The Ben Shapiro Show - August 20, 2026


Trump Has Become the White House’s General Contractor


Episode Stats


Length

8 minutes

Words per minute

199.96

Word count

1,743

Sentence count

151

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcripts from "The Ben Shapiro Show" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Our builder in chief, Donald Trump, likely has some great retirement years ahead of him if he just returns to his developer roots and builds things again.
00:00:07.000 Our president was 100% in his element the other day when he started giving the press corps a full tour of the White House grounds.
00:00:12.000 He's talking about flagpoles and also maybe like some grass, marble.
00:00:16.000 Plus, we get the latest ballroom updates in the media, freaking out over all of it.
00:00:20.000 Yes, this is a real story that happened in all of our lives.
00:00:22.000 Let's dive in.
00:00:23.000 The president of the United States spent an enormous amount of time doing something amusing yesterday.
00:00:29.000 It was time for Trump, the builder.
00:00:31.000 Can he build it?
00:00:32.000 So he.
00:00:33.000 He was walking around talking about his building.
00:00:35.000 Now, here is my theory of President Trump's current unpopularity.
00:00:38.000 I think that one of the things that made Trump popular is the fact that he was a builder, right?
00:00:42.000 This is the thing.
00:00:43.000 He cared about the economy.
00:00:45.000 He's the guy who built an ice skating rink in New York City at below cost, all the rest of this.
00:00:50.000 This was his rep. And then on Liberation Day, he basically said, Well, I care about the economy, but what I care about more is tariffs.
00:00:59.000 And people shouted and screamed, didn't matter.
00:01:00.000 I think since then, the general perception of the American public is that Trump has other priorities, which is a mistake.
00:01:06.000 When he goes back to building mode, he's hilarious and good.
00:01:09.000 So he gave a bit of a tour yesterday in which he explained at length his building prowess at the White House.
00:01:17.000 Apparently, the President of the United States is very good at flagpoles.
00:01:24.000 As you remember, I donated the flagpoles, one on each side, because the White House didn't really have an appropriate American flag.
00:01:32.000 It had a small one on top.
00:01:33.000 We left that, but it didn't have an appropriate American flag.
00:01:37.000 And this is a great pole.
00:01:38.000 This is the top of the line.
00:01:40.000 It's tapered.
00:01:41.000 This isn't a straight up and down job, which looks terrible, frankly.
00:01:45.000 That's a tapered pole.
00:01:46.000 Great.
00:01:46.000 I'm very good at flagpoles.
00:01:48.000 Incredible at flagpoles.
00:01:50.000 Like the best.
00:01:51.000 The best.
00:01:52.000 What I want is the guy who's terrible at flagpole.
00:01:55.000 I just want to know what that looks like.
00:01:56.000 Who's the guy who's awful at flagpoles?
00:01:58.000 Like, what?
00:01:58.000 Is he installed at a 60 degree angle?
00:02:00.000 How does that work precisely?
00:02:02.000 The one who's like horrible.
00:02:03.000 Flagpoles feel like I could do a flagpole.
00:02:05.000 Like, I'm not a builder, I'm not a contractor.
00:02:07.000 I feel like Even I could figure out how to erect a flagpole.
00:02:10.000 So I don't think that's Trump's strongest case, but he has more.
00:02:12.000 Here he was explaining the new granite driveway at the White House.
00:02:16.000 We got rid of the asphalt here, and this is granite.
00:02:20.000 And if you notice, it's radial.
00:02:22.000 Radial meaning it's cut about two degrees.
00:02:25.000 Every stone is two degrees rounded.
00:02:28.000 So instead of putting straight pieces down, we have the stone is absolutely perfectly rounded.
00:02:36.000 If you look at it, it's sort of amazing because you can barely see it.
00:02:41.000 But it's just this slight radial cut, and it's a perfect.
00:02:45.000 It's a white granite.
00:02:46.000 It's called the flawless granite.
00:02:47.000 We get the best stuff.
00:02:50.000 One thing I know how to do is build.
00:02:52.000 I love this.
00:02:53.000 By the way, would absolutely green light President Trump on Love It or List It?
00:02:59.000 Right?
00:03:00.000 100%.
00:03:00.000 Can you just imagine President Trump walking into some crappy, rundown stucco one story in LA and being like, it's time to make some rennos.
00:03:10.000 Rennos time. 0.95
00:03:11.000 Pete, get in here with the sledgehammer. 0.91
00:03:12.000 Let's go.
00:03:13.000 Operation Sledgehammer, let's do it.
00:03:16.000 Love it.
00:03:17.000 The president had some words on grass, not that kind of grass, like actual grass.
00:03:23.000 And he waxes poetic about grass.
00:03:27.000 You know, grass has a life like humans have a life.
00:03:30.000 And this is all going to be right now, it's put in.
00:03:33.000 If you come back in two weeks, three weeks, it's in shock.
00:03:37.000 But you come back in two or three weeks.
00:03:39.000 This has all been redone, it's all been topsoiled.
00:03:42.000 In other words, we put topsoil, brand new earth on top.
00:03:46.000 You know, very, a lot of good ingredients in that earth for grass.
00:03:51.000 If you're grass, you're very happy.
00:03:53.000 If you're grass, you're very happy.
00:03:56.000 Like in the book of Trump poetry, I like this.
00:03:58.000 This would actually scan as poetry.
00:04:02.000 Grass has a life, like humans have a life.
00:04:06.000 It's the beginning of a children's book that I would definitely read to my kids.
00:04:10.000 Also, the president signed marble for the White House helipad project.
00:04:16.000 I hope this is a good one.
00:04:17.000 This had better be a good one, even though, in theory, I don't think, I don't know if anyone's ever going to see it again.
00:04:23.000 That's a beautiful cut.
00:04:25.000 Hey, maybe we should reverse it.
00:04:27.000 Let it stay.
00:04:28.000 He's loving every moment of this.
00:04:29.000 This is the most exciting he's been since he was driving the garbage truck.
00:04:32.000 That's pretty great, huh?
00:04:38.000 This is like his jam right here.
00:04:38.000 He's loving this.
00:04:41.000 Man, he's going to be so happy in his post White House career just doing this all day.
00:04:45.000 Honestly, you can feel it.
00:04:47.000 You can feel it.
00:04:48.000 And of course, the president did what he is very good at this.
00:04:50.000 He gives credit to all the blue collar people who are making this thing happen.
00:04:55.000 And these people are a big part of it.
00:04:57.000 So all these workers, I've watched them from windows, and they are working at 6 in the morning till 12 o'clock in the night.
00:05:05.000 Same thing with the military complex.
00:05:07.000 Right over here, they're working from 6, 6.30 in the morning is late.
00:05:12.000 If they get at 6.30, that's like almost late.
00:05:15.000 And they work till 11.30, 12 o'clock every night.
00:05:17.000 That's why you see it going up so fast, so properly.
00:05:22.000 But I want to give a lot of credit to the construction crews because there's nobody like them.
00:05:27.000 There's nobody like them.
00:05:30.000 He asked all of these people to sign the marble slab as well.
00:05:32.000 Again, that's kind of awesome stuff.
00:05:34.000 I'm really, I like that.
00:05:35.000 Here is the thing.
00:05:36.000 Your money, you know, like the cash that you're holding in your hand right now, it will be worth less than it is currently worth in about now.
00:05:43.000 And also like now.
00:05:44.000 Because the reality is the federal government is constantly making paper money less worthwhile.
00:05:50.000 There are some assets, however, that actually appreciate in value.
00:05:53.000 A lot of those are hard assets.
00:05:54.000 This is why I like the idea of giving a young person a gold or silver coin.
00:05:57.000 It's not just a cool gift.
00:05:58.000 You're handing them their first little asset and potentially starting a conversation about saving, investing, and the difference between buying things and owning things.
00:06:05.000 And maybe that conversation gets you thinking about your own portfolio.
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00:06:37.000 Well, speaking of President Trump as builder, the president continues to build the ballroom.
00:06:41.000 And apparently, his plan is to build it so fast that it's too late for the courts to do anything, according to the New York Times.
00:06:47.000 He has enlisted a team of 250 workers to push ahead with construction 20 hours a day, seven days a week, to complete as much work as quickly as humanly possible.
00:06:56.000 This week, there are plans to install 1 million pounds of rebar and pour 3,000 cubic yards of concrete for the project.
00:07:01.000 It's now two thirds complete.
00:07:04.000 So basically, they're going to appeal to the court and say, guys, what do you want us to do?
00:07:07.000 Like, tear it down?
00:07:08.000 Like, stop it?
00:07:09.000 What do you want?
00:07:11.000 For years, of course, President Trump has said that the White House needs a ballroom.
00:07:13.000 He's right.
00:07:13.000 I mean, I've been at the White House for public events, and I got to say, the spaces are really, really small because the thing was built when everybody was five foot two.
00:07:20.000 So, you know, the West Wing, particularly, is small.
00:07:22.000 The East Wing is not a whole hell of a lot bigger.
00:07:24.000 It's why they built an entire office building outside, which is where half the operations of the White House actually happen.
00:07:31.000 So the president is saying that he needs to build it also for national security reasons because there is a military bunker underneath it.
00:07:39.000 So, of course, federal courts are saying the president moved ahead without congressional approval, but he just continues to move and change the facts on the ground.
00:07:50.000 Apparently, Joshua Fisher told the court a concrete and steel superstructure had already been built.
00:07:55.000 It stretches five stories deep and 70 feet high.
00:07:57.000 He said that 80% of the rebar for the project had already been placed and the concrete has been poured.
00:08:01.000 So, first of all, I kind of love this incentive structure.
00:08:04.000 Build fast, go fast, do it quickly.
00:08:06.000 I mean, there was a time when it took us like a couple of years to build the entire Empire State Building.
00:08:10.000 Now it would take us a generation to do it.
00:08:14.000 And of course, he now says that the construction is 65% complete.
00:08:17.000 The vast majority of the money was raised from private donors.
00:08:23.000 Now, the people who are challenging it are trying to claim that it needs to be stopped anyway.
00:08:27.000 We'll find out, but it's an interesting strategy by the president.
00:08:29.000 Can he build it fast enough and cheap enough that it's just too late?
00:08:32.000 Maybe.
00:08:33.000 What an amazing video you just watched.
00:08:35.000 Wasn't that amazing?
00:08:36.000 Well, you know, if you think so, head on over to dailywire.comslash subscribe to watch the full show ad free or check out this crazy story here.