The Ben Shapiro Show - Why We Buy Hoaxes | Ep. 719

00:00:00.000 The Jussie Smollett hoax reaches its natural termination, President Trump's wall is still divisive, and Democrats celebrate losing jobs in New York City.

00:00:07.000 I'm Ben Shapiro.

00:00:07.000 This is The Ben Shapiro Show.

00:00:08.000 Well, happy President's Day to all those people who are off work today.

00:00:17.000 We are not.

00:00:17.000 We are here with you each and every day through rain, through sleet, through snow, through hail.

00:00:24.000 We're here.

00:00:25.000 Okay, whatever.

00:00:25.000 So we'll get to all the news in just one second.

00:00:28.000 First, let's talk about how you can protect your online information.

00:00:32.000 Admit it, you think cybercrime is something that happens to other people.

00:00:34.000 You may think that nobody wants your data or that hackers can't grab your passwords or credit card details.

00:00:39.000 That's right, I've decided to take action to protect myself from cyber criminals.

00:00:41.000 This happened to me like a month ago.

00:00:42.000 When you leave your internet connection unencrypted, you might as well be writing your passwords and credit card numbers on a huge billboard for the rest of the world to see.

00:00:53.000 That's why I've decided to take action to protect myself from cyber criminals.

00:00:56.000 I use ExpressVPN.

00:00:58.000 ExpressVPN secures and anonymizes your internet browsing by encrypting your data and hiding your public IP address.

00:01:03.000 ExpressVPN has easy-to-use apps.

00:01:05.000 They run seamlessly in the background of your computer, phone, and tablet.

00:01:08.000 All you have to do is turn it on.

00:01:09.000 Turn on that ExpressVPN protection.

00:01:11.000 It only takes one click.

00:01:12.000 Using ExpressVPN, I can safely surf on public Wi-Fi without being snooped on or having my personal data stolen.

00:01:17.000 For less than seven bucks per month, you can get the same ExpressVPN protection that I have.

00:01:21.000 ExpressVPN is rated the number one VPN service by TechRadar.

00:01:24.000 It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

00:01:26.000 Protect your online activity today.

00:01:28.000 Find out how you can get three months free at expressvpn.com slash ben.

00:01:32.000 That's E-X-P-R-E-S-S-V-P-N dot com slash ben for three months free with a one-year package.

00:01:36.000 Again, that's expressvpn.com slash ben to learn more.

00:01:40.000 Go check them out and keep your online information safe.

00:01:42.000 Alrighty, so over the weekend, The Jussie Smollett hoax turned out to have been dun dun dun a hoax.

00:01:49.000 Everybody knew it was a hoax from the very beginning.

00:01:51.000 Everybody with half a brain was incredulous about the story, which again made no sense.

00:01:56.000 Jussie Smollett, an actor on Empire, claimed that he had received a bunch of threats and that then at two o'clock in the morning in Chicago, in the middle of a polar vortex, He went over to a subway to buy a sandwich, and on the way back, he was accosted by two gentlemen who were supposedly wearing MAGA hats.

00:02:11.000 Some of the reports said they were wearing MAGA hats.

00:02:13.000 And they wound a rope around his neck, poured bleach on him, and shouted, this is MAGA country.

00:02:19.000 Again, remember, at 2 a.m., in the middle of Chicago, in the middle of a polar vortex, And they also shouted at him the N-word and the F-word and recognized him from Empire because that's huge with the Trump folks.

00:02:30.000 Empire, they love that show.

00:02:32.000 It's like number one in that demo.

00:02:34.000 So, there were a few things that were suspicious about the story.

00:02:37.000 One, the entire story.

00:02:38.000 Two, the guy still had his Subway sandwich when he got up.

00:02:41.000 Again, he'd be the best Subway spokesman of all time.

00:02:43.000 You know how much I love this Subway sandwich? 0.89

00:02:45.000 Two guys come out of the shadows, kick the crap out of you, then he just keeps walking. 0.82

00:02:49.000 I held on to this. 0.90

00:02:50.000 He then walked into his apartment, right past the guard, and then spent 40 minutes doing nothing, then called the police.

00:02:56.000 When they showed up, he still had the rope around his neck and refused to turn over his phone to the police.

00:03:00.000 So, none of this held together.

00:03:01.000 From the very beginning, everyone was sort of suspicious, but you didn't want to be the guy to say, listen, seems like a hoax.

00:03:06.000 You said instead, I got some questions.

00:03:08.000 Right?

00:03:09.000 If you were a smart person, the first thing you did was say, you know, this sounds a little fishy.

00:03:14.000 Like, maybe it happened just the way he said it did, but it sounds a little fishy.

00:03:17.000 Well, now it turns out it was not just a little fishy, it was the entire Mediterranean Sea fishy.

00:03:22.000 According to CBS News, the two Nigerian brothers arrested in connection with the assault on Empire actor Jussie Smollett are no longer suspects in the attack.

00:03:30.000 They're now cooperating with police.

00:03:31.000 A source close to the investigation confirms to CBS News that the brothers told detectives that Smollett paid them to participate in the alleged attack on January 29th and that they purchased the rope, which was found around Smollett's neck, at a nearby hardware store.

00:03:45.000 The source said detectives have evidence to corroborate the sale, something the men's attorney alluded to on Friday night.

00:03:51.000 New evidence that was brought to their attention.

00:03:53.000 Obviously, I had it.

00:03:54.000 My clients had it, said Gloria Schmidt, the brother's attorney.

00:03:56.000 The Chicago Police Department released a statement on Saturday night saying information from the brothers had shifted the trajectory of the investigation.

00:04:03.000 Here's the truth.

00:04:04.000 The CPD has known for weeks that this was probably fake.

00:04:07.000 They've known for weeks that these brothers were probably being paid by Jussie Smollett.

00:04:10.000 They were not releasing it.

00:04:11.000 They were slow playing it.

00:04:12.000 That is the rumor and decent information from inside CPD.

00:04:16.000 Nonetheless, CPD finally coming forth and acknowledging what everybody else knew.

00:04:20.000 We can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the Empire case has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation.

00:04:27.000 We've reached out to the Empire cast member's attorney to request a follow-up interview.

00:04:31.000 Smollett's attorneys, Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson, issued a statement late Saturday saying Smollett was angered and devastated by reports that he knew the people associated with the alleged attack.

00:04:40.000 One of these purported suspects was Jussie's personal trainer, who he hired to ready him physically for a music video.

00:04:45.000 It is impossible to believe that this person could have played a role in the crime against Jussie or falsely claimed Jussie's complicity, the statement said.

00:04:52.000 Except that's exactly what CPD is saying.

00:04:55.000 The attorney said the actor would continue to cooperate with authorities as the investigation continues.

00:04:59.000 He may be cooperating from inside a jail cell because it is in fact a crime to lie to police.

00:05:04.000 They've wasted hundreds of man hours, hundreds of thousands, I'm sure, of taxpayer dollars in the city of Chicago over this nonsense.

00:05:10.000 The term in jail would be up to three years.

00:05:12.000 At the present time, Jussie and his attorneys have no inclination to respond to unnamed sources inside of the investigation, but will continue discussions through official channels, the statement said.

00:05:21.000 Police said that the two men, identified as Ola and Abel Asundero, were captured on surveillance video at the time that Smollett said he was attacked.

00:05:29.000 Ola Asundero is connected to Smollett through the hit show Empire, where he plays a prisoner in season two.

00:05:33.000 Both brothers apparently left Chicago the day of the alleged attack and were detained when they returned on Wednesday.

00:05:38.000 Chicago detectives tore through their apartment looking for clues, and an evidence log shows they found ropes, masks, and bleach.

00:05:44.000 Whoa.

00:05:45.000 They were released Friday night without charges because now they're working with the cops.

00:05:49.000 A Chicago Police Department spokesman said detectives have additional investigative work to complete.

00:05:53.000 The best part of this story is that apparently, some of the reports suggest that the two brothers, they went and they bought red hats.

00:06:00.000 But you can't find a MAGA hat anywhere in the city limits of Chicago.

00:06:03.000 So they went to a local beauty store, I kid you not, called the Crafty Beaver.

00:06:07.000 I'm not kidding you.

00:06:08.000 They went there and then they bought two red hats, just like generic red hats.

00:06:12.000 Because there's no MAGA hats in Chicago, even though it was MAGA country.

00:06:17.000 In a recent interview with Good Morning America, Smollett said he was sure that the men in the photo were his attackers.

00:06:22.000 He said, there's a guy who came up to him.

00:06:25.000 This is MAGA country, N-word. 0.55

00:06:26.000 Punches me right in the face. 1.00

00:06:27.000 So I punched his ass back. 1.00

00:06:29.000 I think what people need to hear is just the truth. 1.00

00:06:31.000 Well, yeah.

00:06:33.000 And then Jesse Smollett came forward and he said, on Good Morning America, again, this was Thursday morning.

00:06:37.000 All of this began to break Thursday afternoon.

00:06:39.000 So this story held up for approximately the length of a squirrel's attention span.

00:06:45.000 And Jussie Smollett on GMA said, you know, the reason people are angry at me, the reason people come hard at me, the reason for it?

00:06:52.000 Well, of course, it's because I don't like Trump.

00:06:54.000 And you know, in America, you can't you can't dislike Trump.

00:06:56.000 You know, being being anti-Trump in America, that's very unpopular, except for how the entire media are anti-Trump and celebrate everything that any anti-Trump person says.

00:07:05.000 We'll get to that in just a second.

00:07:06.000 Here is Jussie Smollett lying on Good Morning America to the cheering throngs of Good Morning America's producers and anchors.

00:07:13.000 Why do you think you were targeted?

00:07:15.000 I can just assume.

00:07:16.000 I mean, I come really, really hard against 45. 0.63

00:07:23.000 I come really, really hard against his administration.

00:07:30.000 And I don't hold my tongue.

00:07:32.000 Oh, he's such a rebel.

00:07:33.000 He's a rebel.

00:07:34.000 So brave.

00:07:35.000 So much bravery.

00:07:36.000 My goodness, Jussie Smollett.

00:07:38.000 American hero!

00:07:40.000 Wow.

00:07:40.000 And the media treated him that way.

00:07:42.000 You'll remember that there was a man named Cory Booker.

00:07:45.000 Spartacus.

00:07:46.000 And you'll recall that he tweeted this out the day that the report broke.

00:07:49.000 The vicious attack on actor Jussie Smollett was an attempted modern-day lynching.

00:07:54.000 I'm glad he's safe.

00:07:54.000 Well, it turns out he sort of paid someone to lynch him, but there's that.

00:07:57.000 He said, to those in Congress who don't feel the urgency to pass our anti-lynching bill designating lynching as a federal hate crime, I urge you to pay attention.

00:08:04.000 It was a vicious, brutal attack staged by Jussie Smollett and his friends.

00:08:08.000 So that was awkward. 0.98

00:08:09.000 Then Cory Booker was asked over the weekend about, um, remember that time when you said that Jussie Smollett was lynched and you said it was a vicious, brutal hate crime and then it turned out that that guy paid his friends to do it because he knew that suckers like you would buy it? 0.95

00:08:23.000 And Cory Booker was like, you know what? 0.86

00:08:24.000 Facts don't matter.

00:08:25.000 The only thing that matters is the narrative.

00:08:27.000 The narrative matters.

00:08:28.000 Well, the information's still coming out, and I'm going to withhold until all the information actually comes out from on-the-record sources.

00:08:34.000 We know in America that bigoted and biased attacks are on the rise in a serious way.

00:08:41.000 What we're seeing is attacks on people because they're different, and we all need to join together and condemn those attacks.

00:08:47.000 Oh, so he's going to wait for all the information to come out, not like he did before when he just sort of declared that it was true And also, just because this was a hoax doesn't mean that there isn't a rise in hate crimes.

00:09:02.000 It's the narrative that's important.

00:09:03.000 See, you gotta love it when you have a completely Disprovable thesis.

00:09:07.000 Non-disprovable thesis.

00:09:08.000 We have a non-falsifiable thesis that is put out by the left. 0.96

00:09:11.000 So, if an actual crime occurs in which a black man is grabbed around the neck with a rope, poured bleach upon, and then people shout at him about Trump, then this is evidence that Trump's America is evil.

00:09:22.000 And if it turns out that was a hoax, that's also proof that Trump's America is evil, because where else would even such a story be believable? 0.64

00:09:30.000 Where else would even such a story be believable?

00:09:32.000 So you gotta love these folks who are now suggesting that, you know, we're gonna wait for all the facts.

00:09:37.000 Gotta be cautious.

00:09:38.000 Gotta be cautious now that CPD has said that it's true.

00:09:40.000 We're gonna be cautious.

00:09:41.000 Before, we jumped the gun and we were ready to go in whatever direction.

00:09:45.000 Back the narrative.

00:09:46.000 Here's the reason Jussie Smollett lied about this.

00:09:48.000 Here's the reason Jussie Smollett did this. 1.00

00:09:49.000 The reason he did it is because he knew there was a waiting and ready cadre of humans who are ready to parrot any story that suggested that Trump supporters were a bunch of racist rednecks roaming major cities in search of black people to hurt. 0.91

00:10:02.000 That is why this story went viral in the first place. 0.96

00:10:04.000 Jussie Smollett himself said it, by the way, on Good Morning America.

00:10:07.000 He said, if I were attacked by black people, nobody would cover this story.

00:10:10.000 That is correct. 0.95

00:10:11.000 That is absolutely correct.

00:10:13.000 You know why that is correct? 0.90

00:10:14.000 Because the media have no interest in black people victimizing other black people. 0.97

00:10:17.000 In fact, the media have no interest in people of any ethnicity other than white supremacists victimizing Jews. 0.84

00:10:22.000 In other words, they're a set of narratives that the media are invested in and that politicians are invested in.

00:10:27.000 And if a story fits neatly into that narrative, then it becomes a major front page issue.

00:10:32.000 And if it does not, then we don't pay any attention to it at all.

00:10:36.000 At all.

00:10:37.000 The media have a narrative that they want to promulgate, that they want to push.

00:10:41.000 And so, if there is a story perfectly tailored to that narrative, they're more likely to jump on it.

00:10:45.000 Now, a rational person would say, knowing their own bias, knowing that they want their narrative to be supported, a rational person who tries his best would say, if a story comes out that seems too good to be true, that's probably because it is.

00:10:58.000 If a story comes out that backs your narrative to the point where every single aspect of the story seems tailored to your narrative, probably it was tailored to your narrative.

00:11:07.000 If somebody comes to you, if somebody came to me and they said, I have a story, you know, as I run, I run a website, I have a story.

00:11:14.000 And the story is that Barack Obama was wandering around on the street when he suddenly saw a rich person grab that guy's wallet, ran the other way and started redistributing his cash to his cronies in Washington, D.C.

00:11:26.000 I'd be like, I don't believe that story because that story seems too metaphorical to be real.

00:11:32.000 Because if the story fits your narrative, obviously the metaphor being that Barack Obama was a redistributionist who wanted to grab other people's money.

00:11:39.000 If the story fits your narrative so well that it seems every detail is tailored for your narrative, well then it probably is not true.

00:11:48.000 It probably is not true.

00:11:49.000 Real life does not work that way.

00:11:51.000 Sometimes stories do fit that.

00:11:52.000 And when they do, then we ought to wait for those stories to be verified because the facts will out.

00:11:57.000 But the media didn't do that in this case.

00:11:58.000 And you'll see the media defend themselves in just a second.

00:12:00.000 It's really, really absurd.

00:12:01.000 The media jumped on this because the media have the same disposition as Cory Booker.

00:12:05.000 They have the same exact disposition.

00:12:06.000 Because Cory Booker, members of the media, they think exactly the same way.

00:12:09.000 Members of the media are Democrats.

00:12:10.000 Cory Booker is a Democrat. 1.00

00:12:11.000 Their story is that America is a terrible, horrible, racist place filled with evil, racist deplorables who are going around on the street beating up black people and throwing ropes around their neck. 1.00

00:12:20.000 None of that is true. 0.99

00:12:21.000 But, again, the Jussie Smollett story gave them a peg to put their narrative hat upon.

00:12:26.000 We'll get to that in just one second.

00:12:27.000 First, there are a lot of things in life that aren't right.

00:12:29.000 Carpet and showers, eating dip with your fingers, paying too much for your phone bill.

00:12:32.000 That's not right.

00:12:33.000 But thanks to Mint Mobile, you don't have to overpay for wireless anymore.

00:12:36.000 They reimagined the wireless shopping experience.

00:12:38.000 They've made it easy and online only, which means they can pass significant savings directly to you.

00:12:42.000 For a limited time, they're offering two months for free when you buy your first month.

00:12:45.000 That is 20 bucks total for three months of wireless.

00:12:48.000 It really is a no-brainer.

00:12:50.000 You'd save a bunch of money.

00:12:51.000 The amazing deal is only here for a limited time.

00:12:53.000 $20 total gets you 3 months of wireless service with 8GB of 4G LTE data each month plus unlimited nationwide talk and text.

00:13:01.000 Use your own phone along with any Mint Mobile plan.

00:13:03.000 You can keep your old phone number along with all your existing contacts.

00:13:06.000 Mint Mobile runs on the nation's fastest, most advanced LTE network.

00:13:09.000 If you're not 100% satisfied, Mint Mobile has you covered with their 7-day money-back guarantee.

00:13:14.000 Take advantage of Mint Mobile's amazing deal before it's gone.

00:13:17.000 Okay, so the media come out and decide to defend their coverage of the Jussie Smollett case.

00:13:19.000 It's indefensible.

00:13:20.000 It is indefensible.

00:13:21.000 dot com slash Ben.

00:13:22.000 That is mint mobile dot com slash Ben to get three months of premium wireless service for just 20 bucks.

00:13:27.000 Mint mobile dot com slash Ben.

00:13:29.000 OK, so the media come out and decide to defend their coverage of the Jussie Smollett case.

00:13:33.000 It's indefensible.

00:13:34.000 It is indefensible.

00:13:35.000 The Jussie Smollett case was covered by the media as fact from the first day it was reported.

00:13:40.000 There were a bunch of journalists who jumped the gun.

00:13:43.000 But that's not again.

00:13:44.000 None of that matters.

00:13:46.000 You remember when AOC said a few weeks back that people are too focused in on the facts?

00:13:51.000 They should really focus in on the moral truth.

00:13:53.000 It's the moral truth that matters.

00:13:54.000 Stop focusing in on things like whether things are true or not.

00:13:57.000 Focus in on the morality of things.

00:14:00.000 Don't bother with the facts.

00:14:01.000 Focus in on the morality.

00:14:03.000 Members of the media did this.

00:14:05.000 After this came out as a hoax, members of the media still defending their coverage by saying, well, you know, the overall narrative, which is that things suck in America, that narrative is still true.

00:14:13.000 It's the same thing they did with the Michael Brown shooting.

00:14:14.000 You remember Michael Brown shot in Ferguson, Missouri.

00:14:17.000 The lie went out that Michael Brown was approaching the police officers and raising his arms and saying, hands up, don't shoot.

00:14:23.000 And then it turned out all of that was a lie.

00:14:25.000 It didn't matter.

00:14:26.000 The entire media ran with it because it pushed the narrative that our police forces across America were racist, even though there was nothing racist about the shooting.

00:14:33.000 And in fact, Michael Brown was justifiably shot.

00:14:35.000 Liz Plank on CNN did exactly this. 1.00

00:14:37.000 She's an editor over at Vox.com or a writer over at Vox.com.

00:14:41.000 She said, listen, just because it's a hoax doesn't mean it's not real.

00:14:45.000 I think it's important to cover this story.

00:14:47.000 I also think it's important to cover the other several stories of hate crimes.

00:14:51.000 Not to say that this was a story of a hate crime, but that there are real hate crimes that happen in this country and there's an increase in them against black people, against LGBTQ people, against Muslims, and the fact that one robbery was fake does not mean that robbery is not a problem.

00:15:06.000 Okay, first of all, we're going to have to establish that there is in fact a trend of rise in hate crimes.

00:15:09.000 There's no rape.

00:15:09.000 We have to cover these issues as trends and as patterns and not fall into the trap that because one story is not real, that the problem is not real.

00:15:17.000 OK, first of all, we're going to have to establish that there is, in fact, a trend of rise in hate crimes.

00:15:22.000 For example, the ADL tried to release a report earlier this year saying there was a radical rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes.

00:15:27.000 It turned out that report was deeply flawed.

00:15:29.000 We were trying to establish the data.

00:15:30.000 What's funny is that on that same panel, there was a host for a podcast called The Fifth Column, Black Guy, and he was saying, we are still trying to establish whether these fact patterns exist.

00:15:42.000 But Liz Plank then turned back to him and said, what do you know about hate crimes?

00:15:45.000 I mean, it's unbelievable.

00:15:46.000 The media have a narrative.

00:15:47.000 America's filled with hate crimes because America's hateful.

00:15:49.000 I also love how she lists out the groups who have been victimized by hate crimes.

00:15:52.000 She says, you know, we have to worry about increase of hate crimes against blacks and against Muslims and against LGBT people.

00:15:58.000 I'll get to the actual stats on hate crimes in just a second because it turns out there is one group of people who have been increasingly victimized by hate crimes and it is none of those groups.

00:16:06.000 It is none of those.

00:16:07.000 I mean, those groups may have an increase.

00:16:08.000 The major increase is not occurring among those groups.

00:16:10.000 I'll explain where the major increase is occurring in just one second.

00:16:14.000 But again, this backs a media narrative.

00:16:15.000 The media narrative is that Jussie Smollett should have been covered exactly the way he was covered.

00:16:20.000 That we on the right exaggerate how bad the media was in this case.

00:16:23.000 First of all, The media were awful in this case.

00:16:26.000 Brian Stelter claims this wasn't about the media.

00:16:29.000 Brian Stelter on CNN, a reliable source, he says, this story was not about the media botching it.

00:16:34.000 The story was weaponized by the right.

00:16:35.000 So, of course, the left, having been shown to be completely terrible at their jobs, members of the media who are on the left, who jumped the gun on this one, like two weeks after they jumped the gun on Covington High School.

00:16:45.000 They say the real story here is Republicans pouncing, that the story was weaponized.

00:16:49.000 Here's Brian Stelter on Reliable Sources.

00:16:51.000 Remember, he's supposed to be sort of the journalistic ombudsman of CNN calling to account journalistic Journalistic crappiness.

00:17:00.000 Instead, he says, no, no, we all did a great job.

00:17:02.000 The real problem is weaponization.

00:17:04.000 Republicans pouncing.

00:17:05.000 It's always pouncing.

00:17:07.000 As I've pointed out over the last six weeks, whenever there's an increase in Republicans pounce stories, it means the media are not doing their jobs.

00:17:13.000 It means the left are terrible at their jobs.

00:17:16.000 That's why Republicans are reacting.

00:17:17.000 The reaction of Republicans is never a story.

00:17:19.000 It's never an actual story.

00:17:21.000 The actual story is the media screwing it up.

00:17:22.000 But here's Brian Stelter defending the media and then saying the real problem here are the folks on the right.

00:17:27.000 Strong, high-quality news organizations have tried to be very careful on this point.

00:17:32.000 But because TMZ said just a few hours after the alleged attack that this was a Trump supporter attack and it had political connotations, like I said, it became partisan from day one.

00:17:42.000 And when you're looking at those random websites all over the world spreading information, you can end up thinking this story was able to be weaponized in many different ways.

00:17:53.000 But at its heart, it is still a mystery.

00:17:57.000 Okay, it was weaponized in many different ways.

00:17:59.000 The right was weaponizing the story.

00:18:01.000 Okay, let's go through how the media actually covered this thing from the beginning, because now we are getting gaslit.

00:18:06.000 Now the media covered this thing uncritically, and now they want to tell us, no, no, no, we were very careful in our coverage.

00:18:11.000 Here is a montage of members of the media reporting this story.

00:18:14.000 Suffice it to say, they were not critical in their coverage of this story.

00:18:17.000 Empire star Jussie Smollett was the victim of a vicious, racist, and homophobic attack.

00:18:22.000 His attackers hurled racial and homophobic slurs.

00:18:26.000 Two people yelled racist and homophobic slurs.

00:18:28.000 That's HLN.

00:18:29.000 Racial and homophobic slurs.

00:18:31.000 MSNBC.

00:18:31.000 Not only homophobia, we're talking about racism.

00:18:34.000 We're talking about hate with steroids.

00:18:36.000 They are looking for two suspects who are apparently wearing Make America Great Again hats.

00:18:41.000 MSNBC.

00:18:41.000 The offenders uttered, this is MAGA country.

00:18:44.000 CNN.

00:18:45.000 Absolutely despicable.

00:18:46.000 This is horrible to report.

00:18:47.000 This is a horrible story.

00:18:48.000 This is a horrible story.

00:18:50.000 Yeah.

00:18:50.000 I mean, the circumstances are just horrific.

00:18:52.000 Horrendous and unacceptable.

00:18:55.000 And this is America in 2019.

00:18:57.000 Okay, it's courtesy of Grabien, and that would be Brooke Baldwin on CNN saying, this is America in 2019.

00:19:01.000 You know what America is in 2019?

00:19:02.000 The media uncritically reporting a completely implausible story, and then when caught in their own garbage coverage, immediately turning around and saying, no, no, we didn't do anything wrong.

00:19:13.000 It's that the white, the right people, the people on the right, they keep weaponizing this thing. 0.87

00:19:17.000 They keep pouncing.

00:19:19.000 Caleb Howe has a great piece over at Mediaite pointing out Newsweek writers, the senior reporter at the Daily Beast, Kevin Fallon.

00:19:24.000 We're talking about writer for Boing Boing, writer at Philadelphia Magazine, Vibe Magazine, producers for Nightline on ABC, contributors to Forbes and Slate, an editor at the LA Times, a Buzzfeed writer, a Reuters reporter, writers for Teen Vogue and Washington Post, freelance contributors for Cosmopolitan, senior writers at Rolling Stone, AP, NBC News writer and producer, HuffPost writer, editor at Washington Post, Vanity Fair, So we're supposed to believe that the media didn't jump on the story?

00:19:50.000 Of course they jumped on the story!

00:19:51.000 Of course they did, it supported their narrative.

00:19:54.000 Not only did they jump on the story, so did the entire left, because the media and the left wanted this story to be true.

00:19:59.000 They desperately wanted the story to be true.

00:20:02.000 And so funny, folks on the left will say things like, you know, the entire right bought into Pizzagate, or the entire right bought into the Barack Obama birtherism hoax.

00:20:11.000 First of all, that is not true.

00:20:12.000 But the entire left, or at least huge swaths of the left, bought fully into not only the Jussie Smollett story, but into the narrative that it was President Trump's fault.

00:20:19.000 So Ellen Page went on TV with Stephen Colbert, and she suggested it was Mike Pence's fault that a crime that never happened actually happened?

00:20:28.000 Is she going to walk this back? 0.99

00:20:29.000 This thing has 20 million views.

00:20:31.000 20 million views.

00:20:33.000 Ellen Page, last relevant when she was playing the dull person in Inception, now she is coming forth and saying that it was Mike Pence.

00:20:39.000 This thing has 20 million views.

00:20:41.000 When did she walk this back?

00:20:42.000 When is she held accountable for this lie?

00:20:44.000 Never.

00:20:44.000 The vice president of America wishes I didn't have the love with my wife.

00:20:49.000 He has hurt LGBTQ people so badly as the government of Indiana, and I think the thing we need to know, and I hope my show Gaycation did this in terms of connecting the dots, in terms of what happened the other day to Josiah.

00:21:00.000 I don't know him personally.

00:21:01.000 I sent all of my love.

00:21:04.000 If you are in a position of power, and you hate people, And you wanna cause suffering to them.

00:21:11.000 You go through the trouble, you spend your career trying to cause suffering.

00:21:15.000 What do you think is gonna happen? 0.62

00:21:17.000 Kids are gonna be abused, and they're gonna kill themselves. 0.65

00:21:20.000 And people are gonna be beaten on the street. 0.98

00:21:23.000 Okay. 0.76

00:21:23.000 She's just, it's, I'm sorry, this is disgusting. 0.76

00:21:26.000 You're taking a fake crime, and you're pinning it on Mike Pence, and then you're blaming Mike Pence for problems across the country for which Mike Pence has no responsibility, and people are uncritically cheering you.

00:21:34.000 Because this is the world in which fake information can travel quickly.

00:21:38.000 You hear about fake news all the time from the media.

00:21:40.000 Oh, the scourge of fake news, the scourge of false narrative.

00:21:43.000 And President Trump complains the media are complicit in fake news and false narrative.

00:21:46.000 You know why this is the case?

00:21:47.000 The reason this is the case is because human beings have a natural tendency to believe stories that back their play.

00:21:52.000 And right now, people have narratives about America that are not true on a lot of different sides, and they're willing to believe stories that back those narratives, no matter how untrue they are.

00:22:01.000 There's a fascinating piece in the Washington Post today by a person named Nana Efua Mumford, who's executive assistant to the Washington Post editorial board.

00:22:09.000 The title of the piece is, I doubted Jussie Smollett.

00:22:12.000 It breaks my heart that I might be right.

00:22:14.000 Why would it break your heart when it turns out that a hate crime is false?

00:22:17.000 That should make you happy.

00:22:18.000 It means that a hate crime did not occur.

00:22:21.000 Why does it break your heart when it turns out that accusations that America is deeply racist and homophobic are not backed by an implausible story?

00:22:28.000 Shouldn't that make you happy?

00:22:29.000 Like, if it turned out that somebody accused somebody of an anti-Jewish hate crime and it turned out not to be true, I'd be like, great, because America is not an anti-Semitic country.

00:22:37.000 But for folks on the left, if the story backs their play and it turns out the story is false, that's really bad because then it doesn't back their play.

00:22:44.000 I'll tell you what this columnist has to say in just one second.

00:22:48.000 First, let's talk about that credit card debt you've been racking up.

00:22:51.000 For decades, credit cards have been telling us to buy it now and pay for it later with interest.

00:22:54.000 Despite your best intentions, that interest can get out of control incredibly quickly.

00:22:57.000 With LendingClub, you can consolidate your debt or pay off credit cards with one fixed monthly payment.

00:23:02.000 Since 2007, LendingClub has helped millions of people regain control of their finances with affordable fixed-rate personal loans.

00:23:08.000 No trips to a bank.

00:23:09.000 No high-interest credit cards.

00:23:10.000 Just go to LendingClub.com.

00:23:11.000 Tell them about yourself and how much you want to borrow.

00:23:13.000 Pick the terms that are right for you.

00:23:15.000 And if you are approved, your loan is automatically deposited into your bank account in as little as a few days.

00:23:20.000 LendingClub is the number one peer-to-peer lending platform with over $35 billion in loans issued.

00:23:25.000 Go to LendingClub.com.

00:23:26.000 Just check your rate in minutes and borrow up to $40,000.

00:23:29.000 That is LendingClub.com.

00:23:31.000 Once again, LendingClub.com.

00:23:33.000 All loans made by WebBank Member FDIC Equal Housing Lender You really shouldn't be sitting there allowing those credit card bills to rack up interest charges.

00:23:39.000 Instead, go be responsible, consolidate that debt, and make sure that you can pay it off with Lending Club.

00:23:44.000 Again, they allow you to pay off all this stuff with one fixed monthly payment.

00:23:47.000 Go to LendingClub.com slash Ben.

00:23:49.000 Check your rate in minutes, borrow up to 40 grand.

00:23:51.000 That is LendingClub.com slash Ben.

00:23:53.000 All right, so this columnist at the Washington Post suggests that it is actually, she's actually very sad that the Jussie Smollett story turned out not to be true.

00:24:01.000 Why exactly is she sad?

00:24:03.000 She's sad because maybe it means that Americans won't be as sensitive to hoax stories. 0.99

00:24:08.000 The fact that the entire country took this stupid story seriously in the first place demonstrates how sensitive we are, by the way, to stories like this. 0.95

00:24:14.000 But here's what this columnist writes, quote, Perhaps I don't want to believe Smollett because this is a stark and scary reminder of the poor condition of the country that I call home. 0.99

00:24:21.000 Maybe this story makes the boogeyman of my nightmares all too real, too close, and too calculating.

00:24:27.000 Maybe it's because while I consider myself an ally to the LGBTQ community, I still don't understand and appreciate the daily harassment that they endure.

00:24:34.000 Or maybe, even though I'm a black woman, I still don't know what it's like to be a black man in America.

00:24:39.000 If Smollett's story is found to be untrue, it will cause irreparable damage to the communities most affected. 0.98

00:24:45.000 Oh, as opposed to if it were true, then we would be able to slander the entire white community in America and the Trump-supporting community in America as a bunch of racist bigots.

00:24:53.000 Then that would be good, because they are racist bigots, but since it turns out to be false, we can't slander a bunch of people anymore, so that's really bad.

00:24:59.000 She says Smollett would be the first example skeptic site when they say we should be dubious of victims who step forward to share their experience of racist hate crimes or sexual violence. 0.96

00:25:07.000 The incident would be touted as proof that there is a leftist conspiracy to cast Trump supporters as violent, murderous racists.

00:25:13.000 It would be the very embodiment of fake news. 0.83

00:25:15.000 Well, there is, in fact, a widespread tendency on the left to cast Trump supporters as violent, murderous racists.

00:25:22.000 That tendency does exist. 0.65

00:25:24.000 At the very least, the tendency to call Trump supporters bigots, that's a mainstream tendency. 0.94

00:25:28.000 If not violent and murderous, certainly bigots.

00:25:31.000 And she says that reason more than any other is why I need this story to be true.

00:25:35.000 Despite its ugliness and despite what it would say about the danger of the world I live in, the damage done would be too deep and long lasting.

00:25:41.000 So in other words, in order for one of two things has to happen.

00:25:46.000 Either she has to recognize that the story is false and maybe her preconceptions about America as an evil country are false, or the story can be true and that can reinforce her narrative beliefs.

00:25:56.000 And she would prefer that a black man was beaten on the streets of Chicago by two MAGA-hatted racists so that she can think America is a bad place than that that turn out to not to be true.

00:26:07.000 If your belief in the world relies on people being beaten in the streets, let me suggest, and you feel better when people are beaten in the streets because it backs your worldview, let me suggest you need to change your view of the world.

00:26:19.000 If you are happy when a story of federal hate crime turns out to be true, Something is deeply wrong.

00:26:25.000 Something is deeply wrong.

00:26:26.000 Especially because what that suggests is that people on the other side of the aisle are somehow going to shy away from actual hate crimes.

00:26:35.000 We all took hate crime seriously.

00:26:37.000 Everybody, even people who were skeptical of Jussie Smollett, kept saying, if this turns out to be true.

00:26:42.000 They said, we have questions, but if this turns out to be true.

00:26:44.000 Again, what the left wants you to believe is that there are a lot of people on the right who don't take hate crime seriously, and now they definitely won't take hate crime seriously because of Jussie Smollett.

00:26:52.000 No, no rational human being should treat outlandish claims as seriously as they would treat serious claims in the first place. 0.97

00:26:59.000 Now, I want to talk for a second about hate crimes themselves, because there was a real hate crime that took place over the weekend in New York, and no one gives a crap. 0.99

00:27:05.000 The reason no one gives a crap is because it's against a Jew and it wasn't done by a white supremacist. 0.98

00:27:09.000 According to NBC New York, a window of a Brooklyn synagogue was smashed on the Sabbath while the rabbi and his family, including young children, were inside. 0.99

00:27:16.000 A large plate glass window was shattered in front of Chabad of Bushwick, On Flushing Avenue, Rabbi Menachem Heller said.

00:27:21.000 Heller said his family, including nine children, stays at the center on Shabbat.

00:27:25.000 They saw two people walking away from the scene.

00:27:28.000 Heller said they walked across the street.

00:27:30.000 They asked people to call 911.

00:27:31.000 They flagged down police officers.

00:27:33.000 The city has seen a sharp increase in reported hate crimes so far in 2019.

00:27:36.000 Police had investigated 42 of the hate crimes through February 4th, compared with 19 at the same point last year.

00:27:42.000 Most of those were anti-Semitic.

00:27:45.000 But you haven't heard about those on the national news, have you?

00:27:47.000 Because the only time you hear about anti-Semitic crime is when it's a Trump-supporting white supremacist or somebody you can pin on President Trump.

00:27:55.000 That's when the media care about it.

00:27:57.000 Again, let me give you the narrative in this country.

00:27:59.000 The narrative in this country right now from the media and the left is exactly the narrative put out by Liz Plank that the people who ought to be most worried in America about hate crime are Muslims and black folks and LGBTQ folks.

00:28:09.000 Now listen, everybody should be upset about any hate crime against any group, but statistically speaking, the group most likely, per capita, to be targeted are Jews. 0.84

00:28:17.000 And no one talks about that unless it's a white supremacist.

00:28:19.000 Because it turns out that Jews are targeted by a wide variety of groups, including members of the intersectional pyramid, who stack higher on that pyramid than Jews do. 0.93

00:28:29.000 This is not according to me.

00:28:29.000 This is according to the FBI.

00:28:31.000 And by the way, the New York Times has admitted as much.

00:28:33.000 The New York Times has admitted, we don't cover hate crimes against Jews in New York City because it doesn't fit our narrative preconceptions.

00:28:39.000 A couple of months ago, they ran a piece about the uptick in hate crimes in New York City against Jews, and they said, we don't cover this on the front page because there's no pattern to it.

00:28:48.000 What they mean by that is there's no way we can pin it on Trump, so we're not going to cover it.

00:28:52.000 Here are the FBI statistics from 2017 on federally reported hate crimes.

00:28:57.000 Racial, ethnicity, and ancestry bias.

00:29:00.000 48.6% were victims of crimes motivated by offenders anti-black or African-American bias.

00:29:05.000 This is according to race, ethnicity, and ancestry.

00:29:09.000 17.1% were victims of anti-white bias.

00:29:11.000 First of all, we actually have to determine how hate crimes are categorized because is it a racial motivation?

00:29:15.000 Is it not a racial motivation?

00:29:17.000 It's never... Well, sometimes it's super easy, sometimes it's not super easy to tell.

00:29:21.000 In any case, blacks are targeted in outside fashion for hate crimes.

00:29:25.000 But you know who are really targeted in outside fashion for hate crimes?

00:29:28.000 Religious bias.

00:29:29.000 Of the 1,749 victims of anti-religious hate crimes, 58.1% were victims of crimes motivated by their offender's anti-Jewish bias.

00:29:38.000 18.6% were victims of anti-Islamic Muslim bias.

00:29:40.000 were victims of anti-Islamic Muslim bias.

00:29:43.000 4.3% were victims of anti-Catholic bias.

00:29:47.000 So if you're going to look at actual hate crime statistics, what you would find is that Jews are disproportionately targeted more than any other group per capita.

00:29:56.000 More than any other group per capita, except for perhaps gay people. 0.54

00:30:00.000 It's very close between the two groups. 0.88

00:30:01.000 The point that I'm making here is that America is a wildly philo-semitic country.

00:30:05.000 Thank God there are not that many hate crimes per capita in the United States.

00:30:09.000 And yet we are supposed to be told that America is a deeply hateful, terrible place and Jussie Smollett shows it.

00:30:13.000 So when Jussie Smollett turns out to be false, everybody is sad on the left.

00:30:17.000 And Jews are targeted in this country at about the same per capita rate that gay people are targeted in this country.

00:30:23.000 Maybe higher.

00:30:24.000 And you know what?

00:30:26.000 This is not an anti-Semitic country.

00:30:27.000 It's not an anti-gay country.

00:30:29.000 This is a magnificent country.

00:30:31.000 It's a really tolerant, non-bigoted country. 0.99

00:30:33.000 That doesn't mean there aren't scumbags out there. 0.98

00:30:35.000 Doesn't mean there aren't evil human beings out there. 0.99

00:30:37.000 Of course they are. 0.81

00:30:38.000 But if you are super eager to buy into a narrative that promotes your group as a victim group in the United States, or that promotes the Trump supporters as a group of bigots and vile racists, maybe the problem is with you.

00:30:51.000 Maybe the problem with the narrative is chiefly with you.

00:30:55.000 In a second, we're going to get to President Trump's wall.

00:30:57.000 First, let's talk about how you keep your house safer.

00:31:00.000 The way you keep your house safer is with Ring.

00:31:02.000 Ring's mission is to make neighborhoods safer.

00:31:03.000 You might already know about their smart video doorbells and cameras that protect millions of people everywhere.

00:31:07.000 Ring helps you stay connected to your home anywhere in the world.

00:31:10.000 So if there's a package delivery or a surprise visitor, you're going to get an alert.

00:31:13.000 You're going to be able to see, hear, and speak to them all from your phone.

00:31:16.000 That is thanks to HD video and two-way audio features on Ring devices.

00:31:19.000 I love our ring.

00:31:20.000 We have a ring video device right on our front gate.

00:31:23.000 And that means that anytime somebody rings the doorbell, it doesn't matter where I am, I can pick up, I can see who it is, and they don't know whether I'm home or not.

00:31:30.000 As a listener, you have a special offer on a ring starter kit available right now.

00:31:33.000 With a video doorbell and motion-activated floodlight cam, the starter kit has everything you need to start building a ring of security around your home.

00:31:40.000 Just go to ring.com slash ben.

00:31:42.000 That's ring.com slash ben.

00:31:44.000 Go check it out right now.

00:31:45.000 And that special offer is available on a ring starter kit right now.

00:31:49.000 With that video doorbell and the motion-activated floodlight cam.

00:31:51.000 Again, I've got this ring of security around my house.

00:31:53.000 It makes my house safer.

00:31:54.000 You should too.

00:31:55.000 Go to ring.com slash Ben.

00:31:56.000 That is ring.com slash Ben for the special deal.

00:31:59.000 Ring.com slash Ben.

00:32:01.000 Alrighty, in a second, I'm going to get to the continuing controversy over President Trump's wall.

00:32:06.000 We'll get to more evidence that the media are wildly biased.

00:32:09.000 There's a lot more coming, but you're gonna have to go subscribe over at dailywire.com to get it live.

00:32:13.000 And, starting this week, we will be giving a shout-out on this show to a different Daily Wire Premium subscriber every single week.

00:32:19.000 If you want to be featured, all you have to do is take a selfie, video, or GIF with your leftist-tears Tumblr.

00:32:23.000 Example, from right now, me, look, holding this Tumblr right now, staring into the camera.

00:32:27.000 This would count, except it has to be your Tumblr.

00:32:30.000 Post your Tumblr to Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag LeftistTearsTumblr.

00:32:34.000 Hashtag LeftistTearsTumblr.

00:32:36.000 And your selfie might be featured on the largest, fastest-growing conservative podcast in the nation.

00:32:40.000 So go do that right now.

00:32:41.000 Also, it is almost time for our next episode of The Conversation tomorrow at 7pm Eastern, 4pm Pacific.

00:32:47.000 The exorable Michael Knowles will be taking your questions and answering them live on air.

00:32:51.000 As always, the lovely Alicia Krauss will be hosting and keeping Knowles in check. 0.99

00:32:54.000 That episode is free for everyone to watch on Facebook and YouTube.

00:32:56.000 Only subscribers can ask the questions.

00:32:58.000 So once again, subscribe to get your questions answered by Michael Knowles, if that's something you feel is necessary.

00:33:03.000 Tomorrow at 7 p.m.

00:33:04.000 Eastern, 4 p.m.

00:33:04.000 Pacific, and join the conversation.

00:33:06.000 Also, you should subscribe.

00:33:07.000 We have so much good stuff.

00:33:08.000 Two hours live, every day, later on in the day.

00:33:11.000 And today we're going to be doing George Washington stuff and President's Day stuff.

00:33:14.000 We're going to be having on more special guests.

00:33:16.000 That's what we do here.

00:33:17.000 Plus, when you subscribe, you get our Sunday special a day early.

00:33:20.000 So you could have heard me talking with Daniel Krauthammer, the son of the late Charles Krauthammer, on Saturday instead of Sunday.

00:33:25.000 All sorts of wonderful things happening when you subscribe.

00:33:28.000 For $99 a year, you get the Leftist Tears Tumblr.

00:33:29.000 Again, remember, if you get that and then you take a picture of yourself with the Leftist Tears Tumblr, you could be featured on The Ben Shapiro Show.

00:33:36.000 So pretty awesome.

00:33:36.000 You get that with your annual subscription.

00:33:38.000 Go over to iTunes, YouTube, subscribe, leave us a review.

00:33:41.000 We always appreciate it.

00:33:42.000 it.

00:33:42.000 We are the largest, fastest growing conservative podcast and radio show in the nation.

00:33:45.000 And meanwhile, controversy continues over President Trump's border wall.

00:33:54.000 Democrats continue to fringe themselves by claiming that all walls are bad.

00:33:59.000 All they have to claim here is that President Trump's border wall is not the best expenditure of money.

00:34:04.000 All they have to do is say, like, let's put up fencing in certain areas.

00:34:06.000 We don't need a 2,000 mile border wall.

00:34:08.000 Let's strengthen security at different points of entry.

00:34:11.000 Let's let's work on a variety of other ways to shut down illegal immigration. 0.98

00:34:15.000 Instead, Democrats have decided that They think because people don't like Trump generally, because Trump is not super popular, that that means that Americans are in favor of the most radical version of the open borders argument.

00:34:26.000 This argument was presented by the venerable fresh face, so fresh, so face AOC on Instagram over the weekend.

00:34:33.000 She says that our border wall and the wall Trump wants to build, it's just like the Berlin Wall, which makes perfect sense if you smacked your head on a stoop when you were three.

00:34:41.000 No matter how you feel about the wall, you know, I think it's a moral abomination.

00:34:48.000 I think it's like the Berlin Wall. 0.98

00:34:51.000 Okay, if you think that a wall to keep people out is the same as a wall to keep people in, then that's just dumb. 1.00

00:35:00.000 That is a dumb thing. 1.00

00:35:01.000 It is a very dumb thing. 1.00

00:35:02.000 This is like saying that the wall of your house is exactly like the wall of the local penitentiary. 0.99

00:35:07.000 Except it isn't.

00:35:09.000 The wall of a local jail is precisely created to keep criminals out of general society.

00:35:15.000 The wall around your house is created to keep criminals out of your home.

00:35:19.000 One wall is created to keep people in, the other is created to keep people out.

00:35:24.000 Out.

00:35:24.000 Like, why is this difficult in any way?

00:35:26.000 I don't understand.

00:35:27.000 If we were building a wall that were forcing people to stay in America, yeah, that's like the Berlin Wall. 0.74

00:35:31.000 It turns out that people were not trying to get through the Berlin Wall from West to East Germany.

00:35:36.000 They were trying to get through the Berlin Wall from East to West Germany.

00:35:39.000 The Soviets were shooting people trying to leave East Germany.

00:35:43.000 So, when we start shooting people trying to leave America... By the way, that seems more in line with socialist thinking, right? 0.97

00:35:48.000 Socialist thinking is that if you make a lot of money in the United States, then we should grab your money, force you to stay here, and then tax the living crap out of you, and if you try to leave, we should punish you. 0.94

00:35:57.000 It's much more in line with left thinking to build walls that keep people in than with right thinking.

00:36:01.000 Walls on the right, for better or for worse, tend to be built to keep people out.

00:36:05.000 Sometimes that's really bad, sometimes it's not.

00:36:08.000 Walls on the left tend to be built to keep people in.

00:36:10.000 That is always really bad.

00:36:12.000 Invariably really bad.

00:36:14.000 In any case, the wall continues to be a hot-button issue.

00:36:16.000 The Trump administration is not making the world's strongest case for the national emergency declaration that President Trump announced last Friday.

00:36:23.000 Again, I don't think the president had to make that national emergency declaration.

00:36:26.000 I think he had the capacity under 10 U.S.C.

00:36:29.000 284 to declare that there were drug corridors existing along the U.S.-Mexico border that required the building of additional fencing.

00:36:36.000 He doesn't need to declare a national emergency to do that.

00:36:38.000 Instead, he declared a national emergency And that created a real problem for the administration because they now have to explain why this is not a wild violation of precedent.

00:36:47.000 That anytime you can't get a congressional deal on the table, you just declare a national emergency and then get the funding however you want.

00:36:53.000 This is very much akin to Barack Obama not being able to get an immigration deal and then unilaterally declaring that he was not going to enforce immigration law.

00:37:00.000 Chris Wallace made this very clear when he was interviewing Stephen Miller.

00:37:03.000 He said, like, I'm gonna need an instance of a president who declared a national emergency to redirect funding after failing to negotiate a deal with Congress.

00:37:12.000 Can you name one case where a president has asked Congress for money, Congress has refused, and the president has then invoked national powers to get the money anyway?

00:37:21.000 Well, this current situation... Yes or no, sir?

00:37:23.000 The current situation pertains specifically to the Military Construction Authority.

00:37:28.000 I'm just asking, has there been a single case where Congress asked for money for military construction, Congress said no, and he then... The meaning of the statute, Chris, is clear on its own terms.

00:37:38.000 If you don't like the statute, or members of Congress don't like the statute... Would you agree the answer is no?

00:37:42.000 There hasn't been a single case like this.

00:37:44.000 Okay, so what Miller is saying is not wrong.

00:37:46.000 I mean, there is an arguable case that you can declare a national emergency and use these various methodologies in order to spend money on the border.

00:37:53.000 That's arguable, at least.

00:37:54.000 What Wallace is saying is not arguable.

00:37:56.000 What Wallace is saying is that there is not a history of presidents failing at congressional negotiation and then simply declaring a national emergency to get the money that they want.

00:38:05.000 So this is going to continue to be a hot-button political issue.

00:38:08.000 It'll be held up in court for sure.

00:38:10.000 The chances that President Trump builds any substantial portion of the wall before his reelect effort in 2020 is extraordinarily low, especially because, as I mentioned last week, the budget that he signed itself, on its own terms, prohibits the spending of money outside of border wall in the Rio Grande Valley.

00:38:25.000 So it's a real legal conundrum for the Trump administration.

00:38:30.000 With that said, is it a political victory for the Trump administration?

00:38:33.000 Certainly it is with Trump's base.

00:38:34.000 And again, if Democrats continue to double down on all border walls or bad, that's going to be a problem for them.

00:38:39.000 And Democrats are going to continue to double down on that because Democrats running in 2020 have to run to the left.

00:38:44.000 This is why even Sherrod Brown, who's considered more moderate 2020 possible Democratic candidate, he was asked about tearing down existing wall.

00:38:52.000 And the reason he was asked about this is because Beto O'Rourke From El Paso, dude.

00:38:57.000 He was asked last week, if you don't like walls so much, why not tear down the wall between the United States and Mexico in El Paso, where you're from?

00:39:03.000 And he said, well, maybe I will.

00:39:05.000 You never know.

00:39:06.000 And then he smoked out of a really large bong.

00:39:08.000 Well, Sherrod Brown, the senator from Ohio, he was asked about this.

00:39:11.000 He says, well, I don't know.

00:39:12.000 Maybe I will.

00:39:13.000 Maybe I will.

00:39:14.000 And maybe I won't.

00:39:15.000 I don't really know.

00:39:16.000 Let's talk about it.

00:39:17.000 Do you think the existing walls and fencing along the border should come down?

00:39:21.000 I take a back seat to nobody in border security and it's clear we've learned over time that we have the technology, helicopters, border agents to make our country safe and to keep illegal crossings at a minimum without building a long wall.

00:39:39.000 That's a decision that should be made in the whole context.

00:39:42.000 You don't say, well this congressman says take it down here, this congressman says build it up there.

00:39:46.000 You really want to look Okay, that's what we call avoiding the question because he doesn't want to get on the wrong side of the AOC base.

00:39:52.000 It's not just Sherrod Brown doing this routine.

00:39:54.000 It's Kirsten Gillibrand, she of the thousand positions.

00:39:57.000 She has never taken a position on any issue and this issue is no exception.

00:40:01.000 She was asked if she could support removing barriers and here's what she had to say.

00:40:04.000 proposal from Beto O'Rourke to actually remove some of the existing wall.

00:40:08.000 He was talking about El Paso, but the idea of dismantling some of the wall, good idea, bad idea?

00:40:12.000 Well, I'd have to ask folks in that part of the country to see whether the fencing that exists today is helpful or unhelpful.

00:40:20.000 But, you know, Democrats are not afraid of national security or border security.

00:40:26.000 Democrats have funded border security for decades, so I could look at it and see which part he means and why, and if it makes sense, I could support it.

00:40:35.000 Okay, she took three positions in the space of 30 seconds right there. 0.99

00:40:38.000 It's unbelievable.

00:40:40.000 She's gifted.

00:40:40.000 I mean, I'll give her this.

00:40:41.000 It's like... Have you ever seen one of those films where there's a strobe light in the film and suddenly people are sort of flashing from one place to another?

00:40:48.000 That's basically her on positions. 0.69

00:40:49.000 She just kind of moves from position to position.

00:40:51.000 In the space of that 30 seconds, she said, we can ask the locals.

00:40:54.000 Also, we're great on border security.

00:40:56.000 Also, maybe we should take down the wall.

00:40:58.000 Kirsten Gillibrand, man.

00:40:59.000 You got to admire the absolute confidence with which she says three conflicting things in the space of 30 seconds.

00:41:07.000 But again, all Democrats are afraid of being outflanked on their left, and that is why they are embracing the Beto position that maybe, maybe we should consider tearing down existing border walls, which is just insane.

00:41:17.000 Meanwhile, On the campaign trail, every Democrat has decided to run directly to the left.

00:41:22.000 Joe Biden went to Europe over the weekend, and there he explained that America is actually an embarrassment.

00:41:27.000 Which is weird, because weren't you VP like five minutes ago, dude?

00:41:30.000 America, I see, values basic human decency.

00:41:34.000 Not snatching children from their parents, or turning our back on refugees at our border.

00:41:40.000 Americas know that's not right.

00:41:44.000 The American people understand, please, because it makes us embarrassing.

00:41:51.000 The American people know.

00:41:53.000 Overwhelmingly, that that's not right.

00:41:55.000 That's not who we are. 0.99

00:41:57.000 OK, that's not who we are is the most overused phrase in American politics, and it's really dumb. 0.93

00:42:01.000 You know who we are, who we say we are and what we do. 0.84

00:42:03.000 That's what we are.

00:42:04.000 This idea that it's not who we are.

00:42:07.000 Well, again, when you when you're ripping Vice President Biden on removal of children from their parents, let's recall under whom that started.

00:42:15.000 The president under whom you served.

00:42:17.000 But one of the nice things about being a Democrat is the media will always cover for you.

00:42:21.000 How in bed with the Democrats are the media?

00:42:23.000 They are so in bed that a CNN reporter, who's dedicated to covering Kamala Harris, was helping her try on sequined jackets at a recent campaign stop.

00:42:33.000 This was tweeted out by CBS News.

00:42:35.000 Here's what it looked like.

00:42:37.000 Oh, yeah.

00:42:37.000 That's it.

00:42:39.000 Oh, my God.

00:42:41.000 That's so weird.

00:42:49.000 Okay, so there is Kamala Harris laughing with a CNN reporter named Maeve Reston. 0.95

00:42:53.000 And Maeve Reston then tweeted out, Dear America, I will never apologize for encouraging a presidential candidate to try on a vintage rainbow sequined jacket. 0.96

00:43:00.000 And then she put in a bunch of emojis, an American flag, a woman raising her hand, a rainbow, peace, hashtag 2020.

00:43:08.000 You're not a campaign advisor or comms person for the candidate, lady! 1.00

00:43:13.000 You're a reporter for CNN!

00:43:15.000 Can you imagine any of the reporters for CNN doing something like this with Ted Cruz or Donald Trump on the campaign trail in 2016?

00:43:22.000 Mr. Cruz, would you like to try holding this AR-15 so we can get a great picture of you?

00:43:26.000 Can you imagine any of that happening?

00:43:28.000 Of course not.

00:43:29.000 Democrats are so in bed with the Democrats that they are openly doing this stuff.

00:43:33.000 Is Maeve Reston going to be removed from that job? 1.00

00:43:35.000 Of course not.

00:43:36.000 Of course she will not be.

00:43:37.000 She's an objective news reporter.

00:43:39.000 So much journalism-ing happening.

00:43:42.000 Unreal.

00:43:43.000 But we're supposed to take the media very seriously.

00:43:44.000 They have no agenda.

00:43:46.000 Facts.

00:43:47.000 That's all.

00:43:47.000 Apples, not bananas.

00:43:48.000 Facts over at CNN. 0.99

00:43:50.000 You want to know why people chant CNN sucks? 1.00

00:43:52.000 That's why people chant CNN sucks. 0.98

00:43:54.000 Meanwhile, in other media hilarity, the media are cheering on Democrats like AOC as they threw Amazon out of New York City. 0.75

00:44:02.000 A full MSNBC panel over the weekend cheering All of these 25,000 lost jobs from Amazon because look at the strength of Democrats.

00:44:10.000 They are so strong that they are actively alienating major businesses.

00:44:13.000 People are learning from, well, Amazon has come and tech has come to my hometown, the Bay Area.

00:44:18.000 It's been a great boon.

00:44:20.000 Oh, look, income inequality, right?

00:44:22.000 Oh, look, upper middle class people can't even afford houses in the Bay Area with a six figure salary.

00:44:27.000 So what's going to happen to our slick neck of the woods here in Queens where we have we need the jobs?

00:44:33.000 Yes, fine.

00:44:34.000 Twenty five thousand jobs.

00:44:35.000 What type of jobs?

00:44:36.000 Right.

00:44:37.000 And is this going to phase out Different communities, communities of color.

00:44:40.000 And I think these are the conversations, right, that people are now having.

00:44:44.000 And let's say the sheen of an Amazon or a Facebook or a Twitter.

00:44:47.000 Five, ten years ago, people were like, yes, come save us, our tech overlords from Silicon Valley.

00:44:52.000 But now people are like, wait a second, we've seen what's happened in other places.

00:44:56.000 And you have to talk to us because our interests are at stake.

00:44:59.000 Except for the fact that a vast majority of people in New York City were very much in favor of Amazon coming.

00:45:04.000 It was just a bunch of left politicians who were upset about it.

00:45:06.000 I love when they say it's really bad that tech companies are coming here because it creates income inequality.

00:45:10.000 You know what it creates?

00:45:11.000 More income.

00:45:12.000 More income.

00:45:14.000 And just because some people are not going to be working for Amazon, Does not mean that it's bad for the community when a giant job creator that generates enormous sums in taxpayer dollars and jobs and income enters your community.

00:45:27.000 But Bill de Blasio has a column over at the New York Times.

00:45:29.000 He also wants to run for president.

00:45:31.000 He has an opinion column today called, The Path Amazon Rejected, over at the New York Times.

00:45:36.000 Now, recall that Bill de Blasio was one of the people who constructed the Amazon deal in the first place.

00:45:40.000 Then when it turns out it was unpopular with his own communist face, then he was like, me?

00:45:45.000 Nope.

00:45:45.000 And then he just sort of disappeared into the bushes, backed slowly away into the bushes like Homer Simpson.

00:45:50.000 He has a piece in the New York Times today in which he says that it turns out that New York did the right thing by alienating Amazon and rejecting his deal.

00:45:57.000 He says, The first word I had that Amazon was about to scrap an agreement to bring 25,000 new jobs to New York City came an hour before it broke in the news on Thursday.

00:46:04.000 The call was brief, and there was little explanation for the company's reversal.

00:46:08.000 Just days before, I had counseled a senior Amazon executive about how they could win over some of their critics.

00:46:13.000 Meet with organized labor.

00:46:14.000 Start hiring public housing residents.

00:46:16.000 Invest in infrastructure and other community needs.

00:46:18.000 Show you care about fairness and creating opportunity for the working people of Long Island City.

00:46:23.000 There is a clear path forward.

00:46:25.000 Put simply, if you don't like a small but vocal group of New Yorkers questioning your company's intentions or integrity, prove them wrong.

00:46:30.000 Instead, Amazon proved them right.

00:46:33.000 Just two hours after a meeting with residents and community leaders to move this project forward, the company abruptly canceled it all.

00:46:39.000 So in other words, de Blasio had offered them a bevy of benefits to come to New York, And then when they came to New York, he said, I need you to also do these other things, like give away half your benefits.

00:46:48.000 I'm going to need you to build a bunch of public housing that we didn't negotiate for.

00:46:52.000 We're going to need you also to negotiate with organized labor, which Amazon will not and has not done.

00:46:57.000 We're going to need you to make all these concessions we never talked about before.

00:47:00.000 Basically, New York City thought that they were Darth Vader talking to Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back.

00:47:06.000 If the deal has changed, pray I do not change it further.

00:47:09.000 Except the difference is that in this particular scenario, the only ones with the power of the dark side are the folks at Amazon.

00:47:15.000 They get to walk away.

00:47:16.000 They don't care.

00:47:17.000 They're not going to negotiate with Bill de Blasio.

00:47:20.000 Come on! 0.61

00:47:21.000 But Bill de Blasio, he says, we did the right thing by alienating jobs.

00:47:24.000 We stood for our principles.

00:47:25.000 Well, that and five bucks will buy you an overpriced cup of coffee in New York City where people don't have jobs now because you decided to pressure a company that was attempting to move in.

00:47:35.000 Bill de Blasio says the lesson here is that corporations can't ignore rising anger over economic inequality anymore.

00:47:41.000 No, the real lesson is that if you use that anger over economic inequality to target all the job and tax producers, the tax producers and job creators are going to leave, and they're not going to locate in your place.

00:47:51.000 That's the real lesson of New York City.

00:47:53.000 But New York doesn't want to recognize that because it would undercut Bill de Blasio's entire political modus operandi.

00:48:00.000 All righty, time for some things I like and then some things that I hate.

00:48:03.000 So today is President's Day.

00:48:04.000 And a little bit later today, I'm going to be doing a full hour on the history of George Washington, utter badass.

00:48:10.000 I'm going to tell you something about George Washington.

00:48:12.000 George Washington was a stud.

00:48:14.000 And I'm going to tell you a little bit later today, you should subscribe and check it out, because I'm going to do a full hour on the history of George Washington, who, like, people...

00:48:21.000 They think of him as the guy with the wooden teeth, and he looks kind of like your grandma on the dollar bill.

00:48:25.000 George Washington was an utter and complete badass.

00:48:28.000 I mean, really.

00:48:29.000 So we'll get to that a little bit later today.

00:48:31.000 This is why you ought to subscribe.

00:48:33.000 Go check that out.

00:48:34.000 But over the weekend, I was also sitting around thinking about favorite TV scenes in history, just apropos of nothing.

00:48:40.000 And one scene popped in my head.

00:48:41.000 This is the funniest scene in the history of television.

00:48:43.000 This is from the Mary Tyler Moore show.

00:48:44.000 So the setup for this scene is that Chuckles the Clown Chuckles the Clown brought pleasure to millions.

00:48:49.000 The characters he created will be remembered by children and adults alike.

00:48:51.000 throughout the episode is making jokes about the death of Chuckles the Clown.

00:48:54.000 And Mary Tyler Moore keeps saying that it's not funny, that they should stop making jokes about the death of Chuckles the Clown.

00:49:00.000 And then she goes to Chuckles the Clown's funeral.

00:49:02.000 And here is what happens.

00:49:04.000 Chuckles the Clown brought pleasure to millions.

00:49:07.000 The characters he created will be remembered by children and adults alike.

00:49:12.000 Peter Peanut.

00:49:14.000 Mr. Fee-Five-Fo. 0.99

00:49:18.000 Present.

00:49:20.000 Billy Banana.

00:49:23.000 And my particular favorite, Aunt Yoo-Hoo.

00:49:31.000 And not just... Not just for the laughter that they provided.

00:49:38.000 There was always some deeper meaning to whatever Chuckles did.

00:49:45.000 Do you remember Mr. Fee-Five-Foe's little catchphrase?

00:49:56.000 Remember how, when his arch-rival, Señor Kaboom, hit him with a giant cucumber and knocked him down?

00:50:05.000 Mr. Fee-Fee-Fee-Fee would always pick himself up.

00:50:09.000 Dust himself off and say, "I hurt my foo-foo." So, Mary Tyler Moore was a great show, and this was the best scene from Mary Tyler Moore.

00:50:28.000 The whole scene is hysterically funny.

00:50:30.000 Also, this happened to my actual dad.

00:50:31.000 So, one time my dad went to a funeral, and, you know, will he like me telling this story?

00:50:37.000 I'll tell it anyway.

00:50:37.000 In any case, my dad went to a funeral.

00:50:39.000 This must have been 25 years ago, and it was for a relative, and it turns out that this, it was an old lady, and her son had been stealing her social security checks.

00:50:48.000 He'd been taking her social security checks from her mailbox and going and cashing them.

00:50:52.000 So she and her son, needless to say, did not have a good relationship.

00:50:54.000 Well, the person, as so often happens with funerals, who was giving the peroration over the body of the deceased, was a person who had not known the person who died.

00:51:02.000 This happens at a lot of funerals.

00:51:03.000 You'll have the rabbi or the priest get up, the pastor, And they just got a little bit of background from the family before they got up and they gave a speech, which I never understand.

00:51:12.000 It makes no sense to me.

00:51:12.000 You should only have family do these things.

00:51:14.000 Anyway, the person who got up and was making the speech was talking about the relationship between the mother and her son, who had been stealing her social security checks.

00:51:23.000 And everything that the person giving the eulogy said Was just vague enough that it could be taken in a couple of ways.

00:51:31.000 He would say something like, you know, Fanny and her son, their relationship was indescribable.

00:51:38.000 It was unbelievable.

00:51:40.000 If someone told you about it, you simply wouldn't understand it.

00:51:43.000 And my dad, about halfway through the funeral, just started losing it.

00:51:46.000 He just started cracking up.

00:51:47.000 And then his brother-in-law, who was there, they both started cracking up.

00:51:51.000 And so my dad put his head down in his hands while he was laughing so hard he was crying, and my mom put her arm around his shoulder as though my dad was actually crying over the whole thing.

00:52:00.000 So, if you've ever been to a funeral, I mean, That scene is great because there are a number of funerals you will go to in your life where the urge, it's so awkward and it's so horrible, the urge to laugh at a funeral is a very real thing.

00:52:12.000 Okay, time for some things that I hate.

00:52:17.000 So over the weekend, President Trump got mad at SNL again.

00:52:19.000 Like, I don't know why he bothers to get mad at SNL.

00:52:22.000 SNL has not been funny for legitimately years.

00:52:25.000 The last time it was funny, I was in my teens.

00:52:27.000 And yet, President Trump, it seems like every Saturday night, he gets mad at Saturday Night Live.

00:52:31.000 I don't know the purpose of this.

00:52:33.000 So he tweeted out, Nothing funny about tired Saturday Night Live on fake news NBC.

00:52:38.000 Question is, how do the networks get away with these total Republican hit jobs without retribution?

00:52:43.000 Likewise for many other shows.

00:52:44.000 Very unfair and should be looked into.

00:52:46.000 This is the real Collusion.

00:52:48.000 Capital C. Mr. President.

00:52:53.000 No, just don't.

00:52:55.000 Just don't.

00:52:55.000 Like, what is the point of this?

00:52:58.000 Now everybody's going to claim that you're trying to say that there should be retribution against SNL and that the media should be targeted.

00:53:04.000 Listen, people despise the media enough as it is.

00:53:06.000 They understand how bad the media are at their jobs.

00:53:08.000 I spent this entire episode basically ripping on the insanity and gaslighting of the national news media.

00:53:15.000 You don't have to do it, Mr. President.

00:53:16.000 Like, if you're going to target them over something, make it not SNL.

00:53:19.000 Like, honestly, it's just, it's a silly thing to do, and there's no purpose to it.

00:53:23.000 Now, other things that I hate over the weekend.

00:53:24.000 Bill Maher, who on occasion is right, but when it comes to a great many issues, is wildly wrong.

00:53:31.000 On his show, he was talking about Ilhan Omar, another one of the fresh faces of the Democratic Party.

00:53:35.000 So fresh, so face.

00:53:36.000 He says, I don't see any reason why we should see Ilhan Omar as anti-Semitic.

00:53:40.000 I mean, like, aside from her giant history of being an anti-Semite. 1.00

00:53:45.000 A new Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, she is Muslim, one of the first two I think we have in Congress, and she's apologizing, she's under a lot of fire because she was talking about the Jewish lobby, AIPAC, and she said it's all about the Benjamins.

00:53:59.000 Now, I probably don't agree with her a lot about what she feels about Israel and Palestine, but I don't know why this has to be seen as anti-Semitic.

00:54:06.000 Now, she may be anti-Semitic, but if I criticize Saudi Arabia, that doesn't mean I'm Islamophobe.

00:54:13.000 Okay, nobody suggests that just because she criticizes Israel, she's anti-semitic.

00:54:17.000 She stands against its existence.

00:54:19.000 She stands against its existence, and she suggested openly that Jewish money is behind the American support for Israel.

00:54:27.000 We went through this last week at length.

00:54:31.000 Listen, I think Bill Maher is quite good on a great many issues.

00:54:35.000 There are a lot of issues on which we disagree, and I've been on his show, and it was quite cordial, it was quite nice.

00:54:39.000 But the lengths to which people seem to be willing to go to pretend that Ilhan Omar is not a longtime anti-Semite, are in stark contrast to the same people, the same exact people suggesting that Trump supporters broad writ are a bunch of racists. 0.98

00:54:53.000 The evidence that Trump supporters are racist is significantly less than the evidence that Ilhan Omar is a raging anti-Semite, and that is obvious to anyone with half of a brain.

00:55:01.000 Alrighty, well we will be back here a little bit later today with two additional hours, including my full breakdown on George Washington. 0.91

00:55:05.000 We're gonna tell the story of George Washington a little bit later today, so be there or be square.

00:55:09.000 I'm Ben Shapiro, this is The Ben Shapiro Show.

00:55:15.000 The Ben Shapiro Show is produced by Senya Villareal, executive producer Jeremy Boring, senior producer Jonathan Hay.

00:55:21.000 Our supervising producer is Mathis Glover, and our technical producer is Austin Stevens, edited by Adam Sajovic.

00:55:27.000 Audio is mixed by Mike Karamina.

00:55:28.000 Hair and makeup is by Jesua Olvera, production assistant Nick Sheehan.

00:55:31.000 The Ben Shapiro Show is a Daily Wire production.

The Ben Shapiro Show - February 18, 2019

Why We Buy Hoaxes | Ep. 719

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript