The Ben Shapiro Show - Why I’m Glad I Fled California | Ep. 1409

00:00:00.000 California considers universal health care and doubling its taxes.

00:00:04.000 An LA Times columnist makes the case for mocking unvaxxed Americans who die of COVID.

00:00:08.000 And Democrats insist on running against January 6th, 2021 in 2022.

00:00:10.000 I'm Ben Shapiro.

00:00:10.000 2021 in 2022. I'm Ben Shapiro. This is The Ben Shapiro Show.

00:00:14.000 Today's show is sponsored by ExpressVPN.

00:00:22.000 I protect my data with a VPN.

00:00:23.000 So should you.

00:00:24.000 Visit expressvpn.com slash Ben.

00:00:26.000 We'll get to all the news in just one moment.

00:00:28.000 First, here's a reminder.

00:00:29.000 Inflation is currently at 40-year highs.

00:00:31.000 This might be a great time to think about diversifying.

00:00:34.000 See, here's the thing.

00:00:35.000 Historically, like throughout history, People have valued gold.

00:00:38.000 Gold has never been worth zero.

00:00:39.000 There's a reason that leprechauns hide it at the end of the rainbow.

00:00:41.000 They're not hiding government bonds at the end of the rainbow because you might get to the end of the rainbow and inflation has eaten away the value of the pot at the end of the rainbow.

00:00:48.000 So if you are interested in the leprechaun's gold or any other type of precious metals as a hedge against inflation and uncertainty, you should be checking out Birch Gold today.

00:00:57.000 Right now, inflation rates are higher than the interest on treasury bonds.

00:01:00.000 So every day that passes, the government owes less on its mountain of debt.

00:01:03.000 Imagine if your mortgage had a negative interest rate.

00:01:04.000 Would you start paying it off?

00:01:06.000 No, you absolutely would not.

00:01:07.000 Your pain is their gain.

00:01:09.000 So protect your savings right now.

00:01:10.000 Hedge against inflation with gold from Birchgold because the government is sabotaging the value of the United States dollar and it's only going to get worse over time.

00:01:17.000 Text Ben to 989898.

00:01:18.000 Get a free information kit on gold.

00:01:20.000 And when you buy before the end of the month, Birchgold will send you a copy of my newest book, The Authoritarian Moment.

00:01:25.000 Text Ben to 989898 to get your free information kit right now today.

00:01:29.000 Text Ben to 989898 to get started.

00:01:33.000 Alrighty, so I have to say that each and every day that I look at the news from California, I am just delighted by both the news and the fact that I no longer live there because they've just decided in California to go pedal to the metal.

00:01:44.000 We are going to destroy this state as fast as humanly possible.

00:01:47.000 According to KTLA.com, California lawmakers on Tuesday will start debating whether to create the nation's first universal healthcare system.

00:01:55.000 A key measure of whether the proposal has the support to pass this year.

00:01:58.000 Progressives have tried for years to create a government-funded universal healthcare system to replace the one that relies on private insurance.

00:02:04.000 Voters overwhelmingly rejected a 1994 ballot initiative that would have created a universal healthcare system.

00:02:09.000 Another attempt passed the state senate in 2017 but it died in the state assembly because there was no funding plan attached to it.

00:02:15.000 This year, Democrats in the state assembly in California, where Democrats have a supermajority, have filed two bills.

00:02:20.000 One that would create the universal healthcare system and set its rules.

00:02:23.000 The other would lay out how to pay for everything by raising taxes on quote, some wealthier individuals and larger businesses.

00:02:28.000 As we will see, they mean we are going to raise taxes massively on pretty much everyone and destroy all business in the state so we can pay for the healthcare for illegal immigrants, which is really what they are talking about in the state of California. 0.99

00:02:39.000 Because the reality is that poverty stricken Californians who are American citizens are still eligible for things like Medicaid.

00:02:45.000 Illegal immigrants are not eligible for things like Medicaid.

00:02:47.000 However, California now wishes to extend quote-unquote universal health care to everyone.

00:02:51.000 Now, there are other states that have experimented with this sort of stuff in the past.

00:02:55.000 So, for example, Vermont tried universal health care years ago, right?

00:02:58.000 The Bernie Sanders attempt.

00:02:59.000 Vermont tried health care reform.

00:03:02.000 They created a state-level single-payer healthcare system in 2011.

00:03:07.000 By 2014, they said, we can't do this anymore.

00:03:10.000 Within three years, they were like, yeah, this doesn't work.

00:03:12.000 We can't pay for any of this.

00:03:13.000 That was in Vermont, which has seven people and an elk.

00:03:16.000 So think about California, which has a population of 40 million people, and they're not talking about providing universal healthcare.

00:03:22.000 What that means is that they're either going to have to pursue rationing or they're going to have to pursue massively higher taxes or both.

00:03:28.000 That is what universal healthcare means in the state of California.

00:03:31.000 Because right now, there's an undersupply of medical care in the state of California.

00:03:34.000 If there's an undersupply and an overdemand, this means you either have to jog the supply by paying doctors a lot of money, or you have to artificially lower the demand by rationing care.

00:03:44.000 Right?

00:03:44.000 Those are the only two things that you can do in order to make supply meet demand at the governmental level.

00:03:50.000 The bill is getting a hearing on Tuesday before the Assembly Health Committee, where Chair Jim Wood, a Democrat from Santa Rosa, has already said he'll vote for it.

00:03:57.000 Because the proposal was introduced last year, it has to pass the state assembly by the end of January to have a chance at becoming law this year.

00:04:03.000 Universal healthcare has been debated for decades in the United States.

00:04:05.000 State lawmakers in Vermont, of course, as I say, tried and failed to implement their own universal healthcare system.

00:04:10.000 New York considered it, and then they were like, nah, but California?

00:04:13.000 Pedal to the metal, stupid.

00:04:14.000 Supporters in California are adopting a divide and conquer strategy this year.

00:04:18.000 They're trying to separate the idea of a universal healthcare system from how to pay for it, because the minute the Californians realize what exactly they would have to pay in order to ensure that illegal immigrants don't just go to the emergency room and clog up the emergency room, once they realize what the cost is on that, they're like, yeah, not so sure we're into this universal healthcare thing. 0.81

00:04:37.000 Assemblyman Ash Kalra, Democrat from San Jose and the author of both proposals says, we can debate the policy.

00:04:42.000 If someone says, how are you going to pay for it?

00:04:43.000 Well, those are two different issues now.

00:04:45.000 By the way, this is how Democrats think.

00:04:47.000 I want to do this giant costly thing.

00:04:51.000 And how do you pay for it?

00:04:52.000 According to Democrats are two completely separate issues.

00:04:55.000 In no other area of life does anyone think like this.

00:04:57.000 If you say to your spouse today, you know, sweetheart, I really want a Lamborghini.

00:05:01.000 I mean, that is a nice set of wheels.

00:05:03.000 I want a Lamborghini today.

00:05:05.000 And your wife says, well, how are we going to pay for that?

00:05:06.000 We can't afford it.

00:05:07.000 That's two separate issues, guys.

00:05:08.000 The Lamborghini is super nice.

00:05:10.000 And as for paying for it, well, we can have that discussion a little bit later.

00:05:13.000 This is how you bankrupt yourself.

00:05:15.000 This is how you bankrupt the state as well.

00:05:18.000 Ashkara says if we can agree on a policy and get that policy passed, then it becomes more real.

00:05:22.000 Then you're actually telling the voters what they're voting for.

00:05:24.000 That's really important.

00:05:25.000 In other words, you lead with the dependency and then you tax everybody in order to pay for the newly created dependency.

00:05:33.000 Assembly Republican Leader Mary Waldron said, I'm in the Health Committee.

00:05:36.000 I look forward to a robust discussion on the impacts of socialized medicine in California, including how much taxes will increase on the middle class.

00:05:43.000 The plan for universal health care requires at least a two-thirds vote in both houses of the state legislature.

00:05:49.000 After that, the voters have to approve it in a statewide election.

00:05:51.000 Democrats have large majorities.

00:05:53.000 Getting all of them to support the tax increases will be difficult.

00:05:56.000 The California Taxpayers Association says it would raise taxes by $163 billion per year on businesses and individuals.

00:06:03.000 But that number doesn't mean a lot to people because when we talk about billions and trillions, none of these numbers mean anything.

00:06:08.000 So what exactly?

00:06:10.000 So what exactly do you think the tax rates mean?

00:06:15.000 Well, National Review has a good rundown on what exactly the tax rates are supposed to mean.

00:06:21.000 What they mean is basically the end of the world.

00:06:25.000 We'll get to that in just one second.

00:06:26.000 First, let's talk about the simple fact that if something were to happen to you, you need to make sure that your family is taken care of.

00:06:32.000 Let's say that you and your wife, you bear a child.

00:06:35.000 And this child is a very special child.

00:06:36.000 This is the kind of child who could theoretically change the world.

00:06:39.000 And suddenly, A noseless man appears from nowhere and starts trying to kill your child.

00:06:43.000 So you step in front of that noseless man's fire and you take the hit.

00:06:47.000 Your son is scarred across his forehead.

00:06:49.000 You perish in the flames.

00:06:52.000 Well, you know that your son, he might have been better off just a little bit if you'd actually bothered to get life insurance instead of having to live under the stairs at like a terrible uncle's house.

00:06:59.000 Instead, you theoretically could have just gotten some life insurance and put him in a much better financial position.

00:07:04.000 This is why you should have headed over to policygenius.com slash Shapiro to answer a few questions about yourself.

00:07:10.000 In minutes, you can work out how much life insurance coverage you need and compare personalized quotes to find your best price.

00:07:14.000 You could save 50% or more on life insurance by comparing quotes with PolicyGenius.

00:07:19.000 Their licensed experts will help you understand your options and apply for a policy.

00:07:22.000 The Policy Genius team works for you, not the insurance companies.

00:07:24.000 You can trust them to offer unbiased help and advocate for you at every step until you are covered.

00:07:28.000 Policy Genius does not add on extra fees.

00:07:30.000 They don't sell your information to third parties.

00:07:32.000 They have thousands of five-star reviews across Google and Trustpilot.

00:07:35.000 Since 2014, Policy Genius has helped over 30 million people shop for insurance and placed $120 billion in coverage.

00:07:40.000 Head on over to policygenius.com slash Shapiro.

00:07:42.000 Get your free life insurance quotes.

00:07:44.000 See how much you could save.

00:07:45.000 That's policygenius.com slash Shapiro.

00:07:48.000 Okay, so.

00:07:49.000 California, according to the Tax Foundation, is considering doubling its taxes.

00:07:54.000 Doubling it.

00:07:55.000 According to Jared Walczyk, writing for the Tax Foundation, a proposed constitutional amendment in California would increase taxes by $12,250 per household, roughly doubling the state's already high collections to fund that single-payer healthcare system.

00:08:09.000 The top marginal rate on wage income would soar to 18%.

00:08:15.000 Just to be clear, that means that if you're making above, say, $500,000 in the state of California, you'll be paying an 18% income rate on every dollar that you earn above that mark.

00:08:24.000 So that means that on dollars you earn above that mark, you're going to pay that plus the, what is it, 36% top federal tax rate?

00:08:31.000 So 54 cents out of every dollar you make above a certain point goes to the government and that doesn't include any of the other taxes.

00:08:37.000 So it looks more like 65 cents out of every dollar going to a government of some kind.

00:08:42.000 By the way, nationally, the median top marginal rate is 5.3%.

00:08:44.000 You wonder why people like me fled California for Florida, where there is a 0% state tax rate?

00:08:50.000 By the way, I told my wife when we left, when we left, the top marginal tax rate in the state of California is about 13%.

00:08:55.000 I said, within three years, it'll be 20.

00:08:56.000 She was like, nah.

00:08:59.000 Yes.

00:09:00.000 Yes.

00:09:00.000 Within three years, it will be 20 because the left cannot abide the idea that rich people are not paying for every single thing that they could ever possibly want.

00:09:08.000 They're like spoiled children.

00:09:11.000 By the way, that is not the only tax increase that California is currently contemplating.

00:09:15.000 The state also wants to adopt a 2.3% gross receipts tax.

00:09:19.000 That is a rate of more than three times that of the country's highest current pure GRT.

00:09:23.000 So what exactly is a gross receipt tax?

00:09:25.000 A gross receipt tax means any dollar that your business receives will now be taxed at 2.3% in the state of California.

00:09:32.000 What makes this weird?

00:09:33.000 Well, let's say that your business makes $10 million this year, but your costs are $12 million this year.

00:09:37.000 So you're actually running in the red.

00:09:39.000 You're not a profitable business.

00:09:40.000 According to the state of California, you are still going to have to drop 2.3% of your gross receipts.

00:09:47.000 2.3% of your gross receipts into the state tax coffers.

00:09:51.000 A couple hundred thousand dollars, even though you're already running 20% below margin.

00:09:57.000 So your entire profit margin is gone if you're profitable, and if you're not profitable, then you're paying on top 2.3% just to operate.

00:10:03.000 The new taxes would take three forms.

00:10:05.000 Surtax is atop the current individual income tax structure, beginning at $149,000 in income.

00:10:11.000 A graduated rate payroll tax system with the top rate kicking in for employees with more than $49,990 in annual income and a gross receipts tax of 2.3%.

00:10:21.000 By the way, how bizarre is this bill?

00:10:23.000 This bill is so bizarre that if you have 50 employees, then you have to pay more in terms of payroll tax.

00:10:28.000 If you have 49 employees, you don't have to pay more in payroll tax.

00:10:31.000 What this means is that if you are paying your 50th employee a little bit under $50,000 a year, you would never hire that person because they're going to cost you about $90,000 a year.

00:10:41.000 There are two states that currently have payroll taxes for purposes other than funding their unemployment insurance system.

00:10:45.000 In Massachusetts, there's a recently adopted payroll tax of 0.68%.

00:10:49.000 It's dropped to top that state's 5.0% flat individual income tax.

00:10:54.000 In Nevada, there's a 1.5%.

00:10:57.000 On payroll tax.

00:10:59.000 And they add that to their income tax.

00:11:01.000 Well actually, Nevada doesn't have an income tax.

00:11:03.000 California would impose a payroll tax of up to 2.25% atop an individual income tax that already has a top marginal rate of 13.3% and they want to jog that to 18%.

00:11:13.000 This is insane.

00:11:14.000 So as I say, the payroll tax exempts employers with fewer than 50 resident employees, punishing small businesses for expanding and creating a meaningful tax cliff.

00:11:22.000 Imagine, for instance, the overly simplified hypothetical of a company with 49 employees making $80,000 each.

00:11:28.000 At 49 employees, the company has no payroll tax burden.

00:11:31.000 If you hire one additional employee, that generates a tax bill of $90,000 more than the employee's entire salary.

00:11:38.000 A gross receipts tax, they're going to drive business out of state.

00:11:40.000 None of this is shocking.

00:11:42.000 It's just insane.

00:11:43.000 It's totally, totally insane.

00:11:45.000 Again, that top tax bracket in the state of California would kick in.

00:11:48.000 That 18% tax bracket would kick in about $2.4 million.

00:11:52.000 But if you are making above, say $299,000, actually $150,000 in the state of California, under the new plan, you would still be paying 12% income tax in the state of California.

00:12:03.000 That is not a ton of money, $150,000.

00:12:04.000 And that's for a couple, by the way.

00:12:06.000 That is not for a single.

00:12:08.000 So all of this is crazy, but California is going to pursue it.

00:12:11.000 And then they're shocked when people leave.

00:12:13.000 CNBC points out yesterday, yeah, you can see just from the census how Americans are leaving high-tax states for low-tax states because it turns out people are economic actors.

00:12:21.000 We've heard the anecdotes, now we have the actual numbers.

00:12:25.000 More than 600,000 people leaving New York and California for lower taxed states during the pandemic.

00:12:30.000 That's according to census data.

00:12:32.000 California lost 300,000 residents between April of 2020 and July of 2021.

00:12:34.000 between April of 2020 and July of 2021.

00:12:38.000 New York lost a net 365,000 people, about 2% of its total population.

00:12:45.000 Now, the biggest winners, not surprisingly, were Texas and Florida, which have, of course, no income taxes.

00:12:51.000 Texas gaining $382,000, Florida adding $243,000.

00:12:54.000 Now, people move for many reasons.

00:12:57.000 Lower housing prices, lower cost of living with remote work, their families may be there.

00:13:02.000 But there is a continued shift from high tax to low tax states.

00:13:08.000 Keep sending your revenue down to us here in Florida.

00:13:08.000 So keep it up.

00:13:11.000 We are more than happy to take it.

00:13:12.000 Just leave your bullcrap politics where they were when you come.

00:13:15.000 That means you, Facebook.

00:13:17.000 Apparently, Facebook's parent company, Meta, has now signed the largest ever lease in downtown Austin.

00:13:22.000 According to Fox Business, the tallest tower in Austin, Texas, still under construction, will soon be home to Meta Platforms.

00:13:27.000 That's the parent company of Facebook.

00:13:30.000 Which is not a surprise.

00:13:32.000 Silicon Valley is relocating to Austin and Nashville and Florida and everywhere else.

00:13:36.000 Miami is now becoming a financial hub because everybody is getting the hell out of California and New York.

00:13:42.000 And by the way, along with these universal health care proposals, there are some social proposals that are going to come into play.

00:13:46.000 Because it turns out that when California provides quote unquote universal health care to everyone, it's going to come along with the social values California is famous for.

00:13:54.000 You can already see this happening in Washington State.

00:13:56.000 Our friend Jason Rantz over at 770KTTH, mynorthwest.com, he points out that Washington State now appears to allow minors to undergo life-changing gender reassignment surgery without parental consent.

00:14:06.000 Under a new law, health insurers must cover gender-affirming care, including surgical treatments that were previously denied coverage.

00:14:12.000 Democrats rejected a proposal to apply the new law to patients over 18 years old.

00:14:16.000 That means that children as young as 13 years old can make the health care decision to undergo gender reassignment surgery without parental consent.

00:14:24.000 And insurers are forced to cover it.

00:14:27.000 If you don't think that's going to happen in California when they have quote-unquote universal healthcare run by the state, and they essentially get rid of private insurers altogether, which is what you sort of have to do, you are out of your mind.

00:14:36.000 That's exactly what they are going to do.

00:14:38.000 And then they wonder why the rush continues to red states.

00:14:40.000 So, you know what?

00:14:41.000 More of this.

00:14:42.000 More of this.

00:14:43.000 I'm in favor of federalism.

00:14:46.000 And I'm very much in favor of California burning itself out so that we can take all of their productive citizens.

00:14:50.000 I was one of the productive citizens of California all my life.

00:14:53.000 And now I took my company with 150 employees and we put it in Nashville.

00:14:56.000 Took another 10 employees, came down to South Florida.

00:14:58.000 And let me tell you, everybody's happier, everybody's wealthier, because that is the way that incentive structures work.

00:15:03.000 But what is the left left with?

00:15:05.000 What they're left with is an unearned sense of moral superiority.

00:15:07.000 That's what it comes down to.

00:15:08.000 Unearned moral superiority is all that the left has left.

00:15:12.000 And right now they are getting high on their own farts with regard to COVID.

00:15:16.000 So here is the thing about COVID.

00:15:17.000 We're all getting it.

00:15:19.000 Omicron will hit everyone.

00:15:20.000 Triple vaxxed, double vaxxed, quadruple vaxxed.

00:15:22.000 You're all getting it.

00:15:23.000 The reason is because it is not going to prevent transmission.

00:15:26.000 Again, the CDC announced this yesterday.

00:15:28.000 If you said that before the CDC did, they would ban you from YouTube.

00:15:31.000 But now Rochelle Walensky has said it, so I'm allowed to say it.

00:15:33.000 Because that's the way our ridiculously censorious and tyrannical social media apps work.

00:15:38.000 If the government says it, now I'm allowed to say it.

00:15:40.000 If the government doesn't say it, I'm not allowed to say it.

00:15:43.000 But the left must cling to its sense of moral superiority over the vaccine.

00:15:47.000 Now, here's the thing.

00:15:48.000 I've been saying all along that I think that if you are vulnerable, you should get the vax.

00:15:52.000 I think that in virtually all cases, people above the age of 18 have higher risk factors from COVID than they do from the vaccine.

00:15:58.000 So that means that you should probably get the vaccine.

00:16:01.000 Again, I am double-vaxed.

00:16:02.000 My wife is triple-vaxed. 1.00

00:16:03.000 My parents are triple-vaxed.

00:16:04.000 So I'm a fan of the vaccine.

00:16:07.000 That does not mean that if you choose not to get vaccinated, I am rooting openly for your death.

00:16:11.000 And yet that is exactly what some people on the left are doing, because it makes them feel superior.

00:16:15.000 It makes them feel as though this entire pandemic can be blamed on you, as opposed to on their own stupid decisions.

00:16:21.000 I've been making the point since the vaccines were available, which was February-March of this year.

00:16:25.000 That now we all get to make our own decisions.

00:16:27.000 And you should leave everybody else alone.

00:16:29.000 The left can't let go of that.

00:16:30.000 Because if they were to let go of it, then they might be admitting that perhaps freedom is a better solution than government tyranny.

00:16:36.000 And that the government is incapable of fulfilling promises the left believes it can make.

00:16:40.000 The left believes the universal healthcare means that everybody is healthy.

00:16:44.000 That is not what that means.

00:16:45.000 Hey, check out the NHS in Britain.

00:16:46.000 That is not what it means.

00:16:47.000 The left believes that when the government promises it can keep you safe from an epidemic virus, that means it can keep you safe from an epidemic virus.

00:16:54.000 That is not true.

00:16:56.000 So now we have to find someone else to blame that's not the government.

00:16:59.000 The unvaxxed.

00:16:59.000 Who are they going to blame?

00:17:00.000 Now, again, if you die because you are unvaxxed, I think that you have made a generally poor decision because the vaccine does prevent hospitalization and death in large measure.

00:17:11.000 It's not as effective as it was 10 months ago, that's why some people are getting boosted, but it does create T-cell and B-cell immunity, and that is a very good thing.

00:17:18.000 However, should anyone be quote-unquote laughing at those who are unvaxxed who die?

00:17:23.000 I mean, you don't even know why they're unvaxxed.

00:17:25.000 Maybe they're unvaxxed because they had natural immunity.

00:17:27.000 Maybe they died from a complicating condition.

00:17:29.000 But according to Michael Hilsik, a business columnist for the LA Times, Mocking anti-vaxxers' COVID deaths is ghoulish, yes, but maybe necessary.

00:17:38.000 That, by the way, is not the HTML address at the top of the column.

00:17:42.000 The HTML address at the top of the column is, why shouldn't we dance on the graves of anti-vaxxers?

00:17:47.000 The answer is because it makes you a crappy human being.

00:17:49.000 I don't dance atop the graves of people who are obese who die of heart attacks.

00:17:53.000 Why would you dance atop anybody's grave?

00:17:55.000 Because they die of a health condition that's absurd.

00:17:58.000 But for the left, the it of the left apparently thinks this is okay.

00:18:01.000 So Michael Hiltzik says, How should we react to the deaths of the unvaccinated?

00:18:09.000 So I have a question.

00:18:10.000 Why is that a profound moral dilemma?

00:18:12.000 It seems like a pretty easy moral dilemma.

00:18:13.000 We should be sad.

00:18:15.000 When people die of health conditions, generally speaking, we should be sad.

00:18:19.000 I mean, honestly, I see no distinction morally between people who are saying, like Michael Hiltzik, that you should be celebrating the death of the unvaccinated, and people in the 1980s who are saying that if somebody died of AIDS, it's probably because they deserved it.

00:18:31.000 Both are crappy moral stances.

00:18:33.000 I don't understand.

00:18:36.000 On the one hand, says Michael Hiltzik, a hallmark of civilized thought is the sense that every life is precious.

00:18:40.000 On the other, those who have deliberately flouted sober medical advice by refusing a vaccine known to reduce the risk of serious disease from the virus, including the risk to others, and end up in the hospital or the grave, can be viewed as receiving their just desserts.

00:18:53.000 That's even more true of those who not only refuse the vaccine for themselves, but publicly advocate that others do so.

00:18:58.000 It has become common online and in social media for vaccine refusers and anti-vax advocates to become the target of ridicule after they come down with COVID-19, and especially if they die from it.

00:19:06.000 Witness the subreddit Herman Cain Award, which Lily Boothborough of Slate identified in September as, quote, a site for heartless and unrepentant schadenfreude.

00:19:14.000 The site is named for the former Republican candidate for president who became one of the first political notables to succumb to the disease after publicly defying social distancing measures.

00:19:22.000 But, wait a second.

00:19:24.000 I thought that Herman Cain, was there any information that Herman Cain was unvaxxed?

00:19:29.000 I'm unclear on that.

00:19:31.000 We'll have to check that out.

00:19:32.000 I'm pretty sure that the question for Herman Cain was about social distancing.

00:19:36.000 And social distancing, as it turns out, is kind of made up and arbitrary when it comes to that six foot rule.

00:19:42.000 Particularly, like the CDC admits that.

00:19:45.000 The issue of how to think about the deaths of the unvaccinated has been thrown into high relief locally by the case of Kelly Irnby, a prominent Orange County Republican and Deputy District Attorney who advocated against vaccine mandates and died of COVID around New Year's Day unvaccinated.

00:19:57.000 So I have a question.

00:19:57.000 Isn't there a difference between advocating against vaccine mandates and advocating against vaccines?

00:20:03.000 The idea here from the left is that we have to expand the definition of anti-vaxxer to mean that if I don't think you should be forced to get the vaccine, this means I'm anti-vax, which is crazy.

00:20:12.000 So, says Michael Hiltzik, I have a different take.

00:20:14.000 To begin with, let's stipulate that not all people unvaccinated for COVID are alike.

00:20:17.000 Some have remained unvaccinated for legitimate medical reasons.

00:20:20.000 Some may have legitimately faced obstacles in getting to a vaccination site.

00:20:23.000 Others may have refused the vaccine because they've been deceived.

00:20:26.000 Finally, there are those who have voiced public opposition to the vaccines, not all of whom are unvaccinated themselves.

00:20:30.000 Some have couched their opposition in policy terms.

00:20:33.000 Irnby fell into that category.

00:20:35.000 She asserted opposition not to the vaccines as such, but to vaccination mandates.

00:20:39.000 She said, I don't think the government should be involved in mandating what vaccines that people are taking.

00:20:43.000 That town hall predated the pandemic, but Irnby made clear her opposition extended to COVID vaccines.

00:20:48.000 In August, she posted a statement on her Facebook page supporting Huntington Beach firefighters who are opposing a vaccine mandate.

00:20:53.000 The vaccine is not a cure to COVID and mandates won't work, she wrote.

00:20:56.000 Okay, so mandates have not worked.

00:20:58.000 And the vaccine is not, in fact, a cure to COVID.

00:21:00.000 She's not wrong about that.

00:21:02.000 The vaccine is preventative against hospitalization and death.

00:21:04.000 In large measure, that doesn't mean it's a quote-unquote cure.

00:21:08.000 It should be clear that opposing VAX mandates as a substitute for opposing vaccination itself is a fundamentally incoherent position, says Michael Hiltzik.

00:21:15.000 It's a little more than a garden-variety small-government Republican ideology.

00:21:18.000 That's what it was in Earnby's hands.

00:21:22.000 Contrary to Ernbee's assertions, mandates do work.

00:21:24.000 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

00:21:25.000 So the bottom line is, he's not actually saying that if you die unvaxxed, that's bad.

00:21:30.000 He's saying if you oppose any element of my agenda, you deserve to die, which is totally crazy.

00:21:34.000 He says, mockery is not necessarily the wrong reaction to those who publicly mocked anti-COVID measures and encouraged others to follow suit before they perished of the disease, the dangers of which they belittled.

00:21:43.000 You don't have to belittle the dangers of COVID in order to recognize that government crackdowns may be overbroad blunderbuss instruments that are violative of American freedoms.

00:21:52.000 It's not wrong, says Michael Hiltzik, to deny them our sympathy and solicitude, or to make sure it's known when their deaths are marked that they had stood fast against measures that might have protected themselves and others from the fate they succumb to.

00:22:01.000 Omicron is coming for all of y'all.

00:22:01.000 Here is the problem.

00:22:04.000 But the left can't let it go.

00:22:05.000 Unearned moral superiority is the name of the game.

00:22:07.000 We'll get to more of that in just one second.

00:22:09.000 First, let's talk about getting your mortgage refinanced.

00:22:12.000 So you're paying too much for your mortgage right now if you haven't refinanced in the last couple of years because the rates are really, really low.

00:22:16.000 Timing the market can be a dangerous game.

00:22:18.000 So if you're holding off on a mortgage refi in the hopes that the rates drop, you might want to rethink your strategy.

00:22:23.000 I mean, the latest forecast projects a few interest rate hikes this year alone.

00:22:26.000 The first increase could come in the next month, making now the best time to call American financing.

00:22:32.000 Take advantage of a free, no-obligation mortgage review, where you will learn about custom loan options that can save you up to $1,000 a month.

00:22:37.000 That's right, every month.

00:22:38.000 From lower rates to shorter terms, even debt consolidation, they can do it all.

00:22:42.000 And they never charge upfront or hidden fees.

00:22:43.000 So, why not see what they can do for you?

00:22:45.000 If you like what you hear, you can pre-qualify for free, possibly skip two mortgage payments, you might close in as fast as 10 days.

00:22:51.000 Just call 866-721-3300.

00:22:51.000 866-721-3300. That's 866-721-3300 or visit AmericanFinancing.net and MLS182334 and MLSconsumeraccess.org.

00:23:02.000 Give them a call at 866-721-3300 or visit AmericanFinancing.net to get started.

00:23:08.000 Now is a great time for a mortgage refi.

00:23:10.000 Don't wait until it's too late.

00:23:11.000 AmericanFinancing.net.

00:23:12.000 Okay.

00:23:13.000 So again, the left.

00:23:15.000 Their policies have failed, and so they are left with nothing but unearned moral superiority based in fiction.

00:23:19.000 So, for example, Sunny Hostin of The View, who, you know, there's sort of a running gun battle on The View as to who is the stupidest person on The View.

00:23:26.000 There are a lot of not particularly bright people on The View.

00:23:28.000 Sunny Hostin, in my view, is the worst of the people on The View. 0.99

00:23:32.000 She is just awful.

00:23:33.000 She repeatedly repeats things that are untrue.

00:23:35.000 She just says things straight out that are flat-out lies.

00:23:38.000 Here she was yesterday trying to defend Justice Sonia Sotomayor's bizarre assertion that 100,000 children were in the hospital thanks to COVID, which is totally crazy.

00:23:46.000 The actual number is like 3,500, and most of them are totally fine.

00:23:50.000 Many of them are in the hospital with a broken leg and COVID.

00:23:53.000 They're not in the hospital for COVID.

00:23:54.000 Here is Sunny Hostin trying to make the case that Sonia Sotomayor is correct, that the left should get to cram down whatever policy they want on you based on pure fiction. 0.97

00:24:04.000 She may not be accurate for current hospitalizations in children.

00:24:08.000 She is correct that we have more children in the hospital now more than ever before.

00:24:15.000 And it certainly reflects the current cases in children.

00:24:18.000 Right now we have 82,843 children sick with COVID.

00:24:19.000 More than 1,000 children have died from the virus.

00:24:21.000 children are sick with COVID.

00:24:24.000 More than 1,000 children have died from the virus.

00:24:27.000 And in addition, about 7.8 million children have caught COVID since the pandemic started.

00:24:34.000 And so those are just the numbers.

00:24:37.000 And so while fewer than 83,000 kids have been hospitalized with the virus, we have kids sick with COVID more than we ever have before.

00:24:44.000 And so that's a real thing and those are real numbers.

00:24:47.000 Okay, but so Tim Mayer did not cite real numbers.

00:24:50.000 And by the way, the current death count for kids under the age of 18 remains below 700 for two years of pandemic.

00:24:58.000 And new studies suggest that for kids hospitalized between the ages of 12 and 17, 66% of them There are significant underlying conditions that contribute to whether or not you are going to die of COVID.

00:25:09.000 According to the CDC itself, quote, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned on the death certificate for about 5% of deaths.

00:25:17.000 For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 4.0 additional conditions or causes per death.

00:25:23.000 And that is according to the CDC.

00:25:27.000 So, again, the sort of panic-stricken notions of the left are designed to suggest that you are bad if you oppose them, which is why, again, there is no case anymore for the Biden administration pushing forward with its VAX mandate.

00:25:39.000 Omicron has totally killed it.

00:25:40.000 The entire basis for the employer VAX mandate was that you have to stop the spread at your workplace, but you're not stopping the spread.

00:25:46.000 Everyone is getting Omicron.

00:25:48.000 Now you on an individual level, as I've said, I'm going to say it again, you on an individual level, if you're above the age of 18, the chances that you're going to get seriously ill or die from COVID are still better than the chances you're going to get seriously ill or die from the vaccine, absent some sort of complicating factor.

00:26:03.000 Which is why you should talk to your doctor.

00:26:05.000 Your doctor will probably recommend that you get the vaccine.

00:26:08.000 That does not mean that the federal government has the power through OSHA, of all things, to mandate that you get a vaccine that is predominantly geared toward protecting you, not toward protecting others.

00:26:19.000 Nonetheless, the bulk of the Biden vaccine mandate has now taken effect, according to the Wall Street Journal.

00:26:24.000 As of January 10th, all employers with more than 100 employees must have a procedure in place to ensure employees are vaccinated and keep track of workers' vaccination status.

00:26:33.000 Employers must also track whether their workers are infected and keep those who test positive away from work.

00:26:37.000 Workers who are not vaccinated must wear a mask while indoors.

00:26:40.000 The Labor Department in December gave employers an extra month to require that unvaccinated employees take weekly COVID-19 tests.

00:26:46.000 That goes into effect February 9th.

00:26:48.000 The rule covers about 84 million workers.

00:26:49.000 We are still awaiting the outcome of the Supreme Court case that was heard on Friday.

00:26:54.000 Meanwhile, the Biden administration continues to maintain that people will die if the vaccine mandate is struck down.

00:26:58.000 Well, I'm going to need some evidence that people are going to die if the vaccine mandate is struck down, given the fact that everyone is associating outside of work also.

00:27:05.000 These people act like the only place you ever see anybody else is inside work.

00:27:10.000 And that the vaccine mandate inside work is going to stop transmission, which of course is very silly.

00:27:14.000 Here's HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.

00:27:19.000 Hopefully the plan is that the Supreme Court will recognize that the federal government, the Biden administration, has the authority to require these vaccines.

00:27:27.000 We know they work, they save lives.

00:27:29.000 We've proven it here at HHS with 88,000 workers.

00:27:33.000 Nearly 100% of our workers are vaccinated already.

00:27:37.000 And it is important.

00:27:39.000 And if they don't, well, I think that will be on their conscience.

00:27:42.000 I think there's some clear authority, legal authority, for us to move forward as we have proposed, both for the private sector workforce and for the health care workforce.

00:27:52.000 And we understand that if we don't get people vaccinated and covered this way, people will die.

00:27:58.000 And if you're a health care worker, for sure.

00:28:01.000 I have a more basic question here.

00:28:04.000 The more basic question here is, if everybody is going to get Omicron anyway, why are we actually attempting to prevent the spread?

00:28:10.000 This is a serious question and we should think it through logically.

00:28:13.000 If the argument is that you should get vaccinated, I generally agree.

00:28:16.000 For the third time in this particular episode, I totally agree with that.

00:28:19.000 However, if Omicron is making its way around, why should we be attempting to shield you from getting Omicron at all, given the fact that there could be future variants that are significantly more deadly?

00:28:30.000 Delta was more deadly than Omicron.

00:28:32.000 As in like three to four times more deadly than Omicron.

00:28:34.000 Are you supposed to just wait out there and take the chance that you will be able to avoid this disease forever?

00:28:39.000 Or maybe you're better off getting a mild version of the disease.

00:28:42.000 My friend Vivek Ramaswamy and his wife, Apoorva Ramaswamy, who's a doctor.

00:28:46.000 They have a piece today in the Wall Street Journal titled, Slow the Spread, Speeding It May Be Safer.

00:28:50.000 The Omicron variant is spreading across the globe, but so far, the strain appears to be less deadly than its predecessors.

00:28:55.000 That's good news.

00:28:56.000 Here's a risk that policymakers in every country should appreciate.

00:28:59.000 Policies designed to slow the spread of Omicron may end up creating a super-variant that is more infectious, more virulent, more resistant to vaccines, which would be a man-made disaster.

00:29:07.000 To minimize that risk, policymakers must tolerate the rapid spread of milder variants.

00:29:11.000 This will require difficult trade-offs, but it will save lives in the long run.

00:29:14.000 We should end mask mandates and social distancing in most settings, not because they don't slow the spread, the usual argument against such measures, but because they probably do.

00:29:22.000 So either way, you probably shouldn't be engaging in these sorts of measures, say the Ramaswamis.

00:29:27.000 This is correct.

00:29:28.000 If they don't slow the spread, then there's no reason for them.

00:29:30.000 And if they do slow the spread, Then what exactly are you waiting for?

00:29:35.000 Are you waiting for a new variant that's going to become even milder?

00:29:37.000 Because that's taking an awful chance, considering that Omicron is significantly milder than Delta in the first place.

00:29:41.000 By the way, the number of cases, like 1.5 million cases in the United States per day at this point, let me just point out, that's way too low.

00:29:48.000 That is way too low.

00:29:50.000 I know a lot of people who have not tested positive for COVID who almost certainly have COVID.

00:29:54.000 And that does not mean that they are out there killing everybody.

00:29:57.000 It just means everybody's getting Omicron.

00:29:59.000 Say the Ramaswamis to understand why, first consider an important scientific distinction between antigenic drift and antigenic shift.

00:30:06.000 Antigens are molecules, such as the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, that an immune system detects as foreign.

00:30:11.000 The host immune system then mounts a response.

00:30:13.000 Antigenic drift describes the process by which a single-point mutation randomly occurs during the viral replication process.

00:30:19.000 The result is minor alterations to antigens like the spike protein.

00:30:23.000 If a point mutation makes the virus less likely to survive, that variant gradually dies off.

00:30:27.000 But if the mutation confers an incremental survival advantage, say the ability to spread more quickly from one cell to another, that strain becomes more likely to spread through the population.

00:30:36.000 Antigenic drift is a gradual, varying process.

00:30:39.000 A single point mutation alters one peptide or building block of a larger protein.

00:30:43.000 Those with immunity against a prior strain generally enjoy at least partial immunity against drifted variants.

00:30:47.000 This is called cross-protection.

00:30:49.000 Each time an immune host is exposed to a slightly different antigenic variant, the host can tweak its immune response without becoming severely ill.

00:30:55.000 And the more similar the new strain is to the last version, the less risky that strain will be to the host.

00:31:00.000 By contrast, antigenic shift refers to a discontinuous quantum leap from one antigen or set of antigens to a very different antigen.

00:31:07.000 New viral strains, such as those that jump one species to another, tend to emerge from antigenic shift.

00:31:12.000 The biological causes of antigenic shift are often different from those of drift.

00:31:16.000 For example, the physical swap of whole sections of the genome leads to more significant changes to viral genes than those caused by individual point mutations.

00:31:23.000 But there's a sorites paradox.

00:31:25.000 How many unique point mutations collectively constitute an antigenic shift, especially when human hosts are deprived of opportunities to update their immune response to drifted variants?

00:31:34.000 Here's the key. A vaccinated and naturally immune people can revamp their immune response to new viral strains created by antigenic drift. But social distancing and masking increase the risk of vaccine-resistant strains from antigenic shift by minimizing opportunities for the vaccinated and naturally immune to tailor their immune responses through periodic exposures to incrementally drifted variants. So to simplify, what they are saying is that there are new variants.

00:31:57.000 They have slight changes.

00:31:58.000 If you are exposed to these new variants, your body fights them off.

00:32:00.000 If you are never exposed to new variants, then this means that after several changes, you're going to get a variant that is so different from the original variant, your body doesn't know how to fight it off.

00:32:09.000 So maybe we should stop focusing on preventing transmission, and we should start focusing, as always, on hospitalization and death.

00:32:15.000 And if those numbers remain low, and if we are protecting and shielding the most vulnerable, there's not much else that we should be doing.

00:32:24.000 Say the Ramaswamis, the absolute risk of a more virulent strain of SARS-CoV-2 is low.

00:32:28.000 That's because viruses care more about propagating themselves than about killing the host.

00:32:31.000 Most viruses evolve to become more infectious and less virulent, but that's only a rule of thumb, not a biological law.

00:32:38.000 Mask mandates and social distancing measures will have created fertile ground for new variants that evade vaccination even more effectively.

00:32:44.000 Significant antigenic shifts may create new strains that are increasingly difficult to target with vaccines at all.

00:32:48.000 There are no vaccines for many viruses, despite decades of efforts to develop them.

00:32:52.000 And by the way, you can see how this is true from the death stats in South Africa and the death stats in Sweden.

00:32:58.000 South Africa had very little vaccination, but everyone got Delta.

00:33:01.000 And then when Omicron hit, no one died.

00:33:03.000 Sweden had a shield and protect strategy for the elderly and the vulnerable.

00:33:07.000 And then everybody else was allowed to go live their life.

00:33:08.000 So a lot of people got Delta.

00:33:10.000 Not a lot of people died.

00:33:11.000 And now they had the best 2021 of pretty much any country on the planet because everybody in Sweden was already immune to the virus.

00:33:20.000 By the way, I'm seeing headlines today about Sweden re-locking down.

00:33:22.000 By lockdown, Sweden means they're shutting their restaurants at 11pm.

00:33:25.000 When do you normally shut your restaurants, guys?

00:33:28.000 That thing down is a lockdown.

00:33:29.000 Come on.

00:33:31.000 By the way, all of the outside panic over the hospitals are being overwhelmed.

00:33:35.000 We're all going to die.

00:33:36.000 The stats demonstrate that this actually is not true.

00:33:38.000 Phil Kirpin.

00:33:39.000 Who's on top of this stuff on Twitter.

00:33:41.000 He put out a chart demonstrating what the hospitalizations look like.

00:33:45.000 Basically, hospitalizations, total staffed inpatient beds, fairly even and have been since September of 2020.

00:33:52.000 And as you will see, there's an increase in the number of confirmed COVID patients, but there's really not a massive increase in the number of inpatient beds used.

00:34:01.000 It's been pretty stable all the way through the pandemic.

00:34:05.000 So this belief that we are in the midst of a massive hospital shortage, if it is, that's only because the Biden-Vaxx mandates have basically driven healthcare workers out of the business.

00:34:14.000 According to the Wall Street Journal, rising numbers of nurses and other critical healthcare workers are calling in sick across the United States due to COVID-19, forcing hospitals to cut capacity just as the Omicron variant sends them more patients.

00:34:25.000 Hospitals are leaving beds empty because the facilities don't have enough staffers to safely care for the patients.

00:34:31.000 Staff shortages prompted Mass General Brigham Hospital in Boston to keep 83 beds empty on Friday.

00:34:36.000 So, I said on Fox News, now it's ripped up and down by media matters, that the Biden-Vaxx mandates and the attempt to test all of your healthcare employees is leading to less healthcare, which is leading to less capacity.

00:34:47.000 That happens to be absolutely true.

00:34:49.000 Limiting capacity is a last resort for hospitals, doctor and healthcare officials say.

00:34:53.000 The facilities do it to preserve proper care and safety for current patients.

00:34:56.000 That means leaving people in limbo in emergency rooms, making ambulances wait, and postponing treatment for cancer, heart disease, and other conditions, all to prevent the transmission of a very, very mild variant of COVID.

00:35:07.000 It's pretty astonishing stuff.

00:35:10.000 Again, and the federal government's response here is completely confused and confusing.

00:35:15.000 Now, by the way, the Pfizer CEO is admitting that the two COVID vaccine doses are quote-unquote not enough for Omicron.

00:35:21.000 What he means by that is that they are not preventing infection, which we already know.

00:35:26.000 Real-world data from the UK has found the two vaccine doses are 52% effective at preventing hospitalization 25 weeks after receiving the second shot.

00:35:34.000 Two doses of Pfizer or Moderna's vaccines are only about 10% effective at preventing infection from Omicron 20 weeks after the second dose.

00:35:40.000 So basically, you're going to get it.

00:35:42.000 But that does not mean that you're going to die.

00:35:43.000 Here is the head of Pfizer announcing that everyone's going to get infected, basically.

00:35:49.000 The two doses of the vaccine offer very limited protection, if any.

00:35:53.000 The three doses with a booster, they offer reasonable protection against hospitalization and deaths.

00:36:02.000 Against deaths, I think, very good.

00:36:04.000 and less protection against the infection.

00:36:08.000 Okay, so again, the federal government response here is a complete mess.

00:36:14.000 Yesterday, Peter Doocy asked Jen Psaki, you guys keep saying this is a pandemic and the unvaccinated.

00:36:17.000 I've noticed that everyone is getting this, including you who are triple vaxxed.

00:36:21.000 I understand that the science says that vaccines prevent death.

00:36:27.000 But I'm triple vaxxed, still got COVID.

00:36:31.000 You're triple vaxxed, still got COVID.

00:36:33.000 Why is the president still referring to this as a pandemic of the unvaccinated?

00:36:40.000 Okay, and she says, well, you know, because the unvaccinated are the ones who are going to the hospital, which is true. 0.99

00:36:44.000 But that's not changed the fact that the infections are being carried forward by everyone, by everyone.

00:36:49.000 Alrighty, in just one second, we'll get to the Biden administration's response to all of this, which is throw up your hands and start talking about election law or something.

00:36:56.000 We'll get to that in just one moment first.

00:36:58.000 I'm thrilled to announce an incredible app that everyone who buys gas needs to know about, GetUpside.

00:37:03.000 My listeners are making up to $0.25 for every gallon of gas every time they fill up.

00:37:06.000 Just download that free GetUpside app in the App Store or Google Play right now.

00:37:09.000 Use promo code SHAPIRO to get a bonus $0.25 per gallon on your first fill up that's up to $0.50 cash back.

00:37:14.000 Do not pay full price at the pump anymore.

00:37:17.000 Get cash back using GetUpside.

00:37:19.000 Just download that app for free.

00:37:20.000 Use promo code Shapiro to get up to 50 cents per gallon cash back on your very first tank of gas.

00:37:24.000 Some people who drive a lot are making as much as $200 to $300 a month in cash back.

00:37:27.000 There is no catch.

00:37:28.000 The cash back gets added directly to your account.

00:37:30.000 You can cash out anytime to your bank account, PayPal, or an e-gift card for Amazon and other brands.

00:37:35.000 Just download that free GetUpside app.

00:37:37.000 Use promo code SHAPIRO.

00:37:38.000 Get up to 50 cents per gallon cash back on your very first tank of gas.

00:37:42.000 Gas prices are just too high right now.

00:37:44.000 I think we all know that Brandon is at least partially to blame.

00:37:47.000 And that is why you should get that GetUpside app right now.

00:37:50.000 Again, use promo code SHAPIRO.

00:37:51.000 Get up to 50 cents per gallon cash back on your first tank of gas.

00:37:53.000 And then up to 25 cents per gallon off for every subsequent tank of gas.

00:37:58.000 Use promo code SHAPIRO when you download that free GetUpside app from the App Store.

00:38:02.000 Alrighty, we'll get to more in just one second.

00:38:04.000 As everybody knows right now, The Daily Wire is rapidly expanding into entertainment.

00:38:07.000 With that expansion, we are searching for a Council of Business and Legal Affairs to join our legal team in Nashville as our in-house legal expert on the film and television industry.

00:38:15.000 The Council of Business and Legal Affairs will manage all legal aspects of The Daily Wire's entertainment content, including development, acquisition, production, and finance, as well as production, legal, and intellectual property work for all of The Daily Wire's shows.

00:38:27.000 We need someone with eight plus years of experience in the film and TV industry.

00:38:30.000 This is a perfect opportunity for an entertainment lawyer who is ready to get out of Hollywood's woke groupthink.

00:38:36.000 To apply for that opportunity and to view a full list of our current openings at Daily Wire, because we are a fast growing company, please visit dailywire.com slash careers.

00:38:44.000 Also, if you haven't heard of Jonathan Isaac yet, you might be living under a rock because Jonathan Isaac is awesome.

00:38:49.000 He's the NBA star who stood strong with his values while everyone else in the NBA was kneeling for the lie that America was systemically racist and evil.

00:38:56.000 Jonathan Isaac stood.

00:38:57.000 He would not kneel with the rest of his teammates.

00:38:59.000 He faced heavy criticism from the media for his views on social issues and vaccines over the past few years, which is why I'm so excited to announce he has decided to write a book with The Daily Wire.

00:39:07.000 It's called Why I Stand.

00:39:08.000 You should buy the book and show him your support.

00:39:10.000 Jonathan's book will be about the rise of his basketball career, his journey into faith, his strength to stand alone in the face of immense pressure.

00:39:17.000 Check out this teaser.

00:39:18.000 The Orlando Magic's 23-year-old starting forward is deeply religious and proudly unvaccinated.

00:39:23.000 On Friday, Isaac got attention for choosing not to kneel in unison with his teammates or to wear a Black Lives Matter shirt.

00:39:31.000 My name is Jonathan Isaac.

00:39:32.000 I play for the Orlando Magic, and I'm writing a book with The Daily Wire.

00:39:39.000 Courage does not mean the absence of fear.

00:39:42.000 And in today's day, there are so many things that you can be afraid of facing because of believing what you believe or deciding to stand for what you believe in.

00:39:51.000 And I believe this book gives you a blueprint of my story of how crisis made the difference in my life.

00:39:56.000 from a young kid who struggled with fear, anxiety, self-insecurity, to a man willing to stand for what he believes in.

00:40:03.000 Jonathan's book will be one of the very first under the Daily Wire's new publishing arm, DW Books.

00:40:19.000 We couldn't be happier to have him on board.

00:40:20.000 The book is available for pre-order right now at Amazon, so reserve your copy today.

00:40:24.000 You're listening to the largest, fastest growing conservative podcast and radio show in the nation.

00:40:27.000 Well, Joe Biden's administration is on the rocks.

00:40:35.000 They've got millions of new cases of Omicron.

00:40:38.000 They have no way of handling it because they boxed themselves in.

00:40:41.000 And their message on inflation continues to be so bad that even the Washington Post editorial board is like, guys, what are you talking about?

00:40:48.000 Here is the Washington Post editorial board today.

00:40:49.000 Quote, President Biden is facing mounting criticism for inflation's rise to its highest level since 1982.

00:40:55.000 Unfortunately, the White House's latest response is to blame greedy businesses.

00:40:59.000 Economists across the political spectrum are rightly calling out the White House for this foolishness.

00:41:03.000 Even some within the White House are questioning this approach, The Post reports.

00:41:06.000 Inflation, which was relatively low for decades, did not suddenly rise in recent months because businesses decided now was their ideal time to squeeze their customers.

00:41:14.000 What actually happened is that demand soared for many products as the economy recovered.

00:41:18.000 Often there were not enough products to meet it.

00:41:20.000 In a surprise to many, consumers kept buying goods like cars and washing machines even at higher prices.

00:41:24.000 What the White House is really struggling with is an inflation messaging problem.

00:41:27.000 Officials' initial insistence that higher prices would be short-lived flopped as the annual inflation has now been about 5% since June.

00:41:35.000 The reality is that the best tool the nation has to fight inflation is the Federal Reserve raising interest rates.

00:41:40.000 But the Fed operates independently from the White House.

00:41:42.000 Biden could help by finally announcing his nominees for the three seats on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors.

00:41:47.000 They're saying that we should destroy the Federal Reserve's independence in order to save Joe Biden.

00:41:51.000 But what they really mean is that Joe Biden is incredibly bad at this job.

00:41:53.000 So what this means is that Joe Biden now has to rely on a secondary message for 2022, and so do the Democrats.

00:41:59.000 That secondary message is Republicans are trying to stymie the vote.

00:42:03.000 Hey, this is all crazy talk.

00:42:04.000 If they think this is going to work, they're crazy.

00:42:06.000 First of all, more Democrats voted in the last election cycle than in any election cycle in American history, and it is not close.

00:42:11.000 The turnout rates were extraordinary.

00:42:13.000 Joe Biden won 81 million votes.

00:42:14.000 Hey, those are big numbers.

00:42:17.000 If there is election stifling going on, there is no evidence that there is election stifling going on.

00:42:20.000 There's less evidence that people are being kept from voting in the United States and that people are engaging in widespread voter fraud.

00:42:27.000 Less evidence.

00:42:28.000 And so for all the people on the left who keep saying that Donald Trump is propagating the big lie by talking about electoral fraud and the notion that he won the 2020 election, it is a much bigger lie when you suggest that there are millions of people being disenfranchised at the ballot box.

00:42:41.000 That is just a lie.

00:42:42.000 It is not true at all.

00:42:44.000 And yet this is what Democrats are relying upon.

00:42:46.000 So Nancy Pelosi goes the furthest.

00:42:49.000 She basically makes the argument that conservatives, Republicans, they ought to be treated like terrorists.

00:42:52.000 She says January 6th was a terror attack.

00:42:54.000 And then she also says that Republicans in the states who are pursuing voter verification methods, they are just a continuation of the terror attacks of January 6th.

00:43:03.000 Basically, you're all terrorists.

00:43:05.000 I do have to note here that whoever is doing Nancy Pelosi's Botox needs to be stopped.

00:43:11.000 Someone needs to be stopped here.

00:43:12.000 She has gone full Jack Nicholson Joker, fell directly into the vat of toxic waste. 1.00

00:43:17.000 I don't know what's going on here.

00:43:18.000 Those of us who suffer from a family receding hairline, I've never seen before receding eyebrows.

00:43:25.000 That is a new one.

00:43:26.000 Her eyebrows are literally receding all the way up her face.

00:43:29.000 They started off just above her eyes, and now they're halfway up her forehead. 0.91

00:43:33.000 And if she continues in this manner, her eyebrows will eventually be all the way at the back of her head.

00:43:38.000 She'll be talking, you'll just see her eyebrows wiggling all the way up here.

00:43:41.000 I don't know what's going on.

00:43:43.000 Like, these are the people who run our country.

00:43:45.000 Here is Nancy Pelosi, crazy Nancy Pelosi, who looks like a marionette, like an Edgar Bergen marionette, talking about how you are basically a terrorist if you support voter ID.

00:43:56.000 There's nothing more important for us to do than protect our Constitution and our democracy.

00:44:03.000 What the Republicans are doing across the country is really a legislative continuation of what they did on January 6th, which is to undermine our democracy.

00:44:16.000 It's a legislative continuation of January 6th undermining our democracy is the line.

00:44:20.000 So this is the line they're going to carry into 2022.

00:44:22.000 Good luck with this.

00:44:23.000 You've got bad inflation.

00:44:24.000 You've got bad COVID policy.

00:44:25.000 You've got underemployment because not enough people are getting back into the labor force.

00:44:29.000 You have a completely failed foreign policy.

00:44:31.000 And Nancy Pelosi's pitch is that everybody who is pushing voter ID in states like Georgia was complicit in January 6th.

00:44:39.000 Really good luck with this.

00:44:40.000 And then trotting out Maxine Waters to back this?

00:44:42.000 My goodness.

00:44:43.000 You guys have a very, very weak pitch.

00:44:44.000 Yours is Maxine Waters doing the same thing last night.

00:44:48.000 This is not something that they have any real issues about relative to how the system is working with this, this, that or the other.

00:44:58.000 This is about racism.

00:45:00.000 This is about exclusion.

00:45:02.000 This is about not wanting us to be able to participate in the policies that govern this country.

00:45:11.000 It's about racism and exclusion, and also you should confront people you don't like in parking lots and scream at them.

00:45:17.000 Also, I will admit that I was not expecting the John Lennon 1980s style.

00:45:22.000 Like, John Lennon was dead by that point, but if he had blown up those sunglasses, the crazy sunglasses, and made them very large, and plunked them down on Maxine Waters, that would have been the look.

00:45:31.000 This is great.

00:45:32.000 By the way, Chuck Schumer is trying to force a vote on the filibuster.

00:45:35.000 Like, this is how desperate they are.

00:45:37.000 He's not demonstrating his own incompetence.

00:45:38.000 He's demonstrating full-scale his own incompetence.

00:45:41.000 The Senate majority leader is going to try to vote on the filibuster and see if Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona and Joe Manchin are going to kill the filibuster on behalf of a voting rights bill that does not have majority support.

00:45:52.000 Good luck with that.

00:45:53.000 And then what's he going to claim?

00:45:54.000 Well, what is Biden going to claim?

00:45:55.000 What's Schumer going to claim?

00:45:56.000 That he's been obstructed by Republicans when he can't even get his own Democrats on board?

00:46:01.000 Seriously, they are so incompetent and they are so boxed in, and 2022 is going to be so ugly for them until they are left merely with dreams of universal health care and a hatred for those who don't think like them.

00:46:11.000 If that's your pitch, you're going to get skunked come November.

00:46:14.000 All right, we'll be back here later today with an additional hour of content.

00:46:16.000 Coming up soon is the Matt Walsh Show.

00:46:18.000 It airs 1.30 p.m.

00:46:18.000 Eastern.

00:46:19.000 Be sure to check it out over at dailywire.com.

00:46:20.000 I'm Ben Shapiro.

00:46:21.000 Shapiro, this is the Ben Shapiro Show.

00:46:22.000 The Ben Shapiro Show is produced by Elliot Felt.

00:46:30.000 Executive producer, Jeremy Boring.

00:46:32.000 Our supervising producer is Mathis Glover.

00:46:34.000 And our production manager is Pavel Lydowsky.

00:46:36.000 Associate producer, Bradford Carrington.

00:46:38.000 Editing is by Adam Sajovic.

00:46:40.000 Audio is mixed by Mike Koromina.

00:46:42.000 Hair and makeup is by Fabiola Cristina.

00:46:44.000 Production assistant, Jessica Crand.

00:46:46.000 The Ben Shapiro Show is a Daily Wire production.

00:46:48.000 Copyright Daily Wire 2022.

00:46:51.000 On the Matt Wall Show, we talk about the things that matter.

00:46:53.000 Real issues that affect you, your family, our country, not just politics, but culture, faith, current events, all the fundamentals.

The Ben Shapiro Show - January 11, 2022

Why I’m Glad I Fled California | Ep. 1409

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript