The Ben Shapiro Show - August 19, 2026


The Internet Lied to You About This Election


Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

181.02

Word count

3,029

Sentence count

214

Harmful content

Misogyny

11

sentences flagged

Toxicity

10

sentences flagged

Hate speech

14

sentences flagged


Transcript

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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 The Florida primaries this week reveal something very, very important about elections that the Twitter hive mind cannot seem to comprehend.
00:00:06.000 Online is not real life, at least for the GOP.
00:00:11.000 For the gullible Hassan Piker Pill Democrats, they're more online than ever, even running fake polls to vibe shift elections. 0.52
00:00:17.000 That's a real story we'll get to in a second.
00:00:19.000 We'll decode what it all means for right now and for the midterm elections coming up this November.
00:00:22.000 Let's dive in.
00:00:23.000 Here in Florida, we had a big day of primaries yesterday, and it was a study in contrast.
00:00:28.000 Democrats are too online.
00:00:30.000 Republicans, not so much.
00:00:32.000 So, what is too online and what is real life?
00:00:34.000 Well, if you had been following the online discourse, then a human named James Fishbeck, who traffics in pretty much every online meme, ranging from anti Semitism to bizarre conspiracy theories about cameras to like whatever is the hot topic of the day on X, James Fishbeck will just jump in and then try to turn it into a story about James Fishbeck.
00:00:55.000 When he's the governor, he'll fix it.
00:00:56.000 Okay.
00:00:57.000 Well, it turns out kind of nobody voted for him.
00:00:59.000 So, there was a gubernatorial primary in Florida.
00:01:02.000 James Fishbeck was given the kiss of death, by the way, by Tucker Carlson.
00:01:07.000 So, again, Tucker Carlson is like the Jim Cramer of politics.
00:01:13.000 If you wish to do well in politics, buy the reverse of what Tucker Carlson says.
00:01:17.000 Because, again, Tucker Carlson has now endorsed a wide variety of candidates who have all just fallen apart.
00:01:24.000 I mean, here he was with Aaron Putsch, who got 17% of the vote in his Ohio GOP primary. 0.96
00:01:32.000 Here he was with Thomas Massey, who lost his congressional seat because he decided to run against the Uden in a district with like five Jews where no one wanted to hear about any of that stuff. 0.68
00:01:42.000 Here he was with Fishbeck, who got 11% of the vote and was supposed to change politics by being a gigantic dork cosplaying as a soft alt right type, not particularly soft. 0.92
00:01:57.000 Here he was with Paul Dans in South Carolina, who didn't even end up appearing on the ballot.
00:02:02.000 And here he was with Ryan Zinke, who is not seeking reelection.
00:02:05.000 So, It turns out that if you really, really wish to never be a national political figure again, you should probably appear with Tucker Carlson and then stand for election.
00:02:13.000 It's a great way to do it.
00:02:15.000 Now, again, Byron Donald barely even campaigned.
00:02:17.000 Like, Byron was around the state, he was a guest on this program, but Byron barely ran a campaign.
00:02:21.000 He didn't end up doing really any debates with these folks, and he ended up winning 48% of the vote.
00:02:26.000 Jay Collins, who I very much like, lieutenant governor of the state, won 25% of the vote, well over doubling up Fishback.
00:02:35.000 And again, Fishback's big endorsers were Tucker Carlson, Sneeko, Nick Fuentes, Alex Jones, and Joel Webbin, among others, whose poll was precisely zero.
00:02:47.000 Now, hilariously, they started trying to cite the idea that young people across the state went heavy for Fishback.
00:02:53.000 So, what did they do?
00:02:54.000 They started pushing out propaganda suggesting that he won Florida State and University of South Florida and University of Tampa.
00:03:04.000 Okay.
00:03:05.000 There's only one problem, guys.
00:03:07.000 All three schools are out of session.
00:03:09.000 That was 25 votes that went for Fishback.
00:03:12.000 In Florida State and 24 votes at the University of South Florida and University of Tampa with 36 votes.
00:03:19.000 That was his big turnout.
00:03:21.000 Now, the media tried to turn Fishbeck into a thing because, again, the media love the idea, the specter of a Pat Buchananite Republican Party, but even more anti Semitic. 0.51
00:03:30.000 They would love that because they know that that is a kiss of death in American politics.
00:03:34.000 And so Politico had an entire long piece talking about how Fishbeck was going to change politics forever before he won precisely 10.5% of the vote or so.
00:03:48.000 He's posted dog whistle race bait and live streamed with Manosphere influencers such as Clavicular and Sneeko, who each post millions of followers.
00:03:54.000 He's also earned the admiration of far right streamers like Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes, both dominant voices of the budding America First movement.
00:04:00.000 But he's also become a political force on his own strength.
00:04:03.000 Videos from his hundreds of spontaneous campaign stops across the state occurring at an off the beaten path venues, including Taco Bell and Waffle Houses, college quads, and all night diners, routinely show swarms of hyped up supporters who look thrilled just to be in his presence.
00:04:16.000 It seems all but certain this dark energy will continue to surge, but who will direct the flows?
00:04:21.000 Does it seem all but certain?
00:04:23.000 Like super certain, does it?
00:04:24.000 Like, really, does it so much?
00:04:27.000 Byron Donald, who again is the normie candidate here, he gave his election night speech about affordability.
00:04:35.000 I will lower your insurance costs.
00:04:37.000 I will protect school choice.
00:04:39.000 I will stand with law enforcement.
00:04:42.000 I will defend common sense when it comes to protecting our girls and our children's puberty.
00:04:48.000 And I will make Florida more affordable.
00:04:55.000 The general election starts tonight.
00:04:58.000 Can't do this alone.
00:05:00.000 I need your prayers, I need your energy, and I need your hard work.
00:05:06.000 So I ask you are you with me to keep Florida red?
00:05:14.000 Are you with me to keep Florida free?
00:05:20.000 Then let's get out and build a state that's truly accountable, achievable, and affordable.
00:05:25.000 Again, he is going to win.
00:05:27.000 Byron's going to win the race.
00:05:29.000 And it's not just that Byron is going to win the race.
00:05:30.000 The person who's running against him, a guy named David Jolly, used to be a Republican.
00:05:33.000 I mean, this is a very red state.
00:05:35.000 This is now a very red state.
00:05:36.000 Florida is more red than Ohio is red at this point by a fairly significant margin, by the way.
00:05:42.000 Now, how about the Democrats?
00:05:43.000 Well, there were sort of a couple of races that were pretty fraught.
00:05:47.000 One of them was in the Democratic Florida 25 district, right?
00:05:51.000 That is a district represented by Jared Moskowitz.
00:05:54.000 That district happens to be heavily Jewish, about 25% Jewish, probably.
00:05:58.000 It's like Boca Raton. 0.55
00:06:00.000 And Jared Moskowitz, who is a pro Israel Democrat, was running against Oliver Larkin, who is a DSA psycho. 0.71
00:06:06.000 And Oliver Larkin just got smushed.
00:06:09.000 Oliver Larkin was backed by Hassan Piker.
00:06:12.000 Moskowitz ended up winning two thirds of the vote, which is presumably why he then tweeted at Hassan Piker dunking on him, which again is fitting. 0.95
00:06:20.000 It turns out the Jewish voters in the district were like, yeah, we're not really up with the guy who's not hot on the Jews and blames all of his problems on Israel. 0.95
00:06:26.000 We'll get some more on this in a moment.
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00:07:31.000 When I say the Democrats are too online, I mean they're kind of too online.
00:07:34.000 So the Democrats.
00:07:37.000 Had a Florida Senate primary for the final two years of the term that Marco Rubio was set to fill before he became Secretary of State.
00:07:47.000 Democrats, you know, running against Ashley Moody in that race.
00:07:50.000 So Democrats had two candidates.
00:07:52.000 One was Alex Vindman.
00:07:53.000 You remember Alex Minman.
00:07:54.000 He was the person who was the leaker when it came to the Ukraine phone call that led to President Trump's first impeachment.
00:08:01.000 He was the guy who was suggesting that President Trump was trying to do a quid pro quo with the Iranians in exchange for Burisma material on Hunter Biden and all the rest of that sort of stuff.
00:08:11.000 And he's been basically just an anti Trump figure for this entire time.
00:08:14.000 He spent something like $10 million in this race and he got destroyed by Angie Nixon. 0.97
00:08:17.000 Angie Nixon is a nut. 1.00
00:08:18.000 She is a Democratic Socialist American nut job. 1.00
00:08:22.000 There is no way she wins this race. 1.00
00:08:23.000 She gets destroyed by Ashley Moody. 0.94
00:08:25.000 Ashley Moody could not wish for a better opponent. 1.00
00:08:28.000 Angie Nixon is the kind of person who shows up to disrupt the Florida State House by just standing there with a bullhorn wearing all pink and screaming. 1.00
00:08:35.000 This is who Democrats are now running for the Senate. 0.62
00:09:24.000 Man, I have not heard that pitch of voice since like late last night when my three year old really, really did not want to go to bed.
00:09:31.000 I was literally just standing in his crib screaming at the top of his lungs.
00:09:35.000 That, that, wow, that's a lot.
00:09:37.000 That's a lot.
00:09:37.000 And that's the Democrats.
00:09:38.000 Like, we must have this candidate. 1.00
00:09:40.000 She says that drag shows are wholesome entertainment. 0.90
00:09:42.000 I'm sure this is going to go over amazing here in Florida.
00:09:46.000 I don't understand.
00:09:47.000 Like, there's no sexualization at a drag show.
00:09:51.000 It's just people dressing up and singing and performing.
00:09:53.000 I've taken my children.
00:09:55.000 To drag shows, and it's fun.
00:09:58.000 It's entertainment.
00:09:59.000 It's wholesome entertainment, and there's nothing wrong.
00:10:02.000 It's just like I don't get it.
00:10:07.000 Democrats, this is who you chose.
00:10:10.000 Great job, everyone.
00:10:12.000 Also, she was asked how she would relate to people who fled socialism, considering that she's a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
00:10:18.000 She's being asked this by Jen Psaki over at MS Now last night.
00:10:22.000 We're a member of the Democratic Socialists.
00:10:24.000 So a lot of candidates who have.
00:10:26.000 One in primaries who are members of the Democratic Socialists as well.
00:10:30.000 You are also running, though, in a state, Florida has, as you well know, and a lot of people are watching, though, a large population of people who fled countries like Cuba and Venezuela who may have a very unfavorable view of the term socialist, and they may not know you yet.
00:10:43.000 So, what is your message to them, and how are you going to appeal to them?
00:10:46.000 Because you need to win them over, too.
00:10:49.000 Yeah, for sure.
00:10:49.000 So, I'm going to continue to work hard and go and knock on every door and have conversations with people, even if they may not agree with me ideologically.
00:10:57.000 I want to be clear.
00:10:58.000 I just recently joined the Democratic Socialists of America, but I'm also a union organizer.
00:11:03.000 I'm a mother.
00:11:04.000 I am a wife.
00:11:06.000 I am a community organizer, a small business owner.
00:11:09.000 And I'm going to have conversations with people about what it is that they care about.
00:11:15.000 If you've led socialism and this lady comes knocking on your door explaining to you the qualities of socialism, I have a feeling she's not going to do particularly well here in Florida.
00:11:22.000 But again, this shows you how the Democratic Party is captured by the two online, truly captured.
00:11:27.000 And again, the Republican Party is not.
00:11:28.000 Corey Mills, who is the incumbent in the Georgia Florida Seven, He got primaried and he is no longer going to be in Congress.
00:11:34.000 He got primaried by a guy named Ryan Elijah because Corey Mills is a full scale disaster. 0.98
00:11:37.000 So Republicans are like punishing Congress people that they think are bad candidates and they're kicking them out and they're getting rid of bad gubernatorial candidates who traffic in idiocy. 0.96
00:11:48.000 And meanwhile, Democrats are just embracing this stuff full scale. 0.97
00:11:51.000 Democrats can also be gamed.
00:11:53.000 I mean, it's pretty amazing. 0.73
00:11:54.000 So there's an incredible story out of Wisconsin and California in which it turns out, you remember that there was this character, this Ambulatory psychotic named Francesca Hong. 0.66
00:12:04.000 Remember her? 0.79
00:12:05.000 She was running for Wisconsin governor. 1.00
00:12:07.000 She was one of the crazy guys. 0.88
00:12:08.000 And there were a bunch of polls suggesting that she was up like 20 points in the race. 0.87
00:12:12.000 And then she ended up losing.
00:12:14.000 And in the prediction markets, she was way the hell up.
00:12:16.000 She was at like 98%.
00:12:17.000 And then she lost.
00:12:19.000 Well, it turns out that there was a game that was being played.
00:12:22.000 According to the New York Times, an organization that released public election polling in recent weeks withdrew the results of two surveys, revealing it had fabricated the polls as part of a short term social experiment meant to expose how quickly false information could spread.
00:12:34.000 One of the surveys released by the group Median Strategies claimed that Francesca Hong was leading the Wisconsin Democratic primary for governor by more than 20 percentage points.
00:12:42.000 Another, shared by Mayor Karen Bass on X in a since deleted pose, showed Ms. Bass leading Nithya Raman by nearly 12 percentage points in the LA mayoral runoff.
00:12:51.000 On Monday, Median Strategies withdrew those results, saying they should not be treated as genuine polling data.
00:12:56.000 They said that the goal was to examine, quote, how purported polling information could enter and spread through the political information ecosystem without independent verification.
00:13:04.000 And it turns out the answer is.
00:13:06.000 Really, really, really easily.
00:13:07.000 But here's the thing Republicans haven't really fallen for that.
00:13:10.000 There are a couple of push polls that showed Fishbeck doing pretty well.
00:13:12.000 And it turns out he was just a dud because in the real world, he was a dud.
00:13:15.000 But Democrats get taken in by this sort of stuff. 0.89
00:13:17.000 They really, really do.
00:13:18.000 So, this does require us to ask a different and darker question.
00:13:21.000 Because if you're a Republican, you're looking at Florida going, okay, Republicans are doing great in Florida.
00:13:26.000 So, why do things look so dim around the country?
00:13:29.000 Because if Democrats are too online, why are they in such good shape to take the Senate?
00:13:33.000 Now, obviously, we all know the answer.
00:13:35.000 President Trump is deeply unpopular right now.
00:13:37.000 His approval rating is at 33%, according to Reuters Ipsos.
00:13:40.000 It has never stopped declining since Liberation Day.
00:13:44.000 And I'm just going to point out there was not a radical acceleration in his declining approval ratings thanks to the Iran war.
00:13:52.000 It was just a continuation of the decline.
00:13:55.000 You could draw a basically straight line from when the lines crossed in Liberation Day to now because nothing really changed, right?
00:14:04.000 The economy is still perceived by most people to not be working as well as it should be.
00:14:08.000 Inflation continues to be a concern in people's lives.
00:14:10.000 And the administration seems discombobulated in its approach to policymaking, for sure.
00:14:15.000 Well, Nate Silver has a breakdown today on the key Senate midterm races, and it looks pretty dim for Republicans right now.
00:14:21.000 He says that actually Democrats are favored in Texas.
00:14:26.000 He says James Tallarico currently leads Ken Paxton in our polling average by about 1.9 points.
00:14:33.000 Paxton has led in only one of seven polls conducted since July.
00:14:36.000 Now, again, Republicans tend to go through a bit of a summer doldrum when it comes to Senate polling in off year elections.
00:14:43.000 But, you know, the fact that this is even a competitive race in Texas is crazy.
00:14:48.000 In Ohio, again, President Trump won Ohio by 11 points in 2024.
00:14:52.000 John Husted, who is the current Republican incumbent, who was appointed to fill JD Vance's seat.
00:14:58.000 He's up against Sherrod Brown, who lost a narrow election to Bernie Moreno.
00:15:04.000 Brown has been ahead in all but one poll conducted since June, including by eight points in a recent Fox poll.
00:15:09.000 So, according to Nate Silver, about a 62% win probability for Democrats in Ohio.
00:15:15.000 In Iowa, Republicans are still favored, but it's pretty close.
00:15:19.000 Ashley Hinson leads state legislator and gold medal Paralympian Josh Turek by 0.3 percentage points in the average.
00:15:27.000 In Maine, because Graham Platner was ousted, Democrats are now favored.
00:15:33.000 Now, Susan Collins, as Nate Silver recognizes, has an enormous cash advantage over her Democratic adversary, and she overperforms.
00:15:42.000 But Maine is a pretty blue seat.
00:15:45.000 And he even has Democrats leading in Michigan. 0.94
00:15:50.000 He says that their model gives El Syed the edge right now.
00:15:55.000 Now, again, that is a little bit more dicey.
00:15:57.000 Now, Democratic bad candidates could, in fact, turn this thing back toward the Republicans.
00:16:01.000 Like, I think that Michigan is going to be an uphill battle.
00:16:03.000 For the Democrats, because the more people find out about Abdullah Sayed, the less they like him.
00:16:08.000 In Maine, Susan Collins is in fact a survivor.
00:16:11.000 So if I were to sort of game this out, I would suspect that Republicans hold Texas, hold Maine, hold Michigan, take Michigan, and probably hold Iowa.
00:16:21.000 So I'm a little bit less catastrophist about all of this.
00:16:25.000 I'm a little bit less catastrophic about where I think the Senate is right now.
00:16:30.000 And that's particularly because of the Democrats embracing their psychotic left.
00:16:34.000 What an amazing video you just watched!
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