The Ben Shapiro Show - November 12, 2026


The Dumbest People You Know Will Tank The Economy

Is America Headed for Civil War? | Brian Kilmeade

Episode Stats


Length

30 minutes

Words per minute

198.43

Word count

5,996

Sentence count

447


Transcript

Transcripts from "The Ben Shapiro Show" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
00:00:00 We did just lose Six Flags, so I think that this would be a great site to bring some like Urban Airpark or American Dream type facility.
00:00:07 You know, just something that's bigger and broader and can serve all the residents of Prince George's County and not just benefit the ones that can get a job at a data center.
00:00:15 So that person is a person named, let me get this right Taylor McCollum.
00:00:21 And this person represents the modern left, not Abdul Rahman El Sayed, not AOC, that person.
00:00:27 That person is a homeless, jobless person who just personally stopped the building of a data center.
00:00:33 And stop the creation of jobs and stop economic development because she says that data centers produce diesel.
00:00:40 And her proposal is that they build a trampoline park instead.
00:00:45 A trampoline park.
00:00:48 Yes, folks, America is only getting dumber and also poorer.
00:00:57 You know, the GOP is feeling pretty crummy about things after the midterms.
00:01:00 Yeah, because we should.
00:01:02 I mean, it really, really was quite bad.
00:01:04 I have been saying there is optimism on the way.
00:01:04 But.
00:01:07 Democrats are going to jump on the rigs.
00:01:09 It will happen.
00:01:10 You're not going to have to wait long.
00:01:12 I'm going to get into all of that in just a moment.
00:01:13 First, I want to remind you that last night we here at Daily Wire premiered our brand new film, Confession.
00:01:18 I could not be prouder of this film or that we here at Daily Wire produced it.
00:01:22 This is the film starring Rob Lowe and James, James Franco and Jennifer Jason Lee and Nick Nolte directed by Vaslav Marhul.
00:01:29 It is an amazing, amazing film.
00:01:30 I told you about some of the reviews of the film yesterday, but I did want to take A couple of minutes and read you the Free Press's review of Confession, written by Rod Dreher.
00:01:40 It's an honor to ever receive a review like this.
00:01:43 The title of the review is Confession is a Masterpiece.
00:01:47 And here is what Rod writes How does a man follow Alexander Solzhenitsyn's directive to live not by lies when a lie could save his life?
00:01:56 Once he has soiled his soul with lies, can it ever be made clean?
00:01:59 And the most difficult question of all, the one at the heart of Ben Shapiro's extraordinary new film and screenwriting debut, Confession.
00:02:05 In a world without God, why suffer for the truth if a lie can free you and your loved ones from tormentors too powerful to defeat physically?
00:02:13 Though Fyodor Dostoevsky died in 1881, we are in the world the great novelist foresaw with nightmare clarity, the one Solzhenitsyn faced down in the 20th century with so much courage, and that confession conjures for the 21st, which needs the reminder.
00:02:26 So, as we've talked about, the plot of the movie revolves around Rob's character, named Alexei, who is a former Russian literature professor.
00:02:35 A drunk and itinerant NKVD, that's a KGB informer, and he's brought in to inform on his priest, who they believe has been writing dissident pamphlets.
00:02:44 And the man who interrogates him, James Franco, his character, Vladimir, is his former top student.
00:02:50 So Rod writes The coolly sadistic Vladimir tries to goad his old professor into making a confession, a statement that will give the NKVD the grounds to arrest the priest.
00:02:58 But Stalin's secret police never needed a legal warrant to take anybody into custody and put a bullet in their brains.
00:03:04 We soon see that the demand for a confession is a psychological scalpel slicing through.
00:03:08 Alexei Abramov's spiritual scar tissue to reveal a cancer eating at his own soul.
00:03:13 As Russian American historian Yuri Slezkin explains, the Bolsheviks were an apocalyptic millenarian political cult who saw the Soviet Union as a utopian project.
00:03:22 They fervently believed that any lies, crimes, or murders committed in service of the revolution were justified by communist idealism, hellbent on a better, more just world.
00:03:32 Viewers of Confession do not need to know Pushkin, who's quoted in the film, to grasp that by quoting a great Russian poet to undermine a desperate literature professor, the devilish Vladimir is quoting scripture, so to speak.
00:03:42 For his own purposes.
00:03:43 But Shapiro's screen drama speaks to an ever present temptation to believe in Plato's noble lie, a myth that provides the polity with stability, harmony, and other civic virtues.
00:03:52 But here's the startling thing.
00:03:54 Toward the end, Confession takes a jaw dropping Christian turn that is in no way tacked on or gratuitous, says Rodraer, but that flows naturally from everything that preceded it during Abramah's interrogation.
00:04:04 No spoilers here, but Confession ends as one of the most profoundly Christian films I've ever seen, one that knits truth telling, redemption, suffering, and sacrifice as tightly and piercingly as vines twisted into a crown of thorns.
00:04:15 As the final credits rolled, I was near tears, thinking that I had for the first time seen in a film drama the stories and lessons I heard while researching my non fiction book, Live Not by Lies, from the mouths of Christians who had stayed behind the Iron Curtain to bear witness to Christ and to truth.
00:04:28 In the face of Leviathan.
00:04:30 So many books have been written, says Rod, about the evils of communism, but very few dramatic films and television shows have made the attempt.
00:04:37 Now, Ben Shapiro and his team have given an America whose youth are falling in love with the noble lie of Marxism a great and important gift, one by no means for Christians alone, but for all who care to live not by lies, no matter the cost.
00:04:48 I mean, honestly, honored to receive a review like that for anyone, for anyone, let alone a first time produced screenwriter like me.
00:04:55 But, yeah, again, our entire team deserves enormous credit for putting this out.
00:05:00 We made confession because the world needs this film.
00:05:03 It does.
00:05:04 It's actually an important film.
00:05:05 It's not just great.
00:05:06 It's not just, I think, riveting.
00:05:09 It kind of draws you in with a magnetic pull.
00:05:11 But this is an important film.
00:05:13 The world needs a reminder of what tyranny actually looks like and what it feels like on a visceral level, how it operates and how it thinks.
00:05:20 But the world needs something else.
00:05:21 It also needs a reminder of what heroism looks like and what heroism means.
00:05:25 So I want to thank you again, our members, for helping us make it.
00:05:28 You're all enlisted producers on the film because our members. help us, you know, actually pay for making this kind of stuff.
00:05:34 If you haven't seen Confession yet, now is the time to check it out.
00:05:37 If you haven't subscribed yet, now is the time to join the fight.
00:05:40 Okay.
00:05:41 Why is that fight important?
00:05:42 Well, there are a lot of reasons.
00:05:43 And we're not on the verge of Soviet Russia, but we certainly are on the verge of something quite bad.
00:05:48 We'll get to more on this in a moment.
00:05:49 First, let's talk about great pricing.
00:05:51 So there's a lot out there that's just too expensive, right?
00:05:53 I mean, this is one of the big complaints, cost of living.
00:05:55 Well, if you're worried about your own personal cost of living, I do have to ask you why you are spending so much on your cell phone coverage.
00:06:00 I mean, I know the answer.
00:06:01 You went into one of those stores and somebody sold you a very expensive plan because you just wanted unlimited.
00:06:06 That's all you wanted.
00:06:07 Just be unlimited.
00:06:07 Don't want to hear about it.
00:06:08 Give it to me.
00:06:09 And now you're paying like three times more than you should.
00:06:11 Well, this is why you need to check out Pure Talk.
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00:06:51 Democrats will go radical.
00:06:52 They already are going radical, as I mentioned right at the top.
00:06:56 Democrats are going to drive the economy into the ground.
00:06:58 They will go radical.
00:06:59 They will not be able to stop themselves.
00:07:02 It's Bernie Sanders' party.
00:07:03 You can cry if you want to.
00:07:04 Now, again, Chuck Schumer will likely end up as the Senate majority leader because, you know, he still has all the sway with the senators who matter.
00:07:11 But Bernie is the heart and soul, or the heartless and soulless part of the party.
00:07:16 He is opposing, by the way, Chuck Schumer, the current Senate minority leader.
00:07:20 He says he's instead going to support the benighted dullard Chris Van Hollen, senator from Maryland, who's legitimately one of the dumber people in American politics.
00:07:28 You may remember Chris Van Hollen from such films as I'm going down to El Salvador to pose with domestic abuser.
00:07:34 Bernie thinks he'll be great.
00:07:37 People are sick and tired of the status quo.
00:07:40 We cannot have leadership in the Democratic Party who are going to do the same old, same old.
00:07:45 We need to stand up for working families, take on the big money interest, and improve life for ordinary people.
00:07:52 So that is what I think we have got to do.
00:07:55 You ask me if they're names.
00:07:57 Chris Van Hollen is one guy who has indicated he might be interested in running for leader.
00:08:03 That if he chooses to do that, I will support him.
00:08:06 Again, the idea here is not that Chris Van Hollen will win.
00:08:08 The idea is that Bernie can exert pressure.
00:08:10 That's the whole purpose exert pressure on the Democratic Party to move even further to the left.
00:08:15 Politico sort of points this out.
00:08:17 He said progressive lawmakers and activists are hoping to harness momentum from last week's sweeping Democratic victories to install inspiring new congressional leaders.
00:08:25 Many have looked at the Senate and found their guy.
00:08:27 A 67 year old father of three from an affluent Washington suburb was held public office continuously since 1991.
00:08:34 Over the past two years, he has emerged as an increasingly strident critic of the Democratic Party establishment and its approach to President Trump, as well as its positions on populist economic policies and, wait for it, the U.S. relationship with Israel and members of the party's left flank have noticed.
00:08:48 Again, they will not stop with the radicalism.
00:08:50 They won't.
00:08:51 They're not going to.
00:08:53 And Chris Van Hollen is a dolt who accused Chuck Schumer.
00:08:57 And the Senate Democratic campaign arm of quote, having sided with the crypto industry and AIPAC.
00:09:01 Yes, Chuck Schumer, notorious AIPAC devotee.
00:09:05 Okay, but again, all of the radicalism is coming back and it's coming back with a vengeance.
00:09:10 We're going to get the dumbest form of our politics and it will lead to an economic downturn.
00:09:16 Remember Sarah McBride, who, nay, Tim McBride, who is like an actual man who cosplays as a woman.
00:09:23 Well, Sarah McBride, the representative from Delaware, is back.
00:09:28 Saying, quote, anti trans politics was a flop this election.
00:09:31 The American people are tired of a politics of cruelty that does nothing to lower the cost or address corruption.
00:09:37 And so all the trans radicalism will come back.
00:09:39 They're lying about it now.
00:09:39 Now they're saying we're not going to do culture war.
00:09:41 It will all come back with a vengeance.
00:09:43 Hassan Piker, he's out there, again, trying to pull Hakeem Jeffries his way.
00:09:47 The goal is not to supplant Hakeem Jeffries, but to provide pressure on the new Speaker of the House to move him to the left.
00:09:54 That's what Hassan Piker is going to do.
00:09:57 There is no replacement of Hakeem Jeffries.
00:10:01 There's no replacement candidate of Hakeem Jeffries that isn't black.
00:10:04 Okay.
00:10:05 It has to be.
00:10:07 You cannot choose to undermine the first speaker of the House that will be black with someone who's not.
00:10:16 Okay.
00:10:17 It's just politics, representational politics of this sort obviously matters.
00:10:24 Okay.
00:10:25 It does.
00:10:27 Okay.
00:10:27 And then he suggested that Ayanna Pressley, again, a member of the squad, actually supplant perhaps.
00:10:31 Hakeem Jeffries.
00:10:32 He also says the goal is to get more partisan, not less.
00:10:35 And remember, Hassan Piker is still a charter member of the Democratic Party.
00:10:39 He claims that he's opposed to them, but they're all campaigning with him.
00:10:43 The pre Trump Republican Party is what delivered Donald Trump.
00:10:47 Okay.
00:10:49 Again, everyone get more partisan now.
00:10:52 Okay.
00:10:52 That's my only expectation from Democrats.
00:10:55 That's my only expectation from centrists.
00:10:57 If you are a centrist, if you're center right in the Democratic Party and you can't behave, In a partisan fashion, then what good are you?
00:11:05 Then you might as well cross over and come out as a Republican.
00:11:08 Okay.
00:11:09 It's the bare minimum expectation from people like myself, people on the left.
00:11:09 That's it.
00:11:16 Our expectation is you caucus with the Democrats and you show at least a fraction of the disdain that your voters have for not just MAGA, not just Trumpism, but the Republican Party broadly.
00:11:28 Again, they won't be, they're not going to be able to stop themselves.
00:11:31 They won't.
00:11:31 AOC is out there already saying that Democrats are not going to just try to impeach Pete Hegzev.
00:11:36 Or President Trump, that they're going to go after Supreme Court justices on the basis of literally nothing.
00:11:42 On the basis of nothing.
00:11:43 This is where Democrats are going to try to go.
00:11:45 This is where the hard left will try to force them.
00:11:49 How high do you go?
00:11:50 Do you go after Trump?
00:11:51 I mean, do you try to impeach Trump?
00:11:53 I mean, I think we should leave all options on the table.
00:11:56 Absolutely.
00:11:57 I mean, of course, this Supreme Court as well has also kind of legalized a lot of his criminality, and they're pointing at impeachment.
00:12:06 Impeachment in this Republican majority at that time was pointing at the Supreme Court.
00:12:10 So we'll see.
00:12:10 We'll approach it.
00:12:11 But I think all options are on the table.
00:12:13 All options are on the table to impeach members of the Supreme Court.
00:12:16 They won't be able to stop themselves.
00:12:18 And again, all of those issues that you thought were dead and buried, they're coming right back.
00:12:21 John Kerry, who still haunts our politics like a ghoul long beyond his sell by date, he's out there at the UN saying that what the midterms proved is that we need to do climate change again.
00:12:35 This, I promise you, is a transition that the world wants.
00:12:41 And no greater manifestation of that can be seen than the fact that one week ago today in the United States, people made climate change.
00:12:53 And its exigencies, a voting issue.
00:12:58 And by the way, make no mistake, the global left understands what the climate change call is all about.
00:13:02 And what that's about is destroying free markets.
00:13:05 Here, for example, is climate activist Leon Seeley Huggins saying this is all about redistribution of wealth and power.
00:13:13 At the same time, the UK is continuing to drill for oil and gas.
00:13:17 It's basically supporting these carbon bomb projects like the Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gas fields, the latter, which is.
00:13:24 Potentially set to be approved shortly, would blow our climate targets out of the water and it would produce more CO2 than the world's 28 lowest income countries combined.
00:13:35 And these projects are all funded, financed, and insured through the City of London.
00:13:39 It's there in the ÂŁ17 billion worth of tax breaks that are going to projects like North Sea oil and gas.
00:13:39 So the money is there.
00:13:48 So yeah, we don't have to choose between the North and the South, the rich and the poor.
00:13:52 This isn't about charity, this is about justice, it's about responsibility, and it's about redistribution of wealth and power.
00:13:57 So, if we're serious about calling this an implementation cop, then let's see some implementation.
00:14:01 And again, this is where the left is going on a global level and also on a domestic level.
00:14:06 We get some more on this in just a moment.
00:14:07 First, let's talk about your health.
00:14:08 So, this has been an extraordinarily tiring week.
00:14:11 I mean, there's a lot going on out here.
00:14:13 We released a movie, there was an election last week, a lot going on.
00:14:16 Not getting the sleep I should.
00:14:17 Well, that means that I need to be healthy.
00:14:19 And the only way that I can think of to keep myself healthy is that balance of nature.
00:14:23 I like their whole health system, it brings together fruits, veggies, fiber, spices in a way that's incredibly easy to incorporate into my day.
00:14:28 I don't have to rethink my entire routine.
00:14:31 It's just a part of it.
00:14:31 And frankly, when you have five kids and a demanding schedule and you're releasing a film you wrote and like a thousand things happening, simplicity is worth a lot.
00:14:39 If you've been thinking about trying Balance of Nature, here's a good reason to finally do it.
00:14:42 Head on over to balanceofnature.com and subscribe to the whole health system.
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00:14:50 Again, there is a simplicity to Balance of Nature.
00:14:53 It's one of the reasons you should use it because, let's be real, you'll go to the grocery, you'll pick a bunch of fruits and veggies, you'll tell yourself you're going to make yourself a smoothie every day.
00:15:00 You're not going to do any of that.
00:15:01 You're just going to throw it all away.
00:15:02 Instead, why not try balanceofnature.com?
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00:15:09 When I'm on the mattress, I need to sleep.
00:15:11 This is why I rely on my Helix sleep mattress.
00:15:14 It was made just for me, which means that when I get on it, I sleep better.
00:15:17 I know.
00:15:18 Simple, right?
00:15:19 Then why not just go do it?
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00:15:23 They have a two minute sleep quiz, and it considers your sleep position, comfort preferences, and support needs, and then matches you with the right one.
00:15:29 Every Helix ships free in the U.S.
00:15:31 And includes the Happy with Helix guarantee and a 365 night sleep trial.
00:15:35 That's an entire year to sleep on the mattress at home and make sure it's right for you.
00:15:39 Head on over to helixsleep.comslash Ben for up to 30% off during Helix's Black Friday sale.
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00:15:50 Your sleep quality, I know you don't think about it all that much.
00:15:52 You just kind of try and get through the day.
00:15:54 Don't do that.
00:15:54 Instead, go get a better mattress for yourself right now.
00:15:57 There's a reason they give that 365 night sleep trial.
00:15:59 They know you're not going to return it.
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00:16:05 Meanwhile, again, the radicalism of Democrats is unparalleled.
00:16:10 The Daily Wire has an extraordinary report about an illegal immigrant who tried to hijack allegedly a United Airlines flight this week.
00:16:18 Apparently, he was allowed to stay in the United States after two deportations.
00:16:22 By claiming to be transgender.
00:16:25 This is how Democrats run the country.
00:16:28 According to the Daily Wire, Honduran man Rony Alexander Gomez Alberto said he had a bomb when he tried to storm the cockpit of United Flight 2174, which departed from Newark to New Orleans on Monday night.
00:16:39 It was later revealed he crossed the southern border illegally once in 2011 and again in 2014.
00:16:45 He was removed from the U.S. each time.
00:16:46 And then he made a third successful attempt to enter the country.
00:16:50 On his third attempt to enter, which occurred at the port of entry in San Isidro, California in 2019, He claimed to have a fear of returning to his home country and was allowed to argue his case before a judge.
00:17:00 That case centered around his claim of being transgender.
00:17:04 He was granted asylum in 2020 based on his claim of being persecuted for being transgender.
00:17:08 Whoever was the person who allowed that to happen should be summarily fired by the administration.
00:17:12 I mean, my goodness.
00:17:14 But don't worry, that'll be de rigueur policy as it was under Joe Biden again.
00:17:17 We'll be right back there.
00:17:20 Meanwhile, there's apparently a new migrant caravan that's been starting up from down south up toward the American border.
00:17:25 Tom Homan, the borders are.
00:17:26 He says President Trump will still close the border.
00:17:28 Again, one of the benefits of Trump still being the president here.
00:17:32 We call it the Biden effect.
00:17:33 The caravan started.
00:17:34 They all started in this.
00:17:35 I knew if the Democrats could control the Congress, this would happen.
00:17:39 However, President Trump's in the Oval Office.
00:17:42 He will secure that border and continue to secure that border.
00:17:45 They're not going to be released.
00:17:46 The Democrats can't change the fact.
00:17:48 The executive branch will continue to enforce law.
00:17:51 Look, elections don't change laws.
00:17:53 The same laws we've been enforcing the last two years, we're going to enforce for the next two years, and they can't stop that.
00:17:58 I mean, thank God for that.
00:18:00 But, you know, if you're a Democratic governor, then you can take advantage of illegal labor.
00:18:04 So given the fact that the Democrats continue to move in radical directions, truly radical directions, we do have to ask the question, why in the world, particularly for young men, did they move?
00:18:14 Did young men move toward the Democrats in this last election cycle?
00:18:16 I know there's a lot of speculation about why.
00:18:20 I will say that I think one of the big reasons is because young men who listen to the Joe Rogans of the world or the Theo Vaughns of the world or members of Podcastistan, Spend an awful lot of time buying into the idea that there are vague and specious and terrible conspiracies around every corner that are driving them into the ground.
00:18:39 Now, this has become evident in the online space thanks to these Anakin Skywalker memes.
00:18:44 So, there are all these memes of Anakin Skywalker from the Star Wars prequels, in which basically it's about how you as a young male became radicalized.
00:18:53 Just an example here it's a picture of Luke Skywalker from the original trilogy.
00:18:58 This is from Return of the Jedi, where it says, average boomer.
00:19:00 Got a job with no experience, retired to a private island, refused to pass wisdom on to the next generation, which is, you know, a funny description of Luke Skywalker.
00:19:07 And then, average Zoomer, meaning like 19 year old man.
00:19:11 Best employee, still not granted a promotion, boss is 900 years old and won't retire.
00:19:16 And this is why you're radicalized.
00:19:17 This is why you're turning to the dark side.
00:19:18 It's because life is just so tough because no one has ever experienced things like, first of all, the idea that Zoomers are the best employees.
00:19:24 I think we can have some arguments about that one.
00:19:26 Okay, but this is being promoted each and every day by people who are in the business of telling young men that they're.
00:19:34 Angry feelings about the world.
00:19:35 And again, angry young men has been a phrase for a very long time because literally the history of Earth is filled with angry young men.
00:19:40 But angry young men are providing an entire line of income for podcasts to stand.
00:19:48 All you have to do is tell them that everything that they say is justified, that all of their feelings are justified.
00:19:53 Now, here is what responsible people in the world do.
00:19:57 Here's what mentally healthy people in the world do.
00:19:59 You examine whether your feelings are truly justified, whether there is a specific thing that can be fixed that will alleviate the problem that you have.
00:20:06 And if you are a good friend to somebody and that person is experiencing, for example, depression and despair, the first thing you have to do is engage in a form of what's called cognitive behavioral therapy, where you examine whether the feelings are themselves justified.
00:20:19 It is an aspect of progressive therapy to say that all of your feelings are inherently justified.
00:20:24 But Podcastistan runs on this feeling.
00:20:26 Podcastistan is powered by this idea that popularity, because listen, you'll be a lot more popular if you tell people all their feelings are justified.
00:20:34 And yeah, it's that guy over there.
00:20:36 And if you say, hey, man, let's examine your actual life path here.
00:20:40 Let's take a look at your finances.
00:20:41 Let's figure out whether you're as poor as you think you are or whether you can make a different decision that changes your life.
00:20:46 If you say that sort of stuff, then you're school marming people.
00:20:48 Then you're like their mean dad.
00:20:50 No, no, no.
00:20:51 Better to be one of the people who makes bank off of telling young men that really their lives are the worst.
00:20:57 Now, this is the equivalent, I will say, for young men, this is the equivalent of sort of Instagram modeling for young women.
00:21:02 There's been a lot of talk over the past 10 years or so about the terrible impacts on teenage girls and young women of social media because they look at pictures, airbrush pictures on social media, or Photoshop pictures on social media, or AI pictures on social media that show lifestyles that are unrealistic, body types that are unrealistic, and then women Start copying them, young girls start copying them, they feel inferior, and suddenly they have complexes.
00:21:27 The equivalent of that for young men is listening to a bunch of podcast dolts who walk around telling you that under no circumstances can you succeed in the freest country in the history of the world, the most financially successful country in the history of the world.
00:21:39 I bring this up because yesterday there was a clip that went viral of a person who was formerly a comedian who's not told a joke in some years named Dave Smith, a hoodie devotee named Dave Smith, who was on with a person named Jack Neal explaining that.
00:21:52 Young men have it so hard in America, so, so, so hard in America.
00:21:56 Not Dave Smith, of course.
00:21:57 He makes a very good living going around to various podcasts and talking about how terrible America is and has been.
00:22:05 But if you're not Dave Smith and you're young, then you have a really rough time.
00:22:08 I mean, so rough that you actually have to, according to Dave Smith, make a million dollars a year to live a middle class lifestyle.
00:22:15 One of the things that happens under the corrupt economic system we have, where everything is rigged on behalf of big business, is that You do, now the leftists analyze this in their own way that I think is kind of flawed, but you do have this kind of stratification between the rich and the poor, or between, and the, with the middle class evaporating more and more, right?
00:22:35 Like you can see that as more, when it becomes a thing where like, oh, you got to kind of make a million dollars a year to live kind of a middle class lifestyle.
00:22:42 Well, what does that mean?
00:22:43 It just means the middle class is shrinking more and more and more.
00:22:45 And all these people who used to be middle class are now something below that.
00:22:49 They're not, you know, like what you just said, the average person can't afford the house they're living in.
00:22:53 That person isn't middle class anymore.
00:22:55 So you have this kind of stratification.
00:22:57 Okay, well, no.
00:22:59 You actually do not need to earn a million dollars to earn a middle class living.
00:23:01 And actually, the so called stratification he's talking about, statistically speaking, is that over time, the middle class in the United States, the vast majority of people who used to be middle class are now upper middle class.
00:23:11 So you've seen an increase in income for the vast majority of people who used to be considered middle class.
00:23:15 But again, just on a basic level, the idea that you can't afford to live a nice lifestyle on a million dollars a year.
00:23:23 So the typical rule of thumb financially is don't spend more than 30% of your pre tax income on housing.
00:23:30 If you make a million dollars a year, that's $300,000 a year on your housing.
00:23:37 Now, in large swaths of the country, you can buy a house all cash, like the whole house, for $300,000 a year.
00:23:42 That's still possible in a lot of states in the middle of the country.
00:23:45 But take yourself to Manhattan.
00:23:47 This would mean that you could afford an apartment for $25,000 a month.
00:23:51 The average rent in Manhattan, the most expensive place in America, is about $6,500 a month.
00:23:57 So $25,000 a month will get you a really, really, really nice place.
00:24:01 A million bucks is a lot of money.
00:24:02 It's a lot of money.
00:24:03 It still is.
00:24:04 Okay.
00:24:04 Like, and again, this kind of is reminiscent of the $22 burrito debate, which broke down in the dumbest way.
00:24:11 No one is arguing that it's easy for people to make all their bills.
00:24:15 That's true.
00:24:16 Again, we have to be realistic about the challenges people face.
00:24:18 Yes, inflation means things are more expensive.
00:24:21 And yes, over the past year and a half, wages have not kept up with inflation.
00:24:24 That's a real problem.
00:24:25 We can talk about the ways to solve it.
00:24:27 But one of the things that is disheartening is when you don't talk about specific problems with specific solutions.
00:24:32 Instead, you say, no matter what you do, you can't get ahead.
00:24:34 Even if you make a million dollars a year, you're still going to be living in poverty.
00:24:39 Don't set up outsized expectations that are stupid because then everyone is disappointed.
00:24:45 In the same way that looking at Photoshop's lifestyles on a On a luxury liner isn't reality.
00:24:52 This is not reality.
00:24:53 Your life doesn't get better by listening to a bunch of demoralizing horse from people who make a living, it's silly.
00:25:01 It's truly, truly silly.
00:25:03 Okay, now, none of this means the price of housing hasn't risen.
00:25:07 Again, this is the game.
00:25:08 This is the game.
00:25:09 You say one true thing and one false thing.
00:25:10 You'll say, you know what?
00:25:11 It's pretty hard right now for a lot of young men.
00:25:13 True.
00:25:14 And then you say, you can't even make a living if you're making a million dollars a year.
00:25:17 So I say, that second thing you said is wrong.
00:25:17 False.
00:25:19 And they say, no, no, no.
00:25:20 You're just saying that everyone can afford everything.
00:25:22 No, that's not what I'm saying.
00:25:23 I'm saying you're setting out outsized expectations that cannot be met by anyone in reality.
00:25:28 It's not real.
00:25:30 It is not real.
00:25:30 Again, if you live in Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Nevada, Washington state, you might keep 620 grand after federal taxes.
00:25:41 If you live in California, after federal and state, it's like 510 grand.
00:25:46 Well, about $3 million, right?
00:25:49 Which is a very expensive house.
00:25:52 Will buy you a mansion in most places in the country.
00:25:57 Again, if you do the normal calculation for how much you should be paying in mortgage, the reality is that you can afford a lot of house for a million dollars in gross income a year.
00:26:07 Now, again, I think a lot of the media are complicit in this.
00:26:09 I think that there is an attempt right now to drive up outsized expectations.
00:26:14 So, for example, the Washington Post, it's not just podcasts to stand, it's also the legacy media.
00:26:18 So, the Washington Post put out a piece titled, The Job Market is Tough for Young People, Older Workers Are Thriving.
00:26:24 Quote, Since ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, employment for Americans 30 or younger has dropped in a collection of office jobs such as software development, sales, and accounting that are considered highly exposed to AI because tasks can be done more efficiently with the technology, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from Stanford University and the payroll firm ADP.
00:26:44 For people 35 and older, employment has climbed more than 7% in those same occupations.
00:26:48 Now, again, I just want to look at the data because the data are interesting.
00:26:52 Two things can be true at once.
00:26:53 Here's the deal.
00:26:55 Literally always, 22 year olds have a harder time finding a good job than 32 year olds.
00:26:59 Usually, because a 32 year old has gone through 10 years of trying to find a job, right?
00:27:04 That is why.
00:27:05 So, again, the Washington Post noting that it's easier right now for a 32 year old to find a job than a 22 year old, that is not shocking.
00:27:11 The real question is where do we stand by historical standards?
00:27:16 So, if we look at young workers, right, we look at the unemployment rate for young workers in, say, 1976, 86, 96, and then 2006, 2016, and 2025, what we find is the unemployment rate.
00:27:32 For younger workers in 2025 is about the same as it was in 2006.
00:27:39 It's slightly higher than it was in 2016.
00:27:41 It is significantly lower than it was in 96, 86, or 76.
00:27:46 So, again, does this mean that things are like particularly easy right now?
00:27:51 No, but is it like the worst historical?
00:27:53 Are we in the worst situation we've ever been in?
00:27:55 The answer, once again, is no.
00:27:57 And this is why I say we need to take a breath for just a second.
00:28:01 Are 18, 19, 20 year olds experiencing the most catastrophic job market in history?
00:28:06 Is their life over?
00:28:06 They won't be able, they'll never be able to get married, they'll never be able to get a job.
00:28:10 One of the most persistent social science findings.
00:28:12 In all of social science literature, is when you discourage people, when you tell them no matter how hard they work, they can't get ahead.
00:28:19 If they cultivate a feeling of victimhood, they will never get ahead.
00:28:24 That's why this crap needs to stop because it's not true.
00:28:26 Turn off the podcasts and go do things in the world, is the actual answer.
00:28:32 What an amazing video you just watched.
00:28:34 Wasn't that amazing?
00:28:35 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.
00:28:44 Father, I used to feel Christ.
00:28:48 I cannot feel anything here.
00:29:01 They take me out of my bed and they brought me here and they tell me nothing.
00:29:06 What have I done?
00:29:06 Article 58 counter-revolutionary activity.
00:29:10 That is all I know.
00:29:12 They have to deal with so many enemies of the state, all of whom claim their innocence, who protest, who cry.
00:29:26 There are no answers here other than the ones they put in your mouth.
00:29:32 You'll break.
00:29:35 Today is your opportunity to demonstrate your loyalty to the people.
00:29:42 I'd like to know why I'm here.
00:29:44 Of course.
00:29:48 But you're already now, don't you?
00:29:49 You must believe in something greater than the party.
00:29:54 You will remember your duty.
00:29:55 I've told you I know nothing.
00:29:57 Leave ground like a feral animal.
00:30:00 And you stink of failure.
00:30:03 You want me to lie?
00:30:04 Still a drunk.
00:30:05 Damn you!
00:30:08 They all break.
00:30:12 Maybe.