AOC Just Revealed Where The Left Is Headed Next
Ben Shapiro
0:00 Envy, as we all know, it is one of the seven deadly sins.
0:04 And yet, if you are a Democrat these days, it may be the only virtue.
0:08 See, here's the thing.
0:09 The natural state of human beings, poverty, misery, and death.
0:13 This was the natural state of human
0:15 beings for literally tens of thousands of years.
0:18 And then, it came this thing called
0:19 private property and governments that formed to protect
0:22 that private property and free markets that formed
0:25 to trade and invest and grow that private property.
0:27 And now, we all live better than the richest man on Earth did just
0:31 100 years ago or 80 years ago or even 60 years ago, by far.
0:35 But, for the Democrats, that system,
0:37 free markets, is evil and immoral and wrong.
0:41 Not because free markets have produced poverty or misery, far from it.
0:45 But, because there are a lot of people who envy those who create wealth.
0:49 They envy the people who innovate, compete, and win.
0:52 I've called them the scavengers before, and now,
0:54 those folks may be on the verge of victory here in the United States.
0:58 And I've got the proof.
0:59 We'll get into that.
0:59 Plus, whether you should be worried about hantavirus,
1:02 what President Trump can do to end the war in Iran victoriously,
1:05 and why Mark Hamill has fallen to the hate of the dark side.
1:10 This is the Ben Shapiro Show.
1:17 [music] All righty, so I want to begin with hantavirus.
1:21 I know there are people who are
1:21 freaking out about hantavirus, lots of headlines.
1:24 Is it the new co- No, it's not the new COVID.
1:26 Stop it.
1:27 Just stop.
1:28 Okay, so what happened is there is a cruise ship called the MV Handius.
1:32 And according to the WHO,
1:34 and I know the minute I say the World Health Organization,
1:36 you throw up your hands and start screaming like
1:38 a banshee because they did such a horrible job on COVID.
1:41 Agreed.
1:42 Agreed.
1:43 But, here's the information we have thus far.
1:45 Eight cases have been reported, including three deaths.
1:48 Five of the eight cases were confirmed as hantavirus.
1:52 So, the hantavirus involved is the Andes virus.
1:55 This is the only species known
1:57 to be capable of limited transmission between humans.
1:59 It's linked to close and prolonged contact.
2:02 Typically, hantavirus is transmitted by somebody ingesting rat poop.
2:06 Basically, apparently the way this started is that some
2:08 of the people who were aboard this cruise
2:10 ship got off the cruise ship in Argentina and they went to a dump to bird-watch.
2:15 Folks, don't go to places where there's tons of poop.
2:17 It's just not a great thing to do.
2:19 It's just not great.
2:20 Anyway, so people got back on the ship and tragically,
2:23 there were some people who had hantavirus
2:24 and it started passing person to person, apparently.
2:28 Now, this Andes strain apparently has a mortality rate of something like 40%,
2:34 which is super scary, right?
2:35 The COVID mortality rate was extremely low.
2:38 The Andes strain of hantavirus has a mortality rate of 40%,
2:42 meaning if 10 people get it, four will die.
2:44 However, according to the CDC and the WHO,
2:48 hantavirus has a reproduction number of less than one.
2:51 Now, again, I know this brings back bad memories.
2:53 We all have PTSD from the COVID days.
2:56 The R rate is the rate at which it is easy spreads.
2:59 If it is less than one, it will die out.
3:02 If it is more than one, it may slightly grow.
3:04 The flu is like 1.2.
3:06 COVID was like four at times,
3:09 like last strains of COVID, meaning it spread really, really fast.
3:13 Now, there's a weird thing about viruses,
3:14 which is the more deadly they are, typically speaking,
3:17 the lower the reproduction rate because you die
3:20 before you can pass it on to other people.
3:23 And very often, you only get a a very deadly
3:28 form of a disease from a person who is symptomatic.
3:31 That is true of hantavirus.
3:32 The incubation period is something like 1 to 8 weeks, anywhere in there,
3:35 but during that incubation period,
3:37 when it's just kind of growing in your body, it is not contagious.
3:40 So, only when it starts to manifest, which is pretty severe, is it contagious.
3:47 So, you're not going to be going
3:49 out to birthday parties typically with hantavirus.
3:52 Right?
3:52 Once it starts to actually harm you, once you start to be really,
3:54 really sick, you are going to be in a hospital.
3:57 You're going to be stuck in your bedroom, right?
3:59 You are not going to be out there partying it up.
4:01 A cruise ship is a different story because obviously,
4:03 even as you become symptomatic,
4:05 you're in close contact for prolonged periods of time with other human beings.
4:11 From 1993 to 2003, there were about 890
4:14 cases of hantavirus reported in the United States.
4:16 About 35% of those resulted in death.
4:19 Again, that those were mostly not human-to-human.
4:22 So, here is a timeline of what happened here.
4:25 March 20th, the ship departed Argentina.
4:29 By April 6th, the first passenger had started getting sick.
4:32 The ill passenger, who was 70 years old, died on board.
4:35 The ship then docked in St.
4:36 Helena and 23 passengers got off.
4:40 Then the wife of the dead passenger also died.
4:42 Again, close contact for prolonged period of time.
4:44 And then a third passenger, a British man,
4:46 became seriously ill and was medically evacuated in South Africa.
4:50 A German woman died on board and a British
4:51 man became the first to test positive for hantavirus.
4:55 That is full on a month later.
4:59 And then the ship denied docking at Cape
5:01 Verde and the Dutch woman's body tested positive.
5:04 And then a departed passenger tested positive in Switzerland.
5:06 Some people, you know, got on planes, they flew.
5:10 The ship is now headed for the Canary Islands.
5:12 Okay, but the chances that this is like a pandemic level hantavirus,
5:18 that it's human-to-human contact,
5:19 that somebody went to a birthday party and spread it everywhere,
5:22 very, very, very low.
5:24 So again, I always hesitate now because of the poison that is
5:27 the WHO in the public discourse to bring sources from the WHO.
5:31 That's how bad they are at their jobs and how
5:33 horribly they abuse the trust of the American people.
5:36 But here is the WHO director of pandemic prevention,
5:38 a woman named Maria Van Kerkhove.
5:43 This is not coronavirus.
5:45 Uh this is a very different virus.
5:47 We know this virus.
5:48 Hantaviruses have been around for quite a while.
5:51 There's a lot of detail that we know.
5:52 I'm going to ask N A E to come
5:53 in and say this, but I want to be unequivocal here.
5:56 This is not SARS-CoV-2.
5:58 This is not the start of a COVID pandemic.
6:00 This is an outbreak that we see on a ship.
6:02 There's a confined area.
6:03 We have five confirmed cases so far.
6:08 Okay, so should you be masking up?
6:09 No.
6:10 Should you be worrying about shutting down your business?
6:11 No.
6:12 Should you be worrying about sending your kids to school?
6:14 No.
6:14 You should go about your life.
6:16 The media have an incentive to act as though every
6:20 new hantavirus or disease is going to turn into COVID.
6:24 And let's be real, even COVID wasn't COVID,
6:26 meaning the way that the media portrayed COVID that it had an exorbitantly
6:30 high death rate that it was going to kill legitimately millions of people,
6:35 particularly young people.
6:37 It turns out that a lot of that was exaggerated,
6:39 particularly in the United States.
6:40 The early estimates were just wrong.
6:42 There was so much bad data.
6:44 And it abused the trust of the American people.
6:45 Anthony Fauci abused the trust of the American people.
6:48 Hell, Pfizer in its initial statements about the the efficacy
6:51 of the vaccine in stopping transmission abused the trust of the American people.
6:56 Do not be taken in by the media panic that is
6:58 currently happening about hantavirus because there is no evidence at this point.
7:02 Now, the evidence can change, but at this point there is zero evidence
7:05 that you should be freaked out about this hantavirus.
7:08 In a second, we'll get to AOC declaring that billionaires are illegitimate.
7:12 I mean, she knows economics.
7:14 She did take tips as a bartender.
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8:18 Okay, now speaking of viruses that will not die,
8:21 the virus of socialist envy never dies.
8:24 It never ever dies.
8:26 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a beneficiary of America's free market system.
8:32 I mean, listen, America's fabulous.
8:33 America is so fabulous that you can be
8:35 a complete dullard and be incredibly rich and powerful.
8:38 And truly, it's an incredible thing.
8:41 There are people who have made a bajillion dollars in the United
8:43 States who in any other country would be the village idiot.
8:49 And it's not because they're stealing money from people.
8:51 Hey, AOC she is widely considered a possible New York Senate candidate.
8:57 She may run against Chuck Schumer.
8:59 Maybe she'll run for president.
9:01 Well, she was on a podcast with a human called Ilana Glazer.
9:04 They, she, a comedian, actor, advocate, and creator.
9:09 She recently made her Broadway debut in the stage
9:11 adaptation of Good Night and Good Luck.
9:13 And again, another person benefiting from the fact that the United States is
9:16 rich enough to pay people a lot of money to do dumb things.
9:20 In any case AOC made the rather incredible statement
9:24 that it is not possible to earn a billion dollars.
9:26 Apparently, in AOC's dumb brain there is a cutoff point.
9:31 So, you can earn $100,000.
9:33 Maybe you can earn a million dollars,
9:34 but it's not possible to earn a billion dollars.
9:36 We don't know exactly where that cutoff point is.
9:38 Is it 500 million and $1?
9:41 Where is the cutoff point?
9:42 But here is her explanation.
9:46 There's a certain level of wealth and accumulation that is unearned.
9:52 Right?
9:54 You can't earn a billion dollars.
9:58 That's right.
9:58 You just can't earn that.
10:00 That's exactly correct.
10:08 Uh the amount of brainpower in that room could toast a piece of bread lightly.
10:13 Absolute oatmeal for brains over there.
10:16 You cannot earn a billion Absolutely you can earn a billion dollars.
10:19 In fact, the way that you earn a billion dollars in the private sector is
10:23 you provide goods and services to millions of people that they want to pay for.
10:27 That is how you earn a billion dollars.
10:29 You innovate a new product, lots of people want it,
10:31 and then they pay you for it.
10:33 That is how you make money.
10:35 But again, this sort of stupidity has become de rigueur for the left.
10:39 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez then pushed this further.
10:42 She said, "The single largest form of theft in America is wage theft.
10:46 $50 billion a year are stolen from American workers." Now,
10:49 she's not talking here about the wage theft of the government coming
10:52 in and literally confiscating a giant chunk of your paycheck every month.
10:55 She thinks it is wage theft for companies
10:59 to not pay wages that she thinks they should pay.
11:01 She says, "If a billionaire amasses
11:03 their wealth by underpaying their full-time workers
11:05 so severely they must rely on food
11:07 assistance and government programs to survive,
11:09 then no, that wealth was not earned by one individual.
11:11 It was a wealth transfer subsidized by underpaid American
11:14 workers and the public who got stuck with the bill
11:16 for large corporations free riding off our systems."
11:19 She's not making the argument she thinks she's making.
11:22 She really is not.
11:24 I half agree.
11:26 If you pay people to stay home, or if you pay to supplement people's wages,
11:32 that means that there is a downward pressure
11:34 on wages because someone else is paying half the wages.
11:38 That is an argument against government subsidization of wages.
11:42 That is not an argument in favor of prying
11:45 more money somehow out of the private employer.
11:48 She says, "The point is less about individual morality.
11:51 It's more about how our current economic reality of shattering inequality
11:54 rewards screwing over workers and exploiting essential systems at scale." Again,
12:00 the way to get wages up would be to reduce government dependency.
12:05 That would be the way.
12:08 She says, "We're talking about monopoly power." She
12:09 doesn't know what she's talking about monopoly power.
12:12 This idea that billionaires are
12:14 billionaires because they have quote-unquote monopolies,
12:17 the only true monopoly in a free market system is a monopoly
12:20 in which you get the government to regulate your competitors out of existence.
12:24 That is how monopoly actually works.
12:27 Rent seeking, wage theft, profiteering,
12:29 stock buybacks, destabilizing house markets.
12:33 I mean, again, profiteering?
12:35 Do you mean like charging people for a product or service?
12:38 Stock buybacks Stock buybacks are not a form of monopoly power.
12:42 What is she talking about?
12:44 Companies using SNAP or EBT to underwrite their wages.
12:48 Again, that is a critique of the SNAP EBT perverse incentives.
12:51 Massive government subsidies or contracts
12:53 to corporations following lobbying and dark
12:55 money in politics with little to no oversight or accountability.
12:58 I agree with that.
12:59 But that is a capitalist point, not a socialist point.
13:03 More government control equals more corruption, duh.
13:06 Some people get enraged I draw attention to this.
13:08 That's on them.
13:09 Let's let them call me shrill, dumb, inexperienced, girly, or uneducated.
13:13 I'm not calling her girly, she is a girl.
13:15 I'm calling her shrill, dumb, inexperienced, and uneducated.
13:17 She is all of those things.
13:19 These folks will say anything to distract from or undercut
13:21 the truth that working people are getting screwed
13:23 and giving people a fair shake means we must
13:25 have a grown conversation about reigning in abuse of power.
13:27 So, first of all, it has always been
13:29 a Marxist lie that capitalism impoverishes the worker.
13:33 It is not true.
13:33 It has never been true.
13:36 It was something Karl Marx argued back
13:38 during the Industrial Revolution that the impoverishment
13:41 of wage earners would result
13:43 from capitalism and precisely the opposite occurred.
13:45 Every prediction Marx ever made about the future state of the world was wrong.
13:49 All of them.
13:50 Which is why in order to achieve his vision,
13:52 governments eventually had to just kill tens of millions of human beings.
13:56 Because it turns out that Marx's predictions about the future,
14:00 his supposed prophetic powers, were untrue.
14:04 He projected that there would be a gigantic class struggle.
14:07 Never happened.
14:09 He projected that capitalism would impoverish everyone.
14:12 Didn't happen.
14:14 He projected that workers would get poorer.
14:16 Didn't happen.
14:18 But again, all that Marxism is really rooted in in the end
14:22 is not rooted in any thoroughgoing understanding of economics or human nature.
14:26 It is rooted in pure envy.
14:28 Pure unadulterated envy.
14:31 AOC cites to Bernie Sanders as the founder of the movement.
14:35 Again, citing some of the most useless people on Earth
14:37 as the founders of your movement is is a move.
14:40 Here here is AOC.
14:43 You know, Bernie Sanders I think was the first to puncture through
14:46 with this messaging to the mainstream
14:49 to mainstream America and you're really his successor.
14:52 You speak in such clear and simple language.
14:55 So obviously spontaneous,
14:57 genuine from your lived experience which is so different.
15:01 I mean, you know, I'm laughing but it's it's honestly terrifying how most uh I
15:06 would say the majority of elected officials do
15:09 not reflect the lived experience of their constituents.
15:12 When did this come into your consciousness?
15:15 This system being rigged for the ultra-wealthy?
15:19 Well, first I want to say in a lot of ways we're all kind of Bernie successor.
15:24 [laughter] Mhm.
15:25 Again, there is no one who's been a bigger
15:27 leech on the ass of American society than Bernie Sanders.
15:29 The man has not held a productive job for literally 80 years.
15:33 For 80 years, he has lived and sponged off the taxpayer.
15:36 It's incredible.
15:38 I mean, by the way, Bernie is the kind of person who
15:40 is now going after Sergey Brin for the great crime of founding Google.
15:44 Quote, "Google founder Sergey Brin's wealth has
15:46 doubled to $311 billion since Trump's election.
15:49 Now he's spending 57 million to oppose
15:51 a 5% billionaires wealth tax in California.
15:54 He'd rather millions lose health care than pay his fair share in taxes.
15:57 This kind of arrogance is unacceptable." Again, unacceptable according to whom?
16:01 You're a tyrant.
16:02 Tyrant.
16:03 And by the way, it is you who are arrogant
16:05 because you believe you are entitled to Sergey Brin's wealth.
16:08 By the way, wealth he isn't even cashed out on.
16:11 The predictable result of all of this, by the way,
16:12 as we'll get to in a little while, is people will flee California.
16:15 Anyone who can earn is fleeing California at this point.
16:19 In the end, this is all rooted in a fundamental
16:21 misunderstanding of how the world works or envy or both.
16:26 Kamala Harris, I don't know.
16:27 Is she stupid?
16:28 Is she Is she corrupt?
16:30 Is she Is she promoting evil?
16:32 Maybe all three.
16:34 She does this through the This is the thing
16:35 that people like AOC or Bernie or Kamala will do.
16:38 They will posit a utopian world in which good things happen.
16:42 And then they will say, "If that world does not exist,
16:46 it doesn't exist because of a system I don't like." So,
16:50 here she was saying that you know,
16:53 she should be able to basically dictate wages.
16:55 Here we go.
16:57 But a revival.
17:00 And what does that look like?
17:02 Well, where if you work a 40-hour week,
17:08 you can afford your rent and food on the table
17:12 and maybe a vacation from time to time.
17:15 Not scraping to get by, praying you can get through the end of the month.
17:21 Okay, I mean, that is so vague as to be utterly worthless.
17:25 Okay, should is doing a lot of work there.
17:28 First of all, the vast majority of people in the United
17:30 States who work a 40-hour week are affording rent.
17:32 They're not living on the streets.
17:33 They're affording rent.
17:35 It may be too expensive.
17:36 They may not like it.
17:37 But the vast majority of human beings
17:39 in the United States can afford rent on their salary.
17:41 By afford, I mean they're not homeless.
17:43 And they can afford food, because starvation in the United States is at zero.
17:47 No one is starving to death in the United States.
17:50 And so we can start with that.
17:51 But again, what socialists do, what people who hate free markets do,
17:55 is they posit that there should be I mean, I can do it, too.
17:58 You know, if you work 40 hours a week in the United States,
18:01 you should be able to afford a six-bedroom mansion in Bel Air.
18:06 You should also be able to afford a cruise around the world without hand,
18:10 foot, and mouth virus.
18:11 And a private jet.
18:13 If you work 40 hours a week,
18:14 you should be in a better world, you would be able to do that.
18:17 And the only thing stopping you is this system I don't like.
18:21 It's just crap.
18:23 It's just nonsense.
18:25 It's being practiced, by the way, out in California.
18:28 I mean, in California, they're trying to do this.
18:31 And coming up, we'll be
18:31 joined by California's Republican gubernatorial candidate.
18:35 Is he the next governor?
18:37 Why is California falling apart?
18:38 We'll get to it with Steve Hilton in a moment.
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19:41 In California, they're pushing hard for the idea
19:44 that if they destroy the wealth creators,
19:46 that somehow this will magically fix everything.
19:48 One of the people who is running against that is Steve Hilton.
19:51 You know him from Fox News, conservative political commentator,
19:54 former political advisor, and now candidate for governor of California.
19:57 In the polls, the frontrunner at the moment.
19:59 Steve, thanks so much for joining the show.
20:00 Really appreciate it.
20:03 Classic to be with you.
20:03 I love what you've been saying, Ben.
20:04 It's fantastic.
20:05 Can I add one little dimension to what you've been saying, which is taxes.
20:10 So, at the same time as all
20:11 of this going on, which you correctly describe there,
20:16 you've got, because of the tax system,
20:19 low-paid workers, the ones that Kamala Harris
20:21 and all these people profess to care about,
20:23 certainly in California, paying massive taxes to the government.
20:26 And the employers that are allegedly impoverishing
20:29 these workers also paying massive taxes to the government,
20:33 which are then recycled in these handouts.
20:35 I'll just give you the numbers.
20:36 In California, there are a number of counties now where,
20:40 because of the cost of living being so high because of Democrat policies,
20:43 the official definition of low income is $100,000 a year.
20:49 So, you got people, because the California tax system, earning 70,
20:52 80, 90 grand a year, low income, paying 9.3% state income tax.
20:58 That is higher than the top rate of tax in most states in America.
21:02 What have they got to say about that?
21:03 Nothing.
21:04 My plan, on the other hand, is to reduce taxes for those people,
21:08 eliminating state income tax for everyone earning a hundred grand or below.
21:11 And so, these people just don't think about the actual system.
21:15 They want more and more taxes, more and more government,
21:17 and then they complain that the workers aren't getting paid
21:20 enough even as they're taking more money out of their pockets.
21:24 It is it's totally insane.
21:25 I was just in California a little bit earlier this week,
21:27 and I was looking at the gas prices in California, and you have, you know,
21:30 people in California complaining about it's the Iran
21:32 war that's making the gas prices go up.
21:34 Well, it's weird, cuz I live here in Florida, and yeah,
21:35 gas is a little more expensive than it was
21:37 a couple of months ago before the war started,
21:40 but I noticed that per gallon over here $3.95 a gallon, $3.90 a gallon,
21:45 and then I'm in LA, and I'm looking at seven bucks a gallon.
21:48 That is not happening because of the Iran war.
21:50 That is be hap- happening because
21:51 of the horrific governance in the state of California,
21:53 and it's a regressive tax, because you know who can afford an electric car?
21:57 Rich people.
21:57 You know who can't afford an electric car?
21:59 Everybody who's a wage earner.
22:02 Exactly.
22:02 I mean, that's why the first pledge in my campaign,
22:05 about a year ago when I started, was $3 gas,
22:07 because at the time, before the war,
22:10 you had 40 states in America where gas was $3 or below.
22:14 Most of them with no oil reserves.
22:16 California has abundant oil reserves,
22:19 yet because of their insane virtue signaling about
22:23 clamping down on fossil fuels and ending fossil fuels,
22:26 they are ending California production of fossil fuels, that's for sure.
22:29 But the overall consumption of fossil fuels in California since their war
22:33 on fossil fuels is about the same as it ever was.
22:35 Except now, we are importing it from halfway around the world.
22:38 Our number one provider of oil right now used to be
22:41 California when we got most of it from in state.
22:44 Number one provider now, Iraq.
22:46 These geniuses, in the name of climate change,
22:48 are now shipping oil halfway around the world,
22:51 7,500 miles from Iraq in giant supertankers,
22:54 spewing out carbon emissions because they run on the dirtiest form of fuel,
22:58 bunker fuel, in the name of climate.
23:00 They're literally increasing carbon emissions in the name of climate.
23:04 Another example, um the the oil that works
23:06 with California refineries is a heavier form of crude oil.
23:10 A good match for that, the oil you get in South America.
23:13 So again, in the name of Gavin Newsom's climate policy,
23:16 we are now expanding oil drilling in the Amazon rainforest in order to provide
23:21 oil to California because they refuse to actually get it from within California,
23:26 in the process shutting down our energy industry and destroying
23:29 jobs in the rural areas of California like Kern County,
23:32 which they don't care about.
23:33 It's just so utterly insane and incoherent.
23:36 We got to take these people apart.
23:39 You know, Steve, one of the things
23:41 that that is truly amazing is is you're hearing
23:43 people like the AOCs and the Bernies
23:45 of the world talking about the system being rigged.
23:46 Meanwhile, one of the people running for governor in your race is Tom Steyer,
23:50 who every so often just blows like 150 million dollars
23:54 on a political race in which he gets his ass
23:56 kicked and trying to rig the elections in his own
23:58 favor by spending gobs of of his own money,
24:01 much of which was earned off of carbon-based fossil fuels.
24:04 It's It's pretty astonishing stuff and simultaneously saying
24:07 that the wealth tax isn't high enough in order
24:10 to drive the other people who are actually
24:11 innovating and earning in California out of the state.
24:14 Now, what do you make of of your competitors in this race?
24:17 How do you view the race at this point?
24:20 So one one further point on Tom Steyer,
24:22 we will have to publish our taxes um as candidates for governor.
24:26 Of all the candidates in the race, billionaire Tom Steyer,
24:29 who rails against billionaires using tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes,
24:33 actually pays the lowest effective tax rate because he's stashing
24:37 his money away in tax loopholes and places like the Cayman Islands.
24:41 So I mean, the whole thing is so ridiculous.
24:44 In terms of the race, I think where we are now is encouraging
24:48 for those of us who want change in California, which by the way is a majority.
24:52 Just to be clear, the the the data on whether people think the state is
24:56 going in the right direction or wrong
24:57 direction has shifted very negatively against the Democrats.
25:00 During the last governor's race 4 years ago,
25:02 the kind of right track wrong track number wrong
25:05 track in California was a mid to high 40s.
25:08 Today, it's mid to high 50s.
25:10 There's a majority who want change.
25:12 That's why I I know it's going to be difficult to win this year,
25:15 but I think we've got an opportunity cuz
25:17 people are sick of what's been going on.
25:19 In terms of the race, we got this ridiculous top two primary system.
25:22 The top two vote getters in the primary go forward regardless of party.
25:26 Right now, I'm leading or tied for the lead in in all of the polls.
25:29 There's another one out today that has me on 20% Xavier Becerra,
25:33 Biden's former health secretary on 20, everyone else on 14 or below.
25:37 So, that's encouraging, but there's a risk that actually because of this system,
25:43 if Tom Steyer dumps another $160 million into the race,
25:48 which he could perfectly well do, he might go up a little bit.
25:51 The Democrat machine in California has kind of glommed onto Xavier Becerra,
25:56 who was down and out a few weeks ago before the Swalwell sleaze implosion,
26:01 but Becerra is like a dream come true
26:03 for the California political machine cuz he's exactly what they want.
26:07 Just like Kamala Harris, just like Newsom, just like Bass,
26:11 actually just like Joe Biden, he is a complete puppet.
26:14 Career politician who will just do whatever they say, whatever the unions want.
26:18 He doesn't really believe in anything other than his own political career.
26:22 And so, they're excited for him.
26:24 No one else is, but the machine is.
26:26 And so, you've got the unions all getting behind Becerra.
26:28 And so, you could see him moving up up a little bit.
26:30 Effectively right now, you've got a top three in the race,
26:34 myself, Becerra, and Tom Steyer.
26:37 If we can unite a little bit more strongly behind my campaign,
26:41 then I'll be there probably against Becerra, but you never know.
26:45 We got a month to go.
26:45 The ballots are already out.
26:47 It's very important everyone in California
26:49 understands that we could be locked out,
26:52 and you could have two Democrats in the top
26:54 two if we don't actually get behind the leading Republican,
26:58 who very clearly now is me.
27:01 Now, now Steve, I'm somebody who gave up the ghost on California a while back.
27:05 I took my family, I moved out in 2020 figuring that the slide was irreversible.
27:09 Our business moved to Tennessee.
27:11 I have pretty much all my relatives moved.
27:13 We still have relatives who are still back in California.
27:14 Every time I visit LA,
27:16 it just feels like a living tragedy because obviously you're talking
27:19 about one of the most beautiful places on Earth in California,
27:21 tremendous natural resources,
27:22 and somehow governance has reduced it to a completely ungovernable mess.
27:26 So, the the question is obviously it feels as though
27:30 this election is sort of last chance saloon for for a California.
27:33 I keep hearing from my friends who have stayed in California,
27:36 maybe it'll turn around, maybe it'll shift.
27:38 If it doesn't shift in this election, the question to me is when would it?
27:42 Is it possible that it ever would, or are we basically in a death spiral now?
27:47 I think that's exactly right.
27:48 I really do.
27:48 I mean, I remember when I launched the campaign,
27:50 I said, "Look, it's now or never.
27:51 We really do have because actually there's so
27:55 many people I'm on the road the whole time.
27:57 It's been a year now.
27:58 Businesses all over the state,
27:59 not just the high profile ones that make the headlines.
28:02 So many businesses, and people say to me, "If you don't win, I'm out.
28:06 I'm hanging on.
28:07 I'm waiting to see if it's going to happen this time,
28:09 and then I'm out." Business is more mobile than ever.
28:12 Um people can see that you can make a great business um start a business,
28:17 grow a business exactly as you have in other parts of the country.
28:20 The idea that you have to be in California isn't isn't real for a lot of people.
28:24 Of course, there are some businesses, you know,
28:26 real estate and so on that are going to stay,
28:28 and and and they're committed to trying to save the state,
28:31 but there's a real risk that we just fall off the cliff.
28:34 And so, this is a make or break moment.
28:37 I think we can do it because of the fact
28:39 that people are so sick of what's been going on.
28:41 We got a couple of other factors in our favor.
28:44 Um in a mid-term election, as you know,
28:45 it's all about turnout, getting your voters out.
28:48 And there's a couple of ballot initiatives
28:50 that have been confirmed for the ballot in November
28:52 in California that will really help get Republicans
28:55 voters out cuz they're disproportionately popular among Republicans.
28:58 The first of them is is a ballot initiative called Save Prop 13,
29:02 which is about limiting local tax increases, property tax increases, and so on.
29:06 And then and then the one that's had more attention, voter ID.
29:09 Voter ID is going to be on the ballot in November.
29:11 That's really popular with Republicans.
29:13 So, I think that we've got everything going for us.
29:15 The the Democrat candidates are terrible in different ways,
29:20 whether it's Becerra,
29:21 who's just a complete I mean, even look how look how bad Becerra is.
29:25 Even his own former colleagues in the Biden administration are now
29:29 leaking every day about what a useless cabinet secretary he was.
29:32 I mean, if you're so bad that Joe Biden thinks you're incompetent,
29:37 then, you know, you got problems.
29:38 And then, of course, Steyer, um who's even worse.
29:41 How do I say uh if you think it can't get any worse in California,
29:44 I've got two words for you, Tom Steyer.
29:46 Um these candidates are beatable.
29:48 And so, I think this absolutely could be a a year.
29:51 Look at Spencer Pratt generating huge buzz and energy in LA
29:54 tapping into the rage of what happened there with Karen Bass.
29:57 Look, it's not going to be easy.
29:58 I've never said that.
29:59 It's going to be difficult, but we've got a lot of support growing.
30:02 We've got the business community engaged in politics in California
30:06 for the first time in at least 20 years,
30:08 partially prompted by this insane wealth tax proposal.
30:11 So, look, we can do it.
30:13 I really believe we can do it, but it's going to be hard.
30:15 We've got to fight for it.
30:17 That's Steve Hilton.
30:18 Steve, where should people go to support your campaign?
30:21 Thank you, Ben.
30:21 SteveHiltonForGovernor.com, f o r.
30:24 SteveHiltonForGovernor.com.
30:26 Um but most importantly, vote.
30:27 The ballots are out.
30:28 We've got a month of early voting.
30:30 It's already started.
30:31 It's not going to happen unless people actually go out and vote for it.
30:35 Well, that's Steve Hilton.
30:35 Steve, really appreciate the time and good luck.
30:38 In a second, we'll get to the Marxist belief that somehow
30:42 souls are transformed as soon as you get rid of capitalism.
30:45 Plus, what should President Trump do on Iran?
30:48 And we'll get to Mark Hamill who has joined the dark side.
30:50 First, this Mother's Day we celebrate something truly meaningful,
30:53 the gift of life and the women who choose to bring it into the world.
30:56 For many families, it's a moment of joy sharing the news,
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31:00 For some women, Mother's Day feels very different.
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31:23 We have four kids, we have fifth on the way.
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31:27 you get to know your kids well before they're born.
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31:50 Or visit preborn.com/ben.
31:52 That's preborn.com/ben.
31:54 So, you know, to go back to what's happening,
31:57 I think it's important to note that the places like California
32:00 that have decided to follow the AOC Bernie Sanders wealth is terrible,
32:04 innovation is awful, it's all theft path, they are losing they're losing people.
32:10 They're losing income.
32:11 This is a chart of AGI gained or lost in states
32:15 that Trump won in 2024 versus states that he lost.
32:19 That's the be the income that that is being gained or lost.
32:24 And what you can see is massive gains
32:28 in the red states and massive losses in the blue states.
32:32 Amounting to some 2 trillion dollars gained in the Trump
32:36 states and almost $2 trillion lost in the blue states.
32:40 That is because business owners, people who innovate,
32:42 are fleeing places that hate them.
32:45 By the way, the loss leaders,
32:47 places like California, which lost $503 billion in AGI,
32:51 and New York, which lost $660 billion in AGI, and they keep running this down.
32:55 So, the question is, why?
32:57 The question is, why?
32:58 Why do they keep doing this?
32:59 And it can only be envy.
33:02 It can only be envy.
33:04 It can't be efficacy.
33:06 Right?
33:06 When people on the right,
33:08 when we have whenever you argue in favor of free markets,
33:09 we we typically argue in a utilitarian fashion about free markets,
33:13 that free markets work better than socialism
33:15 and regulation and subsidization and government control.
33:18 And that's true.
33:19 But in the end, the argument that is being made by AOC,
33:22 Bernie, Tom Steyer, Katie Porter, like all these people,
33:26 the arguments that are being made are not, in fact, utilitarian arguments.
33:30 They are not saying socialism will work better.
33:32 Socialism is not going to provide you a 40-hour workweek
33:35 with a vacation and rent and food in a better way than capitalism.
33:39 It will not work that way.
33:40 What they are promising is something different.
33:42 They're making a moral indictment of people who are rich.
33:45 They are saying that when you become rich,
33:46 you become evil and corrupt and terrible.
33:48 Right?
33:48 That is why she doesn't say, "If you earn $100,000, AOC,
33:53 she doesn't say, "If you earn $100,000, then you have been corrupt." She says,
33:57 "If you earn a billion dollars, you've been corrupt." There comes some point,
34:00 a tipping point, at which your greed takes over.
34:04 And if only we change the systems under which you live,
34:06 then the heart of man itself would change.
34:08 The promise of Marxism is not a better future.
34:12 The promise of Marxism is a better human being.
34:14 That was always the promise of Marxism, and it is a lie.
34:17 It is untrue.
34:18 Human beings are human beings wherever you go.
34:20 Human nature is human nature wherever you go.
34:23 And the reality is that the moral status that Marxism tries to claim,
34:30 And idea that that you are more altruistic,
34:32 that you are a better person if you believe in redistributionism, is a lie.
34:36 Free markets are just.
34:38 Free markets are good.
34:40 Free markets are based on a simple principle.
34:43 You, as an individual, have creative power in the universe.
34:47 You are made in the image of God.
34:48 You have control over your autonomy.
34:50 You have the ability to control your labor and alienate it.
34:53 Your innovation is your own, and you ought to own it.
34:57 The principle of justice is that people get what they have coming to them.
35:03 Right?
35:03 That is a That is the principle of justice.
35:06 Justice is not the idea that you have an idea of what the world should be,
35:10 and if you don't get that thing, then justice has not been achieved.
35:13 Thomas Sowell, the economist, he properly observed in his fabulous book,
35:17 The Quest for Cosmic Justice, "Justice is a process and not an outcome.
35:21 We are not God that we can simply say,
35:22 'Let there be equality or let there be justice.'
35:25 We must begin with the universe that we were
35:26 born into, and weigh the costs of making any
35:28 specific change in it to achieve a specific end." Okay,
35:33 private property is a good.
35:35 It is not a bad.
35:36 It is a good.
35:37 It is good that there are billionaires because a society that has
35:41 in a free market billionaires means there
35:42 are a lot of people who are millionaires.
35:43 It means there are a lot of people who are making $100,000.
35:46 And it means that everybody is wealthier than they were the day before.
35:51 Why?
35:51 Because of innovation.
35:53 And I can't say this enough.
35:55 There are time machines on planet Earth.
35:56 They're called airplanes.
35:57 Take an airplane to a third world
35:59 country that does not protect private property,
36:01 that does not believe in equal rights before the law,
36:04 and see how it works out for you.
36:06 It's terrible.
36:07 It's truly awful.
36:08 Meanwhile, you're living here in the United States,
36:11 the greatest country in the history of mankind.
36:14 And you have a magical device you carry around in your pocket every day,
36:17 filled with more technology than the tech that was
36:20 used to put a man on the moon.
36:23 And you're carrying that around every day,
36:24 and you can hit a button on that phone,
36:26 and a product will be magically delivered to you without
36:29 any effort on your part other than hitting the button.
36:32 And that product will have been sourced from 80 different countries.
36:35 And you'll never know about it.
36:36 That's the power of free markets.
36:38 And that's rooted again in your specific priorities.
36:41 You are not a victim in the system.
36:43 You get to decide what you want to buy.
36:44 You get to decide what you want to sell.
36:46 You get to decide how much you're going to spend for a thing
36:48 or whether you don't want to spend that much money for a thing.
36:52 The theory of marginal value.
36:55 Right?
36:55 The idea that you as an individual get to decide what
36:58 a thing is worth to you is the basis for free market economics.
37:03 Meaning that it is the most individualistic system
37:06 that has ever been conceived of by mankind.
37:09 We didn't even properly understand it until the works of Ludwig
37:13 von Mises and Böhm-Bawerk in the late 19th, early 20th century.
37:18 And the basic idea is this.
37:20 A glass of water, what is it worth to you?
37:23 Now, in the United States on a typical day, probably not all that much.
37:26 Right?
37:27 You can go to a tap, you can open up the tap, you can put some water in it.
37:29 If you're in the Sahara, it would be worth literally all of your wealth.
37:33 Because otherwise you would die.
37:35 Does that mean that the water changed value or does
37:37 it mean that your value on the water changed?
37:41 Your value on the water changed.
37:42 And that's what price systems do.
37:43 We aggregate the value in the time and then we
37:47 figure out what the average person is willing to pay basically.
37:51 That is good.
37:52 It is better.
37:52 You innovate.
37:53 You compete.
37:54 Things get better.
37:57 So, it is not just a utilitarian case, it is a moral case.
38:00 And again, the left hates that moral case.
38:03 They want something completely different.
38:05 And meanwhile, the left is getting more and more radical.
38:08 The left is getting more and more violent in its perception of the world.
38:12 Mark Hamill put out a post.
38:15 Mark Hamill, of course, is most famous for playing Luke Skywalker.
38:20 He also was the voice of the Joker in the series.
38:22 This is much closer to the the Joker than it is to Luke Skywalker.
38:27 He put out a photo of President Trump,
38:30 in sort of an AI painting of President Trump, dead.
38:34 Like lying in the ground with flowers growing on him,
38:38 and a gravestone atop him that says Donald J.
38:40 Trump 1946 to 2024.
38:43 And he put out a statement on Blue Sky,
38:45 which is Twitter for leftist crazy people.
38:48 Quote, "If only he should live long enough
38:50 to witness his inevitable devastating loss in the midterms,
38:52 be held accountable for his unprecedented corruption,
38:54 impeached, convicted, and humiliated for his countless crimes.
38:58 Long enough to realize he'll be disgraced
39:00 in the history books forevermore." Okay, he then deleted it.
39:05 Putting up pictures of your political opponents dead typically a bad thing.
39:10 Now, it was just a couple of days ago that Barack
39:13 Obama was with Mark Hamill at the Obama Presidential Center.
39:21 Happy Star [music] Wars Day from the Obama Presidential Center.
39:25 I have a very good feeling about this.
39:29 Mark, I'm glad you are here.
39:31 I want to tell you about someone.
39:34 Okay.
39:34 A young person born into ordinary circumstances,
39:36 [music] but restless, unsatisfied.
39:41 Mhm.
39:40 A kid with big dreams.
39:42 A bit of a rebel.
39:44 I like where this [music] is going.
39:45 They join a scrappy group of underdogs and set out to [music] change things.
39:50 By blowing up a giant space laser?
39:54 Mark, this is not about you.
39:57 Oh.
39:56 As wonderful as you are, this is about them.
40:00 This isn't a monument to my legacy.
40:02 It's a gateway to you.
40:05 him.
40:05 The Obama Presidential Center is much more than a museum.
40:08 It is an entire campus built to empower [music] you.
40:11 A place to come together, get inspired, and become a force [music] for change.
40:19 Yeah, exactly.
40:20 It's the Zoolander school for kids who can't read good.
40:22 the dad jokes are.
40:26 [laughter] That's perfect.
40:28 My my my my favorite my favorite thing about Obama there is that he's like,
40:31 "Mark, it's not about you." It's about me.
40:35 That's that's literally what he's saying.
40:36 You know, a scrappy underdog who up But again,
40:41 the left mostly fine with this sort of thing these days.
40:45 Kathy Griffin, who was last seen holding up
40:47 a mock-up of the severed head of Donald Trump.
40:49 You remember that during term one?
40:51 Well, now she is out there making fun of Erica Kirk, which has become sport.
40:54 I have to say, the sport of making fun of Erica Kirk
40:56 is one of the sickest things I've seen in modern American politics.
40:59 It is disgusting.
41:01 It's disgusting.
41:01 You don't have to love Charlie Kirk.
41:03 You don't have to like Erica Kirk.
41:04 You don't have to do any of those things.
41:05 But making fun of the widow of a guy who
41:07 got shot in the neck live on camera is insane.
41:11 It's totally crazy.
41:12 And the fact that this has become sport for people
41:14 on the right and on the left is sick.
41:17 Just I mean, truly vile.
41:19 Here is Kathy Griffin doing a Candace Owens.
41:23 There's always new things happening.
41:25 I mean, who knows how many assassination attempts there could
41:28 be just in the next day or how many times
41:32 Erica Kirk is going to switch from her sparkle pants
41:35 to that weird video that she made that's just um bizarre.
41:40 It's kind of a close-up like a zoom-in shot of her face.
41:44 Nothing will ever be enough for the evil in this world.
41:47 Our country has become unrecognizable.
41:50 Wasn't that Erica Kirk video weird?
41:52 Her being um not girly and and and looking
41:56 like I don't even know what, like a sniper.
41:58 She looks like she's going to an anti-ICE protest,
42:01 which is something she would not do.
42:03 Look, I'm done giving her a pass, all right?
42:06 Uh I knew Charlie Kirk.
42:07 I did a panel with him one time.
42:09 And his squished-in face, and yeah,
42:11 I said that because that dude was a straight-up Nazi.
42:16 Should he do a panel with a Nazi?
42:17 Why would he do a panel with a Nazi?
42:18 He probably shouldn't do that.
42:19 It's It's It's so insane.
42:20 It's Unfortunately, the Democratic Party has
42:22 moved in an incredibly radical direction.
42:25 The The The sort of normie Hollywood Democrat
42:28 has moved into an insane direction these days,
42:30 which is like it's really it's really quite bad for the country.
42:35 Now, there's still some normies.
42:37 There's still some normies.
42:38 They exist.
42:39 John Fetterman, again, I cite him as the normie because he is one.
42:43 Again, I disagree with him on a lot of his politics.
42:45 He voted 90% in favor of Joe Biden's policies, but he's not a nut job.
42:49 He put out a a piece at the Washington Post saying, "I haven't changed.
42:53 Here's what has.
42:53 Although I was elected as a Democrat, I'm proud to serve all Pennsylvanians.
42:57 It is becoming increasingly lonely to serve in that way,
42:59 but I firmly believe it's what's needed.
43:01 My party cannot simply be the opposite of whatever President Donald Trump says.
43:05 The president could come out for ice cream and lazy Sundays,
43:07 and my party would suddenly hate them.
43:09 Such pointless pile-ons and attacks are unproductive.
43:11 The American people want us to work together to find
43:13 solutions on issues that they and our country face."
43:16 He says it wasn't long ago when Democrats supported things
43:18 like a secure border or avoiding government shutdowns or Israel.
43:22 He says those once-common views have
43:24 become increasingly toxic in the Democratic Party,
43:26 a result of catering to the fringe and agitated parts of our base.
43:31 He's right.
43:32 He is correct.
43:33 Obviously, we need more Democrats like that and less of the nuttiness.
43:37 And meanwhile, the fight over redistricting continues.
43:41 Tennessee Republicans yesterday passed a new gerrymander following
43:44 the Supreme Court ruling on the Voting Rights Act.
43:48 So again, that ruling just said that you're not allowed
43:51 to draw districts specifically in order to benefit one particular racial group.
43:56 So now, Tennessee is a 9-0 Republican state.
44:01 They're basically redistricting Representative Steve Cohen out of his seat.
44:06 He's representing a majority black district.
44:10 They split up the majority black Shelby County.
44:14 It also divides Maury County,
44:16 which delivers a more favorable district to a guy named Andy Ogles in Tennessee.
44:20 You can see the map before and after.
44:23 Again, not totally unreasonable maps really either way.
44:27 Very likely this is upheld,
44:28 but the idea is on the part of Democrats that this is un-American.
44:33 So, again, according to Democrats, it's totally American to do this in Virginia,
44:38 a 55-45 state, totally un-American to do this in Tennessee, a 60-40 state.
44:44 Here is Representative Justin Jones lighting a Confederate
44:47 flag on fire in the state capital.
44:48 I wasn't aware that that like a lot of people are
44:51 are in love with the Confederate flag these days, but okay.
44:57 [cheering] [cheering] Uh, oh, the performativeness.
45:07 And then he decided to curse out a state
45:08 trooper cuz it's the state trooper's fault somehow.
45:14 This is Justin Pearson.
45:19 What?
45:22 What's wrong with you?
45:25 What's wrong with you?
45:29 Hey.
45:28 You stupid mother
45:32 Shouting at state troopers, that that that is that is a way to do it.
45:35 That's that sounds that sounds amazing.
45:37 Uh, Justin Pearson, one of the most hilarious people in American politics.
45:41 Just want to show you a video of Justin Pearson in 2016 versus yesterday.
45:48 Justin J.
45:49 Pearson, and I'm running for president of PSG.
45:52 There are a few reasons that we're running this campaign this year.
45:54 One has to do with representation.
45:56 How can we represent all voices in a conversation?
46:00 I wanted to do this by partnering with organizations
46:02 from the Boone Democrats to the Boone Republicans.
46:05 I want to bring together different voices, dissenting voices,
46:08 voices that may be more liberal or more conservative in order
46:11 that we can reach a point of sort of the radical middle.
46:15 You've [clears throat] had three strikes laws, mass incarceration,
46:19 denied us of who we are, and we ARE STILL HERE.
46:23 AND TODAY, YOU WILL take the ONLY BLACK MAJORITY BLACK DISTRICT FROM US.
46:27 BUT I WANT you to know,
46:29 and I want my future sons and the future TO KNOW, NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO,
46:34 no matter how MUCH YOU TRY AND BREAK US AND MAKE US BEND AND MAKE US QUIT,
46:39 WE WILL STILL BE HERE.
46:44 A LOT OF POLITICIANS ARE FRUSTRATED theater kids.
46:46 That is for sure.
46:46 Stacey Abrams, the governor of Georgia.
46:49 Remember that time that she claimed she was governor
46:50 of Georgia for years and years after losing a gubernatorial race,
46:53 and then she was on Star Trek for no reason.
46:55 Remember that?
46:55 Yeah, that was funny.
46:56 Well, now she says there are no longer any blue or red states.
46:59 They're only democracy or authoritarian states.
47:02 So, which does Virginia count as precisely?
47:06 What we have to understand is that there
47:08 are no longer blue states and red states.
47:11 There are authoritarian states and democracy states.
47:15 There are states that do not believe in the right of the people to have a say,
47:19 who want to aggregate power and foment corruption,
47:23 and there are states that want to guarantee
47:25 that in this country we have free and fair elections,
47:29 we have access to the remedies that democracy is supposed to deliver,
47:33 and that no matter what goes wrong in one part of the country,
47:37 that the quality of your citizenship does not
47:39 depend on your zip code and your geography.
47:43 No, the quality of your authoritarianness apparently depends on your zip code.
47:48 Because, again, the idea is if Democrats do it, it's fine.
47:50 If Republicans do it, it's not.
47:51 Here is my general view of redistricting.
47:53 I've said it over and over and over again.
47:54 Totally legal, it's fine.
47:56 Don't care all that much, honestly.
47:58 I really don't.
47:59 Like California redistricting, Texas redistricting.
48:02 All right.
48:03 I mean, okay.
48:05 I I I do not have a strong opinion
48:06 as to the idea that states should never redistrict.
48:11 And it seems to me what's good for the goose
48:12 is good for the gander and vice versa.
48:14 Now, speaking of that Virginia redistricting map,
48:17 the map was not ruled unconstitutional today.
48:20 The actual referendum was ruled unconstitutional.
48:22 So, what I mean by this is it's not the the actual
48:24 map that the Democrats drew in Virginia that the court has struck down.
48:28 What actually happened is that the Democrats put up a referendum on the ballot
48:32 in Virginia that said that the goal is to quote unquote restore fairness.
48:36 So, that was misleading the court found.
48:38 They found that that referendum did not in fact restore fairness.
48:40 It basically reduced 45% of the voting population
48:44 of the state of Virginia into one district.
48:48 So, like 9% of the congressional delegation.
48:52 Okay, so what what they found is then there are a few violations
48:55 here that the Democratic Party pursued
48:57 in order to ram through this redistricting.
49:00 And these were procedural hurdles.
49:01 One, the actual referendum itself was poorly worded and illegitimate.
49:07 Second, the Virginia Constitution dictates that a proposed amendment must be
49:12 approved by a majority of members elected to each of the two
49:15 houses in two separate legislative sessions and there has to be
49:18 an intervening general session of the House
49:20 of Delegates between those two approvals.
49:21 The goal there would be to again have any amendment approved
49:25 over a course of time instead of just immediately slam bang.
49:29 Okay, but this was an amendment to the Virginia
49:33 Constitution that apparently violated all of those rules.
49:36 They found that they did not actually adhere to the requirements of the Virginia
49:40 Constitution and so they struck down what
49:42 happened in Virginia in the redistricting case.
49:44 Now, it doesn't mean that Democrats can't try to find another
49:46 way around it or that the map itself they ruled on.
49:50 They didn't rule on the map itself.
49:51 They said the process by which the map was rammed into law,
49:55 that process was flawed.
49:58 And meanwhile, there is some action in the Middle East.
50:03 So, the Iranians, according to President Trump,
50:06 are making concessions and then the day
50:07 after they are walking back those concessions.
50:09 I'm not sure what messages are being conveyed to the president by Pakistan,
50:12 which is not a good actor here.
50:14 Pakistan is just a cutout for China, by the way.
50:16 I don't know what sort of carrot he thinks he's being dangled by the Iranians.
50:21 I do not believe that they are
50:22 in a mood to make any sort of serious concessions.
50:25 I think they are BSing him in an attempt to basically drain away support.
50:29 I think that's what's actually Let's be clear,
50:31 by the way, what's actually happening right now.
50:32 A lot of people say, "Oh my gosh, we are, you know,
50:34 months into this war." If by war you mean we have not
50:38 run a full-scale air raid on Iran in weeks at this point,
50:43 and we just have ships that are parked off the coast of Iran,
50:47 and this somehow counts to you as a gigantic war,
50:52 the definition of war has changed to somewhat, it seems to me.
50:56 Nonetheless, here is the president yesterday
50:58 being asked about Iran's previous concessions.
51:01 Well, it's more than a one-page offer.
51:03 It's an offer that's basically said they will not have nuclear weapons.
51:07 They're going to hand us the nuclear dust and many other things that we want.
51:12 How much have you heard about that so far as the president
51:14 When they agree, it doesn't mean much cuz
51:16 the next day they forget they forgot they agreed.
51:20 Now again, I I think that one of the things that is
51:22 probably happening here is people are saying this to the president.
51:24 I don't know whether it's the Chinese or the Pakistanis
51:26 or the vice president who's leading negotiations or any of the rest.
51:29 I don't know.
51:30 But, my guess is that Abbas Araqchi, the foreign minister,
51:33 is spewing a bunch of BS, and then the US is taking that seriously,
51:37 and then the IRGC is like, "Yeah,
51:38 we're not doing any of that." That is likely what is happening right now.
51:41 Well, yesterday, according to the president,
51:43 three world-class American and just transited very successfully
51:47 out of the Strait of Hormuz under fire.
51:49 There was no There was damage done to the three destroyers,
51:51 but great damage done to the Iranian attackers.
51:53 They were completely destroyed along with numerous small boats,
51:56 which are being used to take the place of their fully decapitated navy.
51:59 These boats went to the bottom of the sea quickly and efficiently.
52:01 Missiles were shot at our destroyers and were easily knocked down.
52:03 Likewise, drones came and were incinerated while in the air.
52:06 They dropped ever so beautifully down to the ocean,
52:08 very much like a butterfly dropping to its grave.
52:11 Some beautiful poetry there from the president.
52:13 He says a normal country would have allowed these destroyers to pass,
52:16 but Iran is not a normal country.
52:17 They are led by lunatics.
52:18 And if they had a chance to use a nuclear weapon,
52:20 they would do it without question.
52:21 But they'll never have that opportunity,
52:22 and just like we knocked them out again today,
52:24 we'll knock them out a lot harder and a lot more
52:25 violently in the future if they don't get their deal signed fast.
52:28 Our three destroyers with their wonderful
52:30 crews will now rejoin our naval blockade, which is truly a wall of steel.
52:33 President Trump.
52:35 So, what is he talking about?
52:36 Well, apparently yesterday, according to the Wall Street Journal,
52:39 there was an explosion on the Bahman Pier on Iran's Qeshm Island in the Strait
52:42 of Hormuz during exchanges of fire between Iranian
52:45 forces and what state media described as enemy forces,
52:47 that would be the United States.
52:49 The pier had been targeted several times during the war with Israel.
52:52 Several explosions were also heard in Bandar Abbas,
52:54 according to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency,
52:57 which is affiliated with the IRGC.
52:59 Iranian state media said that Iran's military fired ballistic missiles,
53:02 cruise missiles, and suicide drones at warships.
53:04 Qeshm Island is located in the Strait of Hormuz and it
53:07 is used as a launching point for drones and missiles against shipping.
53:12 All this came after earlier yesterday,
53:14 Saudi Arabia and Kuwait lifted restrictions on the US military's
53:17 use of their bases and airspace imposed after Project Freedom,
53:21 which was a way to open the Strait of Hormuz.
53:24 Why did that happen?
53:25 Well, apparently, Saudi and Kuwait blocked the US
53:29 military's use of bases after senior American officials
53:32 played down Iranian attacks on the Persian Gulf
53:34 in reaction to the operation in the Strait.
53:36 The Saudis and other Gulf states were concerned the US
53:38 would not protect them amid the escalation in fighting, according to officials.
53:41 And again, here is a map that you can
53:43 see of the strikes that it's the Strait of Hormuz.
53:45 For those who can't see the map,
53:47 this is one reason you should subscribe and watch it so you can actually watch,
53:50 you know, you look at the maps that we're looking at.
53:52 But, this is kind of the narrowest portion of the Strait of Hormuz.
53:55 Bandar Abbas is located on the Iranian coast,
53:58 and sort of the north side of the Strait of Hormuz.
54:00 And then there's Qeshm Island, which is a rather longish island that is located
54:04 1/3 of the way down the Strait of Hormuz.
54:07 And so, that's the area that was bombed yesterday.
54:11 Well, the US Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz,
54:13 suggests that Iran is trying to force people to pay tolls,
54:17 and that's unacceptable.
54:20 Just this week, Iran's own state media announced that the regime
54:24 has launched what it calls the Persian Gulf Straits Authority,
54:30 where it seeks to demand that all
54:32 ship cap- captains from international shipping,
54:36 commercial shipping, civilian shipping,
54:38 basically have to check in and pay a bribe,
54:42 pay a toll in order to use these international waterways.
54:46 So, that doesn't just affect this region.
54:50 It affects the entire world.
54:53 Now again, one of the things that just continues
54:55 here is the fact that we are blockading their oil.
54:58 According to CENTCOM, there are currently more than 70 tankers US
55:02 forces are preventing from entering or leaving Iranian ports.
55:05 Those commercial ships have the capacity to transport over
55:08 166 million barrels of Iranian oil worth $13 billion plus.
55:14 The president yesterday said they trifled with us, there's still a ceasefire.
55:16 And I know, this is baffling a lot of brains.
55:18 Why is there still a How is it a ceasefire?
55:19 We're firing at them, they're firing at us.
55:21 Why is there still a ceasefire?
55:22 And the answer is, every day that goes by, Iran gets weaker.
55:27 That is just the reality.
55:28 Apparently, there was an oil spill off the coast of Kharg Island.
55:33 What does that happen Why is that Because they've no place to put the oil.
55:35 They've no storage facility.
55:36 They're literally just dumping oil into the water
55:39 at this point because they've run out of storage facility apparently.
55:42 Here's the president yesterday.
55:45 Is the ceasefire with Iran still on?
55:48 Yeah, it is.
55:48 It's uh They trifled with us today.
55:51 We blew them away.
55:53 They trifled.
55:54 They call that a trifle.
55:55 I'll let you know when there's no cease You won't have to know.
55:58 If there's no ceasefire, you're not going to have to know.
56:00 You just going to have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran.
56:06 Okay.
56:06 Now again, everyone is pretending that something horrible
56:09 is happening and the economy continues to chug.
56:12 Everyone is pretending as though you know,
56:13 the economy is on its last legs here in the United States.
56:15 No, the the Iranian economy is on its last legs.
56:18 But don't worry, you have Kamala Harris here
56:20 to do propaganda work on behalf of the Iranian regime.
56:26 This war in Iran, which the American people do not want,
56:30 which was not authorized by Congress but even if it was,
56:33 it should not have been initiated.
56:35 He talked about obliterating and then he said,
56:37 "Oh, he did he did it's all JUST SICK.
56:46 THAT SHE'S AWFUL.
56:49 THAT SHE'S SO AWFUL.
56:49 She has to like crowd test whether to say or not.
56:52 It's insane.
56:54 Okay, so the question everybody keeps asking is how does this come to its end?
56:58 Okay, so just to reiterate, here are the goals.
57:00 Prevent Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon.
57:03 Destroy their ballistic missile umbrella because
57:05 the ballistic missile umbrella allows them to develop a nuclear weapon and end
57:08 their support for international terrorism, right?
57:10 End their spreading of their of their tentacles around the Middle East.
57:15 There are only two ways to achieve these goals in the long term.
57:19 Right?
57:19 In the long term.
57:19 One, Iran agrees to it.
57:22 Two, regime change.
57:23 Now, the president has been focused a lot on one,
57:25 the idea that Iran is going to agree to it.
57:27 It'll be like Venezuela.
57:28 Basically, the Venezuelan regime is evil but rational.
57:34 And then the current regime realizes that it is better to continue to exist
57:38 and control the country and give way to the United States than to not exist.
57:42 And so we're trying to model what we do with Iran and what we do with Venezuela.
57:45 The difference is socialist {slash} communist regimes are
57:48 evil but exist in the realm of rationality.
57:51 Obviously, that is not true of the IRGC.
57:53 The IRGC is much more like Hitler at the end of World War II in the bunker
57:57 or like the Japanese generals who tried to prevent
58:00 the surrender of Japan after the nuclear bombs were dropped.
58:05 Okay, so that means that the regime needs to change.
58:08 But, here's the thing.
58:09 The regime does not have to fall like right away.
58:10 We don't have to launch tens of thousands
58:12 of troops into Iran to achieve immediate regime change.
58:15 If you can deprive Iran of its nuclear
58:18 development long enough for the regime to fall.
58:20 If you can keep their ballistic missile arsenal
58:22 degraded long enough for the regime to fall.
58:24 If you can degrade their economy long enough for the regime to fall, you win.
58:27 I've been saying this all along.
58:29 It may not take just this in order for Iran to fall.
58:33 Maybe 6 months later it falls.
58:34 Maybe a year later it falls.
58:35 That would be a win.
58:36 That's why I've said many times you cannot adjudicate whether this action
58:40 was a victory or a failure for probably months to years afterward.
58:46 And by the way, that's that's usually true of wars.
58:48 Since the end of World War II with an actual surrender,
58:51 it's taken a while to determine whether a thing is a victory or a loss.
58:54 For example, when we had an armistice in Korea, was that a victory or a loss?
58:58 Well, turns out in retrospect,
58:59 pretty large victory because South Korea exists how can Iran survive?
59:06 Right, which is the way that they are able to you know continue being a threat.
59:10 Only by pushing the United States off the ball.
59:12 And that means they're going to try to wait us out.
59:14 They think that if they can get us to just go home, pack up and go home,
59:17 then they might be able to rebuild their export economy
59:20 and rebuild their nuclear facilities and rebuild their missile facilities.
59:23 And we're right back where we were a few years ago in 5 or 10 years.
59:28 That's their whole game.
59:30 But, we could end American serious involvement in the next
59:33 3 weeks with prospective victory if we want to.
59:36 There are options.
59:37 Let me just spell out one, one creative option.
59:40 Okay, so again, they are relying on the idea they can rebuild their economy.
59:44 What if we just said, "No, you're never rebuilding your economy.
59:46 You're toast unless you actually reintegrate into the world economy,
59:50 you're done." And the way you do that is you destroy Kharg Island.
59:54 Kharg Island is where all their refineries are.
59:57 And you go after the rest of their energy fields as well.
59:59 That is the next bank of targets.
1:00:01 Literally, the next bank of targets.
1:00:02 Let's say we destroy all of that.
1:00:04 What does that mean?
1:00:04 Well, that essentially dooms the Iranian regime
1:00:07 to a forever future of poverty because they're not going
1:00:09 to be reintegrated into the world economy and now
1:00:12 they have no oil exports even to China or Japan.
1:00:15 It means no money for their IRGC thugs.
1:00:17 It means no possible recovery.
1:00:19 It means a death spiral.
1:00:21 So, why don't we do that?
1:00:23 Well, the reason that we don't do it
1:00:24 is because Iran has essentially two points of leverage.
1:00:27 One, of course, is the Strait of Hormuz as we've been discussing.
1:00:29 And the second would be the threat
1:00:31 to destroy oil facilities in places like Saudi, Kuwait, UAE, and Bahrain.
1:00:35 Both of these things are solvable.
1:00:37 So, take the second first.
1:00:40 UAE is willing to undergo the threat of Iranian
1:00:42 drones and missiles in order to permanently defang the regime.
1:00:45 They've made this clear.
1:00:46 Actually, so has Saudi.
1:00:48 And the US can, in fact, clear the Strait of Hormuz.
1:00:50 We started doing this with Project Freedom earlier this week.
1:00:53 That's why the Iranians freaked out and started
1:00:55 trying to fire at the Saudis and at UAE.
1:00:58 So, why didn't we continue with Project Freedom?
1:01:00 Well, again, the reason is, according to contemporaneous reports,
1:01:04 that the Saudis were fine with Project
1:01:06 Freedom until the Iranians threatened retaliation.
1:01:08 And it wasn't the retaliation that scared the Saudis.
1:01:11 It was that the United States apparently said that if that happened,
1:01:14 we would still continue to pretend
1:01:15 that the ceasefire continued with the negotiations.
1:01:17 So, first thing we need to do stop with that nonsense.
1:01:20 Stop with it.
1:01:21 And the negotiations are not ongoing, certainly not publicly.
1:01:25 If they wish to give up the ghost, they can do it.
1:01:27 But this idea that we have to constantly say we're
1:01:29 in a ceasefire in order to continue negotiations is nonsense.
1:01:32 They can negotiate under fire.
1:01:33 It's fine.
1:01:35 The UAE meanwhile was still willing to to undergo all of those conditions.
1:01:39 Okay, so you have to like the UAE did not
1:01:42 deprive the United States of the use of its airspace.
1:01:45 Even with the threat of Iranian retaliation
1:01:47 and the reality that the United States was saying,
1:01:50 "If you get hit, you can't retaliate." So
1:01:53 why was the UAE acting differently than Saudi?
1:01:55 Well, the answer is that the UAE
1:01:57 and Saudi are differently situated geopolitically.
1:02:00 Why?
1:02:01 Well, because UAE has, we found out this week,
1:02:03 Israel's Iron Dome and Iron Beam to shoot down drones and missiles.
1:02:07 Why does UAE have it and Saudi doesn't?
1:02:09 Well, that's because UAE signed the Abraham Accords.
1:02:14 By the way, that's also why Iran has targeted the UAE disproportionately.
1:02:18 See, here's the thing.
1:02:18 The UAE, the leadership there, quite smart.
1:02:21 They discovered the magic of alliance with Israel.
1:02:24 Because the UAE has a lot of oil.
1:02:26 But the world is moving away from oil in the Middle East.
1:02:30 The United States, a massive developer of oil and natural gas at this point.
1:02:34 So, UAE is starting to do what all smart investors do.
1:02:38 They're diversifying.
1:02:39 They're taking their money and they're putting it in tech.
1:02:41 They're allying with a country with massive military capacity.
1:02:45 They're allying with the best offensive force in the region.
1:02:48 UAE knows, again, that the oil economy may be degrading over time.
1:02:52 They are looking to invest those assets in other assets like, for example, tech.
1:02:55 And Israel gives them an amazing way to do that.
1:02:58 So, UAE is not all that fearful of what Iran is going to do of them.
1:03:01 They have money invested in other places.
1:03:03 They have deals with the United States, with Israel,
1:03:05 and they have Iron Beam and Iron Dome,
1:03:07 which allow them to shoot down more of the stuff.
1:03:09 The Saudis, meanwhile, have been shall we say shall we say dilly-dallying?
1:03:15 They've held out on the Abraham Accords.
1:03:17 Instead of using their oil money to invest in say tech,
1:03:21 they've mainly used it to invest in entertainment.
1:03:23 In building useless cities in the desert that will never be visited.
1:03:26 In the LIV tour.
1:03:28 That is a mistake.
1:03:29 And the Saudis have been pursuing that mistake
1:03:31 because they are afraid of open alliance with Israel.
1:03:33 They're afraid of joining the Abraham Accords.
1:03:35 They think that somehow that will undercut
1:03:37 their claim to leadership in the Islamic world.
1:03:39 But they are wrong.
1:03:40 They're not just wrong economically.
1:03:42 They're also wrong militarily.
1:03:43 It means they don't have things like Iron Dome and Iron Beam.
1:03:45 So, their fields and their refineries are less protected in that way than UAE's.
1:03:50 So, here is one option that the United States might
1:03:53 want to pursue because the president has a history of this.
1:03:56 Tell the Saudis to sign the Abraham Accords and in return Iron Dome
1:04:00 and Iron Beam could be quickly set
1:04:02 up in Saudi to protect against Iranian retaliation.
1:04:06 That means the threat to Saudi is greatly reduced.
1:04:08 And now, the only question becomes opening the strait,
1:04:10 which the United States can open with Project Freedom.
1:04:13 Then, we bomb Kharg Island and the energy
1:04:15 facilities and there is no off-ramp for Iran.
1:04:17 Their leverage over the strait is gone.
1:04:19 Their leverage over the oil fields is gone.
1:04:21 We leave overwatch of the nuclear and ballistic to our Gulf allies and Israel.
1:04:25 They just keep mowing the lawn with regards to the nuclear facilities
1:04:27 and the ballistic missiles every few months until the Iranian regime collapses.
1:04:31 And we win because at that point there's no off-ramp for the Iranians.
1:04:35 There is no way for them to survive in the long term.
1:04:39 And even in the meantime, their threat level drops to the bare minimum because
1:04:43 they don't have money to send to terrorist groups.
1:04:45 They don't have money to develop a ballistic missile facility.
1:04:48 And every time they do it gets blown up.
1:04:50 They don't have the scientific capacity to do to ramp up their nuclear program.
1:04:55 There are things in other words that can be done.
1:04:57 So, anybody who's suggesting right now the United States
1:04:59 has quote unquote lost or is quote unquote losing is,
1:05:02 I think, missing the boat at this point in time.
1:05:04 All righty, coming up,
1:05:06 we're going to get into an astonishing set of local elections in Great Britain.
1:05:11 The Labour Party is in massive, massive trouble.
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