The Ben Shapiro Show - The Brainrot Right Has LOST Its Mind

00:11:17.000 Do you believe that Charlie Kirk was murdered by a conspiracy of malignant Israelis? 0.99

00:11:23.000 Do you believe that Islamic tyrannies do an incredible job of building clean and robust cities? 1.00

00:11:28.000 Do you think that America ought to emulate Russia? 0.94

00:11:31.000 If so, do I have some podcast for you?

00:11:33.000 You see, we now live in a world of panic, hysteria, and conspiratorial musing.

00:11:38.000 In short, we live increasingly in an online insane asylum.

00:11:42.000 And there are a lot of folks who make bank as the wardens.

00:11:45.000 Would you like to escape the asylum?

00:11:47.000 Just stick with me.

00:11:48.000 This is The Ben Shapiro Show.

00:11:55.000 Well, why don't we start with some facts?

00:11:56.000 Because we're about to wade into a tide of people who don't know or don't care about the facts a lot.

00:12:01.000 Well, here are the results of a brand new CBS poll among Republicans.

00:12:07.000 Okay?

00:12:08.000 Here's the question.

00:12:09.000 One, should America change Iran's leaders to ones that are pro-U.S. Republicans, 80% yes. 0.81

00:12:16.000 80%.

00:12:18.000 Hey, how about this one?

00:12:20.000 Should America make sure Iran's people are safe and free?

00:12:23.000 90% of Republicans say yes.

00:12:26.000 By the way, so do 76% of independents and 74% of Democrats.

00:12:31.000 How important is it?

00:12:32.000 They say important.

00:12:34.000 Is it unacceptable to end the conflict with the current regime in power?

00:12:38.000 Well, overall, Americans say that it is not acceptable to leave the current regime in power by a margin of 53 to 47.

00:12:47.000 71% of Republicans agree, so do 51% of independents.

00:12:51.000 How about whether people approve of military action against Iran?

00:12:56.000 84% of Republicans say yes, compared to 16% who disapprove.

00:13:01.000 And as it turns out, young Republicans are way more hawkish than they have been portrayed.

00:13:06.000 There's a brand new poll from Sean Cooperman Research, and it finds that among conservatives age 30 and under, 61% support the war compared with 24% who oppose.

00:13:15.000 35% of young conservatives believe that this operation benefits both Israel and the United States, and another 31% say it primarily serves America's interests.

00:13:25.000 Only one in five say it serves only Israel's interests.

00:13:27.000 And nearly seven in 10 are sympathetic to the importance of America's relationship with Israel.

00:13:33.000 And yet and yet, there is an increasingly large segment of the right that is now brain rotted.

00:13:39.000 This is not all critics of the war, obviously.

00:13:41.000 There are plenty of legit concerns about the war in Iran.

00:13:43.000 How will it end?

00:13:44.000 Will there be lasting economic impact?

00:13:46.000 What comes after?

00:13:48.000 But the brain rot crew aren't asking those questions.

00:13:50.000 They're asking different questions. 0.99

00:13:52.000 Questions like, do the Jews control Donald Trump's brain? 0.98

00:13:57.000 And also, did Israelis conspire to kill Charlie Kirk? 0.98

00:14:00.000 And also, should we be more like Qatar?

00:14:04.000 The Brain Rot crew are those who are advocating a weaker American role in the world.

00:14:08.000 They're obsessed with conspiratorial views about America.

00:14:11.000 And of course, about Israel and about Jews and about a lot of other stuff, including maybe the moon landing.

00:14:16.000 Well, the Brain Rot right hero of the day is Joe Kent.

00:14:19.000 You'll remember him.

00:14:20.000 He resigned recently from his position as director of the National Center for Counterterrorism, supposedly over his opposition to the war.

00:14:27.000 The real reason it seems that he actually quit is because he was under investigation for leaking classified information.

00:14:33.000 Now, there is well-founded suspicion.

00:14:35.000 It was Kent who was providing information to Candace Owens about Charlie Kirk's murder.

00:14:40.000 As we have discussed, Andrew Colvett of TPUSA said yesterday he actually sent screenshots of conversations he had with Charlie Kirk to Joe Kent.

00:14:48.000 And Joe Kent had then asked Colvett to release those same texts publicly.

00:14:52.000 And Colvett said no.

00:14:54.000 And then the same texts were released mysteriously by the most crazy conspiracist of our time, Candace Owens.

00:15:00.000 Here was Andrew Colvett explaining this just the other day.

00:15:03.000 The actual fact of the matter is that behind the scenes, we have given everything we know to give, every single piece of information.

00:15:10.000 This was one of them.

00:15:11.000 I was told I could trust Joe Kent.

00:15:13.000 I provided the screen grabs to Joe Kent.

00:15:16.000 And I don't know what happened to them at that point.

00:15:19.000 Okay, I just want to make that very clear.

00:15:22.000 Eventually, Joe did message me and suggest that I make those screen grabs public.

00:15:29.000 I declined because those were shared privately.

00:15:32.000 I didn't want to be reckless with them in the public.

00:15:35.000 There could be innocent people on that group chat that would then be harmed.

00:15:38.000 So I declined.

00:15:40.000 But then, fast forward another week or two, and they were made public.

00:15:44.000 So that's what I know is that Joe suggested that they be made public.

00:15:48.000 I declined.

00:15:49.000 Then they were made public.

00:15:51.000 Can I 100% categorically say that he leaked them?

00:15:55.000 No.

00:15:56.000 But those are the facts.

00:15:57.000 Maybe somebody on his team.

00:15:59.000 Maybe they got passed around.

00:16:00.000 Maybe somebody else leaked them.

00:16:02.000 But those are the facts of the matter.

00:16:05.000 Now, I'll be real about this.

00:16:07.000 I do not believe that Joe Kent didn't leak those texts to Candace Owens.

00:16:11.000 After all, it is Candace Owens who routinely claims that she had inside intelligence sources in the government. 0.99

00:16:17.000 And then back in October 2025, right, shortly after Charlie's murder, she actually chided the FBI's Kash Patel for excluding Joe Kent from intelligence briefings.

00:16:24.000 Here she was back then.

00:16:26.000 Right.

00:16:27.000 This is the headline that came out of the Daily Mail.

00:16:29.000 Kash Patel shuts down Charlie Kirk foreign intelligence probe in an explosive feud with Trump's counter-terror chief.

00:16:38.000 It really makes you wonder what Kash Patel is hiding.

00:16:43.000 There's absolutely no reason for Kash Patel to say, only I'm the person that's supposed to be looking into this.

00:16:48.000 It makes no sense.

00:16:48.000 If he is interested in solving Charlie Kirk's murder, then Kash Patel would be working with everyone.

00:16:57.000 Now, call me suspicious, but I do not think that Candace Owens and Joe Kent are strangers.

00:17:02.000 It would be similarly shocking if Joe Kent was not leaking to Tucker Carlson, who is one of his friends.

00:17:07.000 And also, by the way, his first stop after leaving the government, just a few days before, you'll recall, Carlson claimed he had inside information from the intelligence community about being targeted by the CIA.

00:17:17.000 Hmm.

00:17:18.000 Where could that have come from?

00:17:19.000 So many mysteries, so many enigmas.

00:17:21.000 Well, so here's the thing about Joe Kent.

00:17:23.000 He's not just allegedly a serial leaker. 0.97

00:17:25.000 He's kind of a nut. 0.83

00:17:26.000 He's not just a nut because he says that Israel bamboozled President Trump into attacking Iran. 0.74

00:17:31.000 And then just for good measure, went to blame Israel for ISIS in Syria and also the original Gulf War and possibly the Korean War and maybe the War of 1812. 0.58

00:17:41.000 He is a nut because he truly believes that Charlie Kirk may not have been shot by Tyler Robinson. 0.93

00:17:46.000 That's the gay furry lover who absolutely 100% shot Charlie Kirk. 1.00

00:17:50.000 It was Tyler Robinson's DNA that was found reportedly on a towel around the murder weapon, the rifle. 0.87

00:17:56.000 A screwdriver recovered on the roof of the crime scene, apparently, had his DNA on it.

00:18:01.000 His palm prints were reportedly found on the roof as well.

00:18:04.000 He texted his furry boyfriend that he was involved with the shooting.

00:18:07.000 He apparently confessed it to his parents.

00:18:09.000 The evidence here is stronger than the evidence in the OJ case by a mile.

00:18:14.000 Nonetheless, yesterday, Joe Kent went all the way and then publicly be clowned himself.

00:18:18.000 In an interview with Michael Schellenberger at Substack Page, Kent said he would actually testify on behalf of Kirk's alleged assassin, Tyler Robinson.

00:18:28.000 Yet you heard me right.

00:18:29.000 He said that he would actually testify if called to do so on behalf of Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin.

00:18:36.000 Quote, the FBI was pretty forceful in saying we couldn't investigate further, he told public.

00:18:40.000 I saw no action being taken.

00:18:42.000 Ken said he knew he might be called as a witness before he made his statements that a foreign nexus may have been involved in Kirk's assassination.

00:18:49.000 I was definitely warned of that over and over again, said Kent.

00:18:52.000 If I end up having to play that role, then I'll do it.

00:18:54.000 It's not something I'm seeking.

00:18:56.000 When he was told that that testimony might help Tyler Robinson's defense, Ken said, quote, then honestly, so be it.

00:19:02.000 If it gets us to the truth, that's obviously the risk I'm taking.

00:19:06.000 Kent went on to describe the things he found suspicious.

00:19:08.000 Quote, the stakes are high.

00:19:09.000 Israel really, really, really wanted this war. 0.69

00:19:11.000 They believe it's existential.

00:19:13.000 The lone gunman part always struck me as a bit odd, said Kent.

00:19:15.000 I've been in combat.

00:19:16.000 I've done a lot of shooting.

00:19:17.000 The shot Robinson took, if that was indeed how Charlie was killed, I don't think it's an easy shot.

00:19:24.000 It's kind of an easy shot.

00:19:26.000 And also, I'm just going to point out that that is indeed how Charlie was killed.

00:19:32.000 Robinson, he says, I know videos of him messing around with guns, but he didn't seem very familiar with that gun from the stuff I've read that the FBI still has under lock and key.

00:19:40.000 Ken said, I'm not casting doubt on whether Tyler Robinson is innocent or guilty.

00:19:43.000 I'm saying we were not allowed to examine any foreign links to the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

00:19:48.000 This is bat bleep lunacy, of course. 1.00

00:19:52.000 In fact, it's actually quite evil because if you are providing evidence to try to get the alleged murder of Charlie Kirk off the hook in a case where he clearly killed Charlie Kirk, in my opinion, well, that's terrible and evil.

00:20:06.000 There is zero evidence to support Kent's contentions.

00:20:09.000 He has not provided any.

00:20:11.000 He's just asking questions.

00:20:13.000 Or according to the queen of the asylum, Candace Owens, there's always the possibility that Kent thinks he's preventing the, quote, hostile takeover of Charlie's legacy or some such nonsense. 1.00

00:20:22.000 It's so stupid, it's kind of hard to follow. 0.98

00:20:24.000 But here was Candace Owens, Joe Kent's friend, earlier this week. 1.00

00:20:28.000 I told you the truth based off of my discussions with Charlie about where his headspace was at when it came to Israel.

00:20:35.000 I didn't need Joe Kent for that.

00:20:36.000 I didn't even know Joe Kent at all.

00:20:38.000 I'd never had a single communication with Joe Kent until after Charlie Kirk was assassinated.

00:20:43.000 That is the honest to God truth.

00:20:44.000 I didn't know this man at all.

00:20:46.000 And so this whole idea that everyone's colluding, colluding to tell the truth, Megan Kelly told the truth.

00:20:51.000 Tara Carlson told the truth.

00:20:53.000 And you guys hate us for that.

00:20:56.000 They told the truth about what?

00:20:59.000 About what?

00:21:00.000 Actually, I'm pretty sure that Megan Kelly will not tell the truth about Candace Owens.

00:21:04.000 That's been my major problem throughout.

00:21:06.000 And Tucker Carlson, man, the alp just got to his brain.

00:21:10.000 And here's the thing.

00:21:10.000 It's not just Joe Kent who is the problem here.

00:21:13.000 First, let's talk about protecting your online activity.

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00:22:37.000 So as you know, we have a program here on the show where our members get to ask me questions during the show.

00:22:37.000 All righty.

00:22:42.000 That could be you if you choose to be our friend.

00:22:44.000 So become a member right now.

00:22:46.000 Producer Savvy, have we questions from our members?

00:22:48.000 We do have questions.

00:22:49.000 So I know you don't prescribe intentions to people and you can't see inside their heads, but what do you think Ken is actually thinking?

00:22:55.000 Why are the brain rot people doing this? 0.75

00:22:56.000 Is this all electoral motivation?

00:22:58.000 I mean, I will get to that in a minute why I think they are doing this, but I do think that they have a worldview.

00:23:02.000 That worldview is incredibly skeptical of America and American systems.

00:23:05.000 Believes that pretty much all the systems under which we live are run by conspiratorial elites.

00:23:12.000 And so it is an attempt to undermine all of our institutions and also, you know, to make a little bank on the side, which brings us to Ayat Tucker Carlson.

00:23:20.000 He delighted the America Last contingent earlier this week with some comments about what an awful, terrible place our country is.

00:23:27.000 Here is apparently what that sounded like.

00:23:29.000 This is a little bit old, a couple months old.

00:23:32.000 There's not a single Western city that's thriving.

00:23:37.000 And they're all degrading in exactly the same way.

00:23:40.000 Is a lot of it just a moral decay?

00:23:42.000 Or is it actually true for every city?

00:23:44.000 It's a lot of things, but it's self-hatred. 0.92

00:23:46.000 Crazy. 0.81

00:23:46.000 Every city. 0.81

00:23:47.000 Every European city, every American city, it's just why people lose their will to live, their will to pass on their culture, their values, their religion to their children, their will to have children. 0.95

00:23:56.000 It's all gone.

00:23:57.000 You go to the Gulf and it's incredible to be in a place that has pride in itself, that believes in its religion and culture, that thinks we're on to something.

00:24:07.000 And this is great.

00:24:08.000 Look at what we're doing.

00:24:09.000 We're really proud of this.

00:24:10.000 Those people are happy.

00:24:12.000 They're welcoming of others.

00:24:13.000 They're tolerant of diversity.

00:24:16.000 Right.

00:24:16.000 Tolerant of diversity.

00:24:17.000 There's none of that here.

00:24:18.000 Are you kidding?

00:24:20.000 If you believe that the countries of the Middle East are more tolerant of diversity than the West, you're out of your mind.

00:24:26.000 Also, the reason that some parts of certain cities are really nice is because they are run by tyrants.

00:24:31.000 And so those parts of those cities are really nice.

00:24:33.000 And then a lot of the rest of the country is not so nice.

00:24:35.000 And if you think that the really, really nice parts of the country are populated by 18-year-olds from the outskirts, you're out of your mind. 1.00

00:24:43.000 This is all nonsense.

00:24:45.000 Carlson went on to explain in the same interview that actually the only reason that there are Muslim extremists is because all of these people are from places degraded by the colonial powers. 0.98

00:24:57.000 And you notice like in ISIS or Al-Qaeda or like the Muslim extremists, they're all from like collapsed, pathetic societies dominated by colonial powers. 1.00

00:25:10.000 They've been degraded and that's why they're so angry. 0.95

00:25:14.000 Right. 0.62

00:25:14.000 So there's something about being degraded that turns you into a violent nutcase extremist. 0.62

00:25:19.000 You're seeing a lot of violent nutcase extremists in our country.

00:25:21.000 Not surprising because the country is being degraded.

00:25:23.000 Correct.

00:25:24.000 So in a country with self-confidence, people are tolerant and open-minded and happy.

00:25:29.000 And in a country where people are told to hate themselves, they start to hate others.

00:25:34.000 Yes, there are no people associated with the Muslim Brotherhood in, say, Saudi Arabia.

00:25:38.000 They don't have a problem at all with that.

00:25:39.000 There are no terrorists who are at all associated with any of the countries he's talking about in the Middle East.

00:25:44.000 How is his worldview literally any different from Ilhan Omar's?

00:25:44.000 I just have a question.

00:25:48.000 It is identical.

00:25:49.000 Apparently, terrorism springs from Western evils, always and forever.

00:25:54.000 He's just howard Zin in a new flannel shirt.

00:25:59.000 By the way, I'm just going to ask, which colonial power is responsible for Iran sending multiple assassins to kill President Trump? 0.62

00:26:05.000 Is that President Trump who's responsible for that?

00:26:08.000 According to Tucker from last summer, by the way, you'll remember that he actually said we should not only kill the Ayatollah if they tried to kill Trump, we should actually nuke Iran if they tried to kill Trump. 0.95

00:26:18.000 Iran is trying to murder Donald Trump and has hired hitmen. 0.98

00:26:22.000 Do I know the name of the hitmen?

00:26:24.000 And I don't think we do either because we would apprehend them if we knew their names.

00:26:24.000 No, I'm sorry.

00:26:27.000 Then why don't you take it seriously enough to support killing the Ayatollah in response to protect our president? 0.83

00:26:34.000 But you don't.

00:26:35.000 This doesn't even make any sense.

00:26:37.000 And you're calling me an isolationist.

00:26:39.000 If I believed that that was true, I would support military action against the government of Iran. 0.74

00:26:46.000 So apparently he doesn't believe that it's true, even though that talking point totally backfired on him.

00:26:51.000 In fact, you know, Tucker has spent a while here saying that Sharia law, maybe it's not that bad. 1.00

00:26:56.000 Maybe it's not so bad.

00:26:59.000 Sharia law is bad, Seth. 0.78

00:27:01.000 I don't know if you've heard that.

00:27:02.000 It's bad.

00:27:02.000 It's worse than what's happening in New York and Detroit.

00:27:05.000 It's just bad.

00:27:07.000 I don't know why.

00:27:08.000 It's just like years of brainwashing.

00:27:11.000 Just like, I'm not Muslim. 0.99

00:27:12.000 I'm not for Sharia law. 0.90

00:27:13.000 On the other hand, compared to what?

00:27:15.000 Compared to Baltimore?

00:27:16.000 And you can tell when you go to a place like Abu Dhabi or Riyadh, like, oh, man, I hope we don't ever wind up with a society like this with a rape rate of zero where you leave your keys in your Lamborghini and don't ever worry about it being stolen.

00:27:29.000 And, you know, if people want to get wasted, they do it at home.

00:27:32.000 You know what I mean?

00:27:33.000 Yeah.

00:27:34.000 Boy, I hope we don't wind up with that.

00:27:39.000 I mean, I'm just going to point out that openly practicing Christianity in Riyadh is kind of a problem.

00:27:45.000 And as for his suggestion that Sharia law is actually better than what happens in American cities, I really urge him to go to a Sharia law country, like, say, Pakistan or Afghanistan and try out his lifestyle there. 0.99

00:27:59.000 All of this is patently insane, of course.

00:28:00.000 It's also strange, given that Tucker, long before he was on the Elp, had this to say about radical Islam.

00:28:07.000 Pew research poll findings that one of every four Muslim Americans younger than 30 believes suicide bombing in the defense of Islam is justifiable. 0.99

00:28:15.000 For instance, do you believe that Arabs carried out the 9-11 attacks?

00:28:18.000 Only 40% believe Arabs carried them out.

00:28:20.000 Do they think the Jews did?

00:28:21.000 I get that decent Muslim Americans feel under attack.

00:28:24.000 They feel like they're being unfairly portrayed as terrorists.

00:28:26.000 I understand all that.

00:28:27.000 But at some point, you have to say, this really is a real problem, and it's discrediting all of us.

00:28:31.000 And until we take it seriously, it's going to continue, no?

00:28:33.000 We can debate the details here, but I think it's important to acknowledge a baseline, and that is that there have been an awful lot of attacks where actual people died in the United States and in Europe, committed by people saying really clearly we're acting in the name of Islam.

00:28:45.000 Hasidic Jews.

00:28:46.000 I mean, they're a set-apart community, speak a different language, not assimilated.

00:28:50.000 But I don't see a lot of terror attacks committed by those groups.

00:28:53.000 Often hear Americans say, I have said, including last night, is that assimilation is the problem.

00:28:58.000 These people are not assimilated.

00:28:59.000 And yet you look around, and there are actually a number of groups in our society and yours who aren't assimilated.

00:29:04.000 Hasidic Jews live apart. 1.00

00:29:06.000 The Amish live apart. 1.00

00:29:07.000 They pose no threat at all to the country they live in.

00:29:10.000 They love the country.

00:29:11.000 Why is this group different?

00:29:13.000 With his new perspective, it's no surprise to find that Tucker has some newfound friends.

00:29:16.000 Shadi Hamid, the radical left columnist for the Washington Post, says that Democrats would now vote for Tucker over Josh Shapiro.

00:29:23.000 I wonder why.

00:29:24.000 It's a big mystery again.

00:29:25.000 So many mysteries.

00:29:26.000 Quote, if it was Shapiro versus Tucker, I could imagine a significant number of young progressives, Arabs and Muslims, sitting it out or actually voting for Tucker.

00:29:34.000 Again, Hassan Piker, Tucker Carlson, totally indistinguishable on foreign policy at this point.

00:29:38.000 Now, to be fair to Tucker, I don't want to just single out his days talking about the wonders of Islam.

00:29:44.000 He's been spending years talking about the wonders of China and the glories of Russia as well.

00:29:49.000 You all remember Tucker's magic visit to a Russian grocery store in which blue blood McSilversmoon over here discovered the incredible magic of shopping carts.

00:29:57.000 So a long-standing feature, maybe the longest-standing feature of Cold War propaganda in the West was the Soviet grocery store.

00:30:07.000 No products, no choices, shoddily made things.

00:30:13.000 And it wasn't actually propaganda.

00:30:14.000 It was real.

00:30:15.000 And you can look up the pictures on the internet if you want.

00:30:17.000 So we thought it would be interesting to take a look at a contemporary modern day 2024 Russian grocery store two years into sanctions.

00:30:26.000 Here we go.

00:30:29.000 All right.

00:30:30.000 Here we go.

00:30:31.000 So I guess you put in 10 rubles here and you get it back.

00:30:36.000 When you put the cart back.

00:30:39.000 So it's free, but there's an incentive to return it and not just bring it to your homeless encampment.

00:30:46.000 This is the grocery cart escalator.

00:30:46.000 Okay.

00:30:50.000 This is designed, I'm figuring this out now, where the wheels don't move.

00:30:55.000 They lock on the grocery cart escalator.

00:30:57.000 Look, Ma, no hands. 0.72

00:31:06.000 I'm never going to get over it.

00:31:07.000 I'm never going to get over that clip.

00:31:08.000 I'm just not.

00:31:09.000 Then he started sniffing the bread all weird. 0.99

00:31:12.000 I mean, motherfucker head on over to an Aldis are a target. 0.99

00:31:17.000 Like seriously, my dude. 0.99

00:31:19.000 But of course, Tucker.

00:31:23.000 But of course, Tucker on Russia.

00:31:26.000 And the real reason, apparently, that we are all anti-Russia is not because Russia is an expansionist power with designs on everything that is east of the Atlantic Ocean. 0.96

00:31:36.000 No, the reason that we are against Russia is apparently, according to Tucker Carlson, because it is white and Christian, and we all hate white Christian people, which is why we hate Russia. 0.85

00:31:45.000 My main instinct is that the lesson of World War II for some people was white Christian countries are a threat to the world. 1.00

00:31:51.000 100%, yes.

00:31:53.000 And that's just not a fact, actually, at all.

00:31:56.000 It's why they hate Russia.

00:31:57.000 It's probably going to be the only majority white Christian country in the world soon. 0.95

00:32:01.000 And they hate it. 0.95

00:32:01.000 That is why they hate it, by the way. 0.95

00:32:03.000 Let's just stop lying about it.

00:32:04.000 That's why they hate it.

00:32:06.000 I'm just going to note here again, Russia is about 70% ethnic Russian and declining super duper duper fast because the actual fertility rate among ethnic Russian women, particularly in urban areas, is below one.

00:32:19.000 In fact, the death rate among ethnic Russians significantly exceeds the birth rate.

00:32:22.000 In 2024, Russia's natural population decline was approximately 600,000 people.

00:32:28.000 And as for his vaunted Christian practice in Russia, you know, some two-thirds to three-quarters of people in Russia identify as Christian.

00:32:35.000 What percent regularly go to church?

00:32:37.000 Somewhere between two and 10%.

00:32:40.000 So all of this requires us to ask a question.

00:32:43.000 What's going on with this crazy contingent?

00:32:45.000 What's going on with the Joe Kents and the Candace Owens and the Tuckers and all the rest?

00:32:49.000 And the answer is this is all a demoralization op.

00:32:52.000 It is designed to undermine America, to teach all of us that our country is somehow a nefarious force in the world controlled by evil conspiratorial powers, that the world would be better off with a weaker America.

00:33:03.000 These kooks have decided that all the institutions of American life and all of our most cherished principles, things like meritocracy or free markets or free speech, those are all lies, inventions of an elite coterie of subversive secularists who just so happen to have weird relationships with Israel. 0.97

00:33:19.000 Now, it's total trash, but it is kind of effective trash, as the algorithm demonstrates. 0.95

00:33:25.000 It's effective because it offers a way out for people who feel they've been left behind, people who feel betrayed, people who feel unsatisfied with their prospects. 0.98

00:33:33.000 The black pill that these people are offering you is basically ideological fentanyl.

00:33:37.000 It gives you this great temporary high, but soon you're addicted, trying to find that high again, mumbling to yourself, destroying your life, because it turns out that when you're black pilled about America, it makes it very hard to succeed. 0.98

00:33:48.000 You don't do the things necessary to succeed in life.

00:33:50.000 Meanwhile, for the majority of Americans who still have their heads screwed on straight, the question of war in the public mind is not about the Israelis or about Charlie Kirk or about global cabals.

00:34:00.000 It isn't even about a basic risk-reward analysis on the Department of War's budget or the efficacy of our military.

00:34:06.000 For Americans, the only real question, always and forever, is outcome.

00:34:10.000 If we win, Americans will like it.

00:34:13.000 And if we lose, Americans will be upset.

00:34:15.000 That is always the rule.

00:34:17.000 If you consider yourself to be a sane person, it helps to look at the facts and go from there.

00:34:21.000 Well, now that we're back to dealing with reality, let's get to what's actually happening with Trump and Iran.

00:34:26.000 But first, today's episode is sponsored by American Beverage.

00:34:29.000 Think about the iconic drinks you grew up with and still love today.

00:34:31.000 Whether it's a soda, sparkling water, a tea, or a sports drink.

00:34:34.000 The companies behind those beverages, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, they've always made them right here in America.

00:34:40.000 So, while there's a lot of talk about bringing jobs back, America's beverage companies never left.

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00:35:08.000 Again, that's weedeliverforamerica.org.

00:35:12.000 All righty, again, back to the questions from our special facts fam.

00:35:16.000 Savvy?

00:35:18.000 So how do you decide who is worth debating?

00:35:20.000 I personally think Tucker's kind of below you at this point to debate, but how do you decide whether someone would engage with you in good faith?

00:35:27.000 So I think that the real question is what standard can people be held to?

00:35:30.000 If you can't be held to the standard of the truth, if you lie on a routine basis, if you can't be held to a standard of ideology, ideological consistency, if you can't be held to any standard at all, if you answer every sort of serious critique with a retreat into your status as a comedian or a podcast host, or if you just make things up on the spot, if you posit conspiratorial nonsense that can't be debunked because there's no way to debunk absolute nonsense, I don't think that's worth anybody's time.

00:36:00.000 It seems to me a giant waste of time.

00:36:03.000 All righty, so yesterday President Trump announced that America has achieved a form of regime change in Iran. 0.98

00:36:08.000 After all, we have killed all of their leaders. 0.88

00:36:10.000 Here's the president. 0.99

00:36:13.000 But I hate to say it, but we killed all their leadership, and then they met to choose new leaders, and we killed all of them. 0.82

00:36:23.000 And now we have a new group, and we can easily do that. 0.70

00:36:26.000 But let's see how they turn out.

00:36:29.000 We have really regime change.

00:36:32.000 You know, this is a change in the regime because the leaders are all very different than the ones that we started off with that created all those problems.

00:36:41.000 So this was, I think we can say, Jason, this is regime change, right?

00:36:45.000 Well, I mean, to a certain extent, that is right.

00:36:47.000 Not only that, President, Trump has already announced that the war has effectively been won.

00:36:52.000 You know, I don't like to say this.

00:36:54.000 We've won this.

00:36:55.000 This war has been won.

00:36:56.000 The only one that likes to keep it going is the fake news.

00:36:59.000 I mean, the New York Times, you read the New York Times, it's like we're not winning a war where they have no Navy and they have no Air Force and they have no nothing.

00:37:07.000 And we literally have planes flying over Tehran and other parts of their country.

00:37:14.000 They can't do a thing about it.

00:37:16.000 For instance, if I want to take down that power plant, that very big, powerful power plant, they can't do a thing about it.

00:37:23.000 It's like, take me.

00:37:25.000 That's all they can do.

00:37:27.000 Now, from an American perspective, he's right.

00:37:29.000 The war has been won on the military level.

00:37:32.000 Iran has done minimal, minimal damage by any sort of standard to American forces and interests.

00:37:37.000 Meanwhile, Iran itself has been published to dust. 0.92

00:37:39.000 Their ballistic missile program has basically been destroyed.

00:37:42.000 Their nuclear facilities have been pounded again.

00:37:44.000 Their drone program has been blown up.

00:37:46.000 Basically, the only thing Iran can do at this point is harass people. 0.92

00:37:49.000 They can harass their neighbors with occasional missile and drone strikes.

00:37:53.000 They can bother some shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

00:37:55.000 Now, we're not done yet, as the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth has made clear.

00:37:59.000 And that's why we see ourselves as part of this negotiation as well.

00:38:03.000 We negotiate with bombs. 0.98

00:38:06.000 You have a choice as we loiter over the top of Tehran, as the president talked about, about your future.

00:38:11.000 The president has made it clear that you will not have a nuclear weapon.

00:38:14.000 The War Department agrees.

00:38:15.000 Our job is to ensure that.

00:38:17.000 And so we're keeping our hand on that throttle as long as as hard as is necessary to ensure the interests of the United States of America are achieved on that battlefield.

00:38:26.000 This is not Iraq and Afghanistan. 0.75

00:38:28.000 This is not a president who's interested in vague end states.

00:38:32.000 He's been very clear with us about what we need to accomplish, creating the conditions for them never to have a nuclear capability.

00:38:38.000 And that's exactly what we're doing in historic fashion.

00:38:40.000 Thank you, Mr. President.

00:38:41.000 Okay, so what would victory look like for the United States?

00:38:43.000 Well, there are two types of victory here: political victory and actual victory.

00:38:47.000 We may already have an actual victory.

00:38:49.000 So, for example, let's say that Iran ends up falling in the next couple of years.

00:38:53.000 That victory will belong to President Trump because we will have weakened all of the foundations upon which the Iranian regime stands in the same way that the Soviet Union falling belonged to President Reagan. 0.87

00:39:03.000 Now, it won't be a political victory because you need an exclamation point for a political victory, some way to say we didn't just win, Iran also lost.

00:39:12.000 So, where is Iran right now?

00:39:13.000 Did they totally lose?

00:39:14.000 Well, on the one hand, we can make the argument that them winning would just be them surviving.

00:39:20.000 That survival amounts to not losing.

00:39:23.000 Israel and America's other regional allies would have to continue to exercise overwatch of the regime to ensure they don't renew their missile and drone and nuclear programs.

00:39:33.000 But we do have to ask: is not losing really victory for Iran?

00:39:36.000 It might be for the moment, but not for long, because Iran would remain isolated, throttled, devoid of basic resources.

00:39:42.000 Remember, before this war, there were already millions of people in the streets protesting the regime.

00:39:47.000 The Riyal was running at.00001 to a dollar, and they had so little water that they were moving millions of people out of Tehran.

00:39:56.000 They were actually evacuating their own capital.

00:39:57.000 Can this regime continue to limp along on that basis for many more years?

00:40:02.000 Well, now the question becomes whether or not President Trump can force the Iranians into a deal that achieves political victory, like a good end state that he can go home and brag about.

00:40:11.000 Despite members of the media and Democratic politicians saying they don't actually believe that President Trump has been talking to Iran, it has now been confirmed there are, in fact, negotiations between the two countries indirectly.

00:40:20.000 And President Trump is talking as though concessions are being made by Iran.

00:40:24.000 Here was President Trump yesterday.

00:40:26.000 They're going to make a deal.

00:40:27.000 They're going to make a deal.

00:40:28.000 They did something yesterday that was amazing, actually.

00:40:31.000 They gave us a present, and the president arrived today.

00:40:36.000 And it was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money.

00:40:41.000 And I'm not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize.

00:40:50.000 And they gave it to us, and they said they were going to give us.

00:40:52.000 So that meant one thing to me: we're dealing with the right people.

00:40:55.000 Is that nuclear-related?

00:40:56.000 No, it wasn't nuclear-related.

00:40:58.000 It was oil and gas-related.

00:41:00.000 And it was a very nice thing they did.

00:41:02.000 But what it showed me is that we're dealing with the right people.

00:41:05.000 Okay, so what kind of concessions are they actually making?

00:41:08.000 The devil remains in the details.

00:41:09.000 So President Trump said yesterday that Iran has agreed it will never have a nuclear weapon.

00:41:14.000 But if they get to retain a nuclear program that could easily be turned toward weapons development, that's not good enough.

00:41:19.000 Will they retain enriched uranium?

00:41:21.000 I mean, we'll have to find out.

00:41:23.000 President Trump has made clear that, in his view, they must never have a nuclear weapon.

00:41:29.000 And remember, it all starts with they cannot have a nuclear weapon.

00:41:32.000 Just, you know, I said yesterday, they said, what are the top 10?

00:41:36.000 I said, well, number one, two, and three is they can't have a nuclear weapon.

00:41:41.000 And they're not going to have a nuclear weapon.

00:41:44.000 And we're talking about that.

00:41:44.000 And I don't want to say in advance, but they've agreed they will never have a nuclear weapon.

00:41:50.000 They've agreed to that.

00:41:52.000 Well, President Trump has apparently released a list of demands from the Iranians at this point.

00:41:57.000 One, all existing nuclear capabilities will be dismantled, which I assume means all of their nuclear plans, a commitment that Iran will never strive to obtain nuclear weapons, which would have to be enforceable.

00:42:09.000 No material will ever be enriched on Iranian soil.

00:42:12.000 So, again, that means no nuclear program at all.

00:42:15.000 All enriched material will be handed over to the IAEA in a short-term timetable to be defined between the parties.

00:42:20.000 Natan's Isfahan Fordo would be decommissioned and also destroyed.

00:42:23.000 The IAEA would have full access to all information within Iran's borders.

00:42:27.000 Iran would completely abandon its terror proxy network.

00:42:29.000 Iran would stop financing and arming proxies in the region.

00:42:32.000 The Strait of Hormuz would remain open, would be a free maritime zone.

00:42:35.000 No one would block it.

00:42:37.000 And as for the missile program, according again to the talking points put out by the administration, there would be a decision at a later period, but they would have to limit the quantity and the range.

00:42:48.000 And future use of missiles would have to be for self-defense purposes only.

00:42:52.000 In return for all of that, theoretically, Iran would have sanctions lifted.

00:42:56.000 They would receive assistance in developing a civilian nuclear program in Bushir.

00:42:59.000 So basically, we'd build them low-level nuclear programs for energy.

00:43:04.000 And the threat of snapback sanctions would be removed.

00:43:06.000 Now, I have a question.

00:43:07.000 Does that sound like Iran is ready to do any of that? 0.86

00:43:09.000 I have some very, very serious doubts.

00:43:12.000 Now, at the same time, President Trump does not want to leave the rest of the region subject to the whims of the MOLAs.

00:43:18.000 President Trump's strongest support for continued action, actually, at this point, is coming from the Saudis, according to the New York Times.

00:43:23.000 Quote, in recent days, Mr. Trump has given more serious consideration to a military operation to seize Kharg Island, the hub of Iran's oil infrastructure.

00:43:31.000 Such an operation with airborne army forces or an amphibious assault by Marines would be immensely dangerous, but Prince Mohammed has advocated ground operations in his conversations with Mr. Trump, according to people briefed by American officials.

00:43:43.000 Now, listen, I actually agree with Mohammed bin Salman's assessment here.

00:43:46.000 If America were to grab control of Harg Island, the actual capacity of Iran to survive even midterm drops dramatically.

00:43:53.000 Now, here is President Trump speaking about MBS and Saudi.

00:43:57.000 No, we have a great relationship with Saudi Arabia.

00:44:00.000 What do you hear with Saudi Arabia?

00:44:02.000 I'm just hearing that you've been talking and that he has been encouraging you to do certain things related to Iran.

00:44:07.000 Can you share how he's a warrior?

00:44:08.000 He does.

00:44:09.000 Yeah, he's a warrior.

00:44:10.000 He's fighting with us, by the way.

00:44:11.000 Saudi Arabia has been excellent.

00:44:15.000 So, what comes next?

00:44:16.000 Well, the answer, as it has always been, is in the hands of the Iranian government.

00:44:20.000 Remember, Iran could have at any time for 50 years, they could do it today, reintegrated into the world economy by ending its global ambitions, its support for terrorism, its nuclear program. 0.87

00:44:29.000 They have not done that.

00:44:30.000 Now, maybe they're willing to moderate now.

00:44:32.000 I kind of doubt it, but there are still plenty of levers left for the United States to pull.

00:44:36.000 President Trump has already shown high willingness to do just that.

00:44:39.000 The Wall Street Journal is reporting as of yesterday, quote, the Pentagon is planning to deploy about 3,000 soldiers from the Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East to support operations against Iran, according to two U.S. officials, with a written order expected in coming hours.

00:44:53.000 Officials cautioned a decision to put boots on the ground in Iran has not been made, but deploying the 82nd opens the door to President Trump for several strategic options.

00:45:02.000 So, again, special operations, limited in duration.

00:45:05.000 This is not the kind of quagmire boots on the ground stuff people were talking about.

00:45:08.000 We're not talking about 100,000 troops occupying Iran indefinitely.

00:45:12.000 At most, you're talking about a ground operation to take away territory used to target the Strait of Hormuz, to take away Kharg Island.

00:45:20.000 That's probably what we are talking about here.

00:45:22.000 And just a second, we'll get to more first.

00:45:24.000 Passover is almost here.

00:45:25.000 This year, a huge number of people in Israel are going to mark the holiday while at war with Iran.

00:45:30.000 I have a lot of friends over in Israel, and school's been out for the last three weeks.

00:45:34.000 People have basically been living underground at night.

00:45:36.000 For many, people fear sleeplessness.

00:45:38.000 These have become part of the daily routine.

00:45:41.000 Just one reason why the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground right now, delivering food, equipping shelters, caring for Israel's most vulnerable citizens.

00:45:49.000 They're doing great work, making sure that people have what they need.

00:45:51.000 Visit benforthefellowship.org to rush your lifesaving gift today.

00:45:55.000 That's one word.

00:45:56.000 Ben for the fellowship.org.

00:45:58.000 Okay, meanwhile, as we've been talking about, Democrats continue to play both sides on illegal immigration.

00:46:02.000 They continue to shut down funding for DHS.

00:46:05.000 On one side of the Democratic Party are the extremists.

00:46:08.000 These are the people who claim that Republicans are somehow to blame when an illegal immigrant murders a citizen in a sanctuary city like Chicago.

00:46:15.000 We talked yesterday about the horrible murder of Sheridan Gorman.

00:46:18.000 now, the Illinois governor, J.P. Pritzker, is blaming President Trump somehow.

00:46:55.000 It takes a lot of brass to blame the president for a murder in your state because of your own sanctuary policies.

00:47:00.000 At the same time, Democrats don't actually really want to go back as a party to the bad old days of abolish ICE, except, of course, for people like AOC.

00:47:08.000 Hakeem Jeffries now claims Democrats were always for secure borders, which, to make my second OJ reference of the show, is somewhat like saying that OJ was in favor of traditional marital arrangements.

00:47:19.000 Here's Hakeem Jeffries: In a country where the American people want immigration enforcement to be fair, just, and humane, we're going to continue to make sure that there are secure borders.

00:47:30.000 But we do have a broken immigration system, and we should fix it.

00:47:33.000 Let's do it in a comprehensive and bipartisan way.

00:47:37.000 Now, President Trump is correctly firing back.

00:47:39.000 He's pointing out Democrats seem kind of happy to keep defunding ICE indefinitely.

00:47:43.000 The Democrats in Congress do not care how much American blood they shed and their demented pursuit of open borders.

00:47:51.000 From Sheridan Gorman to Jocelyn Nungery and Lake and Riley, their quest to flood our country with illegal aliens has left countless American victims in its wake. 0.99

00:48:02.000 They never changed.

00:48:03.000 They see what's happening.

00:48:04.000 They never change.

00:48:05.000 That's what they want.

00:48:06.000 They want to get the votes with sanctuary and sanctuary cities going at levels that they are.

00:48:13.000 And we've ended a lot.

00:48:14.000 We've done a lot.

00:48:16.000 But for some reason, they love it.

00:48:18.000 It's a sanctuary.

00:48:19.000 You know, sanctuary cities are truly a sanctuary for criminals.

00:48:24.000 He is not wrong. 0.53

00:48:25.000 Well, while all of this is happening, Democrats have defunded DHS.

00:48:28.000 That means they've also defunded TSA.

00:48:30.000 So now it appears that President Trump is going to consider that DHS funding deal Republicans in the Senate were pushing a couple of days ago.

00:48:37.000 That would be the deal to reopen TSA and then also separately fund DHS in some sort of reconciliation package.

00:48:42.000 Here's President Trump announcing that.

00:48:44.000 Well, I'm going to look at it, and we're going to take a good hard look at it.

00:48:48.000 I want to support Republicans.

00:48:49.000 And, you know, sometimes it's awfully hard to get votes when you have Democrats that don't want to have voter ID.

00:48:55.000 They don't want to have proof of citizenship.

00:48:57.000 They don't want to do anything about men playing in women's sports. 0.99

00:49:01.000 That's one of the items we put on, you know.

00:49:03.000 And I did that just because it's so popular.

00:49:05.000 You know, they say that's at least an 80-20 issue.

00:49:08.000 No, it's about a 99-1.

00:49:10.000 So, you know, I think the president would be right to actually allow the TSA to be funded at this point. 0.98

00:49:16.000 Because, again, Democrats trying to defund the rest of DHS, I think they look like fools. 0.52

00:49:21.000 But in the end, if people are waiting in line for a very long time, everybody gets blamed, including the incumbent party. 0.98

00:49:27.000 All righty.

00:49:27.000 Well, today I had the opportunity to sit down with Byron Donalds.

00:49:30.000 Byron, of course, is running for governor of Florida.

00:49:33.000 That gubernatorial election is coming up.

00:49:34.000 Big primary coming up.

00:49:36.000 Fascinating interview.

00:49:37.000 Here's what it sounded like.

00:49:39.000 Congressman Byron Donalds is, of course, a representative for Florida's 19th congressional district.

00:49:43.000 He's been there since January 21, and he is currently running for governor of Florida.

00:49:47.000 Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

00:49:49.000 That's my pleasure to be here.

00:49:49.000 Really appreciate it.

00:49:50.000 Thanks for having me.

00:49:51.000 So why don't we talk about why you're running for governor of Florida?

00:49:54.000 What comes next for the state of Florida as a person who came here in 2020 because of the excellent governance?

00:49:59.000 What do you think is the next step from here?

00:50:01.000 The next step is maintaining all the great success of Governor DeSantis, but then also planning for Florida's future.

00:50:08.000 Since COVID ended, we've had massive increases in population.

00:50:12.000 Everybody knows that.

00:50:13.000 Whether it was COVID or common sense, conservative governance or just great sunshine, they've chosen Florida.

00:50:19.000 But now we have to manage that growth into the future.

00:50:22.000 We're going to get more people into our state because look, New York and California are terrible. 0.71

00:50:26.000 You got Kathy Hochle out there now begging people to come back to New York after she said, yeah, go down to New York. 0.65

00:50:31.000 We don't want you anymore.

00:50:32.000 Well, guess what?

00:50:33.000 They're not going back.

00:50:34.000 But that's a positive.

00:50:36.000 But now you have to manage that.

00:50:37.000 It's also about making sure you continue the conservative trajectory that Florida has been on for a very long time.

00:50:43.000 I moved to the state at 17 years old.

00:50:45.000 I've been in this state for 30 years.

00:50:47.000 Everything I've built in my life has been built in Florida. 0.95

00:50:50.000 And so what I want is the state to remain the number one state in America.

00:50:54.000 And that's going to be continuing focuses on law and order, conservative policy, limited government, but also making sure our kids are getting a world-class education in this state.

00:51:03.000 We want them to have a pathway to success where they're mastering core subject matter.

00:51:08.000 If it's going directly into the workforce, getting the credentials they need so that they can actually build the Florida dream for themselves, the same way I built the dream for myself here in this state, or if it's going to college or university, it's going to be diversifying our economy even more while protecting our ag lands in rural Florida.

00:51:23.000 But then also with what's happening in the Space Coast, that's going to continue to grow in our state, aerospace, defense, finance is moving to Florida in a major way.

00:51:32.000 We have everything going great in our state.

00:51:36.000 I want to make sure that those gains, that growth, that success, while still being based on conservative principles continues in the great state of Florida.

00:51:44.000 So what do you think the big challenges are?

00:51:45.000 So obviously, living here, I think everything's hunky-dory.

00:51:48.000 It looks as though the state has moved dramatically in a right-wing direction.

00:51:51.000 Obviously, Governor DeSantis in 2018 won an incredibly narrow race over a person who then ended up having some problems.

00:51:58.000 But then by his re-elect, he was winning by leaps and bounds, 20 points.

00:52:02.000 So what do Republicans need to do to maintain that sort of momentum here?

00:52:06.000 Are you concerned about the possibility of a reversion back toward a sort of half-half politics in Florida, which is how Florida was when I was a teenager?

00:52:14.000 I'm always concerned about that.

00:52:16.000 You have to be.

00:52:17.000 The old adage in politics is run like your 10 points down.

00:52:20.000 And I always think like, man, this thing can unwind very, very fast.

00:52:23.000 But how you avoid that is first, you just get your business done on time.

00:52:27.000 You make sure the trains are running on time.

00:52:29.000 So the first bedrock of our state, law and order.

00:52:32.000 We're going to make sure that that law and order is prioritized.

00:52:32.000 That will not change.

00:52:35.000 We're going to continue to back our sheriffs, our police officers, emergency personnel.

00:52:40.000 Number two, we have to actually make sure our government is efficient and actually moving forward into the future.

00:52:45.000 If you're going to build a home in our state, right?

00:52:47.000 Everybody wants to talk affordability these days.

00:52:49.000 Building a home in our state, it takes about two years to put a shovel in the ground.

00:52:52.000 Two years.

00:52:53.000 And those two years aren't free.

00:52:54.000 Time is money and money is expensive.

00:52:56.000 And so you have to find ways to be far more efficient with the resources that we have so you can deliver the services that some people do rely on in our state.

00:53:03.000 That's two.

00:53:04.000 But number three is the blocking and tackling of politics.

00:53:07.000 You have to have clear vision for what Florida is and the future of Florida.

00:53:12.000 We are always going to be a conservative state.

00:53:14.000 That is the bedrock of what we are, not going to change.

00:53:17.000 And I think that if you start talking to people, as I've been around the state, I've been in 54 of the 67 counties now, right?

00:53:23.000 People love the state.

00:53:24.000 Independents and Democrats love the state.

00:53:26.000 So it's about making sure that we continue the trajectory that we're on.

00:53:29.000 But like I said before, you have to plan for the future.

00:53:32.000 Power, water, building the roads that we need.

00:53:36.000 How are we going to maintain the beauty of Florida?

00:53:38.000 Everglades restoration, making sure we take care of our environment.

00:53:41.000 All those things come together.

00:53:42.000 If we do that work and then do the blocking and tackling of politics, we will be just fine in our state, but you still got to run like a 10 points down.

00:53:49.000 Take nothing for granted.

00:53:50.000 So you're running for governor, but obviously you're still in Congress.

00:53:53.000 A lot of questions about how this election cycle is going to go for Republicans in Congress.

00:53:56.000 Obviously, it's an off-year election.

00:53:58.000 The history just shows that off-year elections go poorly for the party in power.

00:54:02.000 What are you looking forward to in 2026?

00:54:05.000 Do you think the Republicans have a shot at maintaining the House?

00:54:07.000 Obviously, it's an incredibly narrow majority right now.

00:54:10.000 What are the chief issues that you hope the administration and the Congress focus on going forward, going into 2026?

00:54:15.000 Well, I think the economy, still being focused on the economy, affordability issues.

00:54:20.000 Those are still going to be key.

00:54:22.000 Also, telling the story of what we accomplished the last 15 months or so.

00:54:27.000 Everybody has to remember what the president came into at the start of last year.

00:54:32.000 Our economy flat on its back.

00:54:34.000 Inflation was very, very high, even though it was coming down.

00:54:36.000 Prices out of control.

00:54:37.000 The economy wasn't going very well.

00:54:39.000 Border was unsecured.

00:54:41.000 10 million new illegals in the country.

00:54:43.000 That was 15 months ago.

00:54:45.000 Look how far the country's already progressed with Republicans in control.

00:54:49.000 We have to tell that story.

00:54:50.000 Now it's 3 million people have been deported.

00:54:53.000 They got sent back to their home countries.

00:54:54.000 That's a good thing for the country.

00:54:56.000 Border secured on day one.

00:54:57.000 If you look globally, the president's doing a phenomenal job on foreign policy.

00:55:01.000 But coming back domestically, people are getting their tax-free funds now.

00:55:05.000 They're getting more money in their pocket.

00:55:06.000 Wages adjusted for inflation is rising in the United States.

00:55:10.000 That's a positive economic indicator going forward.

00:55:12.000 Obviously, you have the conflict in Iran.

00:55:14.000 I don't think that's going to last very long.

00:55:16.000 And so when that comes to an end, I think you're going to see global oil markets.

00:55:21.000 That's going to come down to price per barrel because it's a spot price looking at what's happening across the entire globe.

00:55:26.000 We have a great story to tell as Republicans being in control.

00:55:30.000 And what's the alternative?

00:55:32.000 We want more Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.

00:55:34.000 What did they do when they were in charge?

00:55:36.000 They did absolutely nothing.

00:55:38.000 I guess the way to encapsulate what the Democrats would do in power is what Kamala Harris said in that faithful interview that killed her campaign.

00:55:45.000 Like the one on the view, when they asked her, like, what would you change?

00:55:48.000 And she goes, well, nothing comes to mind.

00:55:49.000 Well, what would the Democrats actually do different than what they did when Joe Biden and the Democrats were in charge?

00:55:55.000 And to be blunt, nothing much comes to mind.

00:55:58.000 So when we talk about the war in Iran, obviously that's forefront in people's minds right now, given what's going on.

00:56:03.000 So you mentioned, I agree, that this is not a long-term proposition and that many of the critics of the war have been suggesting it's a forever war, which is an amazing statement given that we are approximately three weeks into a war.

00:56:13.000 Typically, forever is longer than three weeks.

00:56:15.000 Last time I checked the calendar, the president has made clear that he wants there to be an end determinist to American involvement here sometime in the near future.

00:56:23.000 What do you think of how the war is going?

00:56:25.000 What do you see as sort of the end point here?

00:56:26.000 First of all, this has been military precision, unlike anything that we've ever seen.

00:56:31.000 They've been very tactical.

00:56:32.000 They've been very focused.

00:56:33.000 And I think that's a key thing when you're trying to make sure you maintain support amongst the American people.

00:56:39.000 What's the mission goals?

00:56:40.000 Are you executing those goals?

00:56:42.000 And do you have a strategy to get out?

00:56:44.000 I think they do.

00:56:44.000 I talked with the president Friday a little bit about this.

00:56:47.000 Don't want to get into obviously too many details, but it is very clear from my conversation with him that they are focused on the mission.

00:56:54.000 I don't think this is going to go much longer, to be honest with you.

00:56:57.000 And I think that's a good thing.

00:56:58.000 I think the people who are trying to downtalk the president and his decision making, trying to conflate this with Iraq and Afghanistan, are very misguided in that type of thought process.

00:57:09.000 Knowing the president, he's never been a fan of long military engagements anyway.

00:57:13.000 And so I don't anticipate that to happen.

00:57:15.000 But I think if you're going to talk about Iran specifically, this has needed to happen for a long time.

00:57:20.000 The Ayatollah and that regime, they want to build nuclear warheads. 0.97

00:57:25.000 That is a fact, unmitigated.

00:57:27.000 The second thing is what we just saw with the last ballistic missiles launched is that their ballistic missiles range is a lot farther than most people thought.

00:57:34.000 And that actually imperils Europe and imperils our ally.

00:57:38.000 And if you allow them just to continue to build like this untouched and unfettered, then yes, they would build ballistic missiles that can reach America.

00:57:47.000 That is a fact.

00:57:48.000 And the last thing I'll say on the Iranians, the Chinese want to dominate the globe. 1.00

00:57:52.000 The Russians want to reconstitute the old Soviet Union. 0.70

00:57:55.000 I don't really know what the North Koreans want to do, but just leave them north of the 44th parallel and we'll call it a day. 1.00

00:58:02.000 But the Iranians do want global jihad. 1.00

00:58:05.000 They do want to dominate and kill not just the little Satan, but the big Satan. 0.98

00:58:09.000 And I think with that theocratic terrorist regime that is there, you cannot give them any. 0.95

00:58:15.000 sliver of hope whatsoever.

00:58:17.000 It's one of the things that's really frustrated me with the Democrats with now wanting to push all these war powers resolutions and now talking about the funding for this conflict.

00:58:25.000 All you're doing is aiding and abetting the Iranians because right now they're just trying to sue for time and sue for peace so they can, because quite frankly, they think the West is weak and they think the West will not follow through. 0.95

00:58:37.000 And so they want that time and they want that space so that they can just, they can just go back and go back and build more, build more missiles and try to reconstitute the program.

00:58:45.000 And I'm not going to every military conflict, dropping bombs and all that stuff.

00:58:52.000 I actually don't want military conflict, but there are key times when you have to use the might of our military.

00:58:58.000 This is that key time and the president's doing a great job with it.

00:59:01.000 So you've been spending an awful lot of time on the ground in Florida, traveling all over the state.

00:59:05.000 What are you hearing from voters about their chief concerns and how are you addressing those concerns?

00:59:09.000 Affordability.

00:59:10.000 It's the big one.

00:59:10.000 Well, there's two.

00:59:12.000 One is people just want Florida to remain Florida.

00:59:14.000 They love the state.

00:59:15.000 People love coming here.

00:59:16.000 They love living here.

00:59:17.000 Affordability is a major concern.

00:59:19.000 The governor and the legislature are going to have a special session in a couple of weeks or maybe a month or so about property taxes.

00:59:25.000 I hope the governor is successful in eliminating homestead property taxes.

00:59:28.000 I support him in that.

00:59:30.000 They did great work on insurance a couple of years ago in legislative session where they did some tort reforms that is pushing down the loss ratio in insurance, which is bringing more insurance carriers into the state.

00:59:41.000 What I want to do is build upon that.

00:59:43.000 And we're going to keep the tort reform in place.

00:59:45.000 But what we also want to do is look at the regulatory environment around insurance in our state.

00:59:49.000 We haven't looked at that in probably about 25, 30 years.

00:59:52.000 And by the way, I chaired insurance and banking when I was in the state legislature and I was in insurance in my career, 17 years in finance.

00:59:58.000 So we want to look at the regulatory framework of insurance in our state, find other key ways to push insurance rates down in Florida.

01:00:05.000 The third thing, and I talked a little bit earlier about the permitting issues, if it takes you too long to build a house, the cost of that house is not being borne by the contractor or the developer.

01:00:15.000 It's borne by the end user, whether that's single-family housing, one to four family rentals, commercial strip centers.

01:00:22.000 We want to make sure that we're being efficient with that time and squeezing those costs out.

01:00:27.000 The National Association of Home Builders came out with a report.

01:00:30.000 They said 30% of the cost of building a house in America today is government.

01:00:34.000 30%.

01:00:35.000 So if the house is 300,000, 100,000 of that is government.

01:00:40.000 That's insane.

01:00:41.000 We have to do better, especially with technology today.

01:00:44.000 We can do better.

01:00:45.000 So I think you squeeze out those costs, make Florida's government far more efficient and responsive.

01:00:51.000 That's how you actually can push down the cost side of things in our state.

01:00:55.000 Everything else is, you know, those are international markets, global markets dealing with procurement of raw materials, et cetera.

01:01:01.000 But there are things we can control in Florida, and that's what we want to do to address affordability.

01:01:05.000 So we were talking off the air before we got on camera about sort of the life of campaigning, which honestly sounds horrifying to me because it's enormous number of travel and amount of travel.

01:01:16.000 And two, you have to deal with an enormous number of people, which is, as my viewers know, I'm not necessarily a people person.

01:01:22.000 There are certain people with whom I'm a people person, but they're usually restricted to my immediate family and immediate friends circle.

01:01:27.000 But you have to be somebody who's out there talking to people all the time.

01:01:29.000 Number one, how's that treating you?

01:01:30.000 And number two, for people who actually don't know your sort of backstory, how did you get to the point where you're running for governor of Florida?

01:01:36.000 I do like people, which is interesting because I used to be an introvert.

01:01:40.000 So this is kind of learned behavior.

01:01:41.000 Where I learned to really start talking to people and engaging people was first in my career.

01:01:47.000 Like I spent 17 years in finance.

01:01:49.000 So I started in commercial banking.

01:01:50.000 I worked in insurance and I worked in financial services.

01:01:53.000 I was securities licensed.

01:01:55.000 I built a book of business in Naples, Florida, where I live with my wife, Erica, and our children.

01:02:01.000 I was also a youth leader in my church for 12 years.

01:02:04.000 So like if you can learn to like teenagers, like a whole group of teenagers, you're good.

01:02:08.000 You can figure out just about anybody else.

01:02:10.000 And so through that process, I became much more outgoing and engaging people.

01:02:15.000 How I got into politics, it was 2008 financial collapse.

01:02:19.000 I was working in insurance at the time.

01:02:21.000 One of our major investors wanted to pull their investment because they were just really freaked out about the American economy.

01:02:28.000 They were international.

01:02:29.000 And I had to go do the research.

01:02:30.000 I had just left commercial banking.

01:02:32.000 So I'm doing all the research to try to save the investment because if the investment leaves, I'm out of a job.

01:02:37.000 And the last thing I did before I put out my report to the owners of the company, I turned on the House Financial Services Committee in Congress.

01:02:45.000 I had never watched anything political.

01:02:47.000 I was apolitical most of my life up until that moment in 2008.

01:02:52.000 I watched that hearing and I said to myself, who are these people?

01:02:57.000 Why are they not smart?

01:02:58.000 How come they don't understand what's going on in the economy?

01:03:01.000 They're designing the solutions.

01:03:03.000 And I just, I went down a rabbit hole.

01:03:05.000 I started watching more political news.

01:03:08.000 And political news is, honestly, it's not very good.

01:03:11.000 It's very surface level.

01:03:12.000 And so I started reading books on politics, political philosophy.

01:03:16.000 The law by Frederick Basciat's the first book I've ever read.

01:03:19.000 I love that book.

01:03:20.000 I recommend it to any young person or person in general who's trying to understand politics.

01:03:24.000 I say, forget politics.

01:03:26.000 Understand the purpose of law first, and then that will help you.

01:03:29.000 So read that, read Milton Friedman, Red Locke, read Montesquieu, obviously Federalist Papers.

01:03:37.000 And I was a part of the Tea Party movement 09, 10, and just really got ingrained in that movement in Naples, Florida.

01:03:44.000 And it just one thing led to another.

01:03:45.000 And here I am.

01:03:47.000 Well, Byron Donalds running for governor of Florida.

01:03:49.000 Where can people go to help out your campaign?

01:03:51.000 ByronDonald's.com.

01:03:52.000 All the social media is at Byron Donald's.

01:03:54.000 The campaign's going very, very well.

01:03:56.000 Primary day is in about five months.

01:03:59.000 Ballots go out in about four months.

01:04:01.000 And so the Republican primary is a big deal.

01:04:04.000 August 18th.

01:04:04.000 Please would love to have obviously your support, but obviously the viewer support as well.

01:04:09.000 And, you know, we're just really excited.

01:04:11.000 We have a great state.

01:04:13.000 I want Florida to remain the number one state in America when I'm long gone and I'm retired and I'm 77.

01:04:19.000 Let the next governor have a great time.

01:04:21.000 But I want to make sure our state continues to be the best in America.

01:04:23.000 Well, if you're the governor and then you turn out to be 77, you may be running for president.

01:04:27.000 That's the way it is.

01:04:30.000 One job.

01:04:31.000 That's it.

01:04:31.000 One job.

01:04:32.000 I really appreciate it.

01:04:33.000 Thanks for stopping by.

01:04:34.000 Thank you.

01:04:36.000 All righty, folks, coming up.

01:04:37.000 The show continues for our members.

01:04:39.000 Remember, you can ask me questions and we can hang out and be besties.

01:04:42.000 We can.

01:04:43.000 But you have to become a member and use Coach Shapiro checkout to try two months free on all annual plans.

01:04:47.000 Click that link in the description and join

The Ben Shapiro Show - March 25, 2026

The Brainrot Right Has LOST Its Mind

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