The Matt Walsh Show - Daily Wire Backstage Live at CPAC： The Fight, The Wins, The Future

00:00:00.000 Hey everybody, this is Matt Walsh. Drop everything you're doing and check out the latest episode of

00:00:03.720 Daily Wire backstage. You're going to hear Jeremy Boring, Ben Shapiro, Andrew Klavan,

00:00:07.540 Michael Knowles, and yours truly talking about all the important issues affecting you and your

00:00:11.000 family. You don't want to miss it unless you're a leftist, in which case you're canceled.

00:00:30.000 Well folks, you know, I'm not famous for being a particularly optimistic sort. If you've ever

00:00:41.420 listened to my show, let's say morosity, depression, that may be a feeling that's come over you once

00:00:46.340 in a while listening to my show where I describe what's going on in the country. But I can safely

00:00:51.360 say I've never felt more optimistic about the United States than I do right now. And that is thanks to

00:00:59.480 President Donald J. Trump. And one of the things that's sort of mysterious about President Trump

00:01:05.320 is the fact that he isn't really an ideological conservative. Now people like me, I grew up in

00:01:10.620 the movement. I grew up reading Thomas Sowell and Frederick Hayek and reading Russell Kirk. I don't

00:01:16.380 think President Trump has ever sat around reading those people. I don't think he sits around at night

00:01:20.780 and browses Edmund Burke or anything. And so the question is, why is it that this man, who's not

00:01:25.900 truly an ideological conservative, is the most successful conservative president of my lifetime,

00:01:30.960 bar none? It's a real question. And I think to understand that, the thing that we need to

00:01:36.020 understand about President Trump is that more than anything else, more than anything else, and in this

00:01:40.920 era, needed more than anything else, President Trump lives in the world of reality. President Trump

00:01:48.040 has been slandered by the media as somebody who creates fictions of his own and sort of lives

00:01:53.720 within those fictions. It says a lot of words that don't always match up with the truth and all

00:01:58.740 that kind of stuff. The reality is that President Trump, in his gut, lives in the real world. Which

00:02:05.300 is why President Trump wins so often. Because if you are going to win, you have to acknowledge reality.

00:02:09.780 Because reality always wins. And this is what makes President Trump conservative. Conservatism lines

00:02:15.720 up really, really well with reality. The reason that President Trump won the last election cycle is

00:02:22.880 because the Democratic Party, the left, completely disconnected themselves from reality. Completely

00:02:28.100 disconnected themselves from reality in every possible way. They ran screaming with their hair

00:02:33.060 on fire, their blue hair on fire, away from reality. President Trump embraces reality with both arms.

00:02:40.900 When it comes to the world of economics, for example, President Trump only cares about success. He cares about

00:02:47.460 economic dynamism. He cares about American businesses being able to build and succeed. And he understands

00:02:52.880 that in order for all those things to happen, you have to free American business from the shackle of

00:02:57.400 regulation and government. You have to allow businesses to innovate. You have to allow people to rise and fall

00:03:03.940 on their own merit. Meritocracy has to be valued more than, say, identity politics and DEI. President Trump

00:03:09.760 knows that in his guts because he's a business person. President Trump has had to make payroll. Unlike literally

00:03:15.460 every leader of the Democratic Party over the course of my lifetime, he is not a career politician, which means he's

00:03:20.460 always been answerable to reality. And that means that when he unleashes another businessman, Elon Musk, inside the

00:03:25.460 government and says, go in there with a meat ax and start taking out programs, that is what a businessman would do.

00:03:32.460 If you came into a business as a business person and it was rife with waste, fraud and abuse, you wouldn't sit around and run a

00:03:38.460 commission on it, you would start firing people. You would go in and you start making changes. You start breaking

00:03:44.460 things and moving quickly. And President Trump is doing precisely that. You can see business optimism in the country is

00:03:50.460 skyrocketing specifically because of that. Meanwhile, the Democrats don't know what to do because they're cherished.

00:03:55.460 Blue pipeline, which is what the federal government is. It is a permanent payment program for the left, the federal

00:04:01.460 government. They have permanent institutions that exist outside the government. They take literally trillions of your taxpayer dollars,

00:04:07.460 and then they funnel all that money out to their political allies inside and outside the government.

00:04:12.460 And Donald Trump came in and he broke the pipeline. Why? Because he lives in the world of reality.

00:04:17.460 When we're talking about foreign policy, President Trump lives in the world of reality.

00:04:22.460 When President Trump looks at the situation in Ukraine, he doesn't say, well, you know what?

00:04:27.460 We're not going to set an end point. We're not really going to set a goal. We're just going to wing it.

00:04:31.460 We're just going to go along with this for years. He says, listen, here's the reality.

00:04:34.460 The reality is that there is a grinding trench warfare situation in Ukraine.

00:04:39.460 There is very little shot that Ukraine is going to be able to win back to Onbas and Crimea.

00:04:43.460 And we don't want Ukraine to actually fall to the Russians.

00:04:46.460 And so we know what an off ramp looks like. Now it's just a question of how do we get to that off ramp.

00:04:50.460 That is what a practical person does. That is a person who lives in reality.

00:04:54.460 That's not a person who wants to speak airy fairy nonsense and nostrums about democracy and tyranny.

00:05:00.460 All that stuff sounds nice, but does it get the job done is the question that President Trump is always asking.

00:05:05.460 Does it get the job done?

00:05:07.460 When it comes to the Middle East, President Trump has completely broken the mold.

00:05:11.460 The sort of ancient wisdom of the State Department, which has been wrong for 80 years in the Middle East,

00:05:16.460 is that the only way that you actually achieve peace in the Middle East is to make the Palestinian issue front and center.

00:05:21.460 President Trump in his first term totally turned that on his head.

00:05:24.460 He ignored it and peace broke out in the Middle East.

00:05:26.460 President Trump has now thrown onto the table a solution with regard to the Gaza Strip that is breaking people's brains

00:05:32.460 and also happens to be the only plausible solution anyone has proposed in about a century in this particular area.

00:05:38.460 Because it turns out that when you have a population group that literally held today a celebration of dead babies in the Gaza Strip,

00:05:46.460 babies they had murdered in the Gaza Strip, it turns out that a two-state solution in which one of those states is actually run by those people is a really bad idea.

00:05:54.460 And President Trump knows that and he says it because he lives in the world of reality.

00:05:59.460 And this is how you chalk up victories.

00:06:01.460 When it comes to China, President Trump is a realist.

00:06:03.460 He understands that China is globally an opponent of the United States and that we need to stand up to Chinese predations,

00:06:10.460 stealing our IP, buying American land, funneling fentanyl precursors through Mexico.

00:06:15.460 He understands on immigration that a realistic nation cannot have an open border.

00:06:19.460 You cannot have a welfare state and an open border and pretend that that's workable.

00:06:23.460 President Trump understands that.

00:06:24.460 Now, all of this sounds commonsensical to all of us, right?

00:06:27.460 Because it is commonsensical.

00:06:28.460 But in Washington, D.C., commonsensical is not the way things have been run.

00:06:33.460 Instead, people have been so wedded not to victory, not to winning, not to achieving things,

00:06:40.460 but to saying things properly in just the right way to get the right coverage in the New York Times or in the Wall Street Journal

00:06:46.460 or in whatever media outlet they are pandering to that they never actually think about what wins and what loses.

00:06:51.460 And then there's the matter of the reality of our daily lives.

00:06:55.460 President Trump understands that what most Americans want is not identity politics.

00:07:00.460 What most Americans want is not some bizarre notion about androgyny where men can be women and women can be men

00:07:07.460 and that we are sort of free-floating sets of feelings existing within the meat suits that we wear around.

00:07:12.460 President Trump understands basic things that the left has completely abandoned

00:07:16.460 and that he was willing to say.

00:07:18.460 Stuff that was uncontroversial, you know, five minutes ago.

00:07:21.460 Like, boys are not girls.

00:07:23.460 These are controversial statements to make.

00:07:25.460 But President Trump understands that that actually has some pretty deep ramifications

00:07:29.460 when you say things like boys are not girls.

00:07:31.460 Such as, perhaps men have a role to play that is different from women's role.

00:07:37.460 That does not mean that women shouldn't be in the workplace, obviously.

00:07:40.460 And it doesn't mean that men shouldn't help take care of the kids.

00:07:42.460 But it does mean that men being masculine is a good thing.

00:07:45.460 And it means that women being wives and mothers is a good thing, too.

00:07:48.460 And that no country that ignores these basic truths can survive and grow and thrive.

00:07:54.460 President Trump acknowledges and knows that the things that most Americans want,

00:07:59.460 whether they are Hispanics living down on the border of Texas

00:08:02.460 or whether they're white Americans living up on the border of Canada,

00:08:05.460 those things are basically the same.

00:08:07.460 They want to be able to live in safety, free of crime, with prosperity,

00:08:11.460 being able to hold down a job in a growing, innovative, dynamic economy.

00:08:15.460 They want to be able to go to their church and worship God

00:08:18.460 and share that with their community without the government getting in their way.

00:08:22.460 These are all things that, again, sound so easy.

00:08:24.460 They sound so easy.

00:08:25.460 But the way that President Trump measures whether a thing is true or not

00:08:30.460 is whether it works.

00:08:31.460 And that is why he has been so unbelievably successful.

00:08:34.460 Now, when it comes to us, what can we do?

00:08:37.460 This does say something to the rest of us.

00:08:39.460 I talk for a living, which is a really fun way to make a living.

00:08:43.460 But the reality is that people come to me all the time and say,

00:08:46.460 how do I make a difference in politics?

00:08:47.460 And obviously there are things that we all can do.

00:08:49.460 I spent the last election cycle campaigning with a variety of Senate candidates

00:08:52.460 and with President Trump.

00:08:53.460 I went out and I did things.

00:08:55.460 But the things that most of us can do, aside from all the normal political fighting

00:08:59.460 that Steve was talking about earlier, which is really important,

00:09:01.460 the thing that is most important is to live a reality-based life,

00:09:05.460 to be a model to our children, to be a model to our community,

00:09:09.460 to build the social fabric that actually makes this country work,

00:09:13.460 to create the businesses that make the country function,

00:09:16.460 to engage in everyday common virtue.

00:09:19.460 Because the truth is the country is not just built by President Trump.

00:09:22.460 We love President Trump.

00:09:23.460 He's doing an amazing job.

00:09:24.460 He should continue to be healthy and well

00:09:26.460 and continue to succeed day in and day out.

00:09:28.460 We're all praying for him.

00:09:30.460 But the country also runs because of the people who are doing the everyday things,

00:09:34.460 whose names we don't know.

00:09:36.460 You, people I know,

00:09:38.460 all the people out there who are just living with their families

00:09:41.460 and bringing up their kids in the correct fashion

00:09:44.460 in a country that is growing and thriving,

00:09:46.460 building those building blocks,

00:09:48.460 taking those building blocks and actually

00:09:51.460 day-to-day level.

00:09:52.460 President Trump is clearing the field for you.

00:09:54.460 He's clearing the field for me.

00:09:55.460 The Republicans, I hope, are going to do that.

00:09:57.460 But then it's our job to actually build.

00:09:59.460 And that's what we should be focused on,

00:10:01.460 not just on politics over the next four years

00:10:03.460 or eight years or 20 years.

00:10:05.460 We should be focused on the building

00:10:07.460 because that project, that's the project that never ends.

00:10:09.460 The political fight will always be there.

00:10:11.460 There's no such thing as permanent victory.

00:10:13.460 There will be losses in the future.

00:10:15.460 But the one thing that we can do every single day is continue to build.

00:10:19.460 And thank God, President Trump, the reason I'm optimistic,

00:10:21.460 President Trump has brought us back to a world of reality

00:10:23.460 where that building is possible and we should all build together.

00:10:25.460 Thank you so much.

00:10:27.460 And now,

00:10:29.460 thank you, I appreciate it.

00:10:33.460 I want to take the opportunity to welcome out my buddies from The Daily Wire for an episode of Backstage Live.

00:10:43.460 How are you, sir?

00:11:01.460 I'm certain you did that wrong.

00:11:03.460 Hey, what's going on, guys?

00:11:13.460 No, I shouldn't.

00:11:15.460 No one should clap for Michael.

00:11:17.460 No.

00:11:19.460 Well, you're a man, so that makes sense.

00:11:23.460 I know we can drink this delicious 45-47 whiskey.

00:11:27.460 Can we smoke the Mayflower Cigars, too, or is that...

00:11:31.460 Are we...

00:11:33.460 Washington, D.C. is a little...

00:11:35.460 What's the worst thing that could happen?

00:11:37.460 Yeah.

00:11:39.460 Welcome to CPAC and Backstage Live.

00:11:43.460 You'll have the whole bottle.

00:11:45.460 Yeah.

00:11:47.460 Thank you.

00:11:48.460 This is a show that we do once a month at The Daily Wire.

00:11:52.460 In fact, we're going to do it again on March 4th for the President's Joint Session of Congress,

00:11:56.460 where we get the whole team together and we talk about what's on our mind.

00:12:00.460 And so this will be a little bit different than the other panels that have happened throughout the day,

00:12:04.460 because we have to do ad reads.

00:12:06.460 It's okay.

00:12:08.460 It's how we buy the plane tickets to get out here.

00:12:11.460 What I want to talk about, though, first, right out of the gate,

00:12:14.460 today is 30 days of Donald Trump into his second term.

00:12:17.460 Which means even if you don't like Donald Trump, you're 30 days closer to being the end of Donald Trump.

00:12:27.460 That's true. The Democrats must be thrilled. I don't know. I don't know if they are.

00:12:29.460 I want to talk about all the amazing things that have happened in this first 30 days.

00:12:33.460 One of the most dynamic and energetic beginnings of any presidency, certainly in my lifetime.

00:12:39.460 And since we've got all of our pals here at CPAC, let's just talk about how great it's been.

00:12:43.460 Michael.

00:12:44.460 My favorite thing. This is very difficult.

00:12:47.460 Because I loved when President Trump, Napoleon posted on Twitter and through social.

00:12:53.460 You would.

00:12:54.460 I thought that was great.

00:12:55.460 I loved that. I loved when J.D. Vance gave lectures on to mystic philosophy to that CBS news lady on television.

00:13:01.460 That was great.

00:13:02.460 But my favorite thing, I think, my actual favorite initiative for the first 30 days has got to be the presidential pardons.

00:13:09.460 I loved, I felt politically it was very important for the J6 pardons to go through.

00:13:16.460 But my favorite pardons, though, my absolute favorite, the pro-lifers who were unjustly imprisoned by Joe Biden and the Democrats.

00:13:25.460 They are American heroes. I ran into one of them outside, John Hinshaw. He might be in this room right now.

00:13:31.460 These are American heroes. These are deeply virtuous people.

00:13:34.460 They were trampled on by their government, and Donald Trump rectified a major, major wrong.

00:13:39.460 He deserves a lot of credit for it.

00:13:42.460 You know, if I were to say my favorite thing from Trump's term, well, number two, I'll get to number one, but number two.

00:13:50.460 You only get one.

00:13:51.460 Number five.

00:13:52.460 My runner-up is Trump talking about, at least talking about, potentially taking back control of the Panama Canal.

00:14:01.460 That's a little bit of a deep cut, but I think that's an important thing.

00:14:04.460 And Greenland, too.

00:14:05.460 Maybe we're taking Canada.

00:14:06.460 We'll see.

00:14:07.460 We've got to get rid of the Canadian.

00:14:09.460 Move the Canadians somewhere else, because we don't want the Canadians, but we want Canada.

00:14:12.460 We want the land.

00:14:13.460 Not so much the people on it.

00:14:16.460 We'll move them to reservations up in the Arctic, and they'll be quite happy.

00:14:22.460 But my actual favorite thing is what I think is the end, basically the end, of the trans agenda of gender ideology in this country.

00:14:35.460 You know, this is, the fight continues because the people that advocate for this butchery and this insanity aren't just going to go away.

00:14:43.460 They're going to find a way to continue victimizing kids, and so the fight will continue in that way.

00:14:50.460 But look, we've got, with Donald Trump, in just a few weeks, we have banning men from women's sports.

00:14:55.460 We have putting an end to child castration in the hospitals, defining sex as man and woman.

00:15:03.460 And I think that the legal stuff is really important, but just the bully pulpit.

00:15:06.460 Having a person in a position of authority who's willing to say the obvious thing, which is that men are men and women are women.

00:15:13.460 Which, by the way, is something that everyone has always known.

00:15:16.460 Every single person in the world has always known that.

00:15:19.460 But for a period of time, a lot of people were afraid to say what they knew to be true.

00:15:26.460 Thanks to Donald Trump.

00:15:28.460 Thanks to a lot of people that have been in the fight.

00:15:31.460 But what they needed was someone in a position of a power like Donald Trump to say this obvious, true thing.

00:15:38.460 And so I think it's the beginning of the end of gender ideology in this country.

00:15:44.460 Andrew Klavan, you have opinions?

00:15:46.460 Yeah, by far my favorite thing about the Trump administration has been the absolute decimation and destruction of the mainstream media.

00:15:54.460 I mean, it has been like that scene in Game of Thrones where the woman has to walk naked through the streets while people shout shame and throw rotten vegetables at her.

00:16:07.460 Except it's been better because it's been the mainstream media walking naked through the streets.

00:16:11.460 And they've just been reduced.

00:16:13.460 And I knew this, the moment...

00:16:14.460 No one wants to see that, Drew.

00:16:16.460 The moment the results of the election came in, this kind of blanket of peace passed over me because I realized what had happened.

00:16:24.460 That we'd beaten them.

00:16:26.460 And that was death, Drew.

00:16:27.460 Yeah, that may be death, yeah.

00:16:29.460 It couldn't have happened without Trump.

00:16:30.460 It couldn't have happened without Trump.

00:16:32.460 But it couldn't have happened without us, too, and all the Joe Rogans and all the podcasters and all the small media that grew up suddenly and exposed them for what they were.

00:16:42.460 And the benefits, the side benefits of this is it has put a little tiny bit of steel in the Republican Party.

00:16:50.460 These guys, you know, this place that we're in right now is surrounded by media like this glass, this steel bubble, I should call it.

00:16:59.460 And they think when the New York Times says something, it's the people talking.

00:17:03.460 They think, oh my gosh, it's in the New York Times, my career will be destroyed.

00:17:07.460 And now they realize it's in the New York Times, a bird is going to crap on it, and no one's going to remember what anybody said.

00:17:14.460 So far, I've enjoyed this panel very much because we're living up to our sort of reputation at The Daily Wire.

00:17:21.460 Your favorite thing about Trump is us.

00:17:24.460 And your favorite thing about Trump is your movie.

00:17:27.460 Yeah.

00:17:28.460 And Michael's just here for the booze.

00:17:30.460 That's true.

00:17:31.460 And the cigars.

00:17:32.460 And the Mayflower cigars.

00:17:33.460 Delicious Mayflower cigars.

00:17:34.460 Ben, the best thing about the first 30?

00:17:35.460 Well, so by far the best thing that has happened during the first 30 days was that exchange that he had with the Afghan lady reporter.

00:17:42.460 Oh.

00:17:43.460 Which is one of the great moments in all of media history.

00:17:45.460 And if you haven't seen it, folks, you absolutely should Google it because it is legitimately one of the funniest things that has ever happened in the history of the media.

00:17:52.460 There's a reporter from Afghanistan who asked President Trump a question in a very thick accent, and he had no idea what she was saying.

00:18:00.460 And he said, your voice, it's so beautiful, so melodious, I don't understand a word you're saying.

00:18:05.460 God bless and live long, live in peace.

00:18:08.460 And he's like, wow, he went like full Spock at the end.

00:18:11.460 Like, it was great.

00:18:12.460 So that was great, just as a moment.

00:18:14.460 And there have been many such wonderful moments, including, I don't care, Margaret, right, from the Vice President.

00:18:19.460 And there are a bunch of great memeable moments.

00:18:22.460 And of course, Elon is a walking meme, as you've seen.

00:18:25.460 But in terms of actual policy, I think the most important thing that President Trump has done is he's actually, he has exposed the reality, which is that the amount of power that has aggregated in the executive branch over the course of time is extraordinary.

00:18:40.460 And it is at the behest of the President of the United States.

00:18:43.460 So for two reasons, this is really important.

00:18:45.460 One, because the Democratic Party established over the course of the last hundred odd years, really since Woodrow Wilson, that the executive branch was going to be the predominant branch of American government.

00:18:54.460 And all power was going to be centralized in it, spending power, regulatory power, all of it.

00:18:59.460 And then they basically said, and Republicans can't touch it.

00:19:01.460 When we run it, we'll run it.

00:19:03.460 And we'll put permanent employees in place so that when you run it, you don't run it.

00:19:06.460 And President Trump came in and he said, no, no, no.

00:19:09.460 You've given all this power to the executive branch.

00:19:11.460 Guess what?

00:19:12.460 Guess who's the president now?

00:19:13.460 It's me.

00:19:14.460 And long live the king.

00:19:16.460 And he literally put out an executive order saying, like yesterday, all of you people work for me.

00:19:22.460 And here's your reminder.

00:19:23.460 The executive branch is a branch of government.

00:19:26.460 There is no fourth branch of government that is an unelected bureaucracy.

00:19:29.460 And thus, you work for my agenda.

00:19:32.460 And this is great for a couple of reasons.

00:19:34.460 One, because it means that he's going to be actually able to clean out so much of the rod inside these institutions.

00:19:39.460 And that's what DOGE is in large part.

00:19:41.460 But second, I think it sets up the predicate for if there is going to be a useful constitutional fight, which I kind of like, then let that fight be about the prerogatives of Congress.

00:19:51.460 Let Congress try to actually go back to the original structure in a fair way.

00:19:54.460 Because for too long, Republicans have been playing by the markets of Queensbury rules on this stuff.

00:19:58.460 Or as I say, the rules apply when Republicans are in power.

00:20:01.460 And then they stop applying the minute a Democrat is in power.

00:20:03.460 And President Trump, as I said before, he lives in reality.

00:20:06.460 And for President Trump, there's no set of rules where there are two sets of rules, right?

00:20:11.460 There's either one set for everybody or there ain't no rules.

00:20:14.460 And he says there's one set of rules for everybody.

00:20:16.460 I'm the president.

00:20:17.460 And now all you people work for me or you're fired, which is just wonderful.

00:20:23.460 I have to say my favorite thing about the presidency so far is just the sheer chaotic disruption that Donald Trump represents.

00:20:31.460 He, you know, everything from saying, you know, that he's going to build Trumpistan in the Middle East.

00:20:36.460 Mara Gaza, Mara Gaza.

00:20:38.460 Mara Gaza, yeah.

00:20:39.460 Gazelago.

00:20:40.460 Gazelago.

00:20:41.460 It's a work in progress.

00:20:43.460 I love it because what it says is the way you guys have been thinking about this for the entire lifetime of every person involved in international politics is wrong.

00:20:52.460 And it's not even necessarily that I agree with every single one of Trump's disruptions.

00:20:56.460 It's that I agree with the idea of the disruption itself that Trump represents.

00:21:00.460 Because only through disruption do you shake things up from the status quo and create the actual opportunity for change.

00:21:06.460 And I think, I actually think President Trump sort of understands this.

00:21:08.460 I think he wields it.

00:21:09.460 I think half of the things that Donald Trump says he doesn't exactly mean.

00:21:13.460 But what he understands is that in the act of saying it, he breaks everyone out of their comfort zone and creates the opportunity for actual meaningful change.

00:21:21.460 And that's an enormous skill.

00:21:23.460 It's something that he's been doing in his business life for all of living memory.

00:21:27.460 Donald Trump's very old.

00:21:29.460 Not as old as Andrew Clayton.

00:21:30.460 But he's not a young man.

00:21:31.460 But he's not a young man.

00:21:32.460 And he's very successfully done this.

00:21:34.460 He keeps people from being able to get to complacency.

00:21:36.460 Keeps people from believing that just because something has been the way means that it must continue to be the way.

00:21:42.460 And you see it particularly I think in places like Doge.

00:21:44.460 I think Elon Musk is the greatest living American.

00:21:47.460 I think that he is, we should clap for Elon Musk.

00:21:51.460 He's probably still here.

00:21:52.460 He's probably still here and any one of us at any moment could be the recipient of one of his children.

00:22:00.460 It's a really important thing to say on Elon's good side.

00:22:05.460 I think Elon is the greatest living American.

00:22:08.460 I think that Elon is one of the only people in the world actively trying to build a future.

00:22:13.460 I think that for too long the left has been the only ideological movement in the country who believes that there will be a future.

00:22:20.460 And the future that they believe in is one that does not include us.

00:22:23.460 And for too long people on the right have sort of given up on the idea of a future.

00:22:27.460 We've become a little bit blackpilled, a little bit nihilistic, a little bit conspiratorial and afraid that tomorrow must be worse than today.

00:22:35.460 And must, which is worse than yesterday.

00:22:36.460 Elon doesn't subscribe to that at all.

00:22:38.460 He not only believes that America's best days are ahead of it.

00:22:41.460 He's actively working to make that happen.

00:22:43.460 And that is what you want in the government.

00:22:45.460 We are going to take questions and I believe that the place where we're going to take questions is over in this.

00:22:58.460 They told me it's down there, but I don't know where down there means.

00:23:01.460 But we're going to spend a lot of our time interacting with you guys because you bought the tickets.

00:23:04.460 And we get to hear from each other, you know, all day, every day.

00:23:08.460 I could have told you all of their answers.

00:23:10.460 I know what they wanted in the green room.

00:23:12.460 Only green M&Ms for Ben.

00:23:14.460 Classic.

00:23:15.460 All the other M&Ms for Michael.

00:23:16.460 He's not very discriminating.

00:23:17.460 No.

00:23:18.460 We're going to take a lot of questions from you.

00:23:20.460 But first, Ben Shapiro.

00:23:22.460 Well, folks, let's talk about how you stay healthy.

00:23:26.460 OK, because let's be real about this.

00:23:28.460 You need to stay healthy.

00:23:30.460 And if you wish to stay healthy, balance of nature, fruits and veggies will make it happen for you.

00:23:36.460 There's never been a more convenient dietary supplement to ensure you get a wide variety of fruits and veggies daily.

00:23:42.460 Imagine trying to eat 31 different fruits and veggies every day.

00:23:44.460 That sounds horrible.

00:23:45.460 It sounds like torture.

00:23:46.460 It sounds like a year in jail with Nancy Pelosi.

00:23:48.460 Well, balance of nature takes fruits and veggies.

00:23:51.460 They freeze dry them.

00:23:52.460 They turn them into a powder and then they put them into a capsule.

00:23:55.460 And let me tell you, I can pop those directly into the protein smoothie.

00:23:58.460 And that keeps me looking like a Greek god.

00:24:00.460 I know it doesn't look like that from the outside.

00:24:02.460 But I can promise you that I am absolutely jacked.

00:24:05.460 Well, believe me or don't believe me, that's your choice.

00:24:08.460 But you should believe me when I say that you should take balance of nature fruits and veggies every day and your body will do the rest.

00:24:13.460 Head on over to balanceofnature.com.

00:24:15.460 Use promo code BACKSTAGE for 35% off your first order as a preferred customer.

00:24:19.460 Plus, get a free bottle of fiber and spice.

00:24:21.460 That's balanceofnature.com.

00:24:23.460 Promo code BACKSTAGE.

00:24:25.460 And thank you for helping pay our bills and everything.

00:24:28.460 Can I say, Ben, those were the most powerful remarks ever delivered on this page.

00:24:33.460 Wow.

00:24:34.460 The balance of nature.

00:24:35.460 I thought it was really compelling.

00:24:36.460 Hey, you were sitting next to the man who called for the eradication of transgenderism from our national polity on stage right now.

00:24:41.460 Well, second.

00:24:42.460 Okay, it was second.

00:24:43.460 Now eradicate ill health from your body or ever.

00:24:46.460 Balance of nature.

00:24:47.460 It's balance of nature.

00:24:48.460 Absolutely.

00:24:49.460 Good.

00:24:50.460 So, one of the things that we like to do on backstage is move beyond just politics and talk about culture, talk about religion, talk about the things that make our life meaningful.

00:25:00.460 One of the things that's been on my mind a lot in this really triumphant moment in the last 30 days.

00:25:04.460 Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.

00:25:06.460 How did you know?

00:25:07.460 Who are they?

00:25:08.460 One of the things that's really on my mind is that when you are in these triumphant political moments, it can seem suddenly like your life is going to be good because we're winning in the very important but somewhat abstract realm of politics.

00:25:24.460 But the truth is, your life may continue to be quite bad.

00:25:27.460 I was going to pick her up right here.

00:25:29.460 Listen, I'm good at my job.

00:25:30.460 Everybody's in a good mood and Jeremy's like, and then you'll die.

00:25:32.460 And then you'll die.

00:25:33.460 And at the same time, your life may have been very good these last four years while Joe Biden was president, even though things in our national politics were going quite poorly.

00:25:41.460 And so, I think it's important in these moments to reflect on what are the actual things we can do in our own lives to ensure that we're living lives that are honoring to God, productive for our family, productive for our country.

00:25:54.460 It can't just be that we're watching news on television.

00:25:57.460 It can't even just be that we're actively engaged in politics and being somewhat activists.

00:26:03.460 How are we to live our lives in light of the moment in which we live?

00:26:06.460 You know, there's a big debate that's been on the right and it's become more emphasized in recent years.

00:26:11.460 And it's actually a very old debate between the classical understanding of freedom and the more modern understanding of freedom.

00:26:18.460 And the way that it's usually summarized is by Lord Acton, who says that freedom is not the ability to do what we wish, but the right to do what we ought.

00:26:26.460 And I certainly subscribe to that view of things.

00:26:28.460 But what that means is exactly what Jeremy was just saying, which is that the ways in which our freedoms have been restricted in recent years by Joe Biden, certainly, and by many liberals, is that he denied us the right to do what we ought to do.

00:26:43.460 He said if you go to your church, you're going to be spied on by the FBI.

00:26:47.460 He said that if you run a Catholic hospital, we're going to sue you, even if you're nuns.

00:26:50.460 He said if you go pray peacefully in front of a Planned Parenthood abortion mill, we're going to throw you in prison.

00:26:57.460 He was denying you the right to do what you ought to do.

00:27:00.460 You see this in the attacks on marriage, the attacks on education, the attacks on children.

00:27:04.460 We could be here all night listing these attacks on what we have a right to do.

00:27:09.460 Now we have the right to do those things.

00:27:11.460 President Trump has passed a number of executive orders that have really taken the government out of the business of oppressing Christians and families and kids and all the like.

00:27:21.460 But that means that now we have to go to church.

00:27:24.460 That means we have to form our families.

00:27:26.460 That means we have to educate our kids.

00:27:28.460 You know, now we do have the right to do those things.

00:27:31.460 We do have our freedom back.

00:27:33.460 But that freedom doesn't mean anything.

00:27:35.460 It's kind of like with free speech.

00:27:37.460 Free speech doesn't mean anything if you don't have anything to say.

00:27:40.460 So you have to live out those substantive goods in your life.

00:27:48.460 I hate it when people clap for you.

00:27:50.460 I really do.

00:27:51.460 To celebrate the victory of our 47th president, there's no better way to celebrate than to introduce the 4547 Patriot Edition American Whiskey produced by the team at Wise Spirits right here in our hometown of Nashville.

00:28:04.460 Their masterfully handcrafted American whiskey pays homage to the very essence of our great nation, celebrating its rich history and vibrant culture.

00:28:13.460 Each batch is carefully selected from the finest barrels, with each drop representing a testament to precision and quality.

00:28:20.460 The best part is this whiskey is made by patriots, for patriots, and embodying the spirit of the American dream.

00:28:28.460 Also, it's tasty, which is the first thing I look for with whiskey.

00:28:32.460 I have had the pleasure to enjoy 4547 whiskey.

00:28:35.460 And you know I think that a great whiskey really complements a great cigar.

00:28:42.460 So you can have it on its own, but if you want to pair it, it goes great.

00:28:45.460 Experience the 4547 Patriot Edition Whiskey, where every sip tells a powerful story of heritage, craftsmanship, and indomitable pride.

00:28:54.460 Here's to freedom, to tradition, and to the spirit of America.

00:28:58.460 4547 Patriot Edition American Whiskey, crafted with honor, inspired by courage.

00:29:04.460 Crafted by wise spirits, Nashville, Tennessee.

00:29:09.460 True.

00:29:10.460 Well, I mean, it is this kind of trick about being a conservative is that you believe that the government should stay out of your business so you can be free.

00:29:18.460 But now you're free, what are you going to do, right?

00:29:21.460 Yeah, that's right.

00:29:22.460 It all comes down to us.

00:29:23.460 It's really not about, please do this and please pass this program.

00:29:26.460 It's get rid of all that stuff so I can do the things that I want to do.

00:29:30.460 And the thing about Donald Trump is Donald Trump, you know, movements happen almost organically.

00:29:36.460 They almost happen by themselves.

00:29:37.460 They're like waves that come in.

00:29:39.460 And I work in the arts my whole life.

00:29:41.460 And you see in the arts, there'll come a moment when there's a Picasso or a Marlon Brando,

00:29:46.460 somebody who changes the game, but that game was already changing.

00:29:49.460 He just represents that change.

00:29:51.460 And that's true of Donald Trump.

00:29:53.460 Without him, it wouldn't have happened.

00:29:54.460 But at the same time, he is at the head of a movement that's organically happening.

00:29:59.460 And that movement has a lot to do with our old friend Uncle God.

00:30:03.460 The arguments that for hundreds of years have slowly, slowly drained the faith out of Western culture have collapsed.

00:30:11.460 They've collapsed scientifically.

00:30:13.460 They've collapsed morally.

00:30:14.460 They've collapsed experientially.

00:30:15.460 And so God is now suddenly in with the intellectual crowd, as well he should be.

00:30:23.460 And I think that this is the moment for us, each of us, not all of us, but each of us, to ask ourselves,

00:30:30.460 who is this God and what does he want from me?

00:30:33.460 Because every single person, not just in this room, but walking on the face of the planet, knows he is not yet the person he was made to be.

00:30:41.460 And I think that that's something, I don't know, I think about it every day, I pray about it every day.

00:30:46.460 And I think that's something everybody should be doing, because we're all here to create something.

00:30:50.460 Maybe it's a family.

00:30:51.460 Maybe it's just a way of looking at things.

00:30:53.460 Maybe it's a business.

00:30:54.460 Maybe it's, you know, works of art.

00:30:55.460 Whatever it is, we are all here to make stuff.

00:30:57.460 And you make stuff out of your heart.

00:30:59.460 And you make stuff out of who you are.

00:31:01.460 And working toward becoming who you are is something you can't do alone.

00:31:05.460 You've got to do it with God.

00:31:06.460 And I think this is the moment for us to reconsider what that means to believe,

00:31:11.460 and what it means in our personal lives, and then act it out and live it out.

00:31:15.460 I also think about God every day and about how you're not yet the man that you were made to be.

00:31:24.460 Every day you pray.

00:31:26.460 Every day.

00:31:27.460 And he calls me, like at three in the morning.

00:31:29.460 Matt.

00:31:30.460 What was the question?

00:31:32.460 Ben.

00:31:33.460 I mean, first of all, I'm having trouble getting over Drew calling God Uncle God.

00:31:37.460 I really am.

00:31:38.460 When you're as old as Drew.

00:31:40.460 Wow.

00:31:41.460 We've been around a long time.

00:31:42.460 We've been together a long time.

00:31:43.460 My goodness.

00:31:44.460 I never, it's rare that you spring a new one on me.

00:31:46.460 But Uncle God was definitely a new one.

00:31:48.460 So I think that one of the great dangers that conservatives face right now,

00:31:53.460 is that so many of our institutions have been thoroughly corrupted by the left,

00:31:56.460 that the temptation is to destroy all of them.

00:31:58.460 And you see this in government.

00:32:00.460 A huge number of institutions in government are completely broken, need to be destroyed, rebuilt from the ground up.

00:32:05.460 But my problem is that I see some people, Andrew Tate, who are attempting to take social institutions and then destroy those social institutions as well.

00:32:14.460 Pretend that they are meritless.

00:32:15.460 That because there have been bad things that have been done to those institutions, now you throw out the baby with the bathwater and those institutions are themselves meretricious and need to be destroyed.

00:32:24.460 And the substitute morality that is offered is actually a morality.

00:32:27.460 It's actually sin.

00:32:28.460 And that is a deeply disturbing and disturbed point of view.

00:32:32.460 The thing that we all need to do, I think, and what I hope to do in my own life, is not to make excuses.

00:32:38.460 Okay?

00:32:39.460 This is the biggest thing.

00:32:40.460 And this to me is the essence of conservatism.

00:32:41.460 Stop making excuses for your own failure.

00:32:44.460 It is one thing to point to an actual wrong that is being done in the world and say that this wrong needs to be corrected.

00:32:50.460 Because the world is filled with wrongs and it's filled with injustices and it's filled with bad things that do need correction.

00:32:55.460 It is another thing to look at your own failure and then not say, what can I fix?

00:33:00.460 But instead look out there at, you know, the institution.

00:33:03.460 I can't find a girl.

00:33:04.460 Thus, the institution of marriage is broken and thus I should treat women like trash.

00:33:07.460 Okay?

00:33:08.460 That is a terrible way to go about your life.

00:33:10.460 The answer to finding a good woman is to be a good man.

00:33:14.460 Right?

00:33:15.460 The answer to having a good marriage is to find a good woman and engage in a good marriage.

00:33:19.460 The answer to finding yourself a better church is to find yourself a better church.

00:33:24.460 If you don't actually like the church that you're going to, if it's been taken over by Wokies, then the answer is not, well, I guess we're done with the church.

00:33:30.460 The church is stupid.

00:33:31.460 We're not doing it anymore.

00:33:32.460 The answer is to either form your own or to find a more traditional instituted church that is not doing those stupid things.

00:33:38.460 And I think one of the great temptations of politics is to assume that politics can solve everything.

00:33:43.460 You've got problems in your life, economic, spiritual, marital, and politics is going to solve all of those problems.

00:33:48.460 If only you can go after somebody out there and blame those people, well, then that gives you the license to do really whatever you want.

00:33:54.460 And then the failures that spring therefrom are not your own fault.

00:33:57.460 And that to me is a sin.

00:33:58.460 It's a sin against yourself.

00:33:59.460 It's a sin against your society.

00:34:00.460 It's a sin against the God who created you, gave you free will, the ability to choose, and the skills with which to do something productive in the world.

00:34:07.460 Yeah.

00:34:08.460 It's, I was in a dialogue with someone online once who was talking about how because divorce laws are punitive toward men, which is undeniably true, that marriage itself should be eradicated.

00:34:23.460 And this person kept saying over and over, my wife left me, and she destroyed my relationship with my children.

00:34:30.460 She took the house.

00:34:31.460 She got half of my money.

00:34:33.460 I didn't want a divorce.

00:34:34.460 She chose to get this divorce.

00:34:36.460 And he had tons of followers.

00:34:37.460 He was creating tons of energy around this argument.

00:34:39.460 And I said, listen, there's no question divorce laws are punitive toward men.

00:34:43.460 They need to be changed.

00:34:44.460 All of the incentives around marriage have become deeply inverted to the detriment of our society.

00:34:50.460 These are real policy issues that need to be addressed.

00:34:53.460 I said, but I do think that you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

00:34:55.460 I mean, I'm sorry that this happened to you, that your wife left you for no reason.

00:34:58.460 He said, well, I mean, she had a reason.

00:35:00.460 I cheated on her.

00:35:03.460 And I said, oh, well, there you go.

00:35:05.460 Me thinks the policy that you are actually against is the policy of you.

00:35:11.460 The policy of consequence, of just consequence.

00:35:13.460 It's one of the Ten Commandments.

00:35:14.460 That's the policy that he opposed.

00:35:16.460 Yeah.

00:35:17.460 Uncle God's policies.

00:35:18.460 But it is nevertheless the case that most of what your life will be is what you make of it.

00:35:23.460 There will be parts of your life that are impacted by outside forces, absolutely.

00:35:27.460 And the beauty of politics is that we have the opportunity, especially in a country like this one,

00:35:31.460 to do something about those policies that impede our ability to live our lives.

00:35:35.460 But, you know, I was backstage talking to Mike Rowe.

00:35:37.460 He mentioned there are 8 million open jobs in this country right now.

00:35:41.460 There are 7 million working age men who aren't just unemployed.

00:35:46.460 They have removed themselves from the workforce.

00:35:49.460 They are not looking for a job.

00:35:51.460 They don't want a job.

00:35:53.460 They feel disenfranchised because they have been disenfranchised.

00:35:56.460 But they are also participating in their own disenfranchisement.

00:36:00.460 And one of the things I've learned in life, one of the things I've learned in business,

00:36:04.460 you know, sometimes people who have succeeded in business will tell you,

00:36:06.460 business is about fail, fail, fail, until you make it.

00:36:09.460 And that's not true.

00:36:11.460 Success in business is about fail, fail, fail, fail, fail, and with a little luck,

00:36:17.460 you made it along the way.

00:36:19.460 It's much more, it's less like getting to a destination,

00:36:22.460 and much more like being a batter in the major leagues.

00:36:25.460 If you get a hit three out of ten times in the major leagues,

00:36:32.460 you will be in the Hall of Fame.

00:36:34.460 There will be statues of you in your hometown.

00:36:36.460 You did not get a hit 70% of the time.

00:36:40.460 And it's not as though once you did get a hit,

00:36:42.460 you only hit from there on out.

00:36:44.460 No, it's that you missed, you missed, you got a hit,

00:36:46.460 you missed, you missed, you missed, you got a hit,

00:36:48.460 you missed, you got a hit, you got walked.

00:36:50.460 Most of the times when you got the hit, you still didn't score.

00:36:55.460 You got thrown out at second.

00:36:57.460 Or the batter right behind you was the third out,

00:36:59.460 and you basically got your hit and got on base for no reason whatsoever.

00:37:03.460 Sometimes you score and you didn't earn it.

00:37:05.460 Sometimes you pop it up, but the infield fly rule goes into effect,

00:37:09.460 and no one even knows what's happening in the game anymore.

00:37:12.460 I lost the analogy, but I'm sure there was something.

00:37:16.460 All that matters is that you get back up and keep batting.

00:37:19.460 That's the only difference between, it's not the only difference,

00:37:21.460 but it's the fundamental difference between people who make it in baseball

00:37:25.460 and people who do not make it in baseball, and it is true in business,

00:37:28.460 and it is true in your marriage, it's true as a parent,

00:37:31.460 it's true in almost every aspect of your life.

00:37:33.460 It's your ability to take life as it is, not as you wish it would be,

00:37:38.460 to take the hard parts of life and to keep getting back up

00:37:41.460 and to keep doing your job.

00:37:43.460 Well, speaking of the hard parts of life, taxes, folks.

00:37:46.460 So, am I right? Taxes suck, right? They're bad.

00:37:48.460 That's why President Trump just fired everybody at the IRS.

00:37:51.460 He actually did.

00:37:52.460 He just fired like thousands of people at the IRS.

00:37:54.460 Well, unfortunately you don't have a choice.

00:37:56.460 I'm sorry to tell you this.

00:37:57.460 April 15 tax day is just around the corner.

00:37:59.460 And don't think that just because Trump and Elon are going through

00:38:02.460 and basically making all these people unemployed,

00:38:04.460 that you're not going to have to pay your taxes.

00:38:06.460 You eventually will.

00:38:07.460 But you don't have to worry about your tax issues with Tax Network USA.

00:38:11.460 Did you see where I was going with that, folks?

00:38:13.460 Did I project it?

00:38:14.460 In any case, Tax Network USA has a preferred direct line to the IRS,

00:38:17.460 meaning they know exactly which agents to deal with

00:38:20.460 and which to avoid if you get in trouble with your taxes.

00:38:23.460 With proven strategies to settle tax problems in your favor,

00:38:25.460 whether you owe $10 grand or $10 million,

00:38:27.460 Tax Network USA's attorneys and negotiators have already resolved

00:38:30.460 over $1 billion in tax debt.

00:38:32.460 You should talk with their strategists today.

00:38:34.460 It is free.

00:38:35.460 You don't need the threatening letters.

00:38:36.460 You don't need to look over your shoulder.

00:38:37.460 You can protect yourself from property seizures and bank levies as well.

00:38:40.460 Do not let the IRS control your future.

00:38:43.460 And don't count on the IRS agent who's in charge of your case

00:38:45.460 suddenly losing their job.

00:38:46.460 Maybe it'll happen, you know, God willing, and the creek don't rise.

00:38:49.460 But eventually they're going to come after your taxes.

00:38:51.460 So you should call 1-800-958-1000 or visit TNUSA.com slash DailyWire.

00:38:56.460 Again, that's 1-800-958-1000 or visit TNUSA.com slash DailyWire.

00:39:03.460 So, clap for the advertising.

00:39:06.460 Right, so that's part of the show.

00:39:07.460 Yeah, I mean, that's what we all love, correct?

00:39:09.460 We like to take questions from our DailyWire Plus subscribers during our Ben Key show.

00:39:14.460 They're the people who make it possible for us to keep, alongside our advertisers,

00:39:17.460 to keep doing the work that we do over at DailyWire.

00:39:19.460 But today we want to take questions from you guys.

00:39:22.460 Ben has a policy that if you disagree, he would like you to come to the front of the line.

00:39:26.460 I have precisely the opposite policy.

00:39:29.460 The more sycophantish you are, the more I want your questions.

00:39:32.460 So, please, if you like me or even love me, front of the line.

00:39:36.460 We'll take our first question.

00:39:38.460 Awesome.

00:39:39.460 Thanks, guys.

00:39:40.460 My name is Luke Rexing and I am actually a subscriber.

00:39:42.460 So, thank you for what you do.

00:39:44.460 I am also getting into cigars.

00:39:45.460 So, haven't tried one of those yet.

00:39:47.460 Tonight's the night.

00:39:48.460 Tonight's the night.

00:39:49.460 Yeah.

00:39:50.460 Pass this back.

00:39:51.460 Baby?

00:39:52.460 Yes.

00:39:53.460 You got it?

00:39:54.460 Let's go.

00:39:55.460 Thank you.

00:39:56.460 You can just Venmo me for about $15 for that.

00:39:59.460 Sounds good.

00:40:00.460 That's fine.

00:40:01.460 Whenever you have a moment.

00:40:02.460 Thank you.

00:40:03.460 Please be 18.

00:40:04.460 23.

00:40:05.460 I think it's 21 now.

00:40:06.460 Oh, man.

00:40:07.460 Yeah.

00:40:08.460 But my question is, as a young conservative who wants to focus on a new business and an entrepreneurial

00:40:13.460 spirit, how should I go about integrating my views into my business?

00:40:17.460 Hmm.

00:40:18.460 Ben?

00:40:19.460 Well, I think it depends on the kind of business that you're founding.

00:40:21.460 So, I mean, there are certain things that are just baseline conservative.

00:40:23.460 Like, be honest in business and don't try to cheat people.

00:40:26.460 Right?

00:40:27.460 In my faith, the Jewish faith, you may have noticed, it says that the first thing that

00:40:32.460 God is going to ask you after you die is, were you honest in your business dealings?

00:40:36.460 That is one of the things that Judaism teaches.

00:40:38.460 As you know, we like the money.

00:40:39.460 In any case, when it comes to actually forming a business, you know, the hard part of business,

00:40:46.460 and Jeremy can talk about this more than I can since he does a lot of the hiring and

00:40:49.460 firing, is actually being cold blooded enough to look at what's working and what's not.

00:40:53.460 You're not doing anybody any kindnesses by keeping people in the wrong position for

00:40:57.460 too long.

00:40:58.460 That's the hardest part, I think, of doing business, is the difficulty in extricating

00:41:01.460 yourself emotionally from the business to do the efficient thing.

00:41:04.460 But it is important that in order for your business to be a success, in order to be able

00:41:08.460 to employ other people and provide goods and services at a market rate, that you actually

00:41:12.460 make those hard decisions.

00:41:13.460 And again, I think that that requires a certain level of emotional remove and you have to

00:41:18.460 understand that you're actually, again, not doing anybody any favors by keeping them

00:41:22.460 in a position where they ought not be.

00:41:24.460 And that does, I think, also include the reality that you have to, I think, take the blame

00:41:29.460 on yourself if you hired the wrong person.

00:41:31.460 Usually, if an employee fails, if somebody does something wrong at your company, it's

00:41:34.460 probably because you put the wrong person in the wrong position to succeed.

00:41:37.460 That's sort of your job as a company, is to put people in the right position to succeed.

00:41:41.460 And so that, I think, is the hardest part.

00:41:43.460 Can I also say one thing?

00:41:44.460 That you're integrating your values into the business, and I don't know what your business

00:41:48.460 is.

00:41:49.460 Maybe you said it.

00:41:50.460 I haven't been paying attention to the questions today.

00:41:52.460 I haven't said it.

00:41:53.460 No, I'm sorry.

00:41:54.460 But integrate them as in, like Ben said, you're living according to your values.

00:41:59.460 What I think you don't need to do and probably shouldn't do is say, well, this is my business,

00:42:03.460 and I'm the, this is the conservative version of this business.

00:42:07.460 We're the conservative fill in the blank.

00:42:09.460 You don't need to be that.

00:42:10.460 Just do the business and do it well.

00:42:12.460 And if you're living according to your values, then you're already, you know, the conservative

00:42:16.460 version of that business.

00:42:18.460 Sounds good.

00:42:19.460 Thank you, guys.

00:42:20.460 Thank you.

00:42:21.460 Hey, my name is Christy Clark, and I'm actually asking this question for my 14 year old daughter

00:42:28.460 who's at home watching right now and absolutely loves y'all.

00:42:31.460 She watches you all the time.

00:42:33.460 I have to turn her TV off at night.

00:42:35.460 Matt, super uncomfortable movie.

00:42:37.460 Absolutely loved it.

00:42:38.460 I don't know how you sat there and did that, but that was amazing.

00:42:43.460 It's because I'm a, as Jeremy's pointed out, it's because I'm a sociopath.

00:42:47.460 It was insane.

00:42:48.460 That's how.

00:42:49.460 That's my secret.

00:42:50.460 But my question for my daughter, Belle, is she wants to be just like you.

00:42:53.460 She's 14.

00:42:54.460 She's charging that way of doing this type of thing.

00:42:58.460 Absolutely wants to do this in life.

00:43:00.460 And how does she get started, even at 14, in the world that we live in, where she is

00:43:07.460 pro-Trump, pro-Republican?

00:43:09.460 What does she do at this age to be you one day and take over Daily Wire, Ben?

00:43:15.460 Eventually, we'll be for sale, so she can do that.

00:43:19.460 But I think that, you know, I started writing a syndicated column when I was 17, so actually

00:43:23.460 not that much older than your daughter is now.

00:43:26.460 And the key, I think this is true, by the way, in virtually all businesses, but it's

00:43:30.460 certainly true when it comes to political commentary, is you have to read an awful lot, learn an

00:43:35.460 awful lot about the business, and do a lot of work for free.

00:43:38.460 There's no such thing as a person whose success in literally any business who was not a failure

00:43:43.460 for a very long time before they were a success.

00:43:45.460 Right?

00:43:46.460 Everyone who's an overnight success was an overnight success 10 years in the making.

00:43:49.460 And so I started writing a syndicated column making no money off of this for probably a decade

00:43:53.460 before I had, you know, the famous Piers Morgan interview.

00:43:55.460 That was like fully a decade after I started doing what I was doing.

00:43:58.460 And that takes an awful lot of reading and writing.

00:44:00.460 And then the other thing that I would say is that she should attempt, and I think everybody

00:44:04.460 should attempt to find a niche where you're a specialist in the thing.

00:44:08.460 And that can be an information niche.

00:44:09.460 Either you can know a lot about a particular topic, or you can be willing to report on a particular

00:44:13.460 topic.

00:44:14.460 And if you have a monopoly on that topic, that makes you a marketable commodity.

00:44:17.460 Right?

00:44:18.460 Everybody's got an opinion on politics.

00:44:19.460 Everybody in the room could be a political columnist, I'm sure.

00:44:21.460 But there's a difference between that and being a person who does the research and does

00:44:26.460 the hard work that nobody else wants to do.

00:44:28.460 One of my mentors, Andrew Breitbart, used to say that if you have a cell phone with a camera,

00:44:32.460 you're now a reporter.

00:44:33.460 And that's one way that I encourage young people to get started is you're in your town.

00:44:37.460 There are stories all around you of things that probably require change.

00:44:40.460 You know, get those stories.

00:44:42.460 Hook up with an outlet like ours.

00:44:43.460 We'll report it, and we'll make that a thing.

00:44:45.460 And that's a great way to get started in this particular business.

00:44:47.460 You know, one of the great advantages if you want to be successful in media is that,

00:44:51.460 and we're testament to this, it requires no talent to do media at all.

00:44:56.460 So if your daughter has talent, then she's already a step ahead of like 95% of the business.

00:45:00.460 It might be at a disadvantage, though.

00:45:01.460 If she actually has talent.

00:45:02.460 That's true.

00:45:03.460 You know, to your point, Ben, on reading, one thing I would say, especially if your daughter's

00:45:07.460 14, which is great, love that.

00:45:09.460 I was a political junkie from the age of at least six.

00:45:13.460 I was like campaigning for Bob Dole in my first grade classroom.

00:45:17.460 I was more excited about Bob Dole than Bob Dole was.

00:45:20.460 So I'm all about it.

00:45:22.460 However, now it's very easy to become famous or infamous at a young age because of social media and cameras.

00:45:29.460 And she should resist that urge because you have to read like anything because no one reads anything anymore.

00:45:36.460 So if you read one book, you will know much more than most people.

00:45:39.460 However, if you want to have a view of politics that is solid, that is stable, that will deepen over time, of course,

00:45:46.460 but that is grounded in something, you have to read like a billion books and it's just not possible to do that at age 14.

00:45:53.460 So I would recommend figuring out what she thinks, get the book learning, get a little practical learning.

00:45:58.460 I think working on a congressional campaign is the best political education out there.

00:46:02.460 I worked on campaigns as a teenager in my 20s.

00:46:05.460 It taught me a lot that you can't learn in books.

00:46:07.460 And then when she's ready, you know, I don't know, 16, 17, maybe a little later, maybe 28, 29,

00:46:13.460 then she can make a big splash and she'll be ready to go.

00:46:16.460 And she'll have something that distinguishes her from everybody else.

00:46:22.460 Hi, my name is Blake Markson.

00:46:24.460 I'm a subscriber and my question here, I'm a college student and I'm just,

00:46:30.460 I've been, throughout my education, I've like questioned DEI and a lot of subjective business measures.

00:46:37.460 So what I'm wondering is how you guys would challenge these viewpoints and kind of move throughout like my educational process

00:46:45.460 because I'm a sophomore right now and not really liking everything that I'm doing right now.

00:46:49.460 Yeah.

00:46:50.460 One thing I would say is that it can be really easy to be tempted toward some sort of absolute answer on a question like this.

00:46:58.460 You know, some people will tell you, just keep your head down, get your degree.

00:47:01.460 You're paying to be there. The most important thing is not to rock the boat.

00:47:04.460 You need something from them in exchange for your money and your time.

00:47:07.460 Go get it. That's the only reason you're there.

00:47:09.460 Other people will say, you should just be fighting all the way, defending your rights.

00:47:12.460 Campuses are ground zero for all the worst things that are happening in our culture.

00:47:16.460 Be an activist.

00:47:17.460 But the truth is you actually have to live your life and none of the people giving you advice on this topic do.

00:47:22.460 And only you know what you actually want to get out of this experience in college.

00:47:26.460 Only you know what kind of career you want to build in your life on the other side of your time in college.

00:47:32.460 Some of them much more dependent on getting that degree than perhaps others are.

00:47:36.460 I think the best thing you can do in this regard is live according to your lights.

00:47:39.460 The one thing I'll say you should not do is live your life out of fear.

00:47:43.460 If you find yourself living your life out of fear, you actually can't make the cynical calculation of,

00:47:48.460 I will live my life out of fear, but on the other side of it, I'll be very, very successful.

00:47:53.460 That's a deal with the devil that you can just never walk back.

00:47:56.460 But that doesn't mean that you always have to be in the fight.

00:47:58.460 It doesn't mean that you have to be reckless in every situation.

00:48:02.460 I will say in my own life, I've made the choice from a young age, probably before I could make it consciously,

00:48:07.460 that I was just going to say what I believed in every situation and come what may.

00:48:12.460 And, you know, I'd like to say that it's worked out well for me.

00:48:15.460 I've gone through a lot of real difficulties because of that decision.

00:48:19.460 I don't necessarily think that that is the most virtuous decision.

00:48:23.460 I think it's the most Gen X decision, but I don't know that it's the most virtuous decision.

00:48:27.460 Although it can contain virtue.

00:48:30.460 Sometimes, though, it can contain hubris and recklessness and all sorts of other things.

00:48:35.460 So I think that rather than looking for like an absolute answer to the question,

00:48:39.460 the very best thing that you can do is actually know yourself, know what you're trying to accomplish,

00:48:44.460 know what fights are worth your time to be in, and go fight those fights.

00:48:49.460 And if it happens, if you're like me, it'll be all of them,

00:48:51.460 and you'll never get a college degree and you won't make any money until you're 30, and that's fine.

00:48:55.460 And if you're like Ben, you know, you'll be writing a syndicated column at 17 and now be Ben Shapiro.

00:49:01.460 You know, I would like to add just one more thing.

00:49:04.460 Don't lie.

00:49:05.460 You don't have to get into every fight.

00:49:07.460 You don't always have to speak up if it's not important, if it's not that big a deal.

00:49:11.460 But don't let them make you lie because some of them will hunt you down until you have to,

00:49:15.460 until you either have to lie or tell the truth.

00:49:17.460 Oh, I totally disagree with this.

00:49:18.460 You totally lied.

00:49:19.460 No, wait.

00:49:20.460 Wait, let me finish before you.

00:49:22.460 Whatever he says, because he doesn't know what he's talking about.

00:49:25.460 Every lie takes something out of your soul.

00:49:28.460 Every single one.

00:49:29.460 And the bigger lie, the bigger the piece of your soul it takes.

00:49:32.460 Isn't worth it.

00:49:33.460 Not for a minute.

00:49:34.460 He's very old.

00:49:35.460 You should totally lie.

00:49:36.460 So the way that this works is that when I was at UCLA, okay, you speak up in class,

00:49:39.460 and then they had these things called blue books.

00:49:41.460 The blue books were the anonymous test that you took.

00:49:43.460 You would write by hand in those days.

00:49:45.460 And you, I know, it's a long time ago.

00:49:46.460 And you would write a student number, not an actual name on your blue book.

00:49:49.460 And then you write like a comma and you get the A.

00:49:51.460 Obviously.

00:49:52.460 Because what difference does it make what you write inside the blue book?

00:49:54.460 So that's where you lie.

00:49:55.460 Look in his eyes.

00:49:56.460 Do you want to be like that?

00:49:57.460 No.

00:49:58.460 Look at my wallet.

00:49:59.460 Do you want to be like that?

00:50:01.460 Live according to your lights.

00:50:04.460 Thank you.

00:50:05.460 Hi, gang.

00:50:07.460 My name is Yehuda.

00:50:08.460 And it's so special to be here with you.

00:50:10.460 I'm also a Daily Wire Plus subscriber.

00:50:12.460 Thank you.

00:50:13.460 And I must say, Michael, I disagree with you and I agree with Matt.

00:50:15.460 Kids should be at weddings.

00:50:17.460 Listen, I'm not saying...

00:50:19.460 Wait, you said they shouldn't be?

00:50:21.460 I said...

00:50:22.460 What?

00:50:23.460 I didn't say they should never be at a wedding.

00:50:24.460 I'm just saying this always.

00:50:25.460 But sometimes you throw on the tuxedo, you have a few Coca-Colas, it's a late night wedding,

00:50:30.460 and I don't want the little wedding kids.

00:50:32.460 Wedding for children.

00:50:33.460 That's why marriage exists.

00:50:34.460 In like Pakistan, not in America.

00:50:36.460 There's a total limb over here.

00:50:38.460 Yep.

00:50:39.460 That's a limb position.

00:50:40.460 Look at what you started.

00:50:41.460 Look at this.

00:50:42.460 On a more serious note, over the years it has become increasingly clear that the mainstream media is acting as an arm of the Democratic Party and as anti-American factions,

00:50:53.460 although I repeat myself, this has come to a crescendo during the last few election cycles as well as during the COVID pandemic,

00:50:59.460 something I witnessed personally as a medical doctor.

00:51:02.460 The most recent attempt to equate free speech to Nazi-era fascism sets a new egregious level.

00:51:08.460 It would not be hard to trace these media trends to foreign groups, aggressively using our media to undermine and sabotage the United States.

00:51:16.460 With some investigation, we can easily find which parties are complicit in these efforts.

00:51:21.460 My question is, should we conduct such an investigation?

00:51:24.460 And furthermore, if we do, what actions should we take based on the data we find?

00:51:30.460 Well, I mean it depends if you're talking about foreign actors who are actually funding American media.

00:51:34.460 So yes, I think there should absolutely be congressional investigations, presumably the House Foreign Affairs Committee,

00:51:39.460 looking into funding of various enterprises and the propaganda that emerges from those enterprises.

00:51:45.460 If you're talking about the Democratic Party working in cahoots with the legacy media, I'm not sure that you need an investigation with that.

00:51:51.460 I think you just need retinas and a prefrontal cortex.

00:51:54.460 I mean, basic logic suggests that the human centipede that is the relationship between the Democratic Party and the media is an ongoing bleep show.

00:52:02.460 So I don't think that requires an investigation and I don't think it's a big scandal.

00:52:06.460 I think that the truth is that the legacy media, and this is something Drew said earlier.

00:52:09.460 So Drew, this is where you're right.

00:52:10.460 You were wrong before, but now you're right.

00:52:11.460 What Drew said earlier is right.

00:52:13.460 The legacy media has absolutely destroyed itself.

00:52:15.460 What this last election cycle did was expose the legacy media beyond all repair.

00:52:19.460 And that was really exposed, not even by COVID, which was truly terrible or BLM, which was also truly terrible, but by Joe Biden dying on stage.

00:52:26.460 When Joe Biden died on stage in that moment, the legacy media was destroyed for all time.

00:52:30.460 And I don't think that they're ever going to be able to recover it.

00:52:33.460 You can see it in the numbers.

00:52:34.460 People people do not trust the legacy media.

00:52:36.460 It's it's irrecoverable.

00:52:38.460 The Washington Post is never going to have a majority of Americans that believe it's trustworthy again.

00:52:42.460 So I'm less worried than I've ever been about the power of the legacy media.

00:52:46.460 And I've spent most of my life worrying about the legacy media.

00:52:48.460 You know, Ben, you said something there.

00:52:50.460 You mentioned human centipede.

00:52:52.460 You were evoking images that are disgusting and obscene.

00:52:56.460 And I want you to get your head out of the gutter.

00:52:59.460 And I want you to get your minds on the gutters when I tell you about Leaf Network right now.

00:53:05.460 Okay.

00:53:06.460 LeafFilter.com.

00:53:09.460 Thank you so much.

00:53:10.460 Good night, folks.

00:53:11.460 LeafFilter.com slash backstage.

00:53:14.460 Does anyone here own a home?

00:53:16.460 Yes.

00:53:17.460 We've got some homeowners here.

00:53:18.460 Oh, yeah.

00:53:19.460 Do other people want to own homes when the interest rates come down and anyone can afford anything again?

00:53:24.460 Yes.

00:53:25.460 There are many people who want to do that.

00:53:26.460 You can protect your home.

00:53:27.460 You can never clean out gutters again with LeafFilter.

00:53:31.460 America's number one gutter protection system.

00:53:34.460 Schedule your free inspection.

00:53:36.460 Take advantage of the spring spectacular sale with up to 30% off your entire purchase at LeafFilter.com slash backstage.

00:53:45.460 If you're like me, you're brimming with virility, but for whatever reason you don't want to get up on the ladder and clean the gutters all the time, I got your solution.

00:53:52.460 30% off LEAFFilter.com slash backstage.

00:53:59.460 See representative for warranty details.

00:54:02.460 Can I say, it's in times like this that I'm really glad that I'm so bad at doing ad reads because I don't have to do this ad read on stage at CPAC.

00:54:14.460 Spoiler alert.

00:54:15.460 Hi, my name's John Hinshaw.

00:54:20.460 Mr. Knowles' reference may be for...

00:54:24.460 I was one of the Washington pro-lifers who was sentenced to 21 months in jail.

00:54:30.460 And we thank President Trump for pardoning us so that we're free.

00:54:35.460 What I wanted to try to get a sense of is, well, what I'm feeling a sense of is there's really an opportunity for the United States of America to have a full discussion about the horror of abortion.

00:54:59.460 We started to have it in the 70s.

00:55:02.460 I'm an old man.

00:55:03.460 I remember it.

00:55:04.460 But a lot of people here don't.

00:55:05.460 There started a discussion and then Roe v. Wade happened.

00:55:10.460 And aside from all the lives that were lost and all the women that were destroyed, there was also the complete cutting off of discussion about abortion.

00:55:21.460 And the media has kept it that way.

00:55:24.460 And in the courts, we've never been able, even in the Dobbs decision, the developing child before birth is only briefly referenced.

00:55:36.460 In all the other court cases, it's about some specific legal angle to the issue, the heart of the issue, which is a developing child before birth.

00:55:47.460 And this, I sense, is the time, this is the time for this country to take up that discussion.

00:55:54.460 And even when I'm in disagreement with President Trump, as I am on the IVF, it is an opportunity for discussion.

00:56:04.460 And so I even thank him for that.

00:56:06.460 So I wanted to get some of your feedback on that.

00:56:09.460 Yeah, look, I think I totally agree with everything that you said.

00:56:12.460 And it's easy to forget that just, you know, even several months ago, certainly in the last couple of years, we were told, even by conservatives, that our victories, you know, the great victory of repealing Roe v. Wade, one of the great human rights victories of all time, was actually a bad thing politically because we were going to pay for it.

00:56:31.460 We were going to pay the price with some great backlash in the polls and the women of America would rise up to punish us for protecting babies from slaughter.

00:56:40.460 And that didn't happen.

00:56:41.460 And the reason that it didn't happen is because it turns out, as many of us, as we have all been saying, people like you have been saying, the pro-life argument is a winning argument.

00:56:50.460 It is a winning argument.

00:56:52.460 And as long as you're just honest, the only way to win the argument when you're pro-life is to be brutally honest and to show, it's one thing, you know, if we are claiming that there is a genocide of children happening, that 60 million human beings have been slaughtered by abortion, if that's what we claim, which is what we claim because it's true, then there should be passion and even anger behind our words.

00:57:18.460 And if there isn't, then why would anyone take us seriously?

00:57:21.460 Because it's like we don't even believe what we're saying.

00:57:23.460 So we are not the ones.

00:57:25.460 The pro-abortion side, they're the ones who have to cover everything they say in euphemisms.

00:57:30.460 They have to be very careful about every word they choose.

00:57:33.460 And the euphemisms constantly change because they can't talk simply and clearly about what the thing is.

00:57:40.460 And we win the argument simply by being clear about it because the pro-life argument is, as I said, it's the most winning argument of all time.

00:57:47.460 The pro-life argument is simply this, that it is always wrong to intentionally kill innocent human children.

00:57:55.460 That's it.

00:57:56.460 And I defy any pro-abortion person, any so-called pro-choice person, to engage with that.

00:58:04.460 Are you saying that there are times when it is actually okay to intentionally kill an innocent human child and that's what they don't want to engage with?

00:58:12.460 And as long as we're honest about it, then we win the argument.

00:58:14.460 And this is everything now.

00:58:16.460 What you're talking about is everything.

00:58:17.460 Having the argument openly because the law is not going to stop it.

00:58:21.460 It's not going to be able to stop it with the technologies, with the medications.

00:58:25.460 It will still be going on unless people see, unless they open their eyes and see what they're doing.

00:58:30.460 It's the only way.

00:58:31.460 There are always going to be murderers.

00:58:32.460 There are always going to be people who kill people.

00:58:34.460 But at least we can make it apparent to people that if you're a good person, you don't do it.

00:58:40.460 And that's an argument we can win and we have to win.

00:58:42.460 We have to win it now.

00:58:45.460 Hi, my name is Erin.

00:58:50.460 I'm a college student.

00:58:52.460 College is woke now.

00:58:53.460 So what would you say to me as trying to represent who I am, just like you guys do every day?

00:59:00.460 I couldn't quite hear that.

00:59:02.460 I couldn't hear a word you said.

00:59:04.460 Oh, okay.

00:59:05.460 You have a beautiful, mellifluous voice.

00:59:07.460 I meant college is woke and I want to pursue what I love, just like you guys do.

00:59:13.460 What do you do when you have that thought in your head?

00:59:15.460 It's like, pause.

00:59:17.460 I need to keep doing what I love to do.

00:59:20.460 Well, I think that it...

00:59:21.460 I'm very famously anti-college.

00:59:24.460 I think that most people should not go to college.

00:59:27.460 Thank you.

00:59:29.460 I think that, you know, if you want to be a heart surgeon, I think there's a strong

00:59:33.460 case that you should go to college.

00:59:36.460 But I think most people who are getting, you know, bachelors of fine arts should not be

00:59:43.460 getting them.

00:59:44.460 And you might say that in a better world than this, those degrees are useful to society.

00:59:52.460 Back when we taught things like the Western Canon.

00:59:55.460 Back when we taught things like philosophy, perhaps a liberal arts degree actually did

00:59:59.460 prepare, you know, people who aren't going to go into very specialized fields.

01:00:03.460 Nevertheless, those degrees and that experience could prepare them for their life as productive citizens.

01:00:08.460 We don't live in that world anymore.

01:00:09.460 You're not going to study the Western Canon if you go to college.

01:00:12.460 And so unless you're going to do something very particular, I would go get a job instead.

01:00:16.460 The thing that you have to do in this life, God said, you know, everybody likes to focus

01:00:19.460 on that, on the seventh day you will rest.

01:00:21.460 But the part that he said right before that was six days you will toil.

01:00:24.460 Go to work.

01:00:27.460 You know, I see your point, Jeremy, which is that for 99% of colleges and in 99% of classes

01:00:33.460 maybe even within colleges, you're not going to be able to get that great education.

01:00:38.460 I disagree with my fellow conservatives.

01:00:40.460 They sometimes say, only go to college if you're going to study engineering or if you're

01:00:44.460 going to study business or something.

01:00:46.460 I think that's the exact opposite reason to go to college.

01:00:48.460 You should just get a job or an apprenticeship or go to trade school to learn a job.

01:00:52.460 That's great.

01:00:53.460 That's awesome.

01:00:54.460 There's totally a place for that.

01:00:56.460 If you want to get a university education, the point of it is not instrumental or utilitarian.

01:01:01.460 It's not just to make some money or something like that.

01:01:04.460 The point is to get at the truth and the way you do that is to immerse yourself in philosophy

01:01:09.460 and in literature and history.

01:01:11.460 You can still do that at some universities.

01:01:13.460 There are good ones.

01:01:14.460 I mean, there's Hillsdale, Ave Maria, Franciscan, you know, there are a handful you can name.

01:01:18.460 Even at the big brand name schools, there are at least a few professors left.

01:01:23.460 And then, my final point on this, if you find yourself at a woke college that doesn't have

01:01:27.460 great classes, and at the very least, you can understand that every man is my teacher

01:01:33.460 and I can learn something from him.

01:01:34.460 One of the greatest advantages...

01:01:36.460 Not for 250,000 freaking dollars.

01:01:37.460 Books are free.

01:01:38.460 That's true.

01:01:39.460 Listen, you really do need teachers and mentors and things.

01:01:42.460 I agree.

01:01:43.460 A quarter million bucks, you know, find scholarships and things like that.

01:01:46.460 But all of that to say, if you're at the woke college, you're making a financially reasonable

01:01:51.460 decision, you can benefit greatly from being around people who are radically leftist.

01:01:58.460 Because you can understand their arguments much, much better than they understand your arguments.

01:02:03.460 It will give you an advantage.

01:02:05.460 That is how we win back culture.

01:02:07.460 It is how we make the best of our...

01:02:10.460 Hold on a second.

01:02:12.460 Is he...

01:02:13.460 Or just don't go to college.

01:02:14.460 Yeah!

01:02:15.460 Okay, thank you.

01:02:16.460 Next question, please.

01:02:17.460 Hi, my name is Elora Van Tassel.

01:02:22.460 I'm the oldest of six kids, so my parents definitely understand the difference between a man and

01:02:28.460 a woman.

01:02:29.460 So thank you, Matt, for the movie.

01:02:31.460 I want to ask if you have more tips on standing up against confirming the people around me who

01:02:38.460 continue to push the gender ideology.

01:02:41.460 Keep in mind, I live in a deep blue state that is still, their media is still controlled by

01:02:47.460 the left.

01:02:48.460 So it is important never to acquiesce in this.

01:02:52.460 Yes.

01:02:53.460 Truly, it is really, really, really important.

01:02:55.460 And you're not doing anybody any favors.

01:02:57.460 You know, harsh truth is still better than kind falsehood.

01:03:00.460 And telling somebody who is obviously suffering from a mental condition that in reality they're

01:03:08.460 a member of the opposite sex is not doing them any favors at all.

01:03:11.460 You wouldn't do it in any other circumstance.

01:03:12.460 You would never say to an anorexic person, actually, you know what, you're totally right,

01:03:15.460 you're really fat when they're actually underweight by 40 pounds.

01:03:18.460 You would never ever tell somebody who is suffering from severe depression that actually

01:03:23.460 maybe you're right, maybe suicide is the proper answer, you know, maybe you're thinking

01:03:26.460 this through properly.

01:03:27.460 And so the idea that you should confirm somebody in what is an unhealthy delusion is wrong.

01:03:32.460 Now, is that going to make friends?

01:03:34.460 No.

01:03:35.460 Is that person going to necessarily want to go out to dinner with you?

01:03:37.460 No.

01:03:38.460 But they are going to remember in the darkness of the night that there was somebody who was

01:03:42.460 telling them the truth.

01:03:43.460 And that is really, really important.

01:03:45.460 Because if no one tells them the truth, then they're never going to understand that the

01:03:48.460 other answer was always there, which is that maybe this is not a body problem, maybe

01:03:52.460 this is actually a brain problem.

01:03:54.460 And, you know, that requires, you know, different thinking about these issues entirely.

01:03:59.460 And, of course, Matt is the expert on this particular topic because not only did he make a movie,

01:04:04.460 but I've heard he's a woman.

01:04:05.460 I mean, look, I think Ben covered it well.

01:04:12.460 I mean, the most important thing, and also to go to Drew's point earlier about, you know,

01:04:17.460 never lie.

01:04:18.460 And so, you know, you don't have to go looking for confrontation.

01:04:25.460 Now, we tend to be confrontational people.

01:04:27.460 It's part of our job.

01:04:29.460 We're kind of wired that way.

01:04:30.460 And so if you are and you want to go out and look for that, then, I mean, God be with

01:04:34.460 you.

01:04:35.460 But you don't have to do that.

01:04:37.460 And you don't have to go jumping on every grenade that you find in the room.

01:04:40.460 But it's just don't play the game.

01:04:43.460 Don't acquiesce.

01:04:44.460 Don't play the language games.

01:04:46.460 You know, that was the big mistake that was made culturally even among some conservatives

01:04:52.460 back several years ago where they started playing the language game.

01:04:55.460 And they said, well, I just want to be polite.

01:04:57.460 And once we start putting politeness over the truth, then you've already lost.

01:05:02.460 And so don't do that.

01:05:05.460 And you'll be fine, I think.

01:05:10.460 Hello.

01:05:11.460 My name is Jeremiah Gripsilver.

01:05:12.460 And I just wanted to ask a question on behalf of Ben Davies.

01:05:15.460 Michael Knowles, why do you pretend like your show is your own show when clearly Ben Davies is

01:05:21.460 the host?

01:05:22.460 Wow.

01:05:23.460 Wow.

01:05:24.460 Fighting words.

01:05:25.460 Did we just find the one Ben Davies fan at the entirety of CPAC?

01:05:31.460 That is outright.

01:05:32.460 You know, sometimes people infiltrate these events.

01:05:35.460 You know, the leftists or this kind of disreputable or, well, all these kind of people.

01:05:40.460 And I found my least favorite infiltrator.

01:05:43.460 And that is the fan of Ben Davies.

01:05:45.460 Though he does run most of the show, if I'm being totally frank about it.

01:05:48.460 He runs a lot of it.

01:05:49.460 I also wanted to ask what your favorite, like, funny Trump story is.

01:05:53.460 Well, my favorite what story?

01:05:54.460 Funny Trump story.

01:05:55.460 My favorite funny Trump story?

01:05:57.460 Like a personal Trump story?

01:05:59.460 Or, I haven't really interacted with the man all that much.

01:06:03.460 However, there was one great time when I, well, I can't say I wrote a book, but I did

01:06:09.460 a book called Reasons to Vote for Democrats, A Comprehensive Guide.

01:06:12.460 We have scholars in the audience, I see.

01:06:14.460 That's great.

01:06:15.460 A blank book.

01:06:17.460 Ben Shapiro blurbed it as thorough.

01:06:20.460 And, anyway, I go, I did it.

01:06:22.460 We sold a bazillion copies.

01:06:24.460 I ended up getting a big book deal out of it.

01:06:26.460 Then I ended up on television, on cable news one morning.

01:06:29.460 And the most important viewer of the Fox News morning show was watching from the White House.

01:06:35.460 That was President Trump.

01:06:37.460 And he endorsed the book, and it was really, really great.

01:06:39.460 And people wrote about it in the newspapers.

01:06:41.460 But the thing they didn't write about is, he also quoted the thing that I said right beforehand.

01:06:46.460 I think I was talking about his Syria policy or something.

01:06:49.460 But the way he quoted it made it seem like I was the president.

01:06:52.460 It was like, Michael Knowles, my administration is bombing Syria and all that.

01:06:56.460 And I thought, man, this is really cool.

01:06:57.460 The president is making it sound like I'm the president.

01:07:00.460 That's a really gracious thing for him to do.

01:07:02.460 And then he plugged the book.

01:07:03.460 So, from my personal standpoint, that's my favorite funny Trump story.

01:07:07.460 But, I don't know, there are about 10 billion others for everyone else in the room.

01:07:11.460 Thank you.

01:07:12.460 G'day, guys.

01:07:15.460 I'm Geordi from Australia with these noisy folks up the front.

01:07:18.460 I'm a casual subscriber, by the way.

01:07:21.460 So, when Matt has a movie, I subscribe for that.

01:07:25.460 Question to Michael Knowles.

01:07:26.460 You offered me some whiskey just before.

01:07:28.460 Do you have a spare glass up there?

01:07:29.460 Mm-hmm.

01:07:30.460 Okay.

01:07:31.460 Of the 45, 47 whiskey?

01:07:33.460 Yes, please.

01:07:34.460 Yeah.

01:07:35.460 Do we have an extra glass?

01:07:36.460 Can I...

01:07:37.460 Do we have, like, a cannon that I could blast with?

01:07:38.460 I haven't had a single sip.

01:07:39.460 There you go.

01:07:40.460 This is your whiskey now.

01:07:41.460 Thank you.

01:07:42.460 Do we get someone...

01:07:43.460 Here we are.

01:07:44.460 Wow, this is great.

01:07:45.460 We're giving people booze.

01:07:46.460 We're giving them...

01:07:47.460 Is this legal?

01:07:48.460 This is certainly not legal.

01:07:49.460 Yeah.

01:07:50.460 I'll walk it down.

01:07:51.460 Who's...

01:07:52.460 You know, conservatives, we're people people.

01:07:54.460 The libs.

01:07:55.460 There you are, sir.

01:07:56.460 Enjoy.

01:08:00.460 I love it.

01:08:01.460 This is, you know, it's like a family, man.

01:08:03.460 Did you get his ID, at least?

01:08:04.460 Uh, yeah.

01:08:05.460 He's like 45 or something.

01:08:06.460 I mean...

01:08:07.460 I don't know.

01:08:08.460 How many laws are we gonna break during this show?

01:08:10.460 Yeah, yeah.

01:08:11.460 If this kid asks for cocaine, the answer is no.

01:08:14.460 Oh, yeah.

01:08:15.460 The answer is no.

01:08:17.460 You got another cigar?

01:08:19.460 Yeah, can I get a cig?

01:08:20.460 Any zins?

01:08:21.460 I need someone to give me a zin, actually.

01:08:24.460 Uh, hello.

01:08:25.460 Everyone's tossing.

01:08:26.460 All right, you're all fine.

01:08:27.460 No, no, I'm good.

01:08:28.460 It's okay.

01:08:29.460 My name is William Ripsover.

01:08:32.460 Um, I had a question for Matt or Michael.

01:08:35.460 Um, as a younger man, I was wondering what saint you try hardest to model yourself after,

01:08:45.460 and as a young man, what saint did you most look up to?

01:08:49.460 You know, I, uh, I'll go to the, uh, to the New Testament, and Saint Paul has always

01:08:57.460 been probably the saint that I've felt the most, um, connection to.

01:09:02.460 I, I wanted to choose that as my confirmation name, but Paul Walsh just didn't, I didn't

01:09:06.460 think it sounded right, so I, I couldn't do it.

01:09:08.460 Um, but the thing I like about, uh, Saint Paul, I mean, obviously some of the most beautiful,

01:09:14.460 uh, words, some of those beautiful insights ever written can be found in the Pauline epistles.

01:09:20.460 Uh, but also, I guess I kind of, I can feel a certain connection to the fact that Paul

01:09:26.460 was, when you read the Pauline epistles, he was quite blunt in the way that he talked to

01:09:32.460 people, in the way that he addressed, uh, issues.

01:09:35.460 And, um, and to me it's a, it's a real rebuke of the kind of, uh, nicey-nice Mr. Rogers sort

01:09:42.460 of Christianity that we've gotten fed to us, force-fed to us over the last several decades.

01:09:47.460 Because then when you go, and, and even if you read the Gospels and, and you read the

01:09:50.460 way that, that, uh, that Christ, um, uh, dealt with hypocrites and, uh, and dealt with corruption,

01:09:58.460 you know, you also find that it's quite, quite a bit more aggressive and blunt and direct, not, not mean-spirited,

01:10:04.460 certainly not hateful. Um, there's no contempt in it, but it's calling the sin out and rebuking

01:10:11.460 it directly. And, uh, which is the thing that I love about.

01:10:15.460 Yeah. My confirmation saint is Thomas, but I don't know which one it was because, because

01:10:20.460 I was a punk kid. I was 13. I became an atheist. And I don't remember if I picked Thomas because

01:10:26.460 I was doubting or because I had heard vaguely of this man, Thomas Aquinas, and I heard he was

01:10:31.460 a smart guy and I thought I was smarter than I was, but it all really comes full circle

01:10:35.460 because doubting Thomas, he's called doubting. But of course he says, you know, let us go

01:10:39.460 with the Lord. Let us die with him. That's a great show of faith. And St. Thomas Aquinas

01:10:43.460 is the, one of the most intelligent people ever to live and was right about everything

01:10:47.460 and was certainly a lot more correct about ultimate things than some punk 13 year old atheist

01:10:52.460 who happily came out the other end. And by the way, Thomas means twins. So I think I can claim them both.

01:10:57.460 At least I choose to. Thank you very much. Hello. My name is Harley. I'm a huge fan.

01:11:04.460 Um, but I wanted to ask, what do you have to say about the gender ideologists that use intersex people

01:11:12.460 as a pawn for their trans agenda? Ben? It's a massive category error. So when you're talking about people who are intersex,

01:11:19.460 these are people who have some sort of genetic disorder in which they develop differently than say XY genetics

01:11:26.460 because the SRY gene has crossed over, for example, or where they develop secondary sexual characteristics

01:11:31.460 that are not in line with their genetics. This does not make them a separate sex anymore than a person

01:11:35.460 who is born with a third arm would constitute a separate class of human being called the third arm people.

01:11:40.460 A genetic defect is not the same thing as suggesting that there is an entirely separate sex.

01:11:45.460 Sex is defined by the actual reproductive resource that is being created, either the egg or the sperm,

01:11:54.460 or the large cell gamete or the small cell gamete. That is actually how you define sex biologically speaking.

01:11:59.460 So suggesting that because somebody has a birth defect in which it's unclear to the outside eye what their genetics might be,

01:12:06.460 that this somehow means that a genetic man who has all the normal characteristics of a genetic man could theoretically be a woman,

01:12:13.460 that's just an asinine category error, and people are lying when they attempt to equate intersex with, for example,

01:12:19.460 a person who is a genetic male who claims that they are actually a female.

01:12:22.460 Guys, thank you so much for spending time with us tonight. Enjoy the rest of CPAC, and enjoy the next four years.

01:12:27.460 They're going to be great. Thanks everybody. See you guys.

The Matt Walsh Show - February 21, 2025

Daily Wire Backstage Live at CPAC： The Fight, The Wins, The Future

Episode Stats

Hate Speech Sentences

Summary

Transcript