The Ben Shapiro Show - Trump Just ENDED The Online Circus

00:00:00.000 So, some pretty massive things happened yesterday that a lot of people missed.

00:00:03.000 Yes, President Trump fired Christy Noam over at Homeland Security, but he also fired Tucker Carlson.

00:00:08.000 He sent a message to the whole brain rot click whoring circus. 1.00

00:00:11.000 They are not MAGA. 0.91

00:00:13.000 He is MAGA.

00:00:14.000 There's a pattern President Trump sees.

00:00:16.000 Once you see it too, you can't unsee it.

00:00:18.000 This is the Bench Bureau show.

00:00:22.000 President Trump is not subject to brain rot.

00:00:25.000 Christy Noam was captured by Brain Rot, the online incentive structure that causes people to do dumb things for clicks and ubiquity. 0.71

00:00:32.000 She's not the only one.

00:00:33.000 Tucker Carlson, Megan Kelly, Gavin Newsom, all terminal brain rot patients, but Trump is not.

00:00:39.000 And so he fired Christy Noam yesterday, as we'll get to.

00:00:42.000 He also fired Tucker.

00:00:43.000 Well, Noam was a disastrous secretary of the Homeland Security Department.

00:00:47.000 That's just the fact.

00:00:48.000 She took the single most popular issue in President Trump's issue set and proceeded to run it directly into the ground.

00:00:54.000 In April 2025, President Trump's approval rating on his handling of border security and immigration was 49%.

00:01:01.000 Strong disapproval was just 34%, according to NBC News.

00:01:04.000 Well, by February 2026, according to that same NBC News poll, his approval on the issue had dropped to 40% and strong disapproval had jumped 15 points from 34 to 49%.

00:01:16.000 That takes some doing, but somehow, Christy Noam achieved it.

00:01:19.000 See, the problem wasn't Trump's actual immigration policy, which remains highly popular.

00:01:23.000 Americans still want large-scale deportations, but they would like to focus on criminals first. 0.84

00:01:28.000 The moment that Noam was replaced in Minneapolis by Borders Art Tom Homan, the Democratic hysterics stopped.

00:01:33.000 That's not because Democrats suddenly became good-hearted border hawks on this issue.

00:01:37.000 It's because Tom Homan does what administrators should.

00:01:40.000 He quietly goes about his job in calm and collected fashion.

00:01:44.000 He actually implements, and the story isn't about him.

00:01:46.000 Well, that's the opposite of Christy Noam.

00:01:49.000 Let's give some examples.

00:01:50.000 So you'll remember this rather famous clip of Christy Noam from last year.

00:01:53.000 This is her in El Salvador, made up for TV, standing in front of a bunch of criminals who actually were not American deportees.

00:02:00.000 I'm here at Seacott today and visiting this facility.

00:02:04.000 And first of all, I want to thank El Salvador and their president for their partnership with the United States of America to bring our terrorists here and to incarcerate them and have consequences for the violence that they've perpetuated in our communities. 0.88

00:02:16.000 I also want everybody to know if you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face.

00:02:22.000 First of all, do not come to our country illegally. 0.95

00:02:25.000 You will be removed and you will be prosecuted.

00:02:27.000 But know that this facility is one of the tools in our toolkit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people.

00:02:35.000 Now, this stuff may play online.

00:02:37.000 There are people online who get very excited about this kind of performative politics, but it does not play particularly well in mainstream America.

00:02:43.000 It just doesn't.

00:02:44.000 Or you'll remember that time that Christy Noam decided to call Renee Goode.

00:02:47.000 That was the agitator who was shot by ICE after running her car into an ICE agent.

00:02:52.000 Remember, she called Renee Good a domestic terrorist. 1.00

00:02:55.000 We're continuing to gather more information, but this goes to show the assaults that our ICE officers and our law enforcement are under every single day.

00:03:04.000 These vehicle rammings are domestic acts of terrorism.

00:03:08.000 We're working with the Department of Justice to prosecute them as such.

00:03:11.000 We will continue to protect our ICE officers and in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies as well.

00:03:19.000 And then she did it again with Alex Predi, who similarly was shot by ICE agents while resisting arrest.

00:03:26.000 The White House has labeled the man who was killed in Minnesota as a domestic terrorist.

00:03:30.000 Is that something you agree with?

00:03:31.000 And have you seen any evidence to do that?

00:03:33.000 When you perpetuate violence against a government because of ideological reasons and for reasons to resist and perpetuate violence, that is the definition of domestic terrorism.

00:03:43.000 This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers committed an act of domestic terrorism.

00:03:52.000 That's the facts.

00:03:55.000 Now, listen, I think that both the good and the pretty shoots were legally justifiable, but do I think either of them was a domestic terrorist with mass murder on their minds?

00:04:02.000 I don't.

00:04:03.000 Most Americans don't.

00:04:03.000 But Christy Noam proceeded to put the administration in an unwinnable public relations position by going whole hog.

00:04:09.000 And then she blamed everybody else in the administration for it, and then she denied it.

00:04:13.000 So just a couple of days ago, Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, grilled her about this.

00:04:19.000 I believe at the time you said these were acts of domestic terrorism, is that right?

00:04:30.000 Sir, in answer to questions at the press conference that afternoon, it was that it appeared to be.

00:04:37.000 Yeah.

00:04:38.000 But you said these appeared to be acts of domestic terrorist.

00:04:43.000 And as I've said previously in this hearing, is that we're getting information from a chaotic scene on the ground and relaying information to the American people.

00:04:54.000 Now, again, those videos are public.

00:04:58.000 People can draw their own conclusions.

00:05:02.000 Well, again, that is what Christy Noam was and does constantly do. 0.97

00:05:07.000 She goes whole hog. 1.00

00:05:08.000 That was her whole MO.

00:05:09.000 In fact, she apparently spent some $220 million on an ad campaign featuring, wait for it, Christy Noam.

00:05:18.000 Here is one of those ads.

00:05:23.000 Why do I love these white advantages? 0.99

00:05:24.000 She's riding a horse, for those who can't see.

00:05:26.000 They remind me of why our forefathers came here.

00:05:28.000 Not just for its beauty, but for the freedom only America provides.

00:05:32.000 I'm Christy Noam.

00:05:34.000 From the cowboys who tamed the West to the Titans who built our cities.

00:05:38.000 She's riding next to Bob.

00:05:39.000 To the dreamers who chase the impossible.

00:05:42.000 America has always rewarded vision and grit.

00:05:46.000 Our greatness calls people to us for a chance to prosper, to live how they choose, to become part of something special.

00:05:54.000 Anyone who searches for freedom can always find a home here.

00:05:58.000 But that freedom is a precious thing, and we defend it vigorously.

00:06:02.000 You cross the border illegally, we'll find you. 0.65

00:06:05.000 Break our laws, we'll punish you.

00:06:08.000 Harm American citizens, there will be consequences. 0.91

00:06:12.000 But if you come here the right way, your American dream can be as big as these endless guys.

00:06:17.000 From President Trump and me, welcome home.

00:06:22.000 I'm Christy Noam, and I approve this message.

00:06:24.000 I mean, that's basically a presidential ad, right?

00:06:26.000 I mean, pretty clearly.

00:06:28.000 Well, she apparently put together a sweetheart deal for her friends to produce exactly those commercials. 1.00

00:06:32.000 According to ProPublica, the Department of Homeland Security has kept at least one beneficiary of the nine-figure ad deal a secret.

00:06:39.000 Records and interviews show, a Republican consulting firm with long-standing personal and business ties to Noam and her senior aides at DHS.

00:06:46.000 The company that ran the Mount Rushmore shoot, called the Strategy Group, does not appear on public documents about the contract.

00:06:52.000 The main recipient listed on the contracts, according to ProPublica, is a mysterious Delaware company, which was created two days before the deal was finalized.

00:06:59.000 No firm has closer ties to Noam's political operation than the Strategy Group, which played a central role in her 2022 South Dakota gubernatorial campaign.

00:07:07.000 Corey Lewandowski, according to ProPublica, her top advisor at DHS, we'll talk a little bit more about Lewandowski in a moment, has worked extensively with the firm.

00:07:15.000 The company's CEO is married to Noam's chief spokesperson at DHS, Trisha McLaughlin.

00:07:20.000 Well, that's awkward.

00:07:22.000 Noam testified in front of the Senate that President Trump had cleared this use of taxpayer funds, and Senator Kennedy of Louisiana was having none of it on Tuesday.

00:07:33.000 How do you square that concern for waste, which I share, with the fact that you have spent $220 million running television advertisements that feature you prominently?

00:07:56.000 Sir, the president tasked me with getting the message out to the country and to other countries where we were seeing the invasion come from, with putting commercials out that told them that if they were in this country illegally, that they needed to leave or we would detain them and remove them and they'd not get the chance to come back to America the right way. 0.92

00:08:15.000 That has been extremely effective.

00:08:17.000 Ask you to run these advertisements, is that right?

00:08:22.000 We had that conversation, yes, before I was put in this position and sworn in and confirmed and since then as well.

00:08:29.000 I mean, to me, it puts the president in a terribly awkward spot.

00:08:34.000 And I just, I'm not saying you're not telling the truth.

00:08:39.000 It's just hard for me to believe.

00:08:40.000 Me, President, as I do, that you said, Mr. President, here's some ads I've cut, and I'm going to spend $220 million running them, that he would have agreed to that.

00:08:56.000 Well, yeah, especially considering the first 15 to 20 seconds of that ad is Christy Noam riding a horse.

00:09:02.000 I mean, like, yeah, I do not think that President Trump sat there and greenlit that commercial.

00:09:07.000 I don't. 0.98

00:09:08.000 Well, that was a dumb move by Christy Noam. 0.89

00:09:09.000 It's one thing to direct cash to your friends to make commercials to burnish your future presidential run. 0.95

00:09:14.000 It's another thing to then turn around and blame President Trump for that outlay.

00:09:17.000 And that wasn't Noam's only scandal, of course.

00:09:19.000 Obviously, the most salacious scandal involving Noam was her relationship with Corey Lewandowski, which pretty much everybody in D.C. knows likely goes well beyond the platonic.

00:09:28.000 It's been going on for years.

00:09:29.000 As the Wall Street Journal reported on February 12th, quote, within DHS, Noam and Lewandowski frequently berate senior-level staff, give polygraph tests to employees they don't trust, and have fired employees.

00:09:39.000 In one incident, Lewandowski fired a U.S. Coast Guard pilot after Noam's blanket was left behind on a plane, according to people familiar with the incident.

00:09:46.000 Noam and Lewandowski's close relationship had already made Trump and his top advisors uncomfortable.

00:09:50.000 Lewandowski had initially wanted to formally serve as Noam's chief of staff, but Trump rejected the idea due to reports of a romantic relationship between the two, which has continued to bring up, officials say.

00:10:00.000 Again, all this according to the Wall Street Journal just a few weeks ago.

00:10:02.000 After photos in the Daily Mail showed Lewandowski going back and forth between his apartment and Noam's across the street last year, the secretary moved into a government-owned waterfront house on a military base in Washington that is provided to the leader of the U.S. Coast Guard.

00:10:15.000 The Coast Guard falls under Noam's purview at DHS during peacetime.

00:10:18.000 Lewandowski also spends time at the house.

00:10:21.000 Lewandowski is married.

00:10:22.000 So is Noam.

00:10:23.000 They have publicly denied the reports of an affair, but pretty much everybody knows that that's a bunch of bunk.

00:10:29.000 The pair have apparently been using a luxury 737 MAX jet with a private cabin and back for their travel around the country.

00:10:35.000 DHS is leasing that plane.

00:10:37.000 Now they're trying to acquire it for $70 million.

00:10:41.000 So yeah, not great.

00:10:44.000 Well, actually, Christy Noam was asked the other day about her relationship with Lewandowski.

00:10:49.000 It was super awkward because her husband was sitting right behind her.

00:10:53.000 You will notice in this testimony, she does not actually deny that she and Lewandowski are sleeping together.

00:10:59.000 Because if she had, it is quite possible she would have made herself eligible for a perjury charge.

00:11:05.000 Here, she was being questioned by a representative named Kamlager Dove.

00:11:11.000 So, Secretary Noam, at any time during your tenure as director of Department of Homeland Security, have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski? 0.97

00:11:23.000 Mr. Chairman, I am shocked that we're going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today. 0.94

00:11:29.000 Reclaiming.

00:11:30.000 Ma'am, one thing that I would tell you is that he is a special government employee who works for the White House.

00:11:35.000 There are thousands of them in the federal government.

00:11:38.000 Reclaiming my time, it is okay for you to be no authority by the question.

00:11:43.000 It is okay for you to be no authority by the question.

00:11:46.000 But it is also a real question.

00:11:48.000 So, what I would say is that you should be able to answer what we do at the Department of Homeland Security.

00:11:52.000 Literally, every single day, and without any hesitation, every single day is to protect if someone is asked to make a decision.

00:11:58.000 You or any federal official is sleeping with their subordinate.

00:12:01.000 That's the easiest.

00:12:03.000 You should be wanting to answer that question because it is not about your sense that you have brought it.

00:12:08.000 It is about your job. 0.97

00:12:09.000 That kind of garbage is about reclaiming my time so that I can hear my son. 0.97

00:12:17.000 Now, the proper answer to that question would be no. 0.99

00:12:23.000 Come on, come on. 0.99

00:12:24.000 If somebody asked me, Are you sleeping with people who work for you?

00:12:28.000 The answer is no. 1.00

00:12:30.000 Then you get to, yeah, that question is garbage. 0.98

00:12:31.000 And why are you? 0.99

00:12:32.000 But the answer would be no.

00:12:35.000 If you don't say no to that question and you just go right to that question is truly offensive to me, I think we can all spot that you didn't say no.

00:12:45.000 I'm sorry, them's the breaks.

00:12:47.000 Bottom line is: Christy Noam was not doing a good job, and it was past time for her to go. 0.61

00:12:51.000 So, President Trump announced yesterday he would be replacing her with Oklahoma Senator Mark Wayne Mullen.

00:12:55.000 He put out a statement on truth quote: I am pleased to announce that the highly respected United States Senator from the great state of Oklahoma, Mark Wayne Mullen, will become the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security effective March 31, 2026.

00:13:07.000 The current Secretary, Christy Noam, who has served us well, wink, wink, has had numerous and spectacular results, especially on the border, will be moving to be special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, our new security initiative in the Western Hemisphere.

00:13:19.000 We are announcing on Saturday in Torrell, Florida.

00:13:21.000 I thank Christy for her service at Homeland.

00:13:23.000 Well, you know, the president has decided to upgrade his employees by getting rid of Christy Noam, and you need to upgrade your employees as well.

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00:15:00.000 Now, Democrats, of course, are trying to claim victory.

00:15:02.000 Gavin Newsom, fresh off of whatever anti-Israel podcast he can find to try to regain those hard left voters, is saying that Noam's firing represents a sort of retreat by the administration.

00:15:13.000 Donald Trump is in retreat.

00:15:16.000 Today is a perfect example of that with the first firing of a high-profile cabinet member.

00:15:22.000 He's in retreat, places like Minnesota, because the steel spine of citizens that stood up, real patriots in this country, pushed back against all that.

00:15:36.000 And you're seeing it globally.

00:15:37.000 And it's again, you're exactly right.

00:15:39.000 That's why Trump is acting out as he always does.

00:15:42.000 Weakness masquerading as strength. 1.00

00:15:46.000 But this, of course, is incredibly stupid. 1.00

00:15:48.000 Trump is not retreating. 1.00

00:15:49.000 He is making a smart adjustment.

00:15:50.000 Christy Noam was doing a bad job and now he's going to put someone in like Mark Wayne Miller.

00:15:53.000 You think Mark Wayne Mullen is now going to be soft on the border?

00:15:56.000 It's obviously the right move.

00:15:57.000 And it shows one big thing: addiction to the clicks and the giggles of the internet rots your brain and leaves you on the wrong side of normal Americans up to and including President Trump.

00:16:06.000 In one second, we'll get to people who have had their brains rotted, including Tucker Carlson.

00:16:11.000 First, here is your reminder.

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00:16:28.000 So if you think the show has been a little spicy lately, wait until you see Ben After Dark special guest, Mayim Bialik, who you remember from Big Bang Theory.

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00:16:36.000 Become a subscriber right now.

00:16:38.000 Okay, so back to the brain rotted.

00:16:41.000 Okay, so yesterday, President Trump went directly after Tucker Carlson.

00:16:44.000 He said, Tucker has lost his way.

00:16:46.000 I knew that a long time ago, and he's not MAGA.

00:16:49.000 MAGA is saving our country.

00:16:50.000 MAGA is making our country great again.

00:16:51.000 MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things.

00:16:54.000 And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that.

00:16:56.000 All of Of which is obviously true, except that Tucker is smart.

00:17:00.000 He knows exactly what he's doing.

00:17:01.000 But like so many in the commentary business, the clicks and the giggles have contributed to a terminal case of brain rot.

00:17:08.000 True, actual, undeniable brain rot.

00:17:11.000 After Tucker said just a few days ago that Trump's action in Iran is, quote, absolutely disgusting and evil, Tucker has now declared that Chabad, a Chabad, that is the Jewish organization most famous for their telethon and also their warm approach to Jewish outreach, Chabad, was responsible for the war in Iran and was also seeking to destroy the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is, I'm sorry, totally insane.

00:17:39.000 I mean, there are no levels to describe how that is.

00:17:43.000 That is so crazy.

00:17:45.000 That is clinically insane. 0.98

00:17:46.000 That's like, put that dude in a straitjacket nuts.

00:17:49.000 Chabad basically exists so that Jews who are interested in Judaism have a place to go to shul, to synagogue.

00:17:55.000 They're the people who stand around at public events.

00:17:56.000 You'll sometimes see them with phylacteries asking Jews if they wrapped to fill in that day.

00:18:01.000 They drive around with cars labeled mitzvah tanks.

00:18:04.000 Their actual philosophy, by the way, on the rebuilding of the third temple is that the third temple is rebuilt by acts of loving kindness.

00:18:11.000 I'm not even kidding.

00:18:12.000 That's what they say.

00:18:13.000 And Tucker basically just slandered Chabad.

00:18:18.000 Again, I'm in a state of shock.

00:18:19.000 It is hard to shock me when it comes to the levels to which Tucker Carlson goes because he has been an ever-degrading show.

00:18:27.000 But slandering Chabad as basically Hamas.

00:18:30.000 Well, actually, worse than Hamas, since Tucker actually thinks Hamas isn't really a terror group.

00:18:34.000 This is legitimately psychotic stuff.

00:18:37.000 I mean, psychotic break insanity.

00:18:40.000 Here was Tucker Carlson finding the real culprit for President Trump's. 0.99

00:18:45.000 Again, he's such a coward because Trump's the one who made the call, right? 0.98

00:18:48.000 Trump is the president of the United States. 0.98

00:18:50.000 Tucker still won't say his name.

00:18:52.000 In fact, when President Trump smacked Tucker yesterday, Tucker said, I still love him.

00:18:55.000 I still love him so much.

00:18:56.000 I mean, that's another piece of bull considering that back in 2020, he was talking about how eager he was for President Trump not to be president anymore in his text messages, but okay.

00:19:04.000 So here was Tucker labeling Chabad, you know, the guys who dance funny and wear long black coats and are extremely friendly with like fold-up card tables at public events.

00:19:19.000 Those guys are the actual force behind the Iran war, says Tucker Carlson.

00:19:25.000 And Chabad has been pushing in a pretty subtle way, unless you look carefully, for the reconstruction of the third temple. 0.51

00:19:38.000 And it seems like from the reading we did recently that those patches actually came from Chabad.

00:19:44.000 Well, any case, Chabad is pushing for the building of the Third Temple, but it's not just Hasidic groups from Brooklyn, and it's not just IDF soldiers. 0.70

00:19:53.000 There are amazingly a lot of American evangelical leaders, Christian Zionists, whose main point is rebuilding the third temple. 0.87

00:20:03.000 Now, how could an American Christian or any Christian call for the building of a temple whose presence, whose inherent presence denies Christ? 0.87

00:20:16.000 Well, that be Cray, as the kids say.

00:20:20.000 Well, naturally, Candace Owens jumped aboard this bandwagon of psychological breakdown too. 1.00

00:20:25.000 She put out a statement, quote, remember, they are digging tunnels in New York and in cities all across America.

00:20:40.000 It's so crazy.

00:20:41.000 All you could do is laugh.

00:20:42.000 I mean, truly crazy.

00:20:43.000 The digging tunnel story is about an unlicensed attempt by some students to dig a certain area from one building to another building in New York that was shut down by the city of New York. 0.98

00:20:54.000 The idea that Jews are rat-like digging tunnels.

00:20:57.000 In fact, the people who are digging tunnels are the people Candace likes, namely members of Hamas digging miles of tunnels, but they are digging tunnels in New York and in cities all across America. 0.91

00:21:07.000 Would you like to label those tunnels for me?

00:21:07.000 Really?

00:21:10.000 The tunnel-digging Jews? 1.00

00:21:10.000 The tunnels? 1.00

00:21:12.000 Yes, the Chabadniks with their picks and their shovels going into the caves in the mines. 1.00

00:21:18.000 Man, better get those people down to West Virginia and do some coal mining. 1.00

00:21:21.000 What the hell?

00:21:21.000 They are taking over entire towns in New Jersey.

00:21:24.000 That, of course, is a reference to the fact that there are several heavily Jewish towns in New Jersey, like Lakewood.

00:21:30.000 You should be absolutely aware of where the Chabad is nearest your home.

00:21:33.000 These people are dangerous.

00:21:34.000 Okay, this is where, my God, they are a radical sect of mystic occultists that follow the idea of a war messiah, and they harm kids if the work of Jeffrey Massen is to be believed, who worked under Anna Freud as the assistant director of the Sigmund Freud Archives.

00:21:47.000 Again, 40 of them were on a group chat while Chaim Braverman tried to organize my murder for me merely discussing their viewpoints.

00:21:52.000 It isn't your local mosque you need to fear.

00:21:55.000 Yes, I'm okay.

00:21:57.000 Quick test of whether your brain works.

00:21:59.000 If somebody went out into public and started trying to rap to fill in on Jews who acquiesce, do you run away? 0.70

00:22:08.000 If somebody goes out in public and shouts in a crowded space, Alahu Akbar, how do you react?

00:22:14.000 That's because you're not unwell.

00:22:17.000 But she then put out follow-up tweets.

00:22:20.000 A normal person's brain, when confronted with something they disagree with, hey, that's not true.

00:22:23.000 I can counter that with facts.

00:22:24.000 Okay, this is her usual anti-Semitic theory, which is that completely demonstrated, that the Jews are actually the offspring of a Turkic people called the Khazars, like a Turkic kingdom that for a brief period in time converted to Judaism in the early Middle Ages.

00:22:24.000 A Khazarian.

00:22:40.000 How can I make money and gold from this statement that is most likely, I mean, she's, I'm sorry, utterly indistinguishable from the work of Joseph Goebbels at this point, Candice Owens.

00:22:52.000 Well, here's the thing.

00:22:53.000 It would be funny, and it is kind of funny because people being cray is a little funny, but it actually is a little dangerous.

00:22:59.000 Chabads happen to be routinely targeted by both white supremacists and terrorists because they are so visible.

00:23:03.000 The Chabad of Palway, which is near San Diego, was attacked in 2019 by a white supremacist, killing one, wounding three.

00:23:09.000 Chabad houses have been targeted in Massachusetts, in Florida.

00:23:12.000 And of course, the Mumbai Chabad over in India was specifically targeted in 2008, killing a bunch of hostages.

00:23:17.000 Now, as always, here's the caveat.

00:23:19.000 That doesn't mean Tucker and Candace are responsible for crazy people who go and do violence.

00:23:24.000 They're not overtly calling for violence, but they are morally culpable for the things that happen to a certain degree and to a high degree because they continue to raise the temperature rhetorically and they are targeting a group of innocent people by calling them essentially terrorists and dangerous to the country.

00:23:40.000 And they are providing intellectual fodder for the violent deranged to go and do their work.

00:23:44.000 And of course, this latest bout of total insanity, I mean, true insanity, follows hard on Tucker's other insanity of late, from suggesting that Israel murdered JFK to labeling Christian Zionists the worst people on planet Earth to telling Ambassador Mike Huckabee that Jews should take a DNA test in order to claim historical heritage to calling Secretary of War Pete Hegseph culty. 0.97

00:24:06.000 This is what brain rot looks like, gang.

00:24:08.000 Why would you redact references to Israel in the Kennedy files for six decades?

00:24:13.000 Like, what is that?

00:24:14.000 That's almost an admission.

00:24:16.000 Tranches of documents that have been released in the last 12 months, we've seen again and again, references to Israel, and there are a lot of references to Israel, have all been redacted for 62 years, 63 years.

00:24:27.000 I don't understand.

00:24:28.000 Like, why would that be?

00:24:30.000 And then the Christian Zionists who are, well, Christian Zionists. 0.85

00:24:35.000 Like, what is that?

00:24:36.000 Right.

00:24:36.000 And I could just say for myself, I dislike them more than anybody.

00:24:44.000 Because like, what?

00:24:45.000 Because it's Christian heresy. 1.00

00:24:46.000 And I'm offended by that as a Christian.

00:24:48.000 And because of science, we can now know who those people are.

00:24:52.000 So why aren't we finding out?

00:24:55.000 I guess you could propose a DNA test for everybody who comes here, everybody who lives here. 0.99

00:25:01.000 I'm comfortable with secular nation states where none of this is done on the basis of blood.

00:25:06.000 I'm uncomfortable with that.

00:25:07.000 I'll just say that.

00:25:08.000 But there are people who may not have bloodlines, but who have converted to Judaism.

00:25:13.000 Are they going to be able to live here?

00:25:15.000 Are you going to kick them out?

00:25:16.000 This is considered so esoteric and weird and crypto-historical and religious and kind of culty.

00:25:23.000 And what's Chabad? 0.62

00:25:24.000 And that no one ever mentions it.

00:25:27.000 But here's Pete Hegseth, football player from Princeton, going on about it in a way that suggests he's thought a lot about it.

00:25:35.000 That, by the way, is the milder stuff from him.

00:25:38.000 No wonder President Trump cut him loose.

00:25:40.000 Well, the president is good at his job because he makes adjustments.

00:25:43.000 Well, it's time for you to adjust.

00:25:44.000 You've been told since you were a kid, you need to eat your fruits and veggies.

00:25:46.000 Are you doing it?

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00:26:51.000 See, here's the thing.

00:26:52.000 President Trump is good at his job because he is not too online.

00:26:56.000 We've talked routinely on the show about the gap between the online world and the real world.

00:27:00.000 This is why I tell people to go out and touch grass and talk to actual humans.

00:27:03.000 However, that gap is growing wider every day.

00:27:06.000 So while Tucker and Candace and others in the brain rot horseshoe right keep claiming that Trump is losing his base, that isn't true, right?

00:27:13.000 These are the people who are claiming that the Iran war is going to break Trump's base.

00:27:16.000 Here's CNN's Harry Enton with the actual data.

00:27:20.000 Republicans love Donald Trump more than any president's own party supporters loved him at this particular point.

00:27:28.000 Just take a look here.

00:27:29.000 Okay, own party supporters, 21st century presidents own party approval about at this point in the second term.

00:27:34.000 Bush was at 77%.

00:27:36.000 Obama was at 77%.

00:27:38.000 Look at this.

00:27:39.000 86% of Republicans approve of the job that Donald Trump is doing at this point.

00:27:46.000 In fact, President Trump's approval is up across every single issue except for ICE, thanks to the diligent work of Christy Noam.

00:27:53.000 Trump's favorability with Republicans remains well above 80% in every single poll, 90% in the Fox News poll.

00:28:00.000 Now, there are true believers who simply oppose the president.

00:28:04.000 Nazi stand and closeted homosexual, Nick Flantes being an excellent example. 0.96

00:28:08.000 This has to be the breaking point. 0.98

00:28:11.000 This is the breaking point for the GOP coalition.

00:28:15.000 You buried the Epstein files.

00:28:17.000 There is no border wall.

00:28:19.000 You didn't deliver on mass deportations.

00:28:21.000 You cut corporate tax rates for the rich by cutting Medicaid again.

00:28:28.000 No infrastructure bill.

00:28:30.000 No middle class tax cuts.

00:28:31.000 You got to refund the tariffs.

00:28:33.000 And now we're in a regime change war with Iran.

00:28:37.000 That's the breaking point.

00:28:38.000 I'm out.

00:28:39.000 I'm done.

00:28:42.000 I am off the Trump train.

00:28:44.000 I am not voting in 26.

00:28:47.000 If Rubio or Vance are on the ticket in any form in 28, I'm voting for a Democrat.

00:28:53.000 I mean, he's going to vote for Democrat anyway.

00:28:56.000 I mean, because, again, he is the true believer in his own bizarre view of the world.

00:29:00.000 But if you listen to the online chatter, if you spend a lot of time on X, which is a mental ward, the entire right is against Trump, supposedly.

00:29:07.000 Because this is the place for the two online.

00:29:07.000 Why?

00:29:10.000 A lot of figures are looking at their click count, which is being jogged algorithmically, and they assume that their views are actually popular with the bulk of the American people.

00:29:17.000 And that's why some engagement farmers, you know, people who spend all day abandoning principles, but bragging about their view count, are claiming political victory, even while President Trump ignores literally everything they're saying.

00:29:28.000 Which is why, for example, sadly, Megan Kelly continues to pretend she's the vanguard of the conservative movement, citing you wait for it, her YouTube numbers.

00:29:37.000 Yesterday, because she's upset at me, she put out a statement saying that she wanted to thank her audience because they had 138 million views on YouTube in February alone, twice every show on CBS News combined.

00:29:49.000 And then she talks about my YouTube traffic and says that her YouTube traffic is significantly higher than my YouTube traffic.

00:29:53.000 Again, I'm not going to get into a contest of comparing statistics on episode downloads or YouTube downloads for specific episodes of Megan Kelly because that's not how I measure morality.

00:30:04.000 But that is clearly how Megan measures morality. 1.00

00:30:06.000 Now, some might point out that Megan's supposed bravery, because Megan tends to put herself out there as a brave figure standing up to the predations of the censors.

00:30:15.000 Some might point out that Megan's bravery stops precisely where the clicks end. 1.00

00:30:20.000 That she was pro-trans until the clicks turned against it.

00:30:23.000 At which point she suddenly became the most militant, cursing opponent of the trans movement.

00:30:28.000 That she was pro-Israel until the clicks turned against it.

00:30:31.000 At which point she started hinting of dark, sinister conspiracies to silence her.

00:30:36.000 That she was pro-Erica Kirk until the clicks turned against it.

00:30:39.000 At which point she went totally silent on Candace Owens, slandering the widow of her supposed friend.

00:30:44.000 There is not and has not been a political parade that begins without Megan Kelly at the front, that ends without Megan at the front waving a badon.

00:30:52.000 And as for her purported bravery against censorship, let's be clear.

00:30:55.000 According to Megan herself, she's thriving.

00:30:57.000 She's got great traffic.

00:30:58.000 No one's censoring her.

00:30:59.000 And she's talking about every topic under the sun, particularly things like Israel.

00:31:03.000 Well, I shouldn't say every topic, almost every topic.

00:31:06.000 It turns out there is one topic she won't talk about. 0.98

00:31:09.000 That, of course, would be her continued complete moral betrayal of Erica Kirk to kiss Candace Owens' ass, even as she cosplays as the brave woman standing up against censors who don't exist. 1.00

00:31:19.000 She says she'll die before she bends the knee to those who criticize Candace Owens. 0.99

00:31:25.000 That's a bold stand, Cotton.

00:31:27.000 Well, now the brain rot is not relegated solely to the political right, of course.

00:31:31.000 Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, invited me on his show in January, where he told me explicitly that he is pro-Israel by his lights.

00:31:39.000 But of course, Gavin Newsom has become the cosmopolitan magazine of politics, offering a brand new position that will blow your mind every few days or so.

00:31:47.000 Because Democratic primary voters now suffer from a severe case of brain rot, Newsom is steering directly into it.

00:31:53.000 Well, the other day with the Pod Save America bros, those are the former Obama staffers who believe that their time with America's most craven politician on the Middle East makes them experts on the region.

00:32:03.000 Newsom was with them and he said that Israel was an apartheid state.

00:32:06.000 Got to cater to the brain rot left. 0.93

00:32:08.000 He's got his own domestic issues.

00:32:10.000 He's trying to stay out of jail.

00:32:13.000 He's got an election coming up.

00:32:16.000 He's potentially on the ropes.

00:32:18.000 He's got folks, the hard line, that want to annex the West, the West Bank.

00:32:22.000 I mean, Freeman and others are talking about it appropriately.

00:32:25.000 It's sort of an apartheid state.

00:32:27.000 They couldn't even, I mean, we're talking about regime change.

00:32:30.000 For two years, they haven't even been able to solve the Hamas question. 0.77

00:32:33.000 Rethinking our military support for Israel.

00:32:36.000 It breaks my heart because the current leadership in Israel is walking us down that path, where I don't think you have a choice but that consideration.

00:32:47.000 I mean, to say this is in America's interest at a time when affordability is at crisis levels, where you had an administration who literally got elected saying this is exactly opposite of what they would ever consider doing.

00:32:57.000 Well, now Newsom is so afraid of the brain rot left-wing base, he's decided to sit down with Hassan Piker.

00:33:02.000 That is the dude who finds himself profiled as the new face of the rising left by every major legacy media publication, all while hating the country with the fiery passion of a thousand burning sons.

00:33:12.000 He's also a multi-millionaire who believes he's a socialist and all the rest.

00:33:16.000 Here are just a few of this dog zapper's greatest hits.

00:33:19.000 Any kind of Zionist tendency should be treated in the same way as being a rabid neo-Nazi.

00:33:26.000 Hezbollah is a paramilitary organization that is also a part of the Lebanese parliament.

00:33:33.000 Do we like them or no?

00:33:36.000 I think as a resistance group, they're pretty successful against Israel. 0.94

00:33:39.000 I don't have any sort of patriotism in my heart for any liberals.

00:33:47.000 You need to be showing your opponents' guts on there, okay? 0.93

00:33:52.000 You need to be gutting them. 0.99

00:33:54.000 You need to be shanking these and letting their intestines just ride on stage. 1.00

00:34:02.000 You have 1950s Soviet-era building blocks next to the Gucci store.

00:34:11.000 If there was more, if there was ever a country that represented the synthesis, the things that I enjoy so much personally.

00:34:24.000 Okay.

00:34:25.000 So that's the person that Newsom is going to sit down with, because after all, better to cater to the brain rot than to demonstrate any real level of leadership.

00:34:33.000 This is the dude who wants to play Captain Normal in 2028 for the Democrats.

00:34:37.000 See, here's the thing about brain rot politics.

00:34:40.000 It's basically the elp of politics.

00:34:40.000 It's addictive.

00:34:43.000 It's the kind of stuff that's made in a foreign country like India. 1.00

00:34:45.000 It turns your mind to mush.

00:34:46.000 Take Piers Morgan, who doesn't seem to have any thoroughgoing politics.

00:34:50.000 Piers is and always was a click machine.

00:34:53.000 He's driven by fame and by clicks.

00:34:55.000 That's his prerogative.

00:34:56.000 But actually, over the past couple of days, he seems really offended.

00:34:59.000 Like he won't stop tweeting about the fact that I called his show the Jerry Springer of political TV on the show a little bit earlier this week, which it clearly is.

00:35:07.000 He then bragged about taking that as a compliment, which is why it's weird that he spent all of yesterday crashing out about that obvious observation.

00:35:15.000 And by the way, he was very upset about it, so upset about it that he decided to counter the accusation that his show has become a clown card filled with brain rot by bragging about his ratings, of course.

00:35:26.000 And of course, suggesting the only reason that I was not appearing on his show anymore was his criticism of Israel, which is weird because I appeared on his show for literally months after October 7th, even though he was already critical of Israel.

00:35:37.000 And I really haven't said anything on peers or about peers or to peers for probably a year.

00:35:42.000 I just stopped appearing on his show.

00:35:44.000 Why?

00:35:45.000 Well, honestly, he kept bringing on actual Nazis and the Nazi adjacent and then treated them all too often as voices worthy of a large audience.

00:35:53.000 Like, for example, these people.

00:35:56.000 I believe that Jewish supremacy is the greatest threat to America. 1.00

00:35:59.000 And I think it's the greatest threat to the world today. 0.89

00:36:01.000 I truly believe that.

00:36:02.000 You think Hitler was very cool? 1.00

00:36:06.000 Yes, I do.

00:36:09.000 And I'm tired of pretending he's not.

00:36:11.000 It's going to be the headlines tomorrow.

00:36:12.000 Piers Morgan.

00:36:13.000 Israel is ISIS left. 0.90

00:36:15.000 Only amongst people who aren't listening.

00:36:17.000 That's how I feel about those young men in Gaza.

00:36:20.000 You ask me why I won't condemn them.

00:36:24.000 Because those young men were born into a concentration camp.

00:36:30.000 He doesn't have been a terrorist state.

00:36:33.000 Israel right now is imparting a genocide and a holocaust on the Gazan people. 0.62

00:36:33.000 Okay. 0.62

00:36:40.000 Listen, it's Piers' choice who he decides to have on his show and how he decides to conduct the kind of clown car battle royale that he does on a show every night.

00:36:49.000 And it's my choice not to join that circus.

00:36:51.000 We all make our choices and we all live with them, but some of us make our choices based on, you know, actual principles and not the clicks.

00:36:58.000 Here's the reality.

00:36:59.000 The circus atmosphere of the online world is actually driving real people truly crazy.

00:37:03.000 What starts as an online disease doesn't actually stay that way.

00:37:06.000 We're seeing that people who spend too much time online do get brain rot.

00:37:10.000 And that brain rot is going to harm the Republican Party and the right if they continue to follow it.

00:37:14.000 So you may remember this chart.

00:37:16.000 It was designed by Colin Wright.

00:37:17.000 It's become kind of a meme online, pretty famous chart.

00:37:19.000 So it shows three years, 2008, 2012, 2021.

00:37:23.000 And for each year, it shows a spectrum of political views, kind of a line left to right, and then a mark in the center.

00:37:30.000 The point of the chart is that as the left moved further to the left, the center also moved further to the left.

00:37:35.000 And if you stayed in the same place, you ended up on the right.

00:37:37.000 That's basically the meme, right?

00:37:40.000 That as the left sprinted out further and further to the left, the center, because the line lengthens, moves further to the left.

00:37:46.000 And the person who used to be center left is now center right.

00:37:49.000 You could run that plane in reverse.

00:37:51.000 What if the brain rot right starts to sprint directly to the further, further, further right or horseshoe around all the way to the left, scrambling the spectrum?

00:38:04.000 Well, the normie American is going to be left without a place to go.

00:38:08.000 And that is a problem.

00:38:09.000 That, of course, is a problem.

00:38:10.000 Well, this is what seems to be happening to young Americans who spend way too much time online.

00:38:14.000 Brain rot is, in fact, an infectious disease.

00:38:17.000 Young Americans who think differently than their elders aren't suddenly becoming wiser than their elders. 0.98

00:38:22.000 I know it has become a truism that young people are rarely wiser than their elders.

00:38:27.000 It's a truism because it usually is true. 0.81

00:38:29.000 But young Americans are spending a lot of time with the brain rot machine.

00:38:33.000 Their politics are moving to match, which is presumably why, according to a February 2026 survey, 45% of Republicans under the age of 44, for example, say that Jews are a threat to the American way of life. 0.96

00:38:43.000 If you're wondering about how Tucker or Candice get away with spewing total bullshit about Chabad, subsidizing, sponsoring, being the creators of the Iran war, that would be the reason why. 0.98

00:38:53.000 And again, just to point out how crazy that is, that is basically saying that Mormon missionaries are responsible for the Iran attack. 0.97

00:38:59.000 It's the equivalent.

00:39:00.000 It's also this brain rot, why 22% of young liberals, according to YouGov, say it's fine to be happy about the death of a public figure they oppose, and another 22% say they're not sure.

00:39:10.000 Well, you know, maybe one day those people will grow up, become the demographic majority, and the country will be ruled by total brain rot. 0.91

00:39:15.000 It could happen, but it's not happening yet.

00:39:17.000 And it doesn't need to happen because right now, the political incentives and reality are aligned if leaders would only see it.

00:39:24.000 Most Americans, liberal and conservative, are not totally dedicated or taken in by or influenced by or infected with brain rot.

00:39:32.000 Most Americans want normalcy and decency.

00:39:34.000 And whichever party discovers that first is going to win.

00:39:37.000 That's why Trump won in 2024, because while President Trump truths in bizarre ways and uses a cadence that many people find unpresidential, his policies are not connected to the online brain rot.

00:39:49.000 And thank God for that.

00:39:51.000 Well, people afflicted by online brain rot keep saying that America is somehow losing in Iran, which is hilarious just on the face of it. 1.00

00:39:57.000 America's action in Iran continues to devastate the Iranian government.

00:40:00.000 There are reports already emerging from Iran that top IRGC members are moving around the country, dressed as women, in order to avoid targeting from the air.

00:40:09.000 The Israeli ambassador to the United States, Yikil Leiter, he says that there are cracks in the actual structure of the IRGC.

00:40:16.000 At this point, we are hearing reports that some members of the IRGC have basically disappeared, not been killed, like just disappeared, aren't showing up for work.

00:40:23.000 Meanwhile, Iran's Air Force is basically Wright Brothers biplanes with some pop guns on them.

00:40:28.000 According to the Wall Street Journal, quote, Iran is sending its creaking Air Force into the fight.

00:40:32.000 Many of the planes are museum pieces, kept flying with scrounged parts and plucked and stand little chance against modern airplanes.

00:40:38.000 The age and weakness of Iran's warplanes, many purchased before the Shah was deposed by the revolution that established the Islamic Republic in 1979, caused Iran's planes to routinely crash during training exercises well before they could get into a fight.

00:40:50.000 Others were picked off on the runway.

00:40:52.000 On Sunday, Israel destroyed a U.S.-made F-4 Phantom II fighter bomber and an F-5 light fighter as they prepared for takeoff at Tabriz airport in northwestern Iran.

00:41:00.000 The F-4 entered service in the early 60s.

00:41:03.000 It has not been in production for nearly half a century.

00:41:05.000 The F-5 is of similar vintage.

00:41:09.000 None of Iran's air fleet has stealth capabilities.

00:41:12.000 Israel had an F-35 at Shotdown, what was called a Yak-130, which is an acquisition from 2023.

00:41:18.000 Usually it's used for light combat, but it's a training aircraft.

00:41:21.000 It's capable of half the speed of the F-35.

00:41:24.000 So, I mean, credit to the Israeli pilot, but again, that was a piece of superior weaponry shooting down a vastly inferior piece of machinery. 0.81

00:41:32.000 I mean, I'm sorry, but the world's best pilots armed with the world's best weaponry are not going to lose to the planes that were flying when John McCain went down in Vietnam.

00:41:39.000 Not only that, the Iranians still have not named a supreme leader because they think the Israelis will kill him if they do.

00:41:45.000 Spoiler alert, they are likely correct.

00:41:48.000 The U.S. is also escalating its bombing in Iran, so is Israel.

00:41:51.000 CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper explained the current state of play yesterday.

00:41:56.000 In just the last 72 hours, America's bomber force has struck nearly 200 targets deep inside of Iran, including around Tehran.

00:42:04.000 And in just the last hour, U.S. B-2 bombers dropped dozens of 2,000-pound penetrator bombs, targeting deeply buried ballistic missile launchers.

00:42:14.000 Notably, we've also struck Iran's equivalent of Space Command, which degrades their ability to threaten Americans. 0.98

00:42:21.000 Here was Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warning that more is to come.

00:42:24.000 The unleashing of Chiang is going to happen. 1.00

00:42:29.000 When we say more to come, it's more fighter squadrons, it's more capabilities, it's more defensive capabilities, and it's more bomber pulses more frequently.

00:42:38.000 The amount of firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically.

00:42:44.000 And part of it is that we're going to have even more basing.

00:42:46.000 And it's not just the UK.

00:42:47.000 We've had other friends step up and we're grateful for that.

00:42:52.000 And by the way, one of the things that is worth noting here is the number of ballistic missile launches by Iran has dropped from the hundreds on the first day of the war down to almost zero.

00:43:02.000 Why?

00:43:03.000 Well, because the United States Air Force and the Israeli Air Force are blowing up all the missile launchers on the ground.

00:43:08.000 So what comes next?

00:43:09.000 Well, Pete Hegset said there will be a time when the Iranian people will go out into the streets and take on the regime.

00:43:13.000 But he says, wait a second, that time isn't yet.

00:43:16.000 There's still bombs dropping.

00:43:17.000 It's common sense, as he said up front.

00:43:20.000 Don't go out and protest while bombs are dropping inside Tehran and elsewhere.

00:43:25.000 So there will come a moment where he determines or they determine that it's the time to seize that advantage.

00:43:31.000 But there's a lot of things we're doing and the Israeli military is doing, targeting those individuals who are targeting those who protest.

00:43:39.000 The more you do that and you erode their will and you erode their capabilities, the more you create an opportunity for people to boldly stand up.

00:43:46.000 Joining me on the line to discuss what's been going on in the White House and over at the Pentagon is Mary Margaret Oliant.

00:43:52.000 She, of course, is our Daily Wire White House correspondent.

00:43:54.000 Mary Margaret, thanks so much for the time, as always.

00:43:57.000 It's great to be here.

00:43:57.000 Thanks, Ben.

00:44:00.000 So you've been spending a lot of time with the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.

00:44:03.000 He's been doing a lot of pressers recently announcing the results of the campaign against the Iranian regime.

00:44:09.000 How has that been going?

00:44:10.000 What is the mood in the Pentagon right now?

00:44:12.000 And what is Secretary Hegset saying?

00:44:15.000 Well, Ben, first of all, it's just really cool to be wandering around the Pentagon, traveling with the Secretary of War during a war.

00:44:22.000 It's not something I ever thought I'd be doing, but here we are.

00:44:24.000 I got to go to a press conference at the Pentagon early on Wednesday morning.

00:44:28.000 And then yesterday, Thursday, I got to travel with the Secretary of War to Florida where we went to the Americas Cartel Conference.

00:44:36.000 And then we went to Tampa to CENTCOM, where he met with Admiral Cooper.

00:44:40.000 They discussed war plans and a skiff for several hours while we all waited.

00:44:44.000 And then we got to go to a press conference with both Hegseth and Cooper and ask them about what's going on.

00:44:50.000 So I asked Hegseth about these reports that an American pilot had been shot down.

00:44:56.000 He said that this is false, that this didn't happen.

00:44:59.000 And I think he exactly said to me that those reports of an F-15 being shot down are false.

00:45:04.000 As you can imagine, Iran is doing everything to peddle in lies, deception, and inflation of numbers and reality. 1.00

00:45:10.000 So there were a bunch of questions along the same lines, logistical questions about what's going on with the war in Iran.

00:45:16.000 I think it's really interesting, Ben, how these questions in general, especially down in Florida, are pretty serious, you know, honest questions about what's going on in this war, which is pretty different than what I'm used to in the White House.

00:45:28.000 And again, I should say, at this presser yesterday, this was reporters from, you know, local reporters in Florida, but then also reporters from all over the country who are really interested in knowing what's going on, which I found really refreshing.

00:45:41.000 Obviously, at the Pentagon, you have different reporters.

00:45:44.000 You have some of the reporters who are complying with the Pentagon's rules.

00:45:48.000 So you have a bunch of these more conservative outlets in the room, which a lot of these more liberal-leaning outlets do not like.

00:45:54.000 They really didn't like that the Daily Wire was in there, but I'm really enjoying this.

00:45:58.000 I'm enjoying this coverage.

00:46:00.000 And it's an honor to be up close to this historic events happening this week.

00:46:05.000 So Secretary Hegseth seems to be pretty confident of where the United States stands in the war right now.

00:46:10.000 You've been spending a lot of time with him.

00:46:12.000 What would you say is sort of the mood around the Pentagon, given the current situation?

00:46:17.000 Yeah, I mean, look, they're going to be confident with me.

00:46:19.000 They're going to be confident with the reporters.

00:46:21.000 But in general, what we're hearing is that they're feeling really good.

00:46:25.000 Yesterday, during the presser, Pete Hegseth said that we have no shortage of munitions.

00:46:30.000 He was very confident that we're in a good place, that Iran cannot hold out for too long, that they're going to run out of the supplies that they need.

00:46:38.000 He was very confident.

00:46:39.000 He was posturing very confidently.

00:46:40.000 He had spent, like I said, several hours in that skiff with Admiral Cooper, reviewing what they had done, but reviewing also what they plan to do in the future.

00:46:48.000 Admiral Cooper, he's a really interesting guy.

00:46:51.000 He was up there explaining the status of the war, careful not to reveal things that he wasn't supposed to reveal, but also talking about the damage that we and Israel have already done to Iran and hinting that there's a lot more to come.

00:47:04.000 Of course, reporters want to know more specific questions.

00:47:08.000 We would always love to know more information.

00:47:10.000 For instance, Ben, I think it's really interesting.

00:47:12.000 There's a lot of reports out there that Isfahan, one of the nuclear facilities that we targeted during Operation Midnight Hammer, I'm seeing reports that it wasn't heavily bombed and that there's speculation that this is where some of the enriched uranium is.

00:47:26.000 I asked about that at the presser yesterday.

00:47:29.000 I didn't get any answers on that.

00:47:31.000 Hagseth kind of nicely said we wouldn't tell you that anyways, which kind of knew that was the answer that was coming.

00:47:37.000 And a little bit embarrassing to ask something that you might not get an answer to, but I guess that's just the name of the game.

00:47:42.000 And obviously, all of us have more questions heading into the coming weeks and months.

00:47:48.000 We even heard a report that this war might go until September.

00:47:52.000 We don't know, obviously.

00:47:53.000 We hope that it wouldn't go that long, but I'll hopefully be able to ask the Secretary of War about that.

00:47:59.000 And in the meantime, I'm really grateful that he's taking these questions, that Admiral Cooper is taking these questions.

00:48:04.000 And Admiral Cooper, by the way, very, very nice man.

00:48:07.000 I was getting aboard the military plane when we were leaving yesterday, and he said, Hey, I think I recognize you from somewhere and shook my hand and asked my name and outlet.

00:48:15.000 So you never know.

00:48:16.000 He might be a fan of the Daily Wire as well.

00:48:20.000 Let's marry Margaret O'Lahan, our White House reporter.

00:48:23.000 Thanks so much for the coverage and the time.

00:48:25.000 Thank you, Ben.

00:48:27.000 Well, President Trump is not going to set up a red line in Iran that he's not going to enforce, which means he's not leaving the worst of the worst in control. 0.81

00:48:33.000 So yesterday, he talked to Time magazine. 0.98

00:48:35.000 He said, I've killed all their leaders. 0.98

00:48:37.000 Fact, check, true. 0.96

00:48:38.000 One of the things I'm going to be asking for is the ability to work with them on choosing a new leader.

00:48:42.000 I'm not going to go through this setup with another Khomeini. 1.00

00:48:44.000 I want to be involved in the selection.

00:48:46.000 They can select, but we have to make sure it's somebody that's reasonable to the United States.

00:48:49.000 We have to be able to deal with sane and rational people.

00:48:52.000 So assuming that there isn't a full-scale coup and the government doesn't completely topple, even then, the pressure will stay on until we have basically a Venezuela situation that seems to be the president's off-ramp.

00:49:02.000 So what does all of this mean for 2026?

00:49:04.000 The answer is: believe it or not, probably not much.

00:49:07.000 If we win in Iran, there will be a boost for the administration.

00:49:10.000 How big?

00:49:10.000 Well, I mean, some boost, probably.

00:49:14.000 Most Americans don't see foreign policy as their top concern.

00:49:17.000 According to the latest Harvard Harris poll dropped just before the Iran action, Americans are split roughly 50-50 on Congress.

00:49:23.000 Foreign policy remains their literal last priority, last, like 1% as a priority.

00:49:30.000 2% for the GOP, 2% for independents, 1% for Democrats.

00:49:34.000 If Republicans lose, it won't be because of foreign policy.

00:49:38.000 It will be because of two factors: the natural cadence of midterm elections, the off-year elections usually go to the party out of power, and the economy.

00:49:45.000 There is a third wildcard: scandal.

00:49:47.000 Congressional scandals can bleed over and turn what is sort of a slow bleed into a gusher.

00:49:51.000 In 2006, Republican Representative Mark Foley was messing around with the congressional interns and had helped Nancy Pelosi take the House in a wipeout.

00:50:00.000 And that's why it is a good piece of news this morning.

00:50:02.000 Representative Tony Gonzalez dropped his re-election bid.

00:50:05.000 His district is hotly contested, but it turns out the Democrats not being able to nationalize a congressman cheating on his wife with a staffer who then set herself on fire.

00:50:14.000 Well, that at least will prevent a gigantic gusher for Republicans on that particular issue.

00:50:19.000 Meanwhile, President Trump has announced that he will make an endorsement in the Texas Senate primary soon to avoid a bloody primary conflict.

00:50:26.000 He put out a truth social in which he said that the primary race for U.S. Senate in Texas cannot, for the good of the party in our country, be allowed to go on any longer.

00:50:35.000 It must stop now.

00:50:36.000 We have an easy-to-beat radical left opposition.

00:50:38.000 We have to totally focus on putting him away quickly and decisively.

00:50:41.000 Both John, that'd be John Cornyn and Ken Paxon ran great races, but not good enough.

00:50:45.000 Now, this one must be perfect.

00:50:47.000 My endorsements within the Republican Party have been virtually insurmountable.

00:50:50.000 It is such an honor to realize and say that almost everyone I endorse wins and wins by a lot, especially in Texas.

00:50:56.000 So, unclear exactly who he's going to endorse, but he is obviously threatening to endorse.

00:51:00.000 Now, it may not matter.

00:51:01.000 I know the Democrats are trotting out James Tallarico.

00:51:04.000 He's the howdy-doody-looking Pete Booty Judge knockoff.

00:51:08.000 He's trade, who is running in Texas on the Senate side for the Democrats.

00:51:14.000 And they are pretending that he is some sort of open, honest, moderate, clean-cut, all the rest of it.

00:51:21.000 Well, the problem is the tape exists.

00:51:23.000 So it turns out he is in open borders, pro-transing the kids, far-left liberal.

00:51:27.000 He is one of these far too online brain rot politicians.

00:51:30.000 Here is tape that has emerged of Tallarico talking about Jesus and his own whiteness.

00:51:34.000 For me, prophetic voices like Jesus have helped me reckon with my own whiteness, my own masculinity, my own certainty, my own ego.

00:51:44.000 It's a never-ending process, and it's a painful process.

00:51:48.000 And here he was back in his state legislature days explaining that there are not two, but six genders.

00:51:54.000 I want us all to be aware of is that modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes.

00:52:03.000 In fact, there are six, which honestly, Representative Hefner surprised me with you now.

00:52:08.000 Surprised me too, because I am not well versed in this issue area.

00:52:13.000 I'm not a scientist.

00:52:14.000 I'm a politician, a lot worse than a scientist.

00:52:16.000 Well, we'll see how that works out in Texas.

00:52:20.000 Bottom line to pretty much all of this: there is the real world, and then there is the brain rot that you see online.

00:52:26.000 Do not be taken in by the brain rot you see.

00:52:28.000 I know it's a tough exercise because, again, the human brain takes in information, it processes the information that it has, and it turns it into conclusions.

00:52:35.000 That's what we do.

00:52:36.000 When all that information is coming from X or when it's coming from Instagram or TikTok, what that tends to do is convince you of things that aren't true in the real world.

00:52:46.000 And that does have an outsized impact.

00:52:48.000 Thank God, the president of the United States is not dictated to by those same algorithms.

00:52:52.000 He is not controlled by anyone, least of all, the algorithm, which is wonderful for the United States.

00:52:58.000 Now, I'd recommend that Americans follow the president's lead.

00:53:01.000 Alrighty, folks, coming up, there's a whole other show that you miss if you're not a subscriber.

00:53:04.000 This is why you should subscribe.

00:53:05.000 I'm going to answer your questions, including one from somebody who's asking, How do I tell my liberal friends why we're fighting in Iran?

00:53:11.000 I'll sum it up for you in like 60 seconds so that you can use that at the water cooler with all of your lib friends.

00:53:16.000 Plus, we'll get to questions about the CIA and Richard Nixon and book recommendations for stay-at-home moms.

00:53:22.000 So, it's a vast cornucopia of wisdom and knowledge behind that paywall, but you have to go over to dailywire.com/slash subscribe in order to become a member.

00:53:31.000 Use code Shapiro and get two months free on all annual plans.

00:53:34.000 Legal sent this list of everything we're not allowed to do in season two.

00:53:39.000 We're going to do all of it.

00:53:41.000 We've got games for celebrity guests, and yes, the mailbag is somehow worse.

00:53:46.000 If you thought season one was extra, season two, we're doubling down.

00:53:50.000 We're not supposed to be doing this.

00:53:51.000 Exactly.

The Ben Shapiro Show - March 06, 2026

Trump Just ENDED The Online Circus

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