The Ben Shapiro Show - July 20, 2026


Where the Iran War Goes From Here


Episode Stats


Length

10 minutes

Words per minute

198.2

Word count

2,124

Sentence count

168

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Toxicity

20

sentences flagged

Hate speech

26

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Two U.S. service members were killed in an Iranian strike in Jordan on July 17th, and one service member is missing. President Trump said the deaths were "sad" and called them "senseless." Marjorie Taylor Greene said they were "sacrifices." Tucker Carlson says there's "no military solution" to Iran.

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 Folks, we need to change our current strategy in Iran.
00:00:02.000 We can't continue the way we're going because to the shock and awe of the internet, I, Ben Shapiro, I am not in favor of forever wars and I never was. 0.99
00:00:10.000 If you're shocked to hear me say this, well, that's because a lot of people are really, really dumb. 0.93
00:00:14.000 Tell me if you agree or disagree with the following fundamental proposition. 0.98
00:00:17.000 Iran is not a rational or reasonable enemy. 0.98
00:00:20.000 Therefore, we should stop treating them as such.
00:00:22.000 Allow me to explain.
00:00:23.000 Over the weekend, tragically, two service members were killed.
00:00:25.000 One service member is now missing.
00:00:27.000 This is because of a strike from Iran in Jordan, according to CENTCOM.
00:00:31.000 On July 17th, two U.S. service members in Jordan were killed in action as CENTCOM and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks.
00:00:37.000 Additionally, one service member is currently missing.
00:00:39.000 Four American service members were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals.
00:00:43.000 They have since been discharged.
00:00:44.000 Other personnel who were evaluated for minor injuries have now returned to duty.
00:00:48.000 We have now ID'd the two fallen service members.
00:00:51.000 One was First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25 of Hawaii.
00:00:54.000 The other was Private Isabel Gonzalez, 19 of Carrollton, Texas.
00:00:57.000 Obviously tragic and terrible.
00:01:01.000 A CENTCOM has launched a series of new strikes all across the weekend.
00:01:05.000 They were largely designed, according to CENTCOM, to target commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz to get rid of Iran's ability to target that shipping and to punish the IRGC.
00:01:15.000 CENTCOM actually posted footage of the strikes.
00:01:20.000 They hit Iranian military coastal surveillance, air defense facilities, maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage sites.
00:01:28.000 President Trump told News Nation that the deaths were very sad.
00:01:31.000 It's a very sad thing.
00:01:32.000 We hate to see it happen.
00:01:33.000 It's in service to the country.
00:01:34.000 We're never allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
00:01:38.000 And Pete Exeth, the Secretary of War, said that their sacrifice stiffens our resolve.
00:01:45.000 Now, things may escalate further.
00:01:47.000 The State Department has issued caution to people in the region.
00:01:52.000 The State Department says we remind Americans in the region of the continued need for caution and encourage them to monitor the news for breaking developments.
00:02:00.000 Meanwhile, there appears to be some cracking of the Iranian regime. 0.86
00:02:03.000 The Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araki says he's never actually met the new Ayatollah, Mosh Tabak Khamenei, that would be the gay pirate. 0.99
00:02:11.000 He's missing a leg and apparently is gay. 0.83
00:02:15.000 Also, Iran's top diplomat noted that Tehran had refused U.S. demands during a pre 40 day war negotiating round for a years long suspension of uranium enrichment. 0.72
00:02:27.000 So, naturally, critics of the president and critics of the war are jumping into the critique even more so because of the additional American loss of life.
00:02:36.000 Marjorie Taylor Greene does this routine where every soldier is apparently a victim.
00:02:40.000 And when I say victim, I don't mean a victim of foreign terror, like a victim of the American.
00:02:44.000 Of the American president, which is a holdover from the draft of the 1960s and 70s.
00:02:49.000 We have a volunteer military of heroes, not a bunch of people who were throwing, quote unquote, in the line as cannon fodder. 1.00
00:02:58.000 So Marjorie Taylor Greene, it's barely worth even reading her tweets at this point because she's such a click whoring troll. 0.93
00:03:05.000 But she says, sacrifice. 0.99
00:03:06.000 What the F are you talking about?
00:03:07.000 What, you want to tell their families they didn't sacrifice?
00:03:09.000 They did not willingly sacrifice themselves.
00:03:11.000 Well, I mean, they were in the United States military willingly.
00:03:14.000 That's what it means to go into the military.
00:03:15.000 It's why what they're doing is more heroic than anything that I'm doing or anything she's done.
00:03:20.000 But again, calling American death senseless is pretty sick, by the way.
00:03:23.000 It's a thing you just should not do, it's a moral matter.
00:03:27.000 Now, Tucker Carlson is using this as his opportunity, of course, to suggest that there's no military solution.
00:03:32.000 America is weak, and thus we must surrender to the Ayatollah.
00:03:34.000 It's a thing that Tucker desperately wants. 0.86
00:03:39.000 You could nuke Iran and still not guarantee that insurance companies will cover an oil tanker going through the Strait.
00:03:46.000 It's just a fact. 0.98
00:03:47.000 So, like, there's literally no solution to this.
00:03:48.000 Why does he keep talking about nuking Iran?
00:03:49.000 I was talking about solution to this, and never has been.
00:03:52.000 That's just logic.
00:03:53.000 However, what we've seen since February 28th is just, and this is the thing that really weighs on me the hardest, is just an ongoing, perpetually unfolding humiliation where everything about what the United States said about itself, you know, we're the preeminent country in the world.
00:04:11.000 We've got the greatest military in the world.
00:04:12.000 It's like all fake.
00:04:15.000 We don't have the greatest military in the world.
00:04:15.000 It's fake.
00:04:18.000 You know what would be awesome is if Alex Brusiewicz could spare like one single solitary moment, the social media guy for, for, The Trump administration, members of the Trump administration, you spend one minute, one minute when he is not pretending that Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson are victims of a nefarious foreign plot.
00:04:34.000 Two, you know, comments on the guy who calls the president the Antichrist and runs down the American military on behalf of Iran on the regular.
00:04:39.000 That might be nice. 0.86
00:04:40.000 We'll get to more on this in just one moment.
00:04:42.000 First, one thing that I'm constantly reminded of is that good decisions come down to preparation most of the time, especially when it comes to having a big family and you need food for them.
00:04:50.000 Instead of defaulting to takeout, which frankly we do it too often, instead you should be checking out Wild Alaskan Company.
00:04:56.000 Take one of their products out of the freezer in 20 minutes.
00:04:58.000 You have a meal that is genuinely excellent.
00:04:59.000 That's the advantage of having quality food ready when you need it.
00:05:02.000 They deliver premium wild-caught seafood directly to your door on your schedule.
00:05:06.000 Every box comes with individually portioned vacuum-sealed fillets that are incredibly easy to prepare.
00:05:10.000 Whether you're making a quick weeknight dinner or cooking something a little more elaborate over the weekend, it's simple.
00:05:15.000 The quality is obvious the moment you cook it.
00:05:17.000 It turns an ordinary dinner into something that feels restaurant quality without requiring much effort.
00:05:21.000 Everything is wild-caught in Alaska and quick-frozen shortly after harvest to help preserve that freshness, flavor, and important nutrients like omega-3s.
00:05:27.000 No GMOs, no antibiotics, no unnecessary additives.
00:05:30.000 Plus, every order supports sustainable fishing practices and the hardworking Alaskan fishermen who make it all possible.
00:05:35.000 Wild Alaskan Company is so confident you'll love it.
00:05:38.000 Every order is backed by a 100% satisfaction, money back guarantee.
00:05:41.000 Head on over to wildalaskan.comslash Shapiro and get 35 bucks off your first order of premium wild caught seafood.
00:05:46.000 That's wildalaskan.comslash Shapiro for 35 bucks off your first order.
00:05:50.000 Thanks to Wild Alaskan Company for sponsoring this episode.
00:05:53.000 Okay, so what actually needs to happen here?
00:05:55.000 Well, we need to stop pursuing a policy of graduated escalation with Iran. 0.75
00:06:00.000 That policy never works. 0.97
00:06:02.000 Anywhere.
00:06:04.000 Anywhere.
00:06:05.000 So here's what should have happened.
00:06:06.000 And it should have happened before the death of the last couple of American soldiers.
00:06:09.000 It should have happened from the beginning. 0.94
00:06:10.000 The president should have said if an American soldier dies, one American soldier dies, Karg Island and South Pars go bye bye. 1.00
00:06:17.000 They are gone, obliterated, dead. 1.00
00:06:20.000 And then he should have done it.
00:06:23.000 The thing about the credible threat of the use of force is it has to be credible and it has to happen a couple of times in order for it to be credible.
00:06:29.000 Hitting a few more bridges near the Straits of Hormuz ain't going to do it.
00:06:33.000 This sort of gradually escalates the problem.
00:06:35.000 We've tried this routine before.
00:06:36.000 It does not work.
00:06:38.000 Quick, fast, victorious.
00:06:39.000 I don't want a forever war.
00:06:41.000 I want this war over.
00:06:42.000 And here's the thing we do have the military capacity to do that. 0.99
00:06:46.000 What we should say clearly and openly is if you kill American soldiers, we'll target Karg, we'll target South Pars, and we'll kill all of the top members of the Iranian government. 0.99
00:06:56.000 And we'll keep doing that. 0.99
00:06:58.000 And we'll keep upping the ante in dramatic fashion, not gradually, dramatic fashion. 0.52
00:07:03.000 If you target a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, Kharg goes bye bye, and you won't be able to export oil anywhere for all time, forever. 0.84
00:07:10.000 And then we'll see how you like it.
00:07:12.000 We'll see how it goes for you.
00:07:14.000 That is the thing that we should be doing.
00:07:16.000 Because this strategy of gradual escalation, we did this, graduated pressure, we did this during the Vietnam War. 1.00
00:07:21.000 It's an idiotic policy. 1.00
00:07:22.000 For some reason, the United States keeps doing it. 1.00
00:07:24.000 Why?
00:07:25.000 Well, basically because of two things.
00:07:27.000 We want to pretend that military policy is a form of negotiation, predominantly.
00:07:31.000 And two, we tend to think that our technological advantage gives us some sort of inherent ability.
00:07:36.000 To manipulate the other side.
00:07:37.000 And it's not true.
00:07:38.000 It wasn't true in Vietnam.
00:07:39.000 It's not true now.
00:07:41.000 President Trump's former national security advisor, a man named General H.R. McMaster, wrote what is considered sort of a textbook with regard to war strategy about the Vietnam War, titled Dereliction of Duty.
00:07:51.000 It's a great book.
00:07:52.000 And he talks about the fact that the Secretary of Defense, a man named Robert McNamara, who came from sort of the industrial world, he came from the car industry, that he came up with this concept of graduated pressure, in which the goal was not to impose one's will on the enemy, but to communicate with him.
00:08:07.000 Okay, first of all, you should not communicate through bombs.
00:08:09.000 You should communicate with the phone.
00:08:11.000 The bombs should communicate something, which is, we will end you unless you pick up the phone.
00:08:16.000 That's really the only message with the bombs.
00:08:19.000 Now, instead, we did this thing where we would gradually raise the, gradually just ratchet up a little bit.
00:08:25.000 It was a strategy that relied heavily on technological superiority and precision.
00:08:31.000 What the JFK, followed by LBJ, followed by the Nixon administration, thought of as war without war.
00:08:37.000 And it failed because it turns out to be really long and really bloody.
00:08:41.000 Here's the thing graduated pressure assumes the other side is rational and reasonable.
00:08:45.000 And it rests on a couple of assumptions.
00:08:48.000 One, that you're going to be able to keep it up forever.
00:08:50.000 And two, that the limited application of force will compel the other side to the negotiating table and get a favorable diplomatic settlement from them.
00:08:57.000 H.R. McMaster says, There was no need to pursue military victory because negotiations would achieve the same political objectives with only the threat of more severe military action.
00:09:06.000 Okay, does that sound familiar? 1.00
00:09:09.000 We should not be doing that because it's stupid. 0.98
00:09:11.000 The way to use the military is to clobber the other side, clobber them, not this pinpoint accuracy targeting, specific sites here, specific sites there. 0.99
00:09:22.000 Go after the biggest targets, do it fast and do it hard. 0.93
00:09:26.000 Because the threat from the other side is they can last forever.
00:09:29.000 Basically, subsisting at survival levels.
00:09:34.000 That is not a premise you should grant.
00:09:36.000 You want to know, by the way?
00:09:37.000 Again, you want to know which country has not been targeted over the course of the last several weeks.
00:09:42.000 Israel has not been targeted by Iran.
00:09:43.000 You want to know why Israel has not been targeted by Iran?
00:09:46.000 Because Israel is successfully achieving deterrence right now. 0.75
00:09:49.000 Iran knows that if a single cruise missile falls inside Israel's border, Israel will go ballistic. 0.57
00:09:56.000 They will go in and they will do everything. 0.85
00:09:58.000 Iran knows this. 0.99
00:09:59.000 Why do they know this?
00:09:59.000 Because Israel has said it over and over and over and then has done it.
00:10:02.000 The United States is significantly more powerful, like by orders of magnitude more powerful than the Israeli military. 0.88
00:10:10.000 The fact that we are being sort of held at bay in any way, shape, or form is ridiculous.
00:10:14.000 The president said early on, back in June, that if American soldiers died, it would fundamentally change the strategy.
00:10:20.000 That is a thing that we absolutely should do.
00:10:24.000 We should fundamentally change our strategy.
00:10:26.000 No more gradual pressure, graduated pressure, gradual escalation, none of that.
00:10:30.000 You kill an American soldier and you pay an ultimate price.
00:10:33.000 What an amazing video you just watched!
00:10:35.000 Wasn't that amazing?
00:10:36.000 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.