Thomas Jefferson authored the 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and wrote a version of the New Testament that stripped out all miracles.
Ep. 2455 - The Left REJECTS The Flag, The Bible… And AOC?!
Only 18% of Democrats say they are intensely proud to be American — and the radical left is now turning on AOC, Chuck Schumer, and even Jewish pro-LGBTQ allies for not going far enough.
The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2455 - The Left REJECTS The Flag, The Bible… And AOC?!
Only 18% of Democrats say they are intensely proud to be American — and the radical left is now turning on AOC, Chuck Schumer, and even Jewish pro-LGBTQ allies for not going far enough.
TL;DR
As America approaches its 250th birthday, Ben Shapiro argues the left is surrendering patriotic symbols — the flag, the Bible, and even mainstream progressivism — to radical fringe forces [1] — Ben Shapiro "The American flag survived being flown over a slave-owning nation and came out representing abolition. Surrendering it to MAGA is the singl…" 02:43 . From the Texas Board of Education's Bible-literacy curriculum to Zohran Mamdani's rise in New York, Shapiro traces how Trump Derangement Syndrome has pushed Democrats toward a "Pride-Progress-Free Palestine" coalition that is now eating its own, targeting AOC, Chuck Schumer, and Jewish California legislator Scott Wiener [2] — Ben Shapiro "Mamdani beams at the Pakistan Day Parade — a country where homosexuality is criminalized — and shows up dutifully but joylessly at Pride. T…" 34:50 . The single most useful takeaway: when you appease radicals, the revolution always eventually devours you too [3] — Ben Shapiro "When the revolution eats its own, I'm not going to pretend to be upset about it. You deserve it." 47:05 .
Ben Shapiro covers the left's rejection of the American flag ahead of America's 250th birthday, the Texas controversy over teaching the Bible in public schools, the radical left's turn against even progressive allies like AOC and Scott Wiener, Zohran Mamdani's rise in New York, and the latest US military strikes against Iran amid a fragile ceasefire.
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The episode opens with a series of third-party pre-roll advertisements. Ryan Reynolds delivers a comedic spot for Mint Mobile's $15/month unlimited wireless plan, joking that printing $15 bills turned out to be illegal. The Oregon Lottery follows with a message about how lottery funds support state parks, and Shopify rounds out the ad block with a pitch for its e-commerce platform. None of this content is editorial; it sets the stage for Ben Shapiro's program.
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Shapiro's thesis is blunt: whatever Trump embraces, his opponents reflexively disown — and that now includes the American flag itself. He cites a widely-read NBC News piece titled 'Many Americans Say Stars and Stripes Is Now a Red Flag,' featuring interviews with Americans who plan to fly the flag upside-down, replace it with the Pennsylvania state flag, or substitute the Pride flag or a Philadelphia Eagles banner. Shapiro finds this baffling and self-defeating, arguing that the flag belongs to no party but to the principles of the Declaration of Independence. He invokes Frederick Douglass's 1852 July 4th speech as the gold standard for engaging with an imperfect country — critiquing it while still fighting for its promise, rather than abandoning its symbols. A Rhode Island teacher who stopped flying the flag after Trump's 2024 re-election because she has 'a gay son and a trans son' draws a pointed rebuttal: surrendering the flag to the right is a bold and counterproductive move.
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The PureTalk read is woven into the episode's patriotic theme. Shapiro references his recent conversation with Medal of Honor recipient Clint Romesha and notes that veterans rarely call themselves heroes. PureTalk is partnering with America's Warrior Partnership to raise $250,000 for veteran suicide prevention, housing, and VA benefits access. Listeners who switch to PureTalk can round up their bill to contribute, and the company will match donations. The plan costs $34.99 a month for unlimited talk, text, and high-speed data — described as a fraction of major carrier prices.
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Trump's Religious Liberty Commission issued a draft report calling the 'separation of church and state' a legal error, and Shapiro agrees — at length. He walks through Thomas Jefferson's 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, John Adams's letter to the Massachusetts militia ('Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people'), and George Washington's and James Madison's views on religion undergirding republican government. The Establishment Clause, Shapiro argues, was meant to prevent Congress from mandating a single denomination — not to excise religion from civic life. He cites political scientist Donald Lutz's study of 15,000 founding-era political sources, which found the Bible was the single most-cited document, with Deuteronomy cited most frequently of all. Shapiro — himself Jewish — insists that not knowing the New Testament makes you illiterate by Western standards, pointing to references in Shakespeare, Dickens, Hugo, and Dostoevsky.
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Shapiro takes aim at what he calls left-wing illiteracy about what the Texas curriculum actually does. The board approved a list of required reading that includes David and Goliath, Adam and Eve, the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea, the Sermon on the Mount, the Shepherd's Psalm, Ecclesiastes, and the Book of Job — alongside world history readings on the Quran, Elie Wiesel, Anne Frank, and Washington's letter to the Hebrew congregation in Newport. Shapiro notes that CNN described the Ten Commandments as 'Christian teachings,' a mistake he finds revealing given the Commandments predate Christ by a millennium. His core argument: you cannot read Shakespeare, understand the anti-slavery movement, or follow the arguments of the Founders without knowing these texts. The curriculum, he insists, is about literacy, not theocracy.
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The Helix Sleep ad leans into the episode's Fourth of July theme, with Shapiro arguing you can't celebrate America's 250th birthday properly without rest. Helix offers over 20 mattress models matched via a sleep quiz, free shipping, and a 120-night trial. The offer includes 20% off sitewide, 25% off Luxe mattresses, and 30% off Elite mattresses at helixsleep.com/ben. Shapiro mentions that he and his wife use a Helix mattress matched to their sleep quiz results.
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From a photo of a hybrid Palestine-trans flag at the Seattle Pride March, Shapiro constructs a thesis: abandoning the American flag doesn't stop at the Eagles banner or the Pride flag — it ends at the coalition of radical Islam and trans activism, united by shared opposition to American founding values. Zohran Mamdani, the NYC mayoral candidate backed by the DSA, serves as his primary exhibit. Shapiro notes that Mamdani attended the Pakistan Day Parade in Brooklyn — Pakistan being an Islamist state that criminalizes homosexuality — while skipping the Israel Day Parade. In a clip, Mamdani tells ABC's John Karl he cannot support Israel 'as a Jewish state' because he opposes any state that 'privileges one religion.' Shapiro also plays a clip of Abdul El-Sayed, likely Michigan Senate nominee, attacking Chuck Schumer and AIPAC, and DSA member David Jenkins openly declaring his goal is 'communism.' He frames the whole bloc as a 'takeover' of the Democratic Party.
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Milad Kirosh is running against Diana DeGette — a 15-term House Progressive Caucus member backed by Planned Parenthood — and is outflanking her from the left. In a rapid-fire interview clip, Kirosh endorses Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, national rent control, ending aid to Israel, and sanctioning Israel. She also describes the 9/11 attacks as 'inevitable' given U.S. foreign policy, language Shapiro compares directly to Osama bin Laden's post-9/11 letter. When asked about Mahamud Sabri-Soleiman — an Egyptian asylum seeker who used a makeshift flamethrower to kill a Jewish woman at a hostage-solidarity rally, shouting 'End Zionists' — Kirosh declines to call the attack antisemitism. Shapiro calls this the moment the 'anti-Zionist mask' fully falls away, tracing the roots of anti-Zionism to Soviet propaganda of the 1950s and 60s.
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The chapter opens with Shapiro introducing Scott Wiener as 'trash' — a California legislator with a long record of pro-LGBTQ legislation who capitulated to the left in January by declaring Israel guilty of genocide. At the San Francisco trans march, a crowd surrounded Wiener, screamed at him about his 'Israeli handlers,' made physical contact, and drove him from the park for the first time in 22 years. Shapiro is unsympathetic: 'When the revolution eats its own, I'm not going to pretend to be upset.' He reads Wiener's official statement, then skewers the phrase 'trans-led Pride Shabbat service' as not a real thing. The DSA is simultaneously turning on AOC: Hasan Piker calls her 'far more careful than what this moment requires,' and Cenk Uygur criticizes her for endorsing Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker rather than backing a challenger to an incumbent Democrat. AOC's own clip urges party unity — 'we need each other whether we like it or not' — but Shapiro argues the radicals no longer believe that.
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Shapiro punctures the 'grassroots' narrative around DSA candidates by citing New York Post reporting: George and Alex Soros have already spent $103 million in the midterm cycle, on pace to shatter George's previous record of $128 million. He contrasts this with Elon Musk ($85M), Andreessen Horowitz ($91M), Miriam Adelson ($68M), and AIPAC ($30M) — and notes the four biggest public sector unions spent $915 million across 2023-2024. Gavin Newsom calls for a national billionaire's tax and an 'economic reset,' while Chris Murphy says capitalism 'hasn't worked' for 40% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck. Jon Ossoff blames Citizens United for the disconnect between voters and politicians. Cory Booker defends the big-tent coalition. Against this backdrop, Shapiro plays a clip of John Fetterman noting that only 18% of Democrats are 'intensely proud' to be American — which Shapiro calls 'truly absurd' — and of Joe Biden being chanted down with 'genocide Joe' at a Maryland Democratic Party gala.
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Shapiro identifies a split inside the Trump administration: Marco Rubio brokered a new Israel-Lebanon deal designed to expel Iranian influence, while a separate faction — reportedly advised by Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute and Sohrab Ahmari — is pursuing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran that Shapiro calls a 'surrender deal.' He quotes both advisors saying the two tracks are mutually contradictory. On the military front, Iran struck a Singaporean-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz; CENTCOM responded with strikes on missile storage and coastal radar sites. Fox's Jennifer Griffin reports Iran reconstituted its air defense and missile systems along the strait since the US bombing campaign ended April 7th. Shapiro outlines three alternatives to the current approach: destroy key Iranian economic infrastructure (Kharg Island, South Pars gas field) and leave; force the strait open militarily; or fund Kurdish and Baloch insurgencies against the regime. Instead, he says, the US caved — agreeing to stand down and meet in Doha — after 'hitting a few camels in the ass.'
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The episode ends with a brief SimpliSafe advertisement highlighting the statistic that a break-in occurs in the US every 26 seconds. The ad promotes AI alerts and US-based live monitoring agents, with no long-term contracts required. The offer of 50% off a new system with professional monitoring is available at simplisafe.com/spotify or with promo code 'Spotify.'
- Taqiyya
- A concept in Islamic jurisprudence permitting concealment of one's faith under duress; Shapiro uses it pejoratively to accuse Mamdani of lying about his religious and political commitments.
- Ashura
- An Islamic holiday observed on the 10th of Muharram; Shia Muslims mourn it as the martyrdom of Hussein ibn Ali, while Sunni Muslims observe it as a day of fasting marking the salvation of Moses — making it a sectarian rather than universally Islamic occasion.
- Taqiyya
- Arabic term for religiously sanctioned dissimulation; used by Shapiro to suggest Mamdani's simultaneous attendance at Pride and Islamic events is performative rather than sincere.
- Establishment Clause
- The First Amendment provision prohibiting Congress from making any law 'respecting an establishment of religion,' historically interpreted as barring a government-mandated state church.
- Free Exercise Clause
- The companion First Amendment provision protecting individuals' right to practice their religion without government interference — read by Shapiro in tandem with the Establishment Clause.
- MOU (Memorandum of Understanding)
- A non-binding agreement between parties outlining intentions; here refers to the draft US-Iran agreement that Shapiro characterizes as a concession to Iran.
- CENTCOM
- United States Central Command, the military command responsible for US operations across the Middle East, Central Asia, and South Asia — the command that carried out strikes against Iranian targets.
- Quincy Institute
- The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a foreign-policy think tank often described as restraint-oriented; Shapiro describes its president, Trita Parsi, as a rhetorical proxy for Iranian interests.
- Baloch
- An ethnic group indigenous to the Balochistan region spanning Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan; Shapiro references a Pakistani Baloch militia as a potential instrument to pressure the Iranian regime.
- Extirpated
- To root out or eliminate completely; Shapiro uses it to describe the eventual eradication of Jim Crow laws as the fulfillment of Frederick Douglass's vision.
- Credo
- A statement of beliefs or aims; sociologist Émile Durkheim's usage — quoted by Shapiro — refers to the shared moral-religious consensus that holds a society together.
- Avarice
- Extreme greed for wealth or material gain; used in John Adams's letter to the Massachusetts militia as one of the human passions that the Constitution cannot constrain without morality and religion.
- Deist
- A person who believes in a creator God based on reason and nature rather than revealed religion or scripture; Shapiro describes Thomas Jefferson as a deist who nonetheless grounded his political philosophy in religious principles.
- Abridgment
- A curtailment or reduction of rights or freedoms; Shapiro uses it in discussing why the government compelling religious observance would violate individuals' God-given freedom of mind.
- Hegemonic
- Relating to dominance or leadership, especially of one country or social group over others; implicitly relevant to the episode's discussion of which values should dominate American civic life.
- Sectarian
- Relating to a sect or denomination rather than a religion as a whole; Shapiro notes that Ashura is a sectarian Shia holiday, not a pan-Islamic observance like Ramadan.
- DSA (Democratic Socialists of America)
- A left-wing political organization in the US advocating democratic socialism; the episode discusses its growing influence in Democratic primaries and its explicit goal of communism as stated by a member.
- AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee)
- A prominent pro-Israel lobbying organization that funds candidates across both parties; Shapiro notes it is often targeted by progressive Democrats as a symbol of pro-Israel influence.
- Citizens United
- The 2010 Supreme Court ruling that held political spending by corporations, associations, and labor unions is protected speech under the First Amendment, effectively removing limits on outside political spending.
Chapter 2 · 01:29
The Left Rejects the American Flag
Shapiro's thesis is blunt: whatever Trump embraces, his opponents reflexively disown — and that now includes the American flag itself. He cites a widely-read NBC News piece titled 'Many Americans Say Stars and Stripes Is Now a Red Flag,' featuring interviews with Americans who plan to fly the flag upside-down, replace it with the Pennsylvania state flag, or substitute the Pride flag or a Philadelphia Eagles banner. Shapiro finds this baffling and self-defeating, arguing that the flag belongs to no party but to the principles of the Declaration of Independence. He invokes Frederick Douglass's 1852 July 4th speech as the gold standard for engaging with an imperfect country — critiquing it while still fighting for its promise, rather than abandoning its symbols. A Rhode Island teacher who stopped flying the flag after Trump's 2024 re-election because she has 'a gay son and a trans son' draws a pointed rebuttal: surrendering the flag to the right is a bold and counterproductive move.
Claims made here
The American flag survived being flown over a slave-owning nation and came out representing abolition. Surrendering it to MAGA is the single dumbest political move the left has made.
Chapter 4 · 14:30
Religious Liberty, the Bible, and the Founding
Trump's Religious Liberty Commission issued a draft report calling the 'separation of church and state' a legal error, and Shapiro agrees — at length. He walks through Thomas Jefferson's 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, John Adams's letter to the Massachusetts militia ('Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people'), and George Washington's and James Madison's views on religion undergirding republican government. The Establishment Clause, Shapiro argues, was meant to prevent Congress from mandating a single denomination — not to excise religion from civic life. He cites political scientist Donald Lutz's study of 15,000 founding-era political sources, which found the Bible was the single most-cited document, with Deuteronomy cited most frequently of all. Shapiro — himself Jewish — insists that not knowing the New Testament makes you illiterate by Western standards, pointing to references in Shakespeare, Dickens, Hugo, and Dostoevsky.
Claims made here
Political scientist Donald Lutz catalogued 15,000 founding-era political sources and found the Bible was the single most-cited document, accounting for roughly a third of all citations.
The Book of Deuteronomy was the single most-cited book in founding-era American political literature.
Political scientist Donald Lutz catalogued 15,000 founding-era sources and found the Bible — not Locke, not Montesquieu — was the most-cited document, accounting for roughly a third of all citations. Deuteronomy topped the list because it answered the founding question: how do you govern a nation?
Political scientist Donald Lutz catalogued 15,000 founding-era political sources and found the Bible was the single most-cited document, accounting for roughly a third of all citations.
Of all founding-era political texts, the Book of Deuteronomy was cited most frequently because it addresses how to govern a nation under moral law.
Chapter 5 · 25:30
Texas Bible Curriculum Controversy
Shapiro takes aim at what he calls left-wing illiteracy about what the Texas curriculum actually does. The board approved a list of required reading that includes David and Goliath, Adam and Eve, the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea, the Sermon on the Mount, the Shepherd's Psalm, Ecclesiastes, and the Book of Job — alongside world history readings on the Quran, Elie Wiesel, Anne Frank, and Washington's letter to the Hebrew congregation in Newport. Shapiro notes that CNN described the Ten Commandments as 'Christian teachings,' a mistake he finds revealing given the Commandments predate Christ by a millennium. His core argument: you cannot read Shakespeare, understand the anti-slavery movement, or follow the arguments of the Founders without knowing these texts. The curriculum, he insists, is about literacy, not theocracy.
Claims made here
Zohran Mamdani was born abroad and is therefore constitutionally barred from running for US president.
Texas became the largest state to require classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.
Benjamin Franklin wanted the parting of the Red Sea to be placed on the official seal of the United States.
The Texas State Board of Education didn't mandate church attendance. It added David and Goliath, Adam and Eve, the parting of the Red Sea, the Psalms, and the Book of Job to the K-12 literary canon — alongside the Quran, Elie Wiesel, and Anne Frank. If you find that controversial, you don't understand what a civilization is.
Texas last year became the largest state to require classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, per CNN reporting cited by Shapiro.
Chapter 6 · 31:10
Helix Sleep Ad
The Helix Sleep ad leans into the episode's Fourth of July theme, with Shapiro arguing you can't celebrate America's 250th birthday properly without rest. Helix offers over 20 mattress models matched via a sleep quiz, free shipping, and a 120-night trial. The offer includes 20% off sitewide, 25% off Luxe mattresses, and 30% off Elite mattresses at helixsleep.com/ben. Shapiro mentions that he and his wife use a Helix mattress matched to their sleep quiz results.
David Jenkins, a professional mime and DSA National Political Committee member, walked up to a city council microphone and said the quiet part out loud: 'Our goal is liberation. Our goal is communism.' This is the coalition backing Zohran Mamdani.
Chapter 7 · 32:20
The Pride-Palestine Flag: The Left's Replacement for America
From a photo of a hybrid Palestine-trans flag at the Seattle Pride March, Shapiro constructs a thesis: abandoning the American flag doesn't stop at the Eagles banner or the Pride flag — it ends at the coalition of radical Islam and trans activism, united by shared opposition to American founding values. Zohran Mamdani, the NYC mayoral candidate backed by the DSA, serves as his primary exhibit. Shapiro notes that Mamdani attended the Pakistan Day Parade in Brooklyn — Pakistan being an Islamist state that criminalizes homosexuality — while skipping the Israel Day Parade. In a clip, Mamdani tells ABC's John Karl he cannot support Israel 'as a Jewish state' because he opposes any state that 'privileges one religion.' Shapiro also plays a clip of Abdul El-Sayed, likely Michigan Senate nominee, attacking Chuck Schumer and AIPAC, and DSA member David Jenkins openly declaring his goal is 'communism.' He frames the whole bloc as a 'takeover' of the Democratic Party.
Claims made here
Pakistan criminalizes homosexuality under Sharia law.
Rejecting the American flag doesn't land you at the Philadelphia Eagles banner. It lands you at the hybrid Palestine-trans flag — where radical Islam and trans activism share the same coalition because what they have in common is hatred of American founding values.
Mamdani beams at the Pakistan Day Parade — a country where homosexuality is criminalized — and shows up dutifully but joylessly at Pride. The contrast exposes that his coalition is held together not by shared values but by shared opposition to America and Israel.
Colorado DSA candidate Milad Kirosh said the 9/11 attacks were 'inevitable' given US destabilization of the Middle East, a framing Shapiro compared to Osama bin Laden's letter.
Chapter 8 · 43:10
Milad Kirosh and Anti-Zionism Unmasked
Milad Kirosh is running against Diana DeGette — a 15-term House Progressive Caucus member backed by Planned Parenthood — and is outflanking her from the left. In a rapid-fire interview clip, Kirosh endorses Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, national rent control, ending aid to Israel, and sanctioning Israel. She also describes the 9/11 attacks as 'inevitable' given U.S. foreign policy, language Shapiro compares directly to Osama bin Laden's post-9/11 letter. When asked about Mahamud Sabri-Soleiman — an Egyptian asylum seeker who used a makeshift flamethrower to kill a Jewish woman at a hostage-solidarity rally, shouting 'End Zionists' — Kirosh declines to call the attack antisemitism. Shapiro calls this the moment the 'anti-Zionist mask' fully falls away, tracing the roots of anti-Zionism to Soviet propaganda of the 1950s and 60s.
Claims made here
Mahamud Sabri-Soleiman, an Egyptian asylum seeker, used a makeshift flamethrower to attack a Jewish October 7th hostage-solidarity rally in Colorado, killing an elderly Jewish woman while shouting 'End Zionists, free Palestine.'
The anti-Zionist movement in the US has its roots in Soviet propaganda from the 1950s and 1960s that was adopted by the global left as a Third World philosophy equating Zionism with racism and apartheid.
A Colorado DSA candidate was asked whether a man who used a makeshift flamethrower to kill a Jewish woman at a hostage rally — while shouting 'End Zionists' — committed an antisemitic act. She wouldn't say yes. Anti-Zionism and antisemitism are the same thing when Jews are being burned alive.
An Egyptian asylum seeker used a makeshift flamethrower to attack a Jewish hostage-solidarity rally in Colorado, killing an elderly woman while shouting 'End Zionists, free Palestine.'
Scott Wiener said Israel committed genocide in Gaza. He went to the trans march anyway. They surrounded him, made physical contact, screamed about his 'Israeli handlers,' and drove him from the park for the first time in 22 years. This is what Churchill's crocodile looks like in practice.
Chapter 9 · 47:20
The Revolution Eats Its Own: Scott Wiener and AOC
The chapter opens with Shapiro introducing Scott Wiener as 'trash' — a California legislator with a long record of pro-LGBTQ legislation who capitulated to the left in January by declaring Israel guilty of genocide. At the San Francisco trans march, a crowd surrounded Wiener, screamed at him about his 'Israeli handlers,' made physical contact, and drove him from the park for the first time in 22 years. Shapiro is unsympathetic: 'When the revolution eats its own, I'm not going to pretend to be upset.' He reads Wiener's official statement, then skewers the phrase 'trans-led Pride Shabbat service' as not a real thing. The DSA is simultaneously turning on AOC: Hasan Piker calls her 'far more careful than what this moment requires,' and Cenk Uygur criticizes her for endorsing Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker rather than backing a challenger to an incumbent Democrat. AOC's own clip urges party unity — 'we need each other whether we like it or not' — but Shapiro argues the radicals no longer believe that.
Claims made here
Cenk Uygur noted that AOC has not endorsed a challenger to an incumbent Democrat in the last two election cycles.
40% of Americans working full-time do not have enough money saved for an emergency car repair.
AOC is backing Jeffries for Speaker and hasn't endorsed a single challenger to an incumbent Democrat in two election cycles. For Hasan Piker, she plays 'too safe.' For Cenk Uygur, she's betrayed the movement. The revolution is eating its second course.
California state senator and longtime LGBTQ ally Scott Wiener was physically surrounded and harassed at the San Francisco trans march, forcing him to leave — the first time he had missed the march since its inaugural event in 2004.
Senator Chris Murphy cited figures showing 40% of Americans working full-time lack enough savings for an emergency car repair.
Any politician who invites radicals into their coalition hoping to manage them is wrong. The person with the knife always takes the subway car hostage. The Democratic Party thought they could include the DSA and stay in control. They were wrong.
Chapter 10 · 53:40
Soros Funding, Democratic Drift Left, and Fetterman's Dissent
Shapiro punctures the 'grassroots' narrative around DSA candidates by citing New York Post reporting: George and Alex Soros have already spent $103 million in the midterm cycle, on pace to shatter George's previous record of $128 million. He contrasts this with Elon Musk ($85M), Andreessen Horowitz ($91M), Miriam Adelson ($68M), and AIPAC ($30M) — and notes the four biggest public sector unions spent $915 million across 2023-2024. Gavin Newsom calls for a national billionaire's tax and an 'economic reset,' while Chris Murphy says capitalism 'hasn't worked' for 40% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck. Jon Ossoff blames Citizens United for the disconnect between voters and politicians. Cory Booker defends the big-tent coalition. Against this backdrop, Shapiro plays a clip of John Fetterman noting that only 18% of Democrats are 'intensely proud' to be American — which Shapiro calls 'truly absurd' — and of Joe Biden being chanted down with 'genocide Joe' at a Maryland Democratic Party gala.
Claims made here
George Soros and his son Alex Soros have spent $103 million in the current midterm election cycle, on pace to break Soros's previous record of $128 million set in the last midterms.
The four biggest public sector unions spent $915 million on elections in the 2023-2024 cycle.
George and Alex Soros have spent $103 million in the current midterm cycle alone, on pace to shatter their own record of $128 million. Elon Musk spent $85 million. AIPAC spent $30 million. The four biggest public sector unions spent $915 million in 2023-2024. This is what Democrats mean when they say 'grassroots.'
George Soros and his son Alex have already spent $103 million in the current midterm cycle, on pace to break Soros's previous record of $128 million.
Elon Musk spent $85 million in the current election cycle, compared to the $103 million already spent by George and Alex Soros.
The four biggest public sector unions spent $915 million on elections in the 2023-2024 cycle, far outpacing individual Republican megadonors.
Chapter 11 · 57:20
Iran Strikes, the Strait of Hormuz, and a Divided Administration
Shapiro identifies a split inside the Trump administration: Marco Rubio brokered a new Israel-Lebanon deal designed to expel Iranian influence, while a separate faction — reportedly advised by Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute and Sohrab Ahmari — is pursuing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Iran that Shapiro calls a 'surrender deal.' He quotes both advisors saying the two tracks are mutually contradictory. On the military front, Iran struck a Singaporean-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz; CENTCOM responded with strikes on missile storage and coastal radar sites. Fox's Jennifer Griffin reports Iran reconstituted its air defense and missile systems along the strait since the US bombing campaign ended April 7th. Shapiro outlines three alternatives to the current approach: destroy key Iranian economic infrastructure (Kharg Island, South Pars gas field) and leave; force the strait open militarily; or fund Kurdish and Baloch insurgencies against the regime. Instead, he says, the US caved — agreeing to stand down and meet in Doha — after 'hitting a few camels in the ass.'
Claims made here
Only 18% of Democrats describe themselves as intensely proud to be American.
Iran reconstituted its air defense and missile systems along the Strait of Hormuz after the US bombing campaign ended on April 7th, forcing CENTCOM to restrike previously-hit locations.
Only 18% of Democrats say they're intensely proud to be American. Fetterman calls that 'truly absurd' and says we are the good guys — full stop. The rest of the party is getting chanted down with 'genocide Joe' at Maryland galas.
Senator John Fetterman cited polling showing only 18% of Democrats are intensely proud to be American, which he called truly absurd.
Senator Fetterman called it 'truly absurd' that polling shows only 18% of Democrats describe themselves as intensely proud to be American.
Marco Rubio brokered a deal putting Israel and Lebanon on the same side against Hezbollah and Iran. Simultaneously, another faction — reportedly advised by Trita Parsi and Sohrab Ahmari — is pursuing an MOU with Iran. Both cannot coexist. One is a rebuke of Iran; the other is a surrender.
Iran attacked a Singaporean-flagged cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz, triggering US CENTCOM strikes on Iranian missile storage and coastal radar sites.
Iran used the ceasefire to rebuild the exact air defense and missile systems that US strikes had destroyed. CENTCOM had to bomb Keshem Island and Sirik again — sites already struck before. Every unilateral ceasefire is a gift to the enemy.
Iran rebuilt its air defense and missile systems along the Strait of Hormuz after the US bombing campaign ended on April 7th, forcing CENTCOM to restrike previously-hit locations.
The US is neither controlling the Strait of Hormuz nor credibly threatening Iran. Shapiro lays out the three real options: destroy Iranian economic infrastructure and exit, force the strait open militarily, or fund Kurdish and Baloch insurgencies against the regime. Caving to Iranian pressure — the current approach — is the worst of all possible strategies.
After CENTCOM struck Iranian missile sites in response to an attack on a Singaporean-flagged ship, the US and Iran agreed within days to stand down and resume negotiations in Doha, Qatar.
No indexed bits in this chapter.
Show stoppers
Snapshots ()
Key Quotes ()
This episode
Cast
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NYC mayoral candidate and DSA-backed politician whom Shapiro frames as the embodiment of the radical left's anti-American coalition of Islamism and trans activism.
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Jewish California state senator and longtime LGBTQ ally who declared Israel guilty of genocide under left-wing pressure and was still harassed and driven from the San Francisco trans march.
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Colorado DSA congressional candidate running against a 15-term progressive incumbent, endorsing positions from abolishing ICE to ending aid to Israel and declining to call a flamethrower attack on Jews antisemitic.
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Progressive congresswoman being attacked by the DSA and Hasan Piker for being insufficiently radical in her support for Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker.
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Secretary of State who brokered a new Israel-Lebanon framework aimed at expelling Iranian influence, which Shapiro praises but notes is contradicted by a separate Iran MOU pursued by another faction.
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Democratic megadonor who, with his son Alex, has already spent $103 million in the current midterm cycle according to New York Post reporting cited by Shapiro.
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House Minority Leader whose endorsement by AOC has triggered backlash from the DSA and left-wing media figures like Hasan Piker.
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Likely Michigan Democratic Senate nominee who attacked Chuck Schumer and AIPAC in a campaign clip, framed by Shapiro as part of the DSA's mainstream-left takeover.
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Connecticut senator who argued that 'this version of capitalism isn't working' for 40% of full-time American workers, framed by Shapiro as part of the Democratic Party's anti-capitalist drift.
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Escaped slave and abolitionist invoked by Shapiro as the gold standard for engaging with an imperfect America — critiquing it while still fighting for its promise rather than abandoning its symbols.
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California governor who called for a national billionaire's tax while opposing such a tax in California, framed by Shapiro as a cynical leftward pivot to compete with DSA candidates.
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Pennsylvania senator whom Shapiro describes as 'the last sane Democrat in the Senate' for his unapologetic American patriotism and criticism of the party's leftward drift.
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President of the Quincy Institute whom Shapiro describes as a rhetorical Iranian cutout, reportedly advising the Vice President and opposing the Israel-Lebanon framework.
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Left-wing organization whose candidates, including Mamdani and Kirosh, are discussed as a radical takeover threat to the mainstream Democratic Party.
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Iranian-backed terrorist group occupying southern Lebanon that the Israel-Lebanon deal brokered by Rubio is designed to expel.
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Voted to require Bible stories and passages as part of the K-12 English and literature curriculum, triggering a national controversy that Shapiro argues reflects basic literacy requirements.
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Pro-Israel lobbying organization targeted by DSA candidates like Abdul El-Sayed as a symbol of corporate and pro-Israel influence in Democratic politics.
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Central antagonist in the episode's foreign policy segment: Iran attacked a Singaporean-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz, rebuilt its missile systems during the ceasefire, and returned to negotiations in Qatar.
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Country at the center of the Rubio-brokered deal with Israel, designed to expel Hezbollah and Iranian influence from its southern territory.
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Critical shipping chokepoint where Iran attacked a Singaporean-flagged vessel and has rebuilt missile and air defense systems since the US bombing campaign ended, forcing repeat CENTCOM strikes.
Stats
This episode
Claims & Sources
Factual claims made this episode, and whether a source was named.
Political scientist Donald Lutz catalogued 15,000 founding-era political sources and found the Bible was the single most-cited document, accounting for roughly a third of all citations.
The Book of Deuteronomy was the single most-cited book in founding-era American political literature.
Texas became the largest state to require classrooms to display the Ten Commandments.
Only 18% of Democrats describe themselves as intensely proud to be American.
George Soros and his son Alex Soros have spent $103 million in the current midterm election cycle, on pace to break Soros's previous record of $128 million set in the last midterms.
The four biggest public sector unions spent $915 million on elections in the 2023-2024 cycle.
40% of Americans working full-time do not have enough money saved for an emergency car repair.
Iran reconstituted its air defense and missile systems along the Strait of Hormuz after the US bombing campaign ended on April 7th, forcing CENTCOM to restrike previously-hit locations.
Pakistan criminalizes homosexuality under Sharia law.
Zohran Mamdani was born abroad and is therefore constitutionally barred from running for US president.
Benjamin Franklin wanted the parting of the Red Sea to be placed on the official seal of the United States.
Mahamud Sabri-Soleiman, an Egyptian asylum seeker, used a makeshift flamethrower to attack a Jewish October 7th hostage-solidarity rally in Colorado, killing an elderly Jewish woman while shouting 'End Zionists, free Palestine.'
The anti-Zionist movement in the US has its roots in Soviet propaganda from the 1950s and 1960s that was adopted by the global left as a Third World philosophy equating Zionism with racism and apartheid.
Thomas Jefferson authored the 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and wrote a version of the New Testament that stripped out all miracles.
Cenk Uygur noted that AOC has not endorsed a challenger to an incumbent Democrat in the last two election cycles.