of the world's largest internet enterprises and owns the Chinese social media platform WeChat.

00:47:28.000 The tech's platform has more than a billion users and is suspected of monitoring the activity of many of them inside and outside China.

00:47:34.000 In the fall of 2014, the CEO of Worldview Enterprises, which is the company Kelly co-founded, announced during a visit to Beijing that Tencent had invested an undisclosed sum of money in the Tucson-based space travel venture.

00:47:45.000 In April 2016, as part of a $15 million investment round, Worldview announced it had received more funds from Tencent along with three other venture capital firms.

00:47:54.000 Tencent was already under intense U.S.

00:47:56.000 scrutiny before the COVID-19 world crisis.

00:47:59.000 In addition to surveillance suspicions, Tencent sparked U.S.

00:48:01.000 backlash for suspending its streaming of NBA games after Houston Rockets general manager praised Hong Kong democracy protests last fall.

00:48:09.000 WeChat has been censoring keywords related to COVID-19 since at least January 1st.

00:48:13.000 There's bipartisan approval of the idea that Tencent is dangerous and is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party.

00:48:20.000 Well, Kelly served as a strategic advisor to Worldview until he launched his Senate campaign last year.

00:48:24.000 He maintains a personal financial stake in the company between $100,000 and $250,000 worth of non-public stock, and between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of stock options.

00:48:33.000 His eldest daughter works there as the company's business opportunity manager.

00:48:37.000 Also, Kelly's campaign has accepted $5,000 from David Wallerstein, who serves as Tencent's chief exploration officer.

00:48:43.000 So he's being funded in large part, or at least in significant part, by Tencent.

00:48:49.000 And the increasing dependence on government contracts doesn't seem to have given Kelly Paws about 10 cents investment.

00:48:55.000 If he has, he's not speaking up about it.

00:48:57.000 The Kelly campaign has sidestepped questions from RealClearPolitics on whether he believes the Chinese company's investment is appropriate and whether the money should be returned.

00:49:05.000 A Kelly campaign spokesperson told RCP, Mark's experience as a pilot and astronaut enabled him to help found WorldView in Tucson, which has worked with the Department of Defense and NASA while creating jobs and generating millions in economic impact.

00:49:16.000 And he referred all questions about Tencent's investment to WorldView itself.

00:49:22.000 So that seems like that is worth some investigation, does it not?

00:49:25.000 The fact that a Senate candidate has a large stake in a company that is being funded by Tencent, which is basically a Chinese front group.

00:49:37.000 Pretty incredible stuff.

00:49:38.000 But apparently that does not rise to the level of requiring massive media attention.

00:49:42.000 What we should actually focus our attention on is only Richard Burr.

00:49:45.000 We should never focus our attention on issues like this one, which obviously is a disturbing one.

00:49:51.000 So they're going to have to answer some questions.

00:49:54.000 Markell is going to have to answer some questions.

00:49:56.000 And by the way, so is Joe Biden, who had said for months and months and months that a rising China was actually good for the world.

00:50:02.000 Joe Biden has been pretty, during his tenure, he was pretty soft on China.

00:50:07.000 And his softness on China is going to blow back against him at some point here.

00:50:12.000 The Trump administration has been much harsher on China than the Obama administration ever was.

00:50:16.000 And as we move forward toward the election, there are a lot of Americans, me among them, who are very, very angry at the Chinese government.

00:50:22.000 And Trump ought to campaign on that.

00:50:24.000 And if Democrats decide to take the bizarre case that China is not responsible for this, or that Trump is being too mean to China, good luck with that political take.

00:50:32.000 Okay, and other things that I hate.

00:50:35.000 Let's talk about new revelations in the Michael Flynn case.

00:50:39.000 So there's some new revelations in the Michael Flynn case.

00:50:41.000 Apparently, there was a, there's a report that is out about who tried to unmask Michael Flynn's identity during the Russia probe.

00:50:48.000 So here's the way this works.

00:50:50.000 If there is a wiretap that happens of a foreign national, an American is caught up in that wiretap, that person's name is hidden because you are not allowed to surveil American citizens without an actual FISA warrant.

00:51:00.000 You're not allowed to surveil American citizens without some sort of legal go-ahead.

00:51:03.000 So that person's name is kept confidential, and it's kept private, unless there's an actual request for unmasking from inside the executive branch.

00:51:11.000 And these are supposed to be rare.

00:51:12.000 They are not supposed to be done unless you actually have true suspicion of criminality.

00:51:16.000 Well, as it turns out, Susan Rice, who is the National Security Advisor to President Obama, asked for Michael Flynn to be unmasked, so she could see his name.

00:51:24.000 And then, that was basically leaked and circulated within the Obama administration, so everybody knew that Michael Flynn had been on the phone with Sergey Kislyak.

00:51:30.000 Now again, there's nothing illegal about Michael Flynn being on the phone with Sergey Kislyak.

00:51:33.000 Nothing.

00:51:34.000 There's nothing illegal about that.

00:51:35.000 He was the incoming national security advisor on the phone with the Russian ambassador.

00:51:38.000 That is not illegal in any way, shape, or form.

00:51:41.000 The Obama administration decided to circulate Flynn's name specifically to generate all sorts of concern that Flynn was in thrall to the Russians.

00:51:49.000 Well, now it turns out that a bunch of people in the Obama administration were very, very concerned with Michael Flynn.

00:51:54.000 According to the New York Post, former Vice President Joe Biden and former FBI Director James Comey were among the top officials who tried to unmask Michael Flynn's identity during the Russia probe, according to a report by the Acting Director of National Intelligence, Richard Grenell.

00:52:07.000 The bombshell letter first reported by Fox News on Wednesday afternoon was sent to Republican senators by Grinnell as they seek to investigate the origins of the FBI's malign probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

00:52:18.000 Intelligence Chiefs John Brennan and James Clapper were also included on a list of 23 Obama-era officials who allegedly tried to reveal the identity of Flynn during the presidential transition period.

00:52:28.000 So is Obama Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and former U.S.

00:52:30.000 Ambassador to the U.N.

00:52:32.000 Samantha Power.

00:52:33.000 Nine names were redacted for apparent national security purposes.

00:52:36.000 Biden's name emerged in connection to the Flynn unmasking a day after he denied any knowledge of the Flynn probe.

00:52:41.000 George Stephanopoulos had asked him, what did you know about these moves to investigate Flynn?

00:52:45.000 Was there anything improper done?

00:52:46.000 He said, I know nothing about these moves to investigate Michael Flynn.

00:52:49.000 Well, weird, because not only were you in a meeting with Barack Obama and members of the DOJ and FBI, where members of the DOJ were shocked to learn that Obama actually knew about the Flynn call, And they were shocked that Obama himself was in the loop.

00:53:03.000 Biden was at that meeting.

00:53:04.000 Now it turns out that Biden was on the list of people asking for the unmasking of Flynn.

00:53:08.000 And again, you're only supposed to unmask people when there's actual suspicion of criminal activity.

00:53:12.000 And when you are trying to hide information from that person because you might suspect that person is going to be a criminal.

00:53:16.000 Rand Paul, Senator from Kentucky, he went off on this.

00:53:18.000 He said, listen, this is abuse of power.

00:53:21.000 And it is abuse of power.

00:53:23.000 Vice President Biden and more than a dozen Obama administration officials requested and received the power to unmask General Flynn during his phone call with the Russian ambassador.

00:53:35.000 James Clapper, James Comey, John Brennan, Samantha Powers, and the President's Chief of Staff all individually asked to unmask General Flynn and to listen to his phone conversation.

00:53:49.000 Intriguingly, a dozen more administration officials all chose to unmask General Flynn.

00:53:56.000 Now, again, it's okay to unmask somebody for purposes of internal discussion.

00:54:00.000 You can do that.

00:54:01.000 What is not okay is that within days, this had been leaked to the Washington Post.

00:54:04.000 That's illegal.

00:54:05.000 Leaking an American citizen's name after unmasking?

00:54:08.000 That's illegal stuff.

00:54:08.000 And when it turns out that everybody... You have to know that the natural consequence of every single person in the Obama administration in a five-mile radius unmasking a guy, it is very likely that's going to end up with the media.

00:54:19.000 Everybody sort of gets this.

00:54:21.000 Quinn Hilliard has a piece over at the Washington Examiner pointing this out.

00:54:24.000 They say that, he says, people are making too much of the unmasking itself, which could have been entirely justified, but what was almost certainly illegal was the leak to the Washington Post of the information about those unmasked calls.

00:54:35.000 And again, should there be a presumption that somebody is going to be leaked if it turns out that everybody inside the Obama administration was requesting the unmasking?

00:54:46.000 At a certain point, does it become a little bit predictable that this thing got leaked to the media?

00:54:51.000 So President Trump went off on Biden.

00:54:52.000 He says, how does Biden know nothing about the unmasking if he's one of the unmaskers?

00:54:55.000 I mean, he literally said he knew nothing about the investigation.

00:54:57.000 He was one of the people requesting the unmasking.

00:55:00.000 I watched Biden yesterday on Good Morning America being interviewed by one of your colleagues, George Stephanopoulos.

00:55:07.000 And he said he knew nothing about anything.

00:55:10.000 He has no idea.

00:55:11.000 He knows nothing about anything.

00:55:13.000 Nothing at all.

00:55:14.000 And then it gets released today that he was a big unmasker.

00:55:19.000 So how do you know nothing if you're one of the unmaskers?

00:55:22.000 It's one of the very big stories, and I suspect you'll have, if it's possible, even bigger stories coming out.

00:55:30.000 Fact check, true.

00:55:32.000 Fact check, true.

00:55:32.000 By the way, I think that the finest moment here came from a Biden spokesperson.

00:55:36.000 So a Biden spokesperson slammed CBS's Catherine Herridge. 0.96

00:55:38.000 Herridge is a reporter on this beat, and she reported about the unmasking.

00:55:42.000 So a Biden spokesperson promptly tweeted out, his name is Andrew Bates, Catherine Herridge is a partisan right-wing hack who's a regular conduit for conservative media manipulation ploys because she agrees to publicize things before contacting the target to ask for comments.

00:55:54.000 Nothing richer than a Biden person attacking members of the media.

00:55:58.000 It's an assault on our free press, on our free press institutions.

00:56:01.000 It's just an assault.

00:56:04.000 By the way, I will note that it is pretty astonishing that members of the Obama tribe and the Biden tribe, the political tribe here, that those people are very upset with the media.

00:56:14.000 You don't get to be upset with the media, guys.

00:56:16.000 You leaked this information to the media in the first place.

00:56:20.000 Susan Rice, by the way, was asked for comments on all of the unmasking stories, and she declined.

00:56:24.000 She basically ran away from the reporter. 0.99

00:56:26.000 How do you respond to those who say you abused your power with unmasking in 2016?

00:56:30.000 Excuse me?

00:56:34.000 I wanted to just ask you about DOJ investigating the origins of the Russia probe.

00:56:39.000 Do you think they'll find anything, any wrongdoing on the part of the Obama administration?

00:56:42.000 I have no idea what DOJ is doing.

00:56:44.000 Thanks.

00:56:45.000 Do you have any comment on them exploring the origins of the Russia probe, investigating the investigators?

00:56:50.000 Do you think it's a worthy cause to do that?

00:56:51.000 I'm not commenting.

00:56:52.000 Thank you.

00:56:54.000 Okay, so that is the way that the Obama administration, you know, those professionals who definitely did not politicize intelligence, but were leaking everything that they could find about the Trump administration out into the public.

00:57:04.000 Just brilliant, brilliant handling.

00:57:05.000 The Wall Street Journal has a good editorial today about all of this.

00:57:08.000 They say, when news stories appeared in early 2017 about Michael Flynn's conversation with Russia's ambassador to the U.S., these columns wondered how Flynn's call was so widely known.

00:57:15.000 The names of private U.S.

00:57:16.000 citizens caught on tape by U.S.

00:57:18.000 intelligence are supposed to be masked so that privacy is protected.

00:57:20.000 Well, now we know.

00:57:22.000 GOP Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson on Wednesday released a declassified list of Obama administration officials, who in their waning days in power, unmasked the conversations of Mr. Flynn, who is set to become Trump's national security advisor.

00:57:33.000 It seems everybody but the night janitor wanted to know who Flynn was talking to.

00:57:37.000 A stunning 39 separate officials snooped on Flynn's conversations with foreign actors, lodging nearly 50 unmasking demands between November 30, 2016 and January 12, 2017.

00:57:47.000 Our sources say the nearly dozen redacted names on the list are likely intelligence types who might have a legit interest.

00:57:52.000 Most of the rest are partisan officials.

00:57:55.000 Flynn was unmasked by at least four U.S.

00:57:56.000 ambassadors, six Treasury officials, people connected to the Energy and Justice Departments, and NATO.

00:58:01.000 Then-FBI Director James Comey, then-CIA Director John Brennan, and then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also made the list.

00:58:09.000 The Flynn unmasking is important, they say, because it occurred amid a media frenzy over supposed Trump campaign collusion with Russia.

00:58:14.000 There are other dots to connect.

00:58:15.000 Documents released late last week show that former Deputy Attorney General Tally Yates first learned about the Flynn wiretapping from Barack Obama personally.

00:58:22.000 In a January 5th, 2017 Oval Office meeting, at least one of the unmaskers must have told Obama.

00:58:28.000 And the question there again is not the unmasking.

00:58:30.000 The question is, why was all this being leaked out?

00:58:33.000 And the answer is that our institutions, those same institutions that are now tasked with making decisions about you and your life and your level of freedom, Those institutions botched this one beyond botchery.

00:58:45.000 The good news is that so long as they are targeting Trump, they always have the love of the media.

00:58:48.000 So Adam Schiff, who spent three years lying that Trump-Russia collusion was going to reveal the seething, festering wound in the body of America's politics.

00:58:58.000 Yesterday, he said it was Bill Barr who was politicizing the DOJ.

00:59:02.000 It's all Bill Barr's fault for dropping the case against Flynn.

00:59:05.000 The problem is that Bill Barr has so politicized the Justice Department, the justice system, that people can't have confidence that a decision like this to release Paul Manafort to do home imprisonment is based on the merits.

00:59:20.000 This system stinks.

00:59:22.000 And that's the result of Bill Barr politicizing the Justice Department.

00:59:26.000 People have lost confidence in its neutrality, that justice is blind.

00:59:32.000 Instead, they think that justice Bends to Donald Trump's will, and that's just a tremendous disservice and risk to the rule of law.

00:59:41.000 I don't want to hear about risks to the rule of law from Adam the Liar Chef.

00:59:45.000 I want to hear about risks to rule of law from this bag of tools.

00:59:48.000 Alrighty, time for a quick thing that I like.

00:59:51.000 So, things that I like today.

00:59:52.000 You're looking for a classic movie?

00:59:53.000 I'll give you THE classic movie.

00:59:55.000 That classic movie is The Godfather.

00:59:57.000 Every line is a classic.

00:59:58.000 All the performances are just spectacular.

01:00:00.000 There's Al Pacino before he went full Al Pacino.

01:00:02.000 and actually had some subtlety to him.

01:00:04.000 He's phenomenal.

01:00:05.000 Marlon Brando is phenomenal.

01:00:07.000 You forget how good this movie is until you rewatch it.

01:00:09.000 It's one of those movies that is so well-liked that you forget that it's actually an amazing piece of filmmaking, that it is entertaining from beginning to end.

01:00:17.000 The dialogue is fantastic.

01:00:18.000 All the performances are just great.

01:00:20.000 I've started on Godfather 2, which may be even better.

01:00:23.000 It is possible the Godfather trilogy is the best trilogy of all time, even though the third one stinks.

01:00:28.000 Just because the first two are maybe two of the five best movies ever made.

01:00:32.000 So if you're looking for something to watch tonight, then make sure you go check out The Godfather if you haven't seen it for a while.

01:00:39.000 Honestly, you've probably forgotten how good it is.

01:00:41.000 I did, and I used to watch it like incessantly.

01:00:43.000 So go check out The Godfather tonight instead of watching Like Capone, which I've heard is just trash, so check that out.

01:00:48.000 Alrighty, we'll be back here later today with two additional hours of content.

01:00:52.000 Also, we have an All Access Live tonight, so subscribe, become an All Access member, and I'll hang out with you an hour tonight.

01:00:57.000 I will wear a t-shirt, that is always the promise.

01:00:59.000 There probably will be singing and bizarre musical sort of interruptions.

01:01:05.000 It gets weird, it gets weird, but you can be part of all the weirdness over at dailywire.com slash subscribe.

01:01:10.000 We will see you then.

01:01:11.000 I'm Ben Shapiro.

01:01:12.000 This is The Ben Shapiro Show.

01:01:13.000 The Ben Shapiro Show is produced by Colton Haas.

01:01:20.000 Directed by Mike Joyner.

01:01:21.000 Executive producer Jeremy Boring.

01:01:23.000 Supervising producer Mathis Glover and Robert Sterling.

01:01:26.000 Assistant director Pavel Lydowsky.

01:01:28.000 Technical producer Austin Stevens.

01:01:29.000 Playback and media operated by Nick Sheehan.

01:01:32.000 Associate producer Katie Swinnerton.

01:01:34.000 Edited by Adam Sajovic.

01:01:35.000 Audio is mixed by Mike Koromina.

01:01:37.000 Hair and makeup is by Nika Geneva.

01:01:39.000 The Ben Shapiro Show is a Daily Wire production.

01:01:41.000 Copyright Daily Wire 2020.

01:01:43.000 The unmasking of Mike Flynn in the last days of the Obama administration is the most egregious political scandal of our lifetimes, and we've just learned it goes all the way up to Joe Biden, maybe even higher.

01:01:54.000 Meanwhile, the new masking order in L.A.

01:01:57.000 caps off the most arbitrary political power grab of our lifetimes.

01:02:01.000 Luckily, President Trump is starting to break with his expert doctor dictators.

01:02:05.000 Then, another rough interview for Joe Biden, a big Republican win in California, and finally the mailbag.

The Ben Shapiro Show - May 14, 2020

Our Dying Institutions | Ep. 1011

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript