Ep. 2105 - What The HELL Are All These Drones?!
48:14 Share

All right, folks. So apparently there are a lot of weird drones that are flying around America, particularly the East Coast and particularly military bases. We keep hearing from the government that it's not a big deal. They're not sure what they are. They're not sure what to do about it, but it's no big deal. And here is my problem. Perhaps 15 years ago, I would have believed the government, perhaps.

Perhaps 15 years ago, I would have been more apt to think, hey, they know what they're doing because no way in hell this government would allow, say, foreign drones or even domestic drones to simply hover around military facilities en masse.

For weeks on end. There's no way they would do that. And then Joe Biden was president and Joe Biden allowed a Chinese spy balloon to cross the entire continental United States without shooting it down. And only after he got called on it, did he then proceed to shoot down a bunch of weather balloons with hellfire missiles. So yeah, I've got some skepticism. Again, that doesn't mean...

that these are Chinese drones or Iranian drones or aliens or anything like that. Maybe it's just a bunch of people who are mistaking airplanes for drones. That's quite possible. The thing is, I don't actually trust the members of our government to tell us the truth, even if they knew the truth, because they have not in the past. According to CNN.com, mysterious flying objects overhead, concern and confusion and calls for military intervention. This isn't the plot of War of the Worlds, but rather the results of numerous unidentified possible drone sightings on the East Coast in recent weeks.

The possible drones have been spotted over residential neighborhoods, restricted sites, and critical infrastructure. Now, again, if they're floating above residential sites, I tend to think that probably these are simply domestic drones, people who are hobbyists or something. But again, when you have large swarms of drones that are apparently flying near, for example, military bases in Virginia or New Jersey, I start to have some questions.

A reported drone activity prompted at least one airport, New York's Stewart International Airport, to temporarily close its runways for about an hour on Friday night.

Apparently, New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Saturday said, quote, this has gone too far and she's directed the New York State Intelligence Center to actively investigate drone sightings and coordinate with federal law enforcement to address the issue. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he's now asking the Department of Homeland Security to deploy special detection systems that use 360 degree technology to detect the drones. He said if this technology exists for a drone to make it up in the sky, there certainly is technology that can track the craft with precision and determine what the heck is going on.

is going on. Now, the reality is it's actually quite difficult to track drones in the same way that you would track, say, a missile. This has been a problem in Israel, for example, where the Houthis have launched several drones. Hezbollah did as well because the drones don't travel highly above the speed of, for example, birds. And so they create sort of a noisy signal on radar. With that said, the American government has not

had a sufficient response to this as of yet. Alejandro Mayorkas, thank God, the outgoing Department of Homeland Security secretary, he says the drone sightings are in fact real.

There's no question that people are seeing drones. And I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey State Police in addressing the drone sightings. Some of those drone sightings are in fact drones.

drones. Some are manned aircraft that are commonly mistaken for drones. And we do see duplicative reporting. But there's no question that drones are being cited. Drone sightings apparently have been reported in at least six states, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, as well as Virginia. The sightings began November 18th near Morris County, New Jersey, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Now, here's the thing. It is not only in these areas. How do I know? Well, because I've seen one of these drones. I saw it on the southern border. In fact, you can see a drone on the southern border if you go and you take a look at our series over at Daily Wire Plus, Divided States of Biden. Went down to the southern border. We did a ride along with Border Patrol, and it was beautiful.

fairly early in the evening, maybe 8 o'clock in the evening. And suddenly, I look up and there is a drone. And I remember turning to Border Patrol. You can see again. You can see this happen over at DailyWebPlus. I turned to Border Patrol and I say, what is that? Our producers were there too. What is that? They said, well, it's a drone. I said, well, I assume that that's our drone, you know, like from our side monitoring the border. And they said, nope, that is a drug cartel drone. So again, the idea that there are, in fact, foreign drones flying over American soil, not only...

Do I suspect that is happening? I know for a fact that is happening. I then asked Border Patrol, by the way, why they didn't just shoot down the drone. And they said they would need explicit permission from Alejandro Mayorkas, the head of the Department of Homeland Security. Mayorkas, for his part, says we have no information of foreign involvement with these drones. We have not seen any foreign and we know of no foreign involvement with respect to the the sightings in the northeast. And we are vigilant about

in investigating this matter, the Department of Homeland Security with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the lead. Again, according to CNN.com, concerns escalated after drones were spotted near Picatinny Arsenal, a U.S. military research facility, and also over President-elect Trump's golf course in Bedminster. According to both military officials and state lawmakers, the sightings prompted the FAA to issue temporary flight restrictions over the properties.

Apparently, there were also reports of drones above the Naval Weapons Station Earl, a U.S. Navy base south of Middleton, although no direct threats were identified. And it's coming from both sides of the aisle, by the way. It's not just a Republican thing. Democratic Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey posted videos to his ex-account showing what appeared to be a cluster of drones over the Round Valley Reservoir on Thursday night.

On Saturday, he posted on X that most of the aircraft he initially thought were drones were almost certainly planes. So again, it is possible that people are oversighting, they're over-attributing things to drones that actually are planes, or they have camera error.

Any of that is possible. However, I have very little trust in the federal government that they are doing the job that they were designated to do. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said his administration is aware of reported drone sightings and is currently taking them seriously. He, of course, is a Democrat. He said Friday evening he directed the Pennsylvania State Police to further investigate the sightings and police will be flying helicopters to try to determine where these drones are originating from and what the purpose of the drones are.

The same thing is happening in Massachusetts, where Governor Maura Healey posted on X about the growing number of drone sightings in her state and said that state police were working alongside local and federal partners, urging drone operators to adhere to regulations. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin also made a statement. He said that the state police and the Department of Emergency Management were coordinating closely with numerous federal partners to respond to drone reports. He emphasized significant number of national security and critical infrastructure sites in Virginia.

Now, again, FBI and DHS, they're saying this is mostly mistaken identity. Some of these may be commercial drones. We don't know as of yet from where they derive. There are a bunch of explanations that are more plausible than the idea that these are, for example, Iranian drones. In fact, I think the possibility they're Chinese drones is much more likely, given the fact that we know that China has been attempting to surveil American military sites. So this does raise the question, why don't we just shoot them down?

Alejandro Mayorkas, whose job it is to clear this, he says, well, you know, it's the FAA. The FAA says we're not allowed to shoot them down. Well, then just change the regulations and the procedures of the FAA. This one is not tough.

We are aware of the drone sightings, as I've said. I think there are more than 8,000 drones flown every day in the United States. With respect to the ability to incapacitate those drones, we are limited in our authorities. We have certain agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that can do that and outside our department. But we need those authorities expanded as well. So here's the problem with Mayorkas. I don't believe him at all.

I don't think that he requires additional authority. I think that he's just a coward. I mean, that was certainly true, again, on the southern border where actual Mexican drug cartels were flying drones above my head. Okay, we all saw them. You can see them on tape. This is not speculation. It's just reality.

Meanwhile, one News Nation reporter named Rich McHugh, he says these drones are sophisticated. They are moving in directions that are sort of different than normal drones would. The experience I had last night, however, changed the way I feel about this story completely. What I saw was more sophisticated than I ever imagined. Take a look.

One, two, three, four, five, at least five lights, six lights. I didn't believe what I was seeing, but what was I seeing? We're here in central Jersey. We've been looking for the past hour. I think we've seen about 40 or 50 of these drones. In fact, there's one over my shoulder right there.

One after another, after another, these drones appeared in the night sky. If you look real close, they look like fixed wing aircraft, about eight to 10 feet wide, colorful, white blinking lights. That is not a plane. Definitely not an airplane, but what was it? Again, not clear. All these drones are of the same make. Not clear exactly what they are. At this point, New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, he says that some of the elusive maneuvering suggests military sophistication.

The elusive maneuvering of these drones, I would suggest, suggests a major military power sophistication that begs the question whether they have been deployed to test our defense capabilities or worse by violent dictatorships, perhaps maybe Russia or China or Iran or North Korea. I mean, they have the capability and they certainly have the motive. Now, again, that's a lot of speculation right there. But the problem is, do you believe anything Joe Biden tells you about this?

or any of his designated people, considering that he himself is now probably comatose. New Jersey State Senator John Bramnick, he says something very similar. He says the feds clearly don't want to talk about all of this.

Whatever these drones are doing, the government really doesn't want us to know. What that must mean is they're more concerned with us getting knowledge and being afraid of that information than having no knowledge and having all these questions. That's why I'm worried about it. It must be something going on that they can't tell us because they are so fearful of what the public's going to do when they hear what the drones are doing.

Hey, I don't know what they are. You don't know what they are. Apparently the government doesn't know what they are. Certainly I do not believe members of the Biden administration when they say that they are giving the American people all of the information. I don't trust the Biden administration for a whole wide variety of reasons, including, of course, the fact that they are extraordinarily

Pro-abortion. You know, this holiday season, as many are celebrating the gift of life, you do have an opportunity to share that same gift with the mother and her baby. Imagine a young woman facing an unplanned pregnancy, feeling alone, unsure of what to do. She's searching for hope. That's where Preborn Ministries comes in. When Valeria found out she was pregnant, she was beyond terrified. She'd often dreamt of being a young mom, but as a

Christian and single, she now felt overwhelmed by shame and was seriously considering abortion. Valeria began the search for an abortion. It was upon that search she called a nurse at a pre-born network clinic who walked her through her options, including the true reality of ending a baby's life with the abortion pill. When she heard that, she knew she couldn't end her child's life. Valeria chose life and now has a beautiful little girl today. For just 28 bucks, you can help save a life.

And thanks to a special matching grant, your gift is doubled. Just $28 provides one ultrasound. $140 sponsors five. That means your $140 gift becomes $280, potentially helping 10 moms and their unborn children to donate. Dial pound 250, say baby. That's pound 250, baby. Or visit preborn.com slash ben. All gifts are tax deductible. Preborn has a four-star charity rating. Preborn.com slash ben. Also, Grand Canyon University, a private Christian university in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona,

believes we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. GCU believes in equal opportunity and that the American dream starts with purpose. GCU equips you to serve others in ways that promote human flourishing and creates a ripple effect of transformation for generations to come. By honoring your career calling, you impact your family,

Thank you.

Let it flourish. Find your purpose at Grand Canyon University. Private, Christian, affordable. Visit gcu.edu. Again, that's gcu.edu. I've been to their campus. It's a beautiful place, wonderful student body. Go check them out right now. Grand Canyon University, private, Christian, affordable. Visit gcu.edu today.

Okay, meanwhile, President Trump had himself a hell of a weekend. He went to the Army-Navy game along with Vice President Vance, as well as Daniel Penny. Daniel Penny, of course, has been released now that he's been acquitted by a jury in New York. Good for Trump and Vance for inviting Penny. Penny is, in fact, an American hero because the difference between, say, Daniel Penny and, say, the shooter of the UnitedHealthcare CEO is that Daniel Penny is not, in fact, a murderer. He was defending other people from incipient violence.

That is the definition of heroism. He stepped in when no one else would. So that was great. And Trump and Vance hosted Daniel Penny. No Democrats, by the way, showed up at the Army-Navy game. No prominent Democrats, which is kind of amazing. Normally, the president of the United States shows up. But as we all know, the president of the United States is no longer the president of the United States, even if he is.

J.D. Vance, the vice president, he tweeted, Daniel's a good guy. New York's mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone. I'm grateful he accepted my invitation and hope he's able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage. Others who attended the game, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Also, there are other members of the political class, including Representative Mike Walz, who is the National Security Advisor of Choice by President Trump, as well as Pete Hegseth, the presumptive Secretary of Defense.

President Trump's pick and Tulsi Gabbard, the pick for director of national intelligence. So they all showed up. It's an amazingly patriotic event. It always is. The enthusiasm was high because let's face it, the American people are in a pretty good mood about President Trump taking over. It is not just Republicans acknowledging that simple fact, by the way. Democratic National Committee official Lindy Lee says it's pretty obvious at this point that Trump actually has momentum for the first time, maybe in his political career, having been elected.

I think, unfortunately, a Democratic Party has a stench of loser written all over the party. And I'm sorry. And I'm speaking as a Democrat myself. This brings me no joy to say it. But I feel like the Democrats are going to be consigned to the wilderness for at least the next four to eight years. I think we're about to embark on an entirely new era of prosperity. I certainly hope so.

And yeah, you can just feel it. Even in the last couple of weeks, Americans are celebrating that Trump's approval rating is incredibly high. People are in support of his transition. The momentum is just tremendous. And I'm speaking as a Democrat and I'm feeling it as well.

Okay, she is right about all that and you can see it and you can feel it. Okay, just adding to the momentum for President Trump is this hilarious story. ABC News has now been forced to pay $15 million to a presidential foundation and museum, the Trump Presidential Museum, which probably will be somewhere in Florida, might be over at Mar-a-Lago, who knows?

President Trump's Presidential Foundation Museum will be paid for in part by ABC News. Why? Well, because the settlement, which was filed publicly on Saturday, reveals the network will also pay $1 million in Trump's attorney's fees and will issue an apology. That is because back on March 10th, 2024, ABC News and George Stephanopoulos made statements regarding President Trump in an interview with Representative Nancy Mace.

So Trump filed the lawsuit in Florida federal court earlier this year, arguing with Stephanopoulos and ABC News to feint him when Stephanopoulos said 10 times during an interview with Mace that a jury found that Trump had raped E. Jean Carroll, which of course is not true. In 2023, a jury found that Trump sexually abused Carroll, sufficient to hold him liable for battery, but it did not find that Carroll proved that he raped her at all.

A judge concluded in August 2023 when dismissing Trump's countersuit against Carroll that the claim that Trump raped Carroll was substantially true. The judge wrote that Trump raped her in the broader sense of the word as people generally understand it, but not as it is narrowly defined by New York state law.

So it simply was not true that the jury found that Trump had quote unquote raped E. Jean Carroll. Stephanopoulos went on the air and said it over and over and over and over. And it cost ABC News $15 million. Now there's some people who are saying this is a nuisance settlement. Okay, nuisance settlement is where people sue companies all the time. Literally all companies, we've been sued before. Like that sort of stuff happens all the time. And very often, if the amount that you would pay to the attorneys,

Thank you.

But that's not the way that it works. That means that there are such things as nuisance settlements. That is not this. Defamation cases, particularly about President Trump, in order to prove defamation, you have to prove actual malice. It is not enough to find that the person said something false about President Trump because President Trump's a public figure. So you have to show actual malice in George Stephanopoulos saying it. So ABC News, that's a very rich company.

They can afford to pay lawyers. Why did they pay out $15 million to President Trump? It's not to settle the nuisance of it. They did it specifically because they were afraid that Trump would win and they would have to sign a gigantic defamation check to President Trump. So instead, they're first stalling that with a $15 million payment, which is absolutely hilarious. Some Democrats are fighting mad about all this. One of them, Mark Elias, who of course is a lawyer for a wide variety of Democrats,

He tweeted out, knee bent, ring kissed. Another legacy news outlet chooses obedience. A reminder, Democracy Docket is fiercely independent, unapologetically pro-democracy. It will not back down. It will not obey. Sign up to support. Democracy Docket is his own little 501c3, I believe, that raises money so that he can fight lawfare against Republicans.

Of course, Mark Elias is really angry. He has made his career, Mark Elias, going to court against a wide variety of Republicans. He's an election attorney for the Democratic Party. He, of course, was hired by the Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign in case there was any post-election litigation. So he's mad, of course.

And he should be. Some people are taking this as ABC News trying to get it off the books specifically because they don't want to be at odds with President Trump. Maybe this is that. You've seen a wide variety of corporate leaders who are pretty antipathetic to President Trump now descending on Mar-a-Lago in order to have conversations with President Trump. That ranges from Mark Zuckerberg over at Facebook to Jeff Bezos over at Amazon and The Washington Post.

With that said, that is a recognition of the reality, which is that President Trump, in fact, does have the momentum. President Trump's economic momentum is undeniable. Some of the things he's considering doing, by the way, he's considering apparently privatizing the U.S. Postal Service, which, I mean, it's about damn time. The U.S. Postal Service is one of the biggest losers in the American government in terms of just losing the American taxpayer cash.

For years and years and years, for decades, it was suggested that without the U.S. Postal Service, the mail would not be delivered. And then FedEx came along. And then a wide variety of other parcel services came along. And it turns out that actually you can run a for-profit business that delivers the packages much faster and with better reliability than the U.S. Postal Service. Told of the mail agency's annual financial losses, Trump said the government should not subsidize the organization. So again, that would make a lot of sense.

The Postal Service just bleeds money every single year. They lost $5.5 billion in 2014. They lost almost $10 billion in 2020. They lost almost $10 billion last year. In fact, it was back in 2022 that Congress had to just sign a $56 billion check to shore up the U.S. Postal Service's finances. So privatizing that, that would be a big win for the American people.

President Trump is going to pursue a wide variety of wins in his second term. But Democrats are still struggling for a path of resistance. One of those paths of resistance may be lawfare. Keith Ellison, the attorney general of the state of Minnesota, he says that he wants to file more lawsuits against President Trump because, after all, this is how they tried to stop President Trump the first time around.

When he was the president last time, we had to bring lawsuits against him over 100 times. And we were able to successfully block him about 70 percent of the time.

But we do anticipate that he'll be more prepared this time. He'll be more aggressive. And he has a playbook. Project 2025 is that playbook. And then, you know, he's already introduced some executive orders last time, which we anticipate he'll try to introduce again.

So it's not like we have to guess about what he wants to do, although I'm sure that he has some new tricks up his sleeves as well. Well, see how the lawfare goes, considering a lot of the appellate courts

have a lot of Trump nominees on them. Meanwhile, a bunch of congressional Democrats have said they are not going to attend the inauguration as though President Trump cares at all. House Democrats who will skip the inauguration include Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey, Adam Smith of Washington, Deborah Ross of North Carolina, Donald Bayer of Virginia, Steve Cohen of Tennessee, Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, Jasmine Crockett of Texas, Sean Cassin of Illinois, Delia Ramirez of Illinois, Ilhan Omar, of course, of Minnesota, and I'm sure many others will be joining.

Now, this is a stupid path for Democrats, honestly. One of the reasons is the American people would like to see Democrats work with President Trump where appropriate.

While Democrats are resisting President Trump, one of the things presumably they will be resisting is President Trump's attempt at tax cuts. But let's talk about something that affects all of us responsible, hardworking Americans, taxes themselves. The October 15th deadline has passed. Are you prepared for what's coming next? Do you owe back taxes? Are your tax returns still unfiled? Did you miss the deadline to file for an extension? Well, now that October 15th is behind us, the IRS may be ramping up enforcement. And let me tell you, they're not playing around. You could face wage garnishments,

frozen bank accounts, even property seizures if you haven't taken action yet. But there's still good news. There's hope. Tax Network USA has been in the game for years. They know exactly how to navigate the complex world of tax law. They've helped taxpayers save over a billion dollars in tax debt. They've filed over 10,000 tax returns. That's billion with a B, folks. They specialize in helping hardworking Americans like you reduce their tax burdens. So don't let the IRS catch you off guard. Get ahead of this right now with Tax Network USA. Their team of professionals will work tirelessly to protect your assets and

and find the best solution for your unique situation. So here's what you need to do. For a complimentary consultation, call today 1-800-958-1000 or visit their website at tnusa.com slash Shapiro. That's 1-800-958-1000 or visit tnusa.com slash Shapiro today. Do not let the IRS take advantage of you. Get the help you need with taxnetwork.com.

USA. Also, selling a car privately, that can be a real pain in the butt. Endless negotiations, tire kickers, paperwork hassles, but there is a better way to get your unused car off your hands. For 30 years, Cars for Kids has perfected the car donation process to make it truly effortless. They'll take your car in any condition.

Running or not, they'll turn it into funds for kids in need, plus a tax deduction for you. It takes just two minutes on the phone or at carsforkids.org to donate. They'll take over from there, getting your car picked up as soon as the next day. No haggling, no scheduling conflicts, no paperwork nightmares. They'll receive a vacation voucher and maximum tax deduction while supporting proven programs that help children reach their full potential. With over a million successful donations over three decades, Cars for Kids continues to be a trusted partner for car donors across the country. Again,

It's free, convenient, and easy. Freeing up your driveway while making a difference for the next generation. Call right now, 1-877-CARS4KIDS. That's K-A-R-S, the number four, kids. Or donate online at Cars4Kids. Again, that's with the number four, Cars4Kids.org slash Ben. Donate your car today. That's Cars4Kids.org slash Ben to get started. It is a foolhardy plan to simply preemptively fight President Trump.

One of the people who knows this is apparently the only Democrat with a brain at this point, John Fetterman, the senator from Pennsylvania. According to Axios, Fetterman is on an island as he reaches out to MAGA. Quote, Senator John Fetterman has become a voice of bipartisanship, making moves that he tells Axios are, quote, responsible and completely appropriate, but that are putting him on an island apart from other Democrats. As the vast majority of Democrats on Capitol Hill fume over many of Donald Trump's cabinet picks and his for a second term, Fetterman is showing a rare willingness to engage with parts of MAGA world.

It's easy to think Fetterman could be a new version of Democrat-turned-independent Joe Manchin. That would be wrong. He's a reliable Democratic vote, but he's emerging as an independent voice within his party simply by emphasizing the need to talk more with the other side. So, for example, he met with Pete Hegseth, where he's going to meet with Pete Hegseth this week, President Trump's pick for SecDef. He also met, for example, with Elise Stefanik, President Trump's pick for U.N. ambassador, and he's already said that he's going to vote for her. Fetterman is—this is smart.

Now, Fetterman is, again, a very staunch Democrat. He's going to vote with the Democrats 95% of the time. But he also understands that if he's going to defy President Trump's agenda, then he better have a good reason to do so. And right now, it just appears that Democrats are still fulminating over having lost the election. They literally cannot understand how they lost to President Trump, again. And I think that's because they fundamentally misunderstand the American people.

nowhere have I seen this better exemplified than in Tim Walz. So Tim Walz, you'll remember Tim Walz. Remember he was the weirdo? He was the inflatable at the tire store near the freeway who ran for vice president with Kamala Harris. You remember him. I know he's so forgettable. It really is kind of funny. You struggle to come up with the name of the Democratic nominee and it's been five weeks since the election. Pretty incredible. Well, Tim Walz was on Minnesota Public Radio and he said he can't understand how they lost. After all, he's poor.

What? So your argument for being vice president of the United States was you're bad at finances and never earned money? Why would that possibly be a good argument for why you should be the heir to the presidency? That makes no sense at all. Like you being unsuccessful over the course of your relatively long life because Tim Walz is currently 60 years old.

That is not a good, that is a terrible argument for why I should be vice president. But he seems to think that solidarity in poverty is somehow a winning ticket for the American people. It never was. The American people would actually like to, you know, succeed. The American dream is not to be like Tim Walz. It is to be like J.D. Vance. Here is Tim Walz failing to understand the American people.

How in the world did we lose to a billionaire or a venture capitalist when we were making the case of a county attorney and a high school teacher? And we were focusing on cost of groceries, cost of health care. Those types of issues that should have really resonated, we need to figure out. And whoever does it at the party level as we build out, how do we reach those groups that we lost in? And it was many of them. How did we lose Hispanic groups? I would

Losing Puerto Ricans in Allentown after Donald Trump's at a rally where they talk about Puerto Rico being garbage. And I think for whatever reason, there was a distrust that people really – that the Democratic Party stood with that group of working people. So again, your argument is that they should have solidarity with you because you were poor?

Now, remember, Tim Walz actually ran on this. He ran on the idea that you should have solidarity with him because he had no real estate holdings and no stocks, which, by the way, is a terrible way to invest. That's how you end up at 60 years old with no money. Truly. And you want financial advice? Invest. Take the money that you're making and put it in the stock market. If you don't know anything about investment, put your money in an index fund. Even if you do know something about investment, you should put your money in an index fund and just leave it there and don't touch it. Don't sell when the market goes down. Don't buy when the market goes up. Just get in the market.

Do dollar cost averaging. Just keep buying into the market. Buy real estate when you have the opportunity to do so. And just hold. Buy and hold for long periods of time. But again, this is the same guy who went out on the campaign trail and suggested that J.D. Vance was a sellout for having risen from relatively impoverished background with a horrifying family background to become a Yale Law graduate after having served in the military and then running for vice president after being a senator. Like, that's a crazy...

That's a crazy pitch. But I think that a lot of Democrats fundamentally do not understand the American people. And there is this disconnect. And that disconnect is, I think, being radically exacerbated. I do, by the nature of social media. Social media radically exacerbates the disconnect between the American people and the elites who write for the media and who are on social media. Social media encompasses a very narrow slice of the American people. So just to take a...

Just to take one example, there is a poll that is now out with regard to Luigi Mangione. Okay, so this poll is from RMG Research, polled 1,000 people, and what they found was that 53% of Americans thought that Luigi Mangione, who is the guy who shot the UnitedHealthcare CEO allegedly, that he was a villain. Only 10% thought he was a hero, and 22% said neither.

Now, online, those numbers are probably reversed. Online, you would suggest 80-90% of people think that this person is some sort of hero. Also, if you're online, you tend to believe that literally every American hates their healthcare. Now...

Every American hates dealing with insurance companies, but that's true whether you're talking about a car insurance company. It's true whether you're talking about a life insurance company, except for Policy Genius. It's true for pretty much all insurance companies. People don't like dealing with insurance. Do you like? I don't like. No one likes dealing with insurance companies. It's annoying and terrible. However, polling tends to show that Americans don't despise their own health care. In fact, they don't want to lose their doctor. They don't want to lose their health care. Here is Harry Enten from CNN explaining.

Sometimes we talk about approval of Congress versus approval of your own congressman. People don't like Congress, but they like their own congressman. Something similar is going on here when you talk about the nation's health care system or the health care in the nation versus your own health care, your own health care. Look at this. Excellent or good. The quality of it. 71 percent say it's excellent or good. How about the coverage of it?

65% say that their coverage is excellent or good. How about satisfied with the cost? A majority, 58%, say that they're satisfied with the cost. So the bottom line is this. You wonder why the health care system in this country stays the same. It's because people don't like health care in sort of the abstract, but when it comes to their own health care, a lot of Americans actually are pretty gosh darn satisfied.

Again, that's what the poll statistics actually show. Again, there's a second poll that was done from the Center for Strategic Politics at UHC. And what they found is that 61% of Americans had a negative view of Luigi Mangione, the alleged shooter. Only 18% had a positive view. As for Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, 35% had a negative view. 19% had a positive view. The rest didn't know. And that includes, by the way, a plurality of Americans who had a negative view of UnitedHealthcare.

Which all seems relatively normal, but the reaction from the media is so utterly disconnected and from Democrats is so utterly disconnected. Okay, let us make something clear. What Luigi Mangione did is a terrorist attack. It is a terrorist attack when you kill someone in order to quote unquote raise the issue. If you kill somebody in order to raise the issue, that is the nature of terrorism. You're seeking to bring attention to the issue by doing murder.

And what the American body politics should do and what everybody should basically do is if a terrorist wants you to talk about the problems with the healthcare system, you shouldn't give them what they want or you're incentivizing people to kill people. Now, we should absolutely have long form conversations

about the health care system in the United States. When I say long form, I mean informed conversations, because let's be real about this. People don't know bleep about the health care systems of the United States. They really don't. Just to take one example, Whoopi Goldberg was on The View on Friday and Whoopi Goldberg started running her mouth about health insurance. And my goodness, my goodness gracious, does she not understand what health insurance companies do? There are things we can

fool with and things we can't. Health care is one of those things that you shouldn't be able to fool with. And insurance companies who you pay, I pay into my insurance, you pay into your insurance. I don't understand. If I don't go to the hospital for a whole year, where's my money? Why don't you give me the money back? Then you don't have to worry about it. Because I feel like, you know, I said this. OK, OK.

How does she think insurance works? The people who are having these conversations literally know nothing. Mangione himself in his manifesto said he knew nothing about the systems. He really, like he said, he said, I don't know enough about this complex system. I'm just going to kill somebody. Whoopi Goldberg there suggesting the way insurance, when you don't, if you pay into your car insurance company and you don't take any money out because you don't get into a car crash, do you get your money back? Of course not. That's not how insurance works.

But that is the level of the conversation that is being had. So don't pretend that we're now having a deep and abiding conversation about health insurance in this company, in this country. We absolutely are not. The conversation has gotten significantly worse, not better.

And that is led by members of our cultural and political elite. We'll get to more on that in just one moment. First, if you're still searching for the perfect gift, you shouldn't sweat it. Daily Wire Plus gift memberships are 40% off right now, but not for long. This isn't just a gift. It's a ticket to uncensored truth, unapologetic news, and premium entertainment for the conservative in your life. With a Daily Wire Plus membership, they'll get a year of daily shows from the most trusted voices in conservative media with limited ads.

Live breaking news that gives the full story. No agendas, just the facts. Access to investigative journalism exposing what the mainstream media won't. An entertainment library packed with hit movies and documentaries like Am I Racist? along with can't-miss series like Jordan B. Peterson's The Gospels. And here's the best part, to keep shopping stress-free. You pick the delivery date for the Daily Wire Plus gift membership. We will handle the rest. 40% off Daily Wire Plus gift memberships. Go to dailywire.com slash gift.

Right now. So as I'm saying, the political and cultural elite, they're just too online. They're too online. Bernie Sanders is a perfect example of this. So Bernie Sanders over the weekend, he pulled a full Elizabeth Warren. He suggested that while shooting someone in the back is irresponsible, but this does raise a longstanding concern he's had about the profit driven health care system.

Look, Elizabeth Warren obviously understands killing and murder and shooting somebody in the back is totally unacceptable. But what I think has happened in the last few months is that what you have seen rising up is people's anger at a health insurance industry which denies people the health care that they desperately need

while they make billions and billions of dollars in profit. Again, this idea that when you remove profit from a system, somehow the system gets more efficient with better products belies everything you know about everything in your life except for healthcare for some odd reason. And it's not just Bernie Sanders who's doing this routine, by the way. The shooter provides us a great leaping off point to talk about healthcare. Chris Murphy, the idiot senator from Connecticut, he's doing the same routine. I'm never going to condone violence. I don't care.

I've spent my entire life fighting gun violence because I know that the devastation is enormous that it leaves behind. What I see happening in this country, though, is a real visceral anger that the outrage at Brian Thompson's death or the outrage at the death of any powerful person isn't matched by the anger over the thousands of people who die often anonymous deaths every single day in this country.

at the hands of a healthcare industry that mostly doesn't give a shit about people and only cares about profits. Ordinary people in this country are not indifferent to the loss of life, but these companies are. This sort of language is so disgusting. This idea that everyone who works at health insurance industries, that all of those people don't care about human beings at all. That all they want is profits. That is not how markets work. That is not how markets work.

Forget about caring and not caring for just one second. Recognize that the grocer who provides you food, he doesn't hate you just because he's charging you for the food. The grocer who charges you food is charging you for the food because that allows them to generate more groceries. That is what that is about. There are massive problems in our healthcare system. Again, health insurance doesn't truly act as health insurance in the United States in any real way because they're not insuring against a possible risk for the future, except sort of at the margins. What they really are doing is providing quote-unquote healthcare coverage.

that is heavily regulated and also heavily subsidized by the federal government and the state governments, by the way. But this kind of disgusting notion that is being dumped out there, that the reason people die due to lack of healthcare is because those mean, cruel health insurance executives are trying their best to harm people. First of all, even if you would assume that was true, assume that was true for just one second, don't you think there would be a competitor, a healthcare competitor, say, a health insurance competitor that might come along and say, hey, we care about people more. Do your business here. It...

This kind of language is actually a danger. It's a dangerous thing to do. And again, it spans both sides of the aisle. You see it happen all the time. This sort of notion that if somebody disagrees with how I do my business, then it must be because they're evil and want to harm you. I've mentioned the word emotivism before. That is a phrase, a term used by Alistair McIntyre. It's also used by Philip Reif, a bunch of different philosophers. And the basic idea is attributing motive to someone rather than dealing with the actual arguments.

And it's really ugly. And it does lead to some pretty terrible consequences. So there was a concert in Boston over the weekend at which Luigi Mangione's face was shown and the attendees began to cheer. And people are dancing. This is a person who murdered someone on the street in cold blood. By the way, not because he had an unsuccessful back surgery or was covered by UnitedHealthcare. He absolutely was not. This is not good. There is a disconnect here.

The disconnect is not just with regard to health care, for example. It's with regard to a wide variety of issues, whether it is the sort of glory of being poor that Tim Walz is talking about, whether it is the supposed hatred of our entire health care system, which, again, people have their problems with the health care system. That doesn't mean they want the National Health Service or think that UnitedHealthcare CEO should be shot in the back on the streets of New York. There's also a wild disconnect on issues of race, obviously, between the elites in our society and a huge percentage of the rest of the population.

And it's permeated those elite circles. So one of the bizarre controversies of the last week is Caitlin Clark, who is the WNBA's only nameable star. The vast majority of the general public has no idea of any players other than Caitlin Clark because, of course, she was this giant college star and then she went to the WNBA. So Caitlin Clark, she did an interview in which she talked about her white privilege at length. And then Megyn Kelly called her on it. And then she spoke some more about her white privilege.

Like I've said, I feel like I've earned every single thing that's happened to me over the course of my career. But also, I grew up a fan of this league from a very young age. Like, my favorite player was Maya Moore. Like, I know what this league was about. And like I said, like, it's only been around 25 plus years. So I know there's been so many amazing black women that have been in this league and continuing to up the list.

uplift them, I think is very important. And that's something I'm very aware of. And like I said, like I try to just be real and authentic and, you know, share my truth. And I think that's very easy for me. Like I'm very comfortable in my own skin. And that's kind of been how it is my entire life. Sharing her truth, sharing her. Well, she's saying the things she knows she has to say. Obviously, it's not enough, though. It's not enough. She said she acknowledges her white privilege and she wishes to use her voice on behalf of all of the black NBA stars.

Well, is that going to help her one iota? Absolutely not. Here, for example, is it WNBA team owner Sheila Johnson ripping Caitlin Clark is the co-owner of the Washington Mystics. I know you didn't know that there was a team called the Washington Mystics because hell, no one knows there's a team called the Washington Mystics. Here she is ripping Caitlin Clark and the fan base for liking Caitlin Clark saying it's only because Caitlin Clark is white. Why couldn't they have put the whole WNBA on that cover and said,

the WNBA is the league of the year because of all the talent that we have. Because when you just keep singling out one player, it creates hard feelings. And so now you're starting to hear stories of racism within the WNBA. And I don't want to hear that. We have got to operate and become stronger as a league and respect everybody that's playing and their talents.

Hey, you're not putting the entire WNBA on the cover because not everybody can fit. Nobody knows who any of those people are. By the way, 31% apparently of the entire Washington Mystics ticket sales this year came in two games. I will give you a guess as to which player was featured in those two games. It was Kaitlyn Clark. Kaitlyn Clark is single-handedly responsible for one third of all your ticket sales this year. And you're about it. You're complaining about it.

That disconnect, this is why people are annoyed. This is why people are annoyed with the radical left, which they're just too online. They're just too online. Speaking, by the way, of too online, apparently Kamala Harris, she wants to make a comeback. I'm not even kidding at this point. I would love for some politicians who lose to just go away, like truly go away.

Why can't, why did they just stick around now? My whole childhood, if you lost, you went away. Not anymore. Now, Vice President Harris, she apparently wants to run for governor of California, God love her, or run for president again because she did such an amazing job this time.

What she's been saying to people over the last couple of weeks, donors, other supporters that she's been talking with, is you haven't seen the last of me. I'm not going quietly into the night. Advisors, people close to her, are debating about what that means. They do not want her final official act ever to be essentially certifying Donald Trump's win over her.

especially four years after January 6th. And so they look at this governor's race in California in 2026, and it seems to them like a layup, essentially, that she would probably clear the field or mostly clear the field, and she would get to be governor of California. Okay, then. Good luck to her. You know, God bless the Democratic Party, and may they continue ever in this direction.

Because frankly, if they wish to disdain reality, the elections will not go their way for a long time to come. So God bless them and may they continue to prosper in their insane dereliction of duty with regard to having any relationship at all with reality.

Hello everyone, it's your favorite president, Donald J. Trump, here to introduce something really special. You're going to love it. My new Trump watches. It's one of the best watches made. Go to GetTrumpWatches.com. It's Trump time. Go to GetTrumpWatches.com now to get your Trump watch before they're gone. Don't miss your chance to own a piece of history. See GetTrumpWatches.com for details. Trump watches are not intended for investment purposes.

Hurry, go now to GetTrumpWatches.com. Meanwhile, with President Trump coming into office, Russia is attempting to up the ante. They believe that if they continue to press, then presumably NATO will collapse before them. I don't think that's what's going to happen here. I think that what's pretty clearly going to happen...

Because President Trump is going to call on the Europeans to do their part, and the Europeans will do their part, or they'll get eaten. And they don't wish to be eaten, and so it will be up to them to up the ante. I think that President Trump is not in the business of abandoning American allies to the predations of our enemies. He just wants our allies to do exactly what they're supposed to do, namely defend themselves and spend the money and materiel to defend their friends.

which makes a lot of sense since Europe is actually quite large and Europe has a lot of money, actually. While the Russians, in anticipation of Trump entering, I think they're miscalculating, they're getting more aggressive. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Mercury missile corvette, one of Russia's most advanced naval assets, was escorting an oil tanker in the Baltic Sea when a German warship approached. The German warship was a bit of a surprise

The German frigate F-223 had followed the two Russian ships up to a spot near the Danish island of Bornholm before it dispatched its SeaLinks helicopter armed with a powerful surveillance equipment to have a closer look after a series of incidents in the area had put security forces on edge. The Russian corvette responded by shooting flares at the aircraft, forcing the pilot to turn back.

This incident on November 26th, the details of which had not been previously reported, was part of an increasingly heated standoff between Russia and NATO in Europe, with the Baltic region emerging as a key flashpoint in a confrontation unseen since the height of the Cold War. Beyond military signaling, Russia has escalated an often violent campaign of sabotage and subterfuge.

Apparently, Russian warships have been firing warning shots at NATO vessels. Powerful Russian jamming systems have disrupted air traffic. Russian jet fighters have conducted dangerous maneuvers, including dumping fuel on Allied spy planes in the skies over the Baltics, according to multiple Western officials. Critical infrastructure like data cables and pipelines have been attacked by commercial ships Western security officials say were used by Russian intelligence.

clandestine Russian operators used Lithuania, a Baltic nation, as a springboard for a terror operation involving shipping incendiary devices on commercial aircraft using services like DHL, according to Western intelligence and law enforcement officials.

In Britain, a man admitted to carrying out an arson attack on a Ukrainian-owned property in London on behalf of Russia. In Poland, a shopping mall was torched with authorities suspecting Russia to be behind the incident. Jan Stoltenberg, former two-time NATO Secretary General, said during his tenure, which ended in October, Russia expanded the range of its targets, including destructive sabotage, cyber attacks, and interfering in elections in EU nations that belong to the Security Alliance.

Russia's onslaught in Ukraine prompted Sweden and Finland to join NATO. Now, eight of the nine nations that enclosed the Baltic Sea are members of the alliance, prompting jubilant commentary from allied leaders to become a NATO lake. But Russia has significantly boosted its military presence in the region, escalating its aggressive posture toward the neighbors in a way unseen since the Cold War, according to Boris Pistorius, the German defense minister. So again, what is the solution to this? Well, one of the solutions here would be for all of these nations in Europe to up their game. President Trump is going to up the American game. We're going to spend more on our military.

We are going to put in place a secretary of defense and a procurement procedure that allows us to modernize and everybody else should as well. With that said, Russia keeps saying they want a deal. The Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova, she says that Russia is lying when they say they want a deal. Well, we will find out soon enough. Do you see a chance for a Christmas ceasefire and prisoner exchange?

This is very difficult winter after Russia destroyed our a lot of our energy infrastructure and after you know we are going through this difficult fights both on the front line but also civilians suffering from the deadly missile attacks. Just this past week? Yes at the same time you know every time Russia is talking about some ceasefire they are lying Russians are lying.

Now, she's not wrong that the Russian negotiation strategy has been dishonesty for many, many decades. However, we're about to find out when the rubber hits the road and President Trump takes office how fast a deal can be reached. And again, President Trump is not in the habit of making bad deals.

This is the thing about President Trump. He's a dealmaker. He does not like being on the short end of the deal. And that's going to be true for Russia as well. All right, coming up, we'll get into Chris Rock on SNL. He said something quite awful about the shooting of the UnitedHealthcare CEO. If you're not a member, become a member, use code Shapiro, check out for two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us.

If you want to see more companies make things in America, consider buying more things from companies who are already doing that very thing. Companies like American Giant. These guys have been making t-shirts, sweatshirts, flannels, and blue jeans in America for the last 14 years, with cotton grown right here in the USA. That means good jobs for lots of hardworking Americans in factory towns all over the country. Check out their stuff in stores everywhere, or pick up something awesome at American-Giant.com.