The Ben Shapiro Show - The Democrats Have BIG Problems…But Will Republicans BLOW IT?

00:00:00.000 A lot coming up on today's show.

00:00:01.000 We'll get into the latest polls on 2026.

00:00:04.000 Are Democrats just flailing around?

00:00:06.000 How could they possibly win back power?

00:00:08.000 Is there any shot at all?

00:00:09.000 Maybe it would have to do with Republicans doing something incredibly stupid.

00:00:13.000 We'll get to all of that first.

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00:01:03.000 Well, Democrats have some major, major problems.

00:01:07.000 We are about one year out from the midterm elections at this point.

00:01:10.000 And it is worthwhile noting that in the real clear politics polling average right now for 2026.

00:01:17.000 Democrats are not in great shape in the generic congressional vote according to real clear politics.

00:01:23.000 They are leading by about 1.6 points.

00:01:26.000 That is about a year out.

00:01:28.000 1.6 points.

00:01:29.000 Now, that is not very much at all.

00:01:30.000 I mean, that is margin of error stuff.

00:01:32.000 And in fact, every single poll over the course of the last month has the margin between three points Democrat and one point Republican.

00:01:40.000 So there are no polls showing Democrats with a significant advantage on the 2026 generic congressional ballot.

00:01:46.000 To give you a little bit of history here, just so you understand how these things stack up.

00:01:50.000 In 2018, when Democrats had a great election, 2018, that was the off-year election in the first Trump term.

00:01:55.000 Democrats netted 40 seats in the House and ended up taking the House by a significant majority.

00:02:01.000 The real club politics polling average has had Democrats on election day in the generic congressional average up 8.4 points.

00:02:09.000 Again, today it's like 1.6 points.

00:02:11.000 In 2022, when Republicans won nine seats, which was a very narrow victory for Republicans.

00:02:17.000 The real Kerpolik's polling average had Republicans up 2.8 points.

00:02:22.000 And there are significantly fewer competitive battleground districts this time around, thanks to both redistricting and population movement, according to Cook Political.

00:02:30.000 There are effectively eight seats that are Republican toss-up seats held by Republicans, but could theoretically move Democrat.

00:02:37.000 There are 10 Democrat toss-up seats, including seats in California, Maine, New York, Ohio, and Texas.

00:02:46.000 So what does that mean?

00:02:47.000 Well, it means that this could be an unbelievably close election at best for Democrats.

00:02:52.000 And there is the significant possibility if redistricting does in fact occur in Texas, that Republicans retain the House.

00:02:59.000 Democrat chances right now are plummeting.

00:03:01.000 And part of that is because they have no narrative whatsoever.

00:03:04.000 They have major problems on their hands.

00:03:06.000 So they trotted out this no kings protest over the weekend.

00:03:09.000 They got some 7 million people to show up.

00:03:11.000 Now, the thing about gigantic mass protests like this is if they have no crossover appeal, it makes no difference at all.

00:03:17.000 Remember, 7 million people.

00:03:19.000 If you, if you look at the popular vote in 2024, then what you notice is that Kamala Harris won some 75 million votes.

00:03:28.000 So getting 7 million Kamala Harris voters out into the streets to be angry at President Trump.

00:03:33.000 That doesn't mean anything.

00:03:35.000 Right?

00:03:35.000 I mean, that's that's less than a tenth of the number of people who actually voted for Kamel Harris.

00:03:40.000 How many registered independents or Republicans were at the No Kings protest?

00:03:44.000 The answer is close to zero.

00:03:45.000 And so it's just all performative outrage for the Democrats.

00:03:48.000 They are hoping in the end that they have higher voter enthusiasm in 2026 than Republicans do.

00:03:54.000 And the evidence of that exists, but it is starting to wane.

00:03:57.000 There is evidence that Democrats are animated to vote in excess of 70% of Democrats are saying they are animated to vote in 2026.

00:04:04.000 For Republicans, it's in the mid-50s, but those numbers are likely to close before the election.

00:04:09.000 And the more performative Democrats look, the more they just seem tired and gray and old and like they got nothing in the tank.

00:04:17.000 For example, Nancy Pelosi, who is now 176 years old and remembers the Battle of Antietam.

00:04:24.000 Yesterday, she did a little bit of a social media video where she broke a crown In order to show there were no kings.

00:04:31.000 This is a lady who has been in Congress longer than most kings reign on their thrones.

00:04:36.000 And who is worth over a hundred million dollars.

00:04:39.000 And she is going to be talking about the oligarchs and the kings.

00:04:41.000 Nancy Pelosi, dentures of clacking. 0.58

00:04:46.000 We're going to tear up the crown.

00:04:47.000 Thank you.

00:04:49.000 *laughter*

00:04:53.000 Well, those are, I mean, she's good at tearing things up as long as those things have approximately the durability of paper.

00:04:53.000 Thank you.

00:04:59.000 You remember she tore up the President Trump's State of the Union during his first term.

00:05:03.000 And now she is tearing up crowns that are apparently tinsels she bought from Party City.

00:05:08.000 Nicole Wallace over at MSNBC, which is the fan network for the No Kings rallies.

00:05:13.000 She says this opposition, the thing about this opposition is that it's it's opposition led by the people.

00:05:17.000 No, it's not.

00:05:18.000 It's opposition led by a bunch of grassroots, astro-terfed organizations like labor unions and the Communist Party USA.

00:05:25.000 Here's Nicole Wallace trying to make fetch happen. 1.00

00:05:29.000 The No Kings protests clearly getting deep under Donald Trump's skin over the weekend.

00:05:34.000 But more importantly, the protests show the contours of a new opposition in America, one led by the people.

00:05:40.000 According to the organizers, 7 million people came out to protest Donald Trump on Saturday.

00:05:45.000 More than 100,000 people marched in New York City in Chicago.

00:05:49.000 The march at one point stretched 22 blocks.

00:05:53.000 But the protests were hardly confined to big cities in blue states.

00:06:00.000 Well, I mean, they they were mostly confined to people who voted for Kamel Harris.

00:06:04.000 Again, if you can spot me, 10 people who are now doing the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah here.

00:06:10.000 If you can find me 10 people who are registered Republicans who voted for Donald Trump in the last election cycle in those crowds, I will be very, very surprised, shall we say.

00:06:20.000 Jamie Raskin also trying to make all of this into some sort of gigantic popular uprising.

00:06:26.000 Here's the representative from Maryland.

00:06:30.000 This is right now the largest uh the set of demonstrations uh that's ever occurred in American history.

00:06:37.000 I don't know that there's ever been seven million people who have assembled in unity against an administration that has been so determined to violate the civil rights and civil liberties of the people, usurped the powers of Congress and trampled the Constitution as well as shut down the U.S. government.

00:06:58.000 Well, you know, again, the the this idea that this is a gigantic popular opera, it is betrayed by the polls.

00:07:03.000 There is no evidence, actually, that President Trump is in any serious trouble here.

00:07:08.000 He seems to be absolutely Teflon right now.

00:07:11.000 Well, coming up, Bernie Sanders has some words on the view about President Trump poop bombing a bunch of rallies, you know, in an AI video, because this is what Democrats have been relegated to talking about.

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00:09:35.000 So Bernie Sanders, who is apparently the only male who the view will invite on.

00:09:39.000 It was very funny.

00:09:40.000 Just last week, the view said we can't get anyone who's a Republican who wants to come on the show.

00:09:44.000 Guys, I've been sitting here for literally a decade saying have me on.

00:09:48.000 When Megan McCain was on the show, she told me, she repeatedly tried to get me on the show, and they kept killing it over and over and over.

00:09:54.000 I'm sitting right here.

00:09:55.000 I'm sitting right here.

00:09:56.000 You want to do it?

00:09:57.000 Let's do it, guys.

00:09:58.000 I'm waiting.

00:09:58.000 I'm ready.

00:09:59.000 Anyway, Bernie Sanders can get on whenever he wants.

00:10:02.000 And there he was at a loss for words over President Trump's fake AI poop bomb.

00:10:09.000 Trump may be crazy and he may be a liar, and he may do you describe.

00:10:14.000 I mean, it's hard to imagine a president.

00:10:16.000 I mean, I don't know what world he's got to be.

00:10:18.000 President of the United States dropping feces on an American city.

00:10:22.000 Right.

00:10:23.000 All right.

00:10:23.000 They may be all of those things, but this is what they're not.

00:10:26.000 They're not stupid.

00:10:29.000 Um, I mean, he didn't literally drop feces on American City.

00:10:32.000 He put out an AI video that is legitimately hilarious.

00:10:36.000 I mean, again, I'm sorry, but but the performative outrage, the, oh my God, we're this is not normal.

00:10:42.000 Guys, we've been living in not normal land for a very long time in this country.

00:10:45.000 There are people who are adults now who are 11 years old when Donald Trump took office, who are now 21.

00:10:52.000 Right?

00:10:52.000 Like that is where we are in life.

00:10:55.000 You think they're gonna get away with Donald Trump put out a video of himself dropping gigantic vats of turd on protesters in New York City.

00:11:03.000 And this is somehow going to outrage the American.

00:11:05.000 That certainly will stop him.

00:11:06.000 Yes, this time at last will have stopped Trump, Bernie Sanders.

00:11:10.000 Sure, sure.

00:11:10.000 And here's the thing.

00:11:11.000 Democrats are trying to create havoc with this shutdown, and people are just not panicked.

00:11:16.000 They're not feeling the havoc.

00:11:18.000 They really are not.

00:11:19.000 We are now on day 20 of the government shutdown, or day 21 of the government shutdown.

00:11:24.000 And frankly, it ain't having much of an impact.

00:11:27.000 Here, for example, is Harry Enton on CNN saying, you know, weirdly, this shutdown is not hurting President Trump very much.

00:11:35.000 Shutdowns are different the second time around when it comes to Donald Trump.

00:11:39.000 Take a look here.

00:11:40.000 You know, we speak about Donald Trump shutdowns, net approval rating.

00:11:43.000 We're talking 20 days into it.

00:11:45.000 In 2018 slash 2019, Donald Trump's net approval rating was already falling.

00:11:50.000 The shutdown was eating in and it was popular support.

00:11:52.000 It was down three points already at this particular point and would fall considerably more.

00:11:57.000 It was very much on the decline.

00:11:58.000 You come over to this side of the screen, this shutdown hasn't even Donald Trump support at all.

00:12:03.000 His net approval rating is actually up a point in in terms of in terms of his popular support.

00:12:09.000 So the bottom line is this the first shutdown during Trump's first term, 2018-2019, was hurting Donald Trump.

00:12:15.000 This one is not hurting him at all.

00:12:17.000 There's no real reason Donald Trump might say, at least when it comes to popular support, I want to get out of the shutdown.

00:12:23.000 I mean, again, the reason for that is because Americans are figuring eventually the shutdown will come to an end, and people will get their back pay, and that'll kind of be it.

00:12:30.000 And they don't even understand why Democrats are doing this in the first place.

00:12:34.000 Now, Democrats are struggling here with the government shutdown.

00:12:37.000 I mean, the polls show that they are not gaining any momentum from it.

00:12:40.000 And there's a reason for that, which is that until five minutes ago, Democrats always opposed government shutdowns.

00:12:45.000 They wanted the government to continue functioning and running no matter what.

00:12:48.000 In fact, here is Senator Tim Kane from 2019 saying that he would only vote on policy after a government shutdown ended.

00:12:55.000 Again, this is not very long ago.

00:12:56.000 Democrats have completely flipped their position in order to try and harm President Trump here.

00:13:02.000 You know, Senator, back in 2019, you made a similar argument during that shutdown that Republicans are making now.

00:13:10.000 Republicans at the time were asking for more funding for a border law.

00:13:14.000 You said, let's reopen the government first.

00:13:16.000 I want to play a little bit of what you had to say.

00:13:20.000 We first should reopen government.

00:13:21.000 Why punish people who are applying for food stamps because the president is having a temper tantrum?

00:13:27.000 Open government first.

00:13:29.000 So, Senator, by your own logic, should Democrats not vote to reopen the government first and negotiate later?

00:13:36.000 Kristen, here's what's different now.

00:13:39.000 The president told the Republicans to write this budget without any Democratic involvement.

00:13:44.000 management.

00:13:46.000 Actually, there is no difference.

00:13:48.000 But Democrats for some reason seem to think this is a winner.

00:13:50.000 Let's be clear what's happening here.

00:13:52.000 Chuck Schumer is trying to avoid a primary challenge from AOC.

00:13:54.000 Now, I think that that's misbegotten.

00:13:56.000 I don't think that AOC is going to challenge him in a primary.

00:13:58.000 I think she's going to run for president, which is why she's gallivanting all over the country with Bernie Sanders. 1.00

00:14:02.000 And Bernie Sanders is a gigantic advocate of the idea that we should never reopen the government unless Republicans suddenly magically become Democrats.

00:14:09.000 Here's Bernie Sanders.

00:14:12.000 Majority Leader Thune has offered Democrats a vote to extend Obamacare subsidies if they just agree to end the shutdown.

00:14:21.000 Are you on board with that just to get this over with?

00:14:25.000 No, it could start would not get it over with.

00:14:27.000 I want to see the shutdown ended tomorrow.

00:14:29.000 Got a lot of fell good, decent, hardworking federal employees not getting their paychecks, and that is not right.

00:14:35.000 Well, um, I'm I'm confused then then why won't you actually vote on something that is put forward by Senator Thune to end the shutdown?

00:14:35.000 Okay.

00:14:42.000 And nobody understands what Democrats are doing here.

00:14:44.000 And Chuck Schumer's idea that Republicans are are just lazy.

00:14:49.000 And that's the reason the shutdown continues.

00:14:50.000 Dude, you can end this anytime you want, any time.

00:14:56.000 So, Mr. President, we enter another week of Donald Trump's government shutdown.

00:15:01.000 And Republicans seem happy not to work.

00:15:05.000 Happy not to negotiate, happy to let health care premiums spike for over 20 million working and middle class Americans.

00:15:14.000 Our country is staring down the barrel of a health care catastrophe, and Republicans will spend this week either vacationing or holding pep rallies at the White House.

00:15:26.000 Yeah, again, I'm sorry, this is not going to work in any way, shape, or form.

00:15:30.000 Join us on the line to bring us the updates on the government shutdown is Senator Dave McCormick from Pennsylvania.

00:15:34.000 Senator McCormick, thanks so much for taking the time, really appreciate it.

00:15:37.000 Hey, Ben, good to see you.

00:15:39.000 So why don't we talk about the news that's on no one's mind, actually?

00:15:42.000 The government shutdown.

00:15:43.000 By polling data, Americans don't seem extraordinarily perturbed about the government shutdown at the moment, mainly because they think that it will come to some sort of end, and they don't really understand why Democrats are preventing the shutdown from ending.

00:15:54.000 According to Harry Enton over at CNN, the president's poll ratings have not moved one iota.

00:15:58.000 If anything, they've actually risen a point since the beginning of the government shutdown.

00:16:02.000 For folks who are not familiar, why exactly is the government shutdown right now?

00:16:08.000 Well, this is uh, you know, something that's usually standard fair, which is a continuing resolution, which is to just to keep the spending at the same levels while you're finalizing the appropriations process.

00:16:20.000 That's what Republicans have proposed and voted for.

00:16:22.000 Um, that happened 14 times under Joe Biden.

00:16:25.000 Republicans supported it.

00:16:27.000 The Democrats are trying to use that continuing resolution, a clean continuing resolution, no politics, to use that as leverage to blackmail Republicans to make a bunch of concessions to undo some of the things that were in the big beautiful bill and to approve uh additional uh uh tax subsidies uh from Obamacare that were put in place during COVID.

00:16:48.000 So it's literally holding government blackmail.

00:16:51.000 So air traffic controllers, border patrol, uh uh federal workers, the military, all don't get paid uh until uh the Democrats uh relent and essentially let us get back to business.

00:17:04.000 It's uh it's the Schumer shutdown.

00:17:06.000 And I think they're in a cul-de-sact.

00:17:07.000 I think they believed that this was the right thing to do politically, and it was gonna help them show that they were fighting back against President Trump, when in reality it's just bad policy.

00:17:17.000 And I I'll never support shutting down the government.

00:17:20.000 We should be able to find ways uh through this.

00:17:22.000 That's uh that's a bad policy.

00:17:24.000 Uh Senator Fetterman, my fellow Pennsylvanian, he and I agree on that.

00:17:28.000 Regardless of what party uh is in power, it doesn't make sense to shut down the government.

00:17:32.000 I've supported legislation uh uh by James Langford to ensure that doesn't happen again.

00:17:39.000 Well, Senator McCormick, Kevin Hassett of the National Economic Council, he has suggested that the government shutdown could end this week.

00:17:45.000 Are you seeing any movement on the part of Democrats to end this?

00:17:47.000 Maybe more moderate Democrats coming over to the side of ending the government shutdown.

00:17:52.000 You know, I don't see anything in the foreseeable future, to be honest with you.

00:17:55.000 I've spoken to a number of those moderate Democrats.

00:17:57.000 I I think that uh uh they believe, at least for the time being, that there's some political advantage here, which is which is a sad commentary.

00:18:06.000 Uh uh perhaps uh in the coming weeks as the and days and weeks as the is the impact starts to grow.

00:18:14.000 I think uh I think the pressure may ultimately lead them to relent.

00:18:17.000 In Pennsylvania, 100,000 federal workers.

00:18:20.000 The big thing that's happening now is there's two million recipients of SNAP benefits.

00:18:25.000 These are people that are often living paycheck to paycheck.

00:18:27.000 They're no longer receiving those snap benefits, and they won't receive them until the government is open.

00:18:35.000 So if you think about the Democrats saying they're trying to help working people, this is about health care for working people.

00:18:41.000 This is really putting an enormous amount of pain and pressure on working people because uh SNAP benefits and uh and and other things, the people that are employed by the government aren't getting paid.

00:18:53.000 So I think that pressure is going to grow, but I don't see anything in the foreseeable future.

00:18:58.000 Senator McCormick, you mentioned Senator Fetterman a moment ago, and it really is quite astonishing that Senator Fetterman appears to be one of the only semi-rational democrats who is around at this point.

00:19:08.000 He has come out against the government shutdown.

00:19:10.000 He is praised the president for accomplishments in the Middle East.

00:19:13.000 And yet Democrats apparently are now targeting Senator Fetterman for a primary challenge in a purple state that, again, President Trump has now won two out of the last three election cycles.

00:19:23.000 You're a Republican senator from that state.

00:19:25.000 What do you make of the Democratic Party that's basically saying to Senator Fetterman, who has very high approval ratings among Republicans and pretty good approval ratings among independents, that they're saying you don't belong in our party anymore, despite the fact that he votes with President Trump a grand total of six percent of the time.

00:19:40.000 Right.

00:19:40.000 I think it's a sad commentary on the Democratic Party, which has lurched to the left.

00:19:45.000 Here in John Fetterman, you have a guy.

00:19:47.000 He and I are friends.

00:19:49.000 Uh, we have found a way to work together, but he he and I disagree on many things.

00:19:53.000 He votes, as you said, as a as a Democrat most of the time.

00:19:56.000 What's different about him is he speaks authentically.

00:19:59.000 He speaks truthfully.

00:20:00.000 He doesn't uh uh buy into this radical uh liberal orthodolk uh orthodology uh orthodoxy, which uh where he ultimately is attacking uh Israel or embracing anti-Semitism.

00:20:14.000 That's that's what his party has become.

00:20:16.000 And so as a consequence, you have a guy here that speaks truth, votes as a Democrat most of the time, looks for ways to collaborate with me and others when he can to help Pennsylvania to help the country.

00:20:26.000 And and the radical uh left has turned against him for that very reason.

00:20:30.000 Um, he's very popular in pr in Pennsylvania, as you said.

00:20:33.000 He's got a lot of support from independents and Republicans and Democrats.

00:20:37.000 I think he's a pretty uh pretty formidable guy.

00:20:39.000 So I wouldn't uh I wouldn't write him off yet.

00:20:43.000 Senator Dave McCormick, really appreciate the time.

00:20:45.000 Thanks for stopping by for an update.

00:20:48.000 Yes, sir.

00:20:48.000 Thanks, Ben.

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00:23:05.000 Well, again, if Democrats fail with their government shutdown tactic, if that doesn't make Republicans less popular, then they will just throw bleep against the wall.

00:23:13.000 Not the stuff that President Trump dropped on them.

00:23:16.000 Different bleep, apparently.

00:23:16.000 Well, some of the stuff that they are throwing against the wall is they are very, very upset now that President Trump is apparently tearing down part of the East Wing of the White House in order to build this ballroom.

00:23:25.000 He's doing all of that with donated money, so it does not cost the public one dime.

00:23:29.000 And so the left has decided that this is a massive, massive problem.

00:23:33.000 How dare they?

00:23:34.000 How dare they touch the vaunted East Wing of the White House?

00:23:39.000 Here is Mika and Joe on MSNBC going crazy.

00:23:44.000 And it's hard to believe that any president could destroy the White House and take a wrecking ball to an existing structure so historic.

00:23:54.000 That is what's happening.

00:23:56.000 It'd be one thing if if you were building on or you were doing things inside, but to take literally a wrecking ball to the White House.

00:24:06.000 It's grotesque.

00:24:07.000 Just grotesque.

00:24:08.000 Yeah.

00:24:09.000 And this after the Rose Garden.

00:24:11.000 Um, and the I guess the patio that they have put in.

00:24:16.000 Well, um, which you could argue.

00:24:18.000 Um, it's far different.

00:24:20.000 Yeah.

00:24:21.000 I mean, this is a historic structure.

00:24:24.000 It's his history being torn to shreds.

00:24:28.000 So painful, so terrible, so untrue.

00:24:33.000 And then when it comes to the actual structure that they are talking about, the East Wing of the White House was originally built as sort of an antichamber to get into the White House by Teddy Roosevelt in 1902.

00:24:44.000 And then it was last renovated in 1942 by FDR.

00:24:47.000 A second story was added.

00:24:50.000 FDR included an indoor pool for himself.

00:24:52.000 Nixon added a bowling alley, Barack Obama added a basketball court.

00:24:56.000 And now they're taking out a building that was built.

00:24:58.000 Okay, this doesn't go back like the Lincoln era, guys.

00:25:00.000 We're not talking about gutting the West Wing.

00:25:02.000 Okay, though the West Wing is the historic part of the White House.

00:25:05.000 I've been in the East Wing, I've been in the West Wing.

00:25:07.000 I gotta tell you, the East Wing ain't nothing special happening there.

00:25:09.000 It's basically an office building that is an adjunct to the part of the White.

00:25:13.000 There's a reason that the show The West Wing was called the West Wing and not the East Wing.

00:25:17.000 All the historic stuff that you see, right?

00:25:19.000 The Oval Office, for example, all that stuff's in the West Wing.

00:25:21.000 All the stuff in the East Wing is just a bunch of small offices.

00:25:24.000 That's basically what's in the East Wing.

00:25:25.000 And so gutting some of it in order to create a much larger ballroom to host events, that that's that really is not nearly as big a deal as people are making it out to be.

00:25:34.000 But I guess when you're desperate, you're willing to try just about anything, apparently.

00:25:39.000 And Democrats have trouble here.

00:25:41.000 They do.

00:25:41.000 And this is why I think they are swinging behind Zorn Mamdani.

00:25:46.000 It's why they keep trying to make Zorn Mamdani into sort of the future face of the Democratic Party because they feel like, okay, well, you know, we're trying everything here.

00:25:54.000 We can't get away with any of it.

00:25:56.000 And so maybe Zoran Mamdani will sort of break the mold.

00:25:59.000 And listen, maybe he will, but not in a way that I think will be good for the Democratic Party across the country.

00:26:04.000 Zorn Mamdani is not a popular figure across the country.

00:26:07.000 Zor Mamdani is barely a popular figure in New York.

00:26:10.000 The guy is polling in the mid-40s in New York City as the Democrat nominee.

00:26:14.000 Normally, you'd imagine he'd be up in the 50s or 60s.

00:26:17.000 But it turns out that he's too radical for at least 50% of members of the New York City electorate, which is a very far-left electorate.

00:26:24.000 The idea that he is some sort of national bellwether is pretty crazy.

00:26:28.000 And so Democrats have a problem.

00:26:30.000 They have a major problem.

00:26:32.000 How do they defeat Republicans?

00:26:33.000 Well, there's one way they could defeat Republicans, and that is if Republicans decide to own goal.

00:26:38.000 And the way that Republicans own goal is probably the same that the way Democrats own goal.

00:26:43.000 Democrats scored on themselves by radicalizing.

00:26:46.000 They became powerful, and then they become fat, and then they became happy, and then they started promoting a bunch of trash like boys can be girls and America's systemically racist, and then they started losing elections.

00:26:56.000 It turns out that when you, in the thrill of your power, Decide that you can go as far to the radical as you wish to go.

00:27:05.000 Well, it turns out that the American people don't actually believe that, and they're willing to swivel back to the middle.

00:27:10.000 Republicans could be in danger of doing the same thing.

00:27:12.000 They could be.

00:27:14.000 The latest indicator of this is a story involving Paul Ingrasia.

00:27:18.000 So Paul Ingrasia was a Trump nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel.

00:27:25.000 He was a bad nominee.

00:27:27.000 He is a bad nominee.

00:27:33.000 But he has a long social media history of nuttiness, to say the least.

00:27:42.000 He reported back in July about Ingrasia, pointing out that on the anniversary of September 11th, for example, he shared a video of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones claiming the U.S. government planned the attacks or let them happen.

00:27:57.000 He had also defended Alex Jones several months earlier, writing, We all stand with Alex Jones in June of 2024.

00:28:04.000 He had shared comment from Nick Fuentes.

00:28:08.000 He had argued that straight white men are the most intelligent demographic group and should be prioritized in education.

00:28:13.000 He hosted a podcast calling for martial law and secession after President Trump's 2020 defeat.

00:28:18.000 He had suggested that Trump was in fact the Constitution.

00:28:22.000 Well, now it turns out that Paul Ingrasia, according to Politico, was involved in another one of these infamous group chat in which he said a bunch of, shall we say, not particularly intelligent things.

00:28:34.000 He said, quote, MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd, and his holiday should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs.

00:28:41.000 Now, whatever you think about MLK Day and whether it's deserved or not, and that's been a hot topic in America really since its inception, the idea that MLK Jr. was somehow equivalent to George Floyd, a lifelong drug addict who died of excited delirium under the knee of a police officer, as opposed to a civil rights leader who is quite famous actually for having taken a much more moderate position toward racial conciliation in the country.

00:29:04.000 That's ridiculous.

00:29:05.000 He used an Italian slur for black people, writing, quote, no Moumignon holidays.

00:29:12.000 From Kwanzaa to MLK Junior Day to Black History Month to Juneteenth, every single one needs to be eviscerated. 1.00

00:29:17.000 Now, again, you make the argument about any of those holidays, but um using racial slurs, not exactly wonderful.

00:29:24.000 In Grascia had also made comments, quote, I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time.

00:29:31.000 I will admit it.

00:29:32.000 Quote, never trust a Chinaman or Indian. 1.00

00:29:35.000 Never.

00:29:36.000 Again, this is not long ago, by the way.

00:29:38.000 That was in January of 2024.

00:29:40.000 So he was not a kid.

00:29:41.000 He was not an aun. 0.67

00:29:42.000 He was not somebody who's just, you know, a college student who was being an edgelord.

00:29:48.000 This is a person who is going to be appointed to a high position in the Trump administration.

00:29:54.000 Discussing why some Republicans feel Democrats make black people into victims, the texts show Ingrassio remarked, quote, blacks behave that way because that's their natural state.

00:30:03.000 You can't change them.

00:30:06.000 Okay.

00:30:07.000 So here is the question.

00:30:09.000 Why was this person ever nominated for this position?

00:30:13.000 Why, why was why?

00:30:16.000 And the answer is because, of course, there is an edgelord side to the right that has been made light of and ignored.

00:30:25.000 And you can do that when you're winning.

00:30:27.000 But it turns out that if you allow that to infect your movement, it is quite bad for your movement.

00:30:31.000 If you ignore that stuff and it metastasizes and it creates brainworms within the party, that is a big, big problem.

00:30:39.000 Because eventually the brainworms destroy you.

00:30:43.000 Senate Majority Leader John Thune declared on Monday night that Ngrasia was not going to pass.

00:30:49.000 Rick Scott of Florida, Senator, he said, I do not support him.

00:30:52.000 Soon said to reporters that he hoped Ingrassi's nomination would be pulled.

00:30:58.000 And this is the problem with the idea of appointing people, quote, based on loyalty without any regard to the things that they say and the things that they do.

00:31:06.000 And the Republican Party should beware because, again, this is not a recipe for victory.

00:31:10.000 This is a recipe for going crazy and then losing.

00:31:13.000 You want to make Democrats powerful again?

00:31:16.000 Be crazy.

00:31:17.000 Be crazy.

00:31:18.000 Promote as figures in your movement.

00:31:20.000 People who spend their days hosting guests to claim that the Jews created COVID.

00:31:27.000 Spend your days promoting theories about how Charlie Kirk was not killed by a radicalized gay, furry trans lover, but instead was killed by insiders at TPUSA or the Israeli government or the American government or Jews. 0.57

00:31:42.000 These things, by the way, do have some real world consequences.

00:31:45.000 Again, people are only responsible for the actions they call to be taken.

00:31:50.000 But they're certainly responsible for raising the temperature based on the sorts of arguments that they make and the lies that they tell.

00:31:58.000 That's just a reality of the world.

00:32:00.000 And to pretend otherwise is really stupid.

00:32:02.000 And this is where it is worth noting that my friend Seth Dylan, among others, including Laura Loomer and Josh Hammer, were targeted by Nicholas Ray, a 28-year-old Texas resident, who was arrested in Texas, and rest warrant was issued in Texas.

00:32:19.000 Attorney General James Uthmeyer of Florida will be joining us momentarily.

00:32:25.000 Issued a statement explaining that he'll be extradited to Florida for trial.

00:32:29.000 That is because he posted just about a week and a half ago, quote, to this to Seth Dillon, quote, you're in on it too.

00:32:37.000 Don't think we forgot.

00:32:38.000 Conspired with foreign government about killing Charlie.

00:32:40.000 We effing no you did it.

00:32:42.000 We're going to get you, I promise, maybe not today or tomorrow, but you're living on borrowed time and you know it.

00:32:48.000 Well, this person did not get his ideas from nowhere.

00:32:53.000 He followed precisely five accounts on Twitter.

00:32:57.000 Humoring bad ideas leads to bad things.

00:33:00.000 It does.

00:33:02.000 And refusing to call that out is not a sign of virtue.

00:33:06.000 Pretending it away is not a sign of virtue.

00:33:09.000 And on a pragmatic level, put aside the moral.

00:33:11.000 I understand everyone has moved into the post-moral universe where you don't say things just because they're true or good.

00:33:17.000 You have to first determine whether it is helpful or harmful.

00:33:19.000 We've moved into a sort of political utilitarianism, which I find distasteful, but at least I understand it.

00:33:25.000 I get the logic.

00:33:26.000 But let's be clear.

00:33:29.000 Brainworms are bad for parties. 1.00

00:33:31.000 Brainworms are bad if you are seeking to expand your power to do the kinds of good things, the kinds of positive change that need to happen in the country.

00:33:40.000 Allowing your movement to be taken over by the brainworms is not a smart idea.

00:33:44.000 And beyond that, again, I actually do think that there is something moral to be said when friends of mine are being threatened with death by people who are too into the internet and buying into conspiracy theories promoted by prominent people.

00:34:00.000 That is a bad thing.

00:34:02.000 Joining us online to give us the latest on the death threats to Josh Hammer and Seth Dylan and Laura Loomer is the Attorney General of the State of Florida, James Uthmeyer.

00:34:10.000 James, thanks so much for taking the time.

00:34:11.000 Really appreciate it.

00:34:12.000 Good morning.

00:34:13.000 So why don't we start with this news that was breaking last night about the arrest of a man who is threatening a bunch of Floridians, Jewish prominent people, as well as a Christian who's very prominent, Seth Dylan, Josh Hammer was threatened by this person.

00:34:28.000 What do we know about the arrest warrant that was issued for this citizen of Texas?

00:34:33.000 Sure.

00:34:34.000 Well, in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, we repurposed a lot of staff and resources working with investigators and law enforcement to go after evidence of political extremism and violence, uh, targeted calls for death and destruction.

00:34:49.000 This is one of those cases.

00:34:51.000 This individual clearly demented, uh, was calling for the death of several in conservative media using anti-Semitic uh verbiage in his threats.

00:35:00.000 So we found him in Texas.

00:35:01.000 He's been arrested.

00:35:02.000 We're going through the extradition process.

00:35:04.000 Uh we're going to throw the book at him and send a clear message.

00:35:07.000 If you call for violence, you will be punished.

00:35:10.000 You will do as much time as possible here in the state of Florida.

00:35:12.000 We have zero tolerance for it.

00:35:14.000 The attorney general, based on his sort of tweets and his public statements and the original threat that was sent to Seth Dillon, among others, it appears that he was accusing these people of being complicit or involved in the murder of Charlie Kirk.

00:35:26.000 Do you have any idea where these ideas came from or what his ideology was?

00:35:31.000 Well, he's already admitted to um many of the allegations uh he claims to have been indoctrinated on YouTube, uh, clearly has strong anti-Semitic feelings.

00:35:31.000 Sure.

00:35:40.000 Um the investigation revealed that there's certainly credibility to these threats.

00:35:44.000 He was talking in finite scheduled terms.

00:35:47.000 Uh so he will do plenty of time behind bars.

00:35:50.000 And again, we're out there, we're watching, we're we're surfing the web.

00:35:53.000 Uh, our investigators are working around the clock to make sure that we are keeping people here in Florida very safe.

00:36:00.000 Well, meanwhile, you've been going after Roblox, which, of course, is a very popular app with young kids.

00:36:06.000 It's a it's a video gaming platform, but it has become what you call a breeding ground for predators.

00:36:11.000 There are tons of parents in our audience, and I'm sure Roblox users themselves who may be uninformed about this, may not know what their kids are doing on Roblox.

00:36:18.000 Why don't you explain to the audience what's happening with Roblox?

00:36:22.000 Sure.

00:36:22.000 Well, over half of kids under 16 are using this platform.

00:36:26.000 Uh it's got sensational graphics and features as kids play these games online.

00:36:31.000 And what's happened is adults have been able to infiltrate this platform, pretending to be kids themselves, and ultimately have begun grooming uh children through this platform.

00:36:42.000 Uh, we've arrested over a thousand child predators in Florida since I took office back in February, and we've connected a lot of these cases to Roblox.

00:36:50.000 Uh, we launched a civil consumer protection investigation back in the spring.

00:36:54.000 And that inquiry revealed evidence that the company has knowingly acted uh very carelessly.

00:37:00.000 They've known that groomers are using this platform, and nevertheless, they've allowed it to happen.

00:37:04.000 They have dot not done enough to stop this dangerous behavior.

00:37:08.000 Uh so we launched the criminal subpoenas yesterday, and we're gonna hold wrongdoers accountable that have engaged in exploitation and failure to report, uh, aiding and abetting, very dangerous behavior that ultimately abuses and hurts our children.

00:37:24.000 And I think people are unaware of the scale of this.

00:37:26.000 I mean, as you say, an enormous number of kids are using these platforms.

00:37:30.000 And for parents, they may not even know what what's going on at these platforms, but from what I've been told by people who are sort of experts in this area, people are asking kids to take pictures of themselves and send them via Roblox.

00:37:42.000 They're they're telling them to walk around their homes with cameras, demonstrating what their home looks like for for predators on on Roblox.

00:37:49.000 What are the sorts of things that you're seeing that are that are concerning to you?

00:37:53.000 Yeah, parents at home need to wake up.

00:37:55.000 They're the first line of defense.

00:37:57.000 Uh, these online predators, they will pretend to be children and they are patient.

00:38:01.000 They will wait weeks or months.

00:38:03.000 They will talk in a dialect where they sound like kids themselves. 0.96

00:38:06.000 They'll tap into the insecurities of other children online.

00:38:10.000 Uh slowly over time, they'll start to solicit personal information, location information, imagery, uh, and in the worst of cases, schedule times to meet up in person.

00:38:21.000 And we have indeed seen cases of physical sexual abuse that all initiated through a Roblox connection.

00:38:28.000 Uh, we believe Roblox is failing to put proper age verification software's in place.

00:38:34.000 Uh, they're not doing enough to moderate the content to observe and shut down communications that clearly reveal predatory practices.

00:38:42.000 And ultimately, uh, we hope they're gonna work with the state and cooperate to put proper security protocols in place.

00:38:48.000 Uh, government should not get in the way of business activities unless it's an emergency.

00:38:53.000 This is one of those things.

00:38:54.000 We will stop at nothing to protect our kids.

00:38:57.000 And what sort of activity specifically would you like to see from Roblox that would at least make the state of Florida uh more comfortable with how Roblox is operating?

00:39:06.000 Well, I we're looking at many things.

00:39:08.000 I certainly would like to see them shut down the exchange of imagery altogether.

00:39:12.000 I don't think that's necessary in a social communication uh platform to play these games.

00:39:18.000 Get back to the business of playing games.

00:39:20.000 That's what it's supposed to be about.

00:39:22.000 Let kids be kids.

00:39:23.000 Shut down the social interactions that allow an eight-year-old to be on the other side of a screen as some adult that's also pretending to be a kid.

00:39:32.000 Um, so we're we're gonna work with them to the extent we can, and to the extent they're unwilling, we will see them in court or worse.

00:39:39.000 Well, that is Florida Attorney General Chance Meyer who's doing a spectacular job in that role.

00:39:44.000 Attorney General, really appreciate the time.

00:39:45.000 Thanks for what you're doing.

00:39:47.000 Thank you.

00:39:48.000 We'll get to more on this in just a moment.

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00:41:06.000 Well, meanwhile, again, speaking of parties that have gone off the rails, the Democratic Party has been off the rails, which is why they have made excuses for violence.

00:41:15.000 That's why the right should not do the same.

00:41:16.000 They've made excuses for violence.

00:41:19.000 Well, the DC U.S. Attorney General Janine Pierrot has now announced two additional arrests in an August attack on that doge staffer.

00:41:27.000 You remember the man popularly known as Big Balls was attacked on the street and beaten up.

00:41:32.000 And she's announced two additional arrests.

00:41:36.000 This case underscores the escalating challenges that we face in confronting crime in Washington, D.C. On August 3rd of 2025, at about 253 a.m.

00:41:51.000 Sunday morning at the U Street Corridor and 14th Street, which is a very popular hangout nightlife area, essentially, Ethan Levine, a 22-year-old and several of his friends, were standing outside a Sunoko gas station.

00:42:08.000 They were approached by a large group of teams, individuals who confronted them and began to assault them.

00:42:16.000 Today, uh we are announcing that Lawrence Cotton Powell, who is 19 years of age, along with Anthony Taylor, who is 18 years of age, are now charged with assaulting Levine.

00:42:29.000 Now, cracking down on crime is the job of the DOJ.

00:42:34.000 Good for Jeanine Pirro and the rest of the administration. 1.00

00:42:37.000 Meanwhile, a big court ruling from a federal appellate court in the Ninth Circuit, two to one vote, has now allowed President Trump to deploy the National Guard to Portland, according to the Wall Street Journal, despite objections from state and local officials who say no emergency exists to justify the federal show of force.

00:42:53.000 By a two-one vote, they reversed the judge, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

00:42:56.000 There's an unsigned order.

00:42:58.000 It said the sporadic violence of protests before an ICE facility in Portland was sufficient to trigger the president's power to federalize the guard.

00:43:05.000 The insurrection act allows the president to do that.

00:43:09.000 Abigail John Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said that President Trump is exercising his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel following violent riots that local leaders have refused to address.

00:43:19.000 And this is just another judicial win in a recent string of judicial wins for the Trump administration.

00:43:24.000 Joining us online to discuss is the assistant attorney general for civil rights, Harmie Dylan.

00:43:28.000 She's here to talk about a wide variety of issues, legal and otherwise.

00:43:31.000 Harmie, thanks so much for the time.

00:43:32.000 Really appreciate it.

00:43:33.000 Yep.

00:43:34.000 Thanks for having me.

00:43:36.000 So why don't we begin with the Supreme Court's take on gerrymandering?

00:43:40.000 I see there's a court, there's a case that was recently heard at the Supreme Court about the Voting Rights Act.

00:43:45.000 The court has sort of an interesting history with the Voting Rights Act over the course of the last decade and a half.

00:43:49.000 What is this case about and what does it mean for the future of gerrymandering?

00:43:54.000 Well, this is a fascinating case involving the uh line drawing in Louisiana and specifically the history of the Supreme Court's jurisprudence compelling states to draw racially gerrymandered districts to comply with the voting rights act in one interpretation of that.

00:44:12.000 Now, voting rights act was passed many decades ago to remedy racial discrimination in uh the line drawing in mainly in the South.

00:44:20.000 And so over the years, the court has successfully loosened a number of the restrictions that it had put into place in the voting rights act.

00:44:29.000 And remaining, however, is this concept that states are required to draw districts to elect uh minority uh congressional candidates, assuming that they're all going to vote the same way.

00:44:39.000 And I think that is the assumption that Justice Thomas and others are backing away from because today, in 2025, the vast majority of black uh representatives in Congress are not elected from gerrymandered voting rights act districts.

00:44:54.000 In fact, it's only 15 out of I think 60 who who are.

00:44:58.000 So the begs the question whether we need these types of mandates, and secondly, whether they're constitutional, the more important question.

00:45:06.000 And I was honored uh as the assistant attorney general in charge of um administering the voting rights act to author, co-author with my colleagues here at the DOJ, the Supreme Court's uh amicus brief.

00:45:18.000 And it was argued by uh deputy uh principal deputy uh solicitor general Hosh Mupin, very ably at the court last Wednesday.

00:45:26.000 So based on my take there in the audience, I think there is likely to be a majority of uh support on the court to cut back these mandates to draw racially gerrymandered lines, and that is going to create a sea change uh in in competition in a number of districts and probably some scrambling in some states to try to redraw the lines before the midterms, depending on the timing of the court's ruling.

00:45:50.000 And I think really to understand the importance of the case, I think we should we should recognize that for many decades there was a process that the DOJ used to use called preclearance, in which they basically dictated to states how those lines would be drawn, particularly in the South.

00:46:01.000 That was done away with in two in 2013.

00:46:05.000 And the court has has been kind of moving toward the idea that actually states should just be allowed to draw districts so long as they are not actively attempting to disenfranchise voters.

00:46:15.000 They should be allowed to draw districts because gerrymandering is part of our history.

00:46:18.000 And frankly, there is not an alternative way to draw districts that is significantly better.

00:46:23.000 Yeah, I think that's exactly right.

00:46:25.000 And so what will happen in Louisiana is instructive, and South Carolina's got a similar situation.

00:46:31.000 The NAACP sued in Louisiana because the recent line drawing only created one majority minority district.

00:46:38.000 And, you know, to even get that one district, it kind of sort of cut across a river, down a river across half of the state, and combined people from rural and urban and suburban districts, people who you would think uh, according to other voting analysis, don't have common interests.

00:46:56.000 And so they forced the state to draw a two majority uh minority districts.

00:47:02.000 And then white voters in the newly created district area sued to reverse that, saying that the racial aspect of the gerrymandering was a violation of equal protection.

00:47:11.000 And this is actually fascinating because for all the decades that uh the civil rights division here has been in effect until this term actually with the Trump administration.

00:47:21.000 Equal protection has meant that the DOJ comes in to enforce rights for minorities.

00:47:26.000 Well, the Supreme Court has, with a succession of rulings in other areas, including students for fair admissions in college admissions and Ames versus Ohio in employment, uh, said that majority Americans have rights as well under equal protection.

00:47:43.000 And so we may see that come into play in this um third important area here with the voting rights.

00:47:49.000 And I think you've seen Justice Thomas really take this on as one of his seminal causes.

00:47:55.000 Uh, he was very active in the questioning in the argument last week.

00:47:59.000 And I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the um capstones of his career to write on this issue, which he's been very passionate about.

00:48:09.000 Speaking of the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the DOJ, Harmie Dillon.

00:48:13.000 Harmid, I also wanted to ask you about this ruling from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that says that President Trump does, in fact, have the authority to send federal law enforcement into the city of Portland.

00:48:21.000 Obviously, there have been a lot of advocates on the left who have claimed that the federal government, the executive branch does not have the authority to deploy federal forces in cities in order to enforce federal law or to defend federal property.

00:48:33.000 The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which used to be relatively famous for being a highly reversed left-wing court ruled in favor of the Trump administration.

00:48:40.000 What do you make of the decision?

00:48:42.000 Well, I agree with the decision, of course.

00:48:44.000 I mean, we did the analysis legally in the administration before we uh, you know, and before we take actions typically, and this is the correct ruling, and it uh complies with historical precedent.

00:48:54.000 Of course, the president has this right, and of course, everyone can see with their own eyes that these cities are rife with unrest and specifically unrest targeting federal law enforcement officials.

00:49:03.000 And so I think the president has a duty to keep our law enforcement safe.

00:49:07.000 And there's a collateral effect of keeping those communities safe.

00:49:10.000 And so it's become a political football here, but uh localities and cities can avoid that problem, states and cities by simply enforcing the law themselves, which they have been unwilling to do in recent years.

00:49:21.000 And so here we are.

00:49:24.000 Well, that is Hermione Dillon, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the DOJ. 0.58

00:49:28.000 Hermeat, thanks so much for your time and for your hard work.

00:49:30.000 Thanks for having me.

00:49:32.000 All righty, folks, the show continues for our members right now.

00:49:34.000 We'll get into President Trump visiting with the Prime Minister of Australia.

00:49:39.000 It's, you know, a mixed bag.

00:49:41.000 Plus, we'll get to the latest in the Gaza Strip, as well as some positive changes in Japan and Bolivia.

00:49:46.000 First, remember in order to watch you have to be a member.

00:49:48.000 If you're not a member, become a member, use code Shapiro.

00:49:50.000 Check out for two months free on all annual plans.

The Ben Shapiro Show - October 21, 2025

The Democrats Have BIG Problems…But Will Republicans BLOW IT?

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