The Ben Shapiro Show - July 23, 2026


The Democratic Party Just Picked Its Future — and It's AOC


Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

179.02

Word count

2,369

Sentence count

174

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Toxicity

15

sentences flagged

Hate speech

12

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Zoran Momdani is a radical in sheep's clothing. He's on Jon Stewart, AOC is running for mayor of NYC, and Spencer Pratt is running against AOC in the Democratic primary, and the entire Democratic Party apparatus is out to get him.

Transcript

Transcripts from "The Ben Shapiro Show" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 John Leibowitz, sorry, I mean, John Stewart.
00:00:02.000 He changed his name for business purposes, is struggling so hard for relevance.
00:00:06.000 He is now glazing avowed communist and America hater Zoran Momdani on the eponymous podcast that he had to start so he could pretend to know things about politics.
00:00:14.000 Somehow, John Stewart has convinced himself Momdani is actually a defender of capitalism.
00:00:18.000 You see, Momdani is a secret capitalist trying to stop the socialists.
00:00:22.000 We will also get to AOC pulling ahead of the pack in the polling for 2028 and Spencer Pratt slamming Democrats for blocking the pending Paramount Warner merger.
00:00:30.000 Meanwhile, The entire Democratic Party apparatus will activate on behalf of this if they feel the necessity to.
00:00:35.000 Zoran Momdani, who again, it is very difficult to look on Zoran Momdani and not just see the lie on his face. 0.99
00:00:40.000 I mean, he is such a liar. 0.98
00:00:42.000 He's very smooth at it. 1.00
00:00:43.000 He's very smarmy at it.
00:00:45.000 But he is just, he is such a radical in sheep's clothing. 0.82
00:00:49.000 It's, it's insane. 0.94
00:00:50.000 It's insane.
00:00:51.000 So first, he was on Jon Stewart joking about how he was a Muslim democratic socialist, the scariest words in the English language. 1.00
00:00:59.000 Well, I mean, first of all, those are some fairly scary ideologies if, if you're doing it the way that Momdani is doing it. 1.00
00:01:04.000 But.
00:01:05.000 He was on with John Stewart, John Stewart trying to pretend that he's not that radical.
00:01:09.000 And Momdani talks about closing Rikers Island with Stewart.
00:01:13.000 We cannot have New Yorkers choose between safety and justice.
00:01:17.000 And yes, I am doing the work with our police department, and we have been able to deliver the lowest number of murders and shootings in recorded history.
00:01:26.000 And at the same time, I'm doing the work to close down Rikers Island and ensure that we are actually building the four smaller borough based jails.
00:01:35.000 That brings an end to a horrible chapter in New York City history.
00:01:39.000 And I think to your point, you know, when we're thinking about safety, there cannot be a hierarchy of safety where you experience it more or less depending on where you live in our city or how much money is in your pocket.
00:01:51.000 And there also can't be a definition of safety that is purely after the fact, meaning that how you respond to violence.
00:01:58.000 We also have to do the work of investing so that we prevent violence.
00:02:04.000 Guys, there can't be a hierarchy of safety.
00:02:06.000 Everyone should be equally unsafe.
00:02:08.000 And again, all this is, is just they're going to keep putting Momdani on this glorification tour, the Jon Stewarts of the world, pretending that they're moderate Democrats.
00:02:16.000 This is the entire thing. 0.83
00:02:18.000 How do you turn Zar Momdani from a psychotic left wing activist with ties to Islamism? 0.91
00:02:24.000 How do you turn that into a moderate face? 0.55
00:02:26.000 And the answer is, you just pretend that normie stuff is commie stuff.
00:02:31.000 So here is Momdani explaining the libraries, fire departments, and public schools are democratic socialist principles.
00:02:36.000 Absolute sheer nonsense.
00:02:37.000 This is one of the left's favorite talking points. 1.00
00:02:39.000 It's just crap. 0.99
00:02:40.000 It's not true. 0.99
00:02:41.000 Adam Smith wrote about things like fire departments and schools.
00:02:45.000 And the notion that you're a socialist if you believe in public schools because there is a collective action problem with regard to education or a collective action problem with regard to the fire department because fires hop from house to house.
00:02:58.000 That it's just, it's nonsense.
00:03:00.000 But if you can pretend that Zoramandani doesn't mean nationalization of resources, the complete defenestration of all regulatory decency with regard to real estate, that he doesn't mean seizure of private property rights.
00:03:14.000 Or confiscatory taxes on people, that all he really means is the fire department, then it's a great way of lying by omission.
00:03:24.000 If you go back to some of the Democrats that we most admire, FDR, LaGuardia, you will see a lot of democratic socialist principles in their vision.
00:03:35.000 And if you think about a lot of what we've come to accept as just the facts of life across our country, a lot of it is also still driven by democratic socialist principles.
00:03:44.000 Now, if today, You and I were to introduce the idea of a building that lends out books for free, we would be slandered in the same way that so many new ideas are slandered today.
00:03:55.000 And yet, that's the library.
00:03:56.000 And the same thing with the fire department, the same thing with public schools.
00:04:01.000 Okay, so first of all, you could have private libraries, those exist.
00:04:04.000 Second of all, if you introduced the idea of a library in 2026 when no one reads, that would be a gigantic waste of money, probably.
00:04:11.000 Worth pointing out at this point, especially with the price of books being what it is.
00:04:14.000 But put all that aside, that's a different thing than when books were a rarity. 0.98
00:04:19.000 And trying to compare a library in 1776 to a library in 2026 is really, really stupid. 0.97
00:04:24.000 They do not serve the same public function in any way, shape, or form. 0.92
00:04:27.000 But put all of that aside, again, what this is really about is not even Momdani.
00:04:31.000 It's really about people like Stewart continuing to play defense for Mamdani because Jon Stewart always wants to be the cool kid.
00:04:38.000 Sure, he's 63 years old. 0.59
00:04:40.000 He's seven years younger than my dad, Jon Stewart, but he's still trying to pretend he's 40.
00:04:44.000 And so he has to.
00:04:45.000 Jon Stewart explains that actually, it's not that Mamdani hates capitalism, but Mamdani openly says he hates capitalism.
00:04:52.000 What he actually wants is a reform movement for capitalism.
00:04:56.000 He wants to reform capitalism, you see.
00:05:00.000 People always say, oh, that's anti capitalist.
00:05:04.000 And in some respects, I think it's the opposite.
00:05:08.000 You know, capitalism, I think, would have faced a much stiffer opposition from communism and socialism in the 1930s if the New Deal hadn't been instituted.
00:05:20.000 If we hadn't had created a more robust social safety net, revolution would have been much more on the table without social security, without the, you know, better housing for people.
00:05:32.000 And I wonder if that's similar today, that in some respects, What you're doing is actually a reform movement for capitalism to some extent.
00:05:43.000 What's hilarious is the cutaway to Mamdani, who's like, no, I don't want a reform movement for capitalism.
00:05:46.000 I hate capitalism.
00:05:48.000 Watching Stewart try to convince himself in real time that FDR and Mamdani are exactly the same is wild.
00:05:53.000 By the way, we should point out that FDR's New Deal policies lengthened the Great Depression by at least eight years. 0.88
00:05:59.000 In the end, it's all about the friendliness, it's all about the chumminess. 0.64
00:06:01.000 Here's Mamdani joking that he's going to take John Stewart's show with John Leibowitz over here. 0.63
00:06:08.000 The caricature is you're a communist who's going to nationalize the industries.
00:06:12.000 You're going to take over Goldman Sachs.
00:06:15.000 I'm actually coming on this podcast to let you know that it's now my podcast.
00:06:18.000 Wait, what?
00:06:19.000 Yes.
00:06:21.000 Here's what I love about that.
00:06:22.000 You walk the walk.
00:06:24.000 That's the important thing.
00:06:25.000 Somebody had to seize the means of this production.
00:06:29.000 It was this specific production that I was talking about.
00:06:37.000 If the Democrats choose to do this, They are going to reap the whirlwind or America will, right?
00:06:41.000 Those will be the two choices.
00:06:43.000 Folks, we just welcomed our fifth child into the world.
00:06:45.000 People ask if it gets easier.
00:06:46.000 Well, not really.
00:06:47.000 It gets louder and busier, but it also gets better because every child changes your life in ways that you would never expect.
00:06:53.000 By the way, as you have more and more of them, it changes all your kids.
00:06:55.000 This is why I'm proud to support Preborn.
00:06:58.000 Just 28 bucks provides one life saving ultrasound, and every ultrasound is another opportunity for a mom to meet her baby for the very first time.
00:07:04.000 To donate, dial pound 250, say baby.
00:07:07.000 That's pound 250 baby or visit preborn.comslash Ben.
00:07:10.000 You're not going to do anything remotely as important today.
00:07:12.000 Head on over to preborn.comslash men or donate by dialing pound two fifty and saying keyword baby.
00:07:18.000 Again, when it comes to the markets, it is impressive to watch as the left just takes the single greatest wealth creating vehicle in the history of mankind and tries to destroy it.
00:07:29.000 This is a point that Scott Besant was making with regard to Mamdani.
00:07:32.000 He is right.
00:07:32.000 Here's the Treasury Secretary.
00:07:35.000 Trump accounts are no government handout, they are a child's first claim upon the American dream at a time when too many people.
00:07:43.000 Are taught to doubt it.
00:07:45.000 Look around our campuses and classrooms today.
00:07:49.000 Apart from those here, Wheeler, of course, you will find that our students are being sold the seductive lie that government can solve every problem, redistribute every dollar, and supplant its judgment for our own.
00:08:03.000 Our children are taught to romanticize an ideology that results in ruin wherever it is tested, to critique capitalism for every one of its flaws, and to forgive socialism for every one of its constant failures.
00:08:20.000 In New York, the current mayor rose to power by repackaging failed ideals of the past as a moral cause of the future.
00:08:29.000 But in Georgia, you know that beneath that youthful veneer lies the oldest impulse in politics, which is to concentrate power and then call it compassion.
00:08:42.000 He is right about all of this. 0.98
00:08:44.000 All right, now, speaking of stupidity, as predicted, the Democrats are moving very solidly toward Alexandra Ocasio Cortez. 0.99
00:08:53.000 Who could it be? 1.00
00:08:53.000 Someone predicted it. 1.00
00:08:55.000 Anyone raising their hand right now?
00:08:56.000 Yes.
00:08:56.000 Oh, yeah.
00:08:57.000 That's right.
00:08:58.000 I predicted that AOC was a significantly more durable candidate than Democrats were willing to recognize.
00:09:05.000 As of October 2025, according to a University of New Hampshire poll, the leader was Pete Buttigieg.
00:09:13.000 Okay.
00:09:13.000 Um, which, like, no, it never was.
00:09:16.000 Okay.
00:09:16.000 It never will be.
00:09:17.000 Pete Buttigieg is not going to be the candidate.
00:09:18.000 If you think Pete Buttigieg is getting through South Carolina, you got another thing coming.
00:09:22.000 If you go back to October 2025, Here were the leading candidates in order.
00:09:26.000 Buddy Judge 19, Newsom 15, AOC 14, Kamala Harris 11.
00:09:31.000 If you move forward to February 2026, it was Buddy Judge 20, AOC 15, Newsom 15, Mark Kelly 10, Kamala Harris 10.
00:09:41.000 If you move forward to July 2026, now what you see is that some support from Bernie Sanders has bled off to AOC.
00:09:49.000 Gavin Newsom has dropped rather dramatically in this poll from 15% to 8%.
00:09:53.000 It goes to AOC 22, Buddy Judge 21, Mark Kelly 9.
00:09:58.000 Gavin Newsom, eight.
00:10:00.000 Kamala Harris, five.
00:10:00.000 Sanders, six.
00:10:03.000 So you're starting to see movement toward AOC.
00:10:07.000 Not a shock.
00:10:08.000 Why?
00:10:08.000 Because at least one third of the Democratic Party is the Bernie side of the party.
00:10:12.000 Those people are going to line up behind AOC. 0.95
00:10:14.000 And AOC is going to try to pretend that she's a moderate Democrat who's just making room for the DSA, as opposed to what she really is, which is a charter member of the DSA, essentially, without the card. 0.98
00:10:25.000 Here she was yesterday talking about how, you know, we can't persecute the people in the DSA.
00:10:30.000 They're good people, good, solid people.
00:10:34.000 Should some DSAers who have called themselves communists educate themselves as to what they're doing?
00:10:41.000 It's a free country.
00:10:43.000 It's a free country.
00:10:43.000 You've got people with all sorts of affiliations in this country, and the whole point is that we don't politically persecute people.
00:10:55.000 You have a bona fide, like all sorts of extreme groups.
00:11:03.000 You can hold whatever views you have in this country.
00:11:07.000 And that's how America works.
00:11:11.000 What a free speech activist AOC is.
00:11:13.000 That's so nice.
00:11:14.000 That's so nice. 1.00
00:11:15.000 But her plan is to moderate and pretend to be moderate. 0.93
00:11:18.000 Meanwhile, Democrats across the country continue to try to shut down the workings of the free market.
00:11:23.000 A bunch of state attorneys general in California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Washington, Oregon filed a lawsuit to block the merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers.
00:11:34.000 Again, the idea for Paramount was to purchase Warner Brothers.
00:11:37.000 Now it has a bigger library, and now you get more stuff for your subscription fee.
00:11:40.000 Elizabeth Warren, of course, is very happy with this because anything that allows business to work more freely, she's against.
00:11:46.000 Big shout out to the state AGs who stepped up to block the Paramount Warner Brothers merger when Trump's DOJ wimps folded.
00:11:52.000 We know who really fights for the American people, and it's sure not Trump's DOJ.
00:11:56.000 Well, Spencer Pratt properly points out that Democrats are perfectly willing to destroy Hollywood if it means that they can have control.
00:12:04.000 That's all this is.
00:12:05.000 Gavin and Banta are willing to sacrifice the film industry just for petty politics. 0.96
00:12:11.000 Despite what this corrupt mimbo says, there is a ton of competition for these studios. 0.97
00:12:15.000 This whole lawsuit is a scam. 0.95
00:12:17.000 He needs to quit playing petty politics and crippling Hollywood.
00:12:20.000 All this does is put production workers in the barrel as cannon fodder when they're already suffering enough with how much greasy Gavin has pushed this industry out of LA.
00:12:29.000 The film industry needs a shot in the arm.
00:12:32.000 And Paramount is not only investing $110 billion into Warner Brothers, but David Ellison is slated to produce 30 theatrical releases in their first year.
00:12:40.000 That would be a massive boom for an industry that's been hemorrhaging jobs.
00:12:44.000 This lawsuit will make it even worse.
00:12:46.000 Either Banta loses or California loses.
00:12:49.000 That's all, folks.
00:12:52.000 Yeah, he's right.
00:12:53.000 That is right.
00:12:53.000 But, you know, again.
00:12:54.000 The consumer losing is not really of interest to the Democratic Party at this point because consumers are bad, right?
00:12:59.000 Why do you even want to consume things?
00:13:00.000 Just stop that.
00:13:01.000 Just stop that.
00:13:02.000 It's all about the nationalization and the unions and all the rest.
00:13:05.000 What an amazing video you just watched.
00:13:07.000 Wasn't that amazing?
00:13:08.000 Well, you know, if you think so, head on over to dailywire.comslash subscribe to watch the full show ad free or check out this crazy story here.