Ep. 2112 - Trump Gives The BEST PRESS CONFERENCE EVER
49:27 Share

Okay, folks, on today's show, we have a lot to get to because Donald Trump just gave one of the greatest press conferences in American history. He talked more in this press conference than Joe Biden has for four years. And he actually said coherent words, which I know we're not used to it. So it's

I feel kind of spoiled, to be honest with you. We'll get to that. We'll get to Mark Zuckerberg and all the fallout from his announcement that he's killing the idiotic fact-checking programs that have been used as censorious tools. Look at the Middle East policy from the Biden administration. Let's start with this press conference because, man, oh, man, this was a doozy. And it was wonderful in so many ways. So first, I just have to show you a map of what America is going to look like under Donald Trump. It's a map of what America is going to look like. So there you see it. The United States is

You also see the Gulf of America. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, hold up a second. Isn't that the Gulf of Mexico? No, it isn't.

It isn't anymore. Donald Trump is going to instruct the federal government to rename the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America. And I am here for it. It's fantastic. If you look at that map, about 65% of the coastline along the Gulf of Mexico is in America. So screw it. That's our Gulf, my friends. That is the Gulf of America. Here's Donald Trump announcing. And we're going to be announcing a future date pretty soon. We're going to

change because we do most of the work there and it's ours. We're going to be changing sort of the opposite of Biden, where he's closing everything up, essentially getting rid of 50 to 60 trillion dollars worth of assets. We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring that covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. Yes.

Yes. My friend Matt Walsh has suggested that we also rename the moon to which I say abso-freaking-lutely we should rename the moon. It's our moon. We put a flag on it. We were there first. Ours. Not China's moon. Not Russia's moon. Our moon. Deal with it.

We need to annex the moon immediately. But actually, like, really, I think it's pretty amazing that we're renaming the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America. I think it's great. And like, who's going to stop us? Mexico? Sure. They can't even balance a budget or stop the cartels from running their country. So the answer there is no. But that's not the only thing. On the manifest destiny agenda list for the Trump administration that I am loving, I'm loving, Donald Trump has now deployed the crown prince, Don Jr.,

Two, Greenland, because that is the next American territory. Go back to our map there for a second. I just want to show you the map. Look how big the United States is going to be. You see right north of us, there's this country that used to be called Canada. As we know, President Trump has been talking about making it the 51st state. And I know that Justin Trudeau is out there tweeting how it'll never be the 51st state.

But he has no say in the matter because when we invade, he will be shipped to the Panama Canal to work the Panama Canal. Don't worry. I'll get to the Panama Canal in just a second. That's right. More America is better. It's as you can see on this map. Trumpland, which is huge. Trumpland used to be called Greenland. It will be renamed Trumpland and it will be made an inherited fiefdom of the Trump family, I would assume.

In actuality, we really should actually take Greenland, though, because Greenland actually is quite a vital place territorially. The United States actually spends on the military defense of Greenland. Like right now, we have military bases in Greenland. We use Greenland's northern border in order to protect Arctic shipping.

Right now, it is supposedly and officially Danish territory. It is home to the U.S. military's Petufik space base. And of course, it's very important because as it melts in the Arctic Circle, there are brand new North Atlantic shipping lanes that have drawn interest from Russia and China. And Denmark ain't doing a thing about it. So either Russia and China are going to have an impact there or we are going to have impact up there. Arctic shipping has increased, according to Forbes, 37% over the past decade.

Also, the island is part of the strategically important Greenland-Iceland-UK gap, a choke point Russian ships actually have to transit to travel from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic. Also, Greenland has a bunch of untapped mineral resources. Those include coal, zinc, copper, iron ore, diamonds, and oil. And a lot of the island has not been explored. There are only about 60,000 people on the island in total.

And actually, the United States, believe it or not, does have a pretty good historic claim to Greenland. I'm going to go through the history. I know you weren't expecting a history of Greenland, but you're going to get a potted history of America Greenland relations because actually, quite seriously, we should purchase Greenland. Here's President Trump on this matter. We need Greenland for national security purposes. I've been told that for a long time, long before I even ran. I mean, people have been talking about it for a long time.

You have approximately 45,000 people there. People really don't even know if Denmark has any legal right to it. But if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security. That's for the free world. I'm talking about protecting the free world. You look at — you don't even need binoculars. You look outside, you have China ships all over the place. You have Russian ships all over the place. We're not letting that happen. We're not letting it happen.

And if Denmark wants to get to a conclusion, but nobody knows if they even have any right title or interest, the people are going to probably vote for independence or to come into the United States. He is correct about that. He is correct about that. The people of Greenland have been talking about independence for a very long time. If that were to happen, they would realign with the United States in a heartbeat. First of all, it's better to live in the United States than it is to live in a principality of Denmark.

Second, as far as security concerns with Russia and China, Denmark ain't going to defend those Arctic Straits. You think Denmark is going to go up against the Russians or the Chinese? If that is a matter of national security for the United States, why not sell Greenland to the United States if you are Denmark? And by the way, the United States discovered like half of Greenland. I'm just going to point that out here. When he says it's not clear what the historic sort of preserve of Denmark is in Greenland, he's actually correct about this.

So back in 1775, to give you the potted history of Greenland, Denmark and Norway declared Greenland a colony

Greenland was then formally transferred from Norway to Denmark by a treaty of 1814. Denmark started trying to colonize the island in the 1880s. But here is the thing. A huge chunk before the 1880s was actually discovered by, wait for it, Americans. It was American Charles Francis Hall, who was the first to see Northwest Greenland during the Polaris Expedition, which was 1871 to 1873. And another explorer named Robert Peary actually claimed much of the North.

The only reason that Denmark has any claim whatsoever to Greenland as far as the United States is concerned is because when the United States was interested in purchasing the Danish West Indies during World War I, Denmark required the country to recognize its claim over the whole island of Greenland at the time. Peary, the explorer who discovered much of it and claimed much of it, opposed the U.S. giving up the claim because he said, hey, the Monroe Doctrine says no European interference in the Western Hemisphere.

Instead, he suggested correctly that we should have purchased the island outright. And then, as it turns out, by the way, we basically had to do it anyway in terms of defending the island because, as you will recall, if you remember your world history, by the early 1940s, Denmark had been conquered by, wait for it, the Nazis. And so once that happened, the United States basically had to defend Greenland as its own principality because it was the only known significant source of a material called cryolite

And because Germany was attempting to use the North Atlantic as a base during the war, during World War II, the United States actually did apply the Monroe Doctrine on European colonies in the North Atlantic Ocean. By 1946, the Joint Chiefs of Staff had listed Greenland and Iceland as essential international locations for American bases. In fact, when NATO was in its heyday,

Greenland was seen as more important to both American and Canadian defense than some of the Western European countries. Because, again, if you take a look at a map, when you get up to the very, very north of Canada, which is the North American continent, it starts to get pretty close to territory that is controlled by Russia. In 1951, Greenland and the United States signed a treaty that gave the United States exclusive jurisdiction over defense areas within Greenland.

So again, there's a very, very solid case that the United States actually ought to buy Greenland. Okay, but we're not stopping there, folks. Again, let's go back to our map. So on this map, I did not label Panama. Panama is actually to the south of that territory there that's called the other side of the wall. And you know, it's west of the territory that I've labeled there, the anti-European moat. Used to be called the Atlantic Ocean. It will now be known as the anti-European moat to prevent the Europeans from coming over here and bringing their terrible economic and social ideas. In any case-

President Trump has made clear that he does not want the Panama Canal to be controlled by the Chinese. And this is a real concern. People are making fun of this sort of stuff, but actually it's a real concern. Yeah, he's half joking when he's making fun of Justin Trudeau and talking about making Canada the 51st state and all of that sort of stuff. But the Greenland thing is actually a fairly serious proposal. And when it comes to the Panama Canal, there really is a serious problem with the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal was built recently.

with American labor. It was built with American money. It was turned over idiotically by one of our worst presidents, Jimmy Carter, during the Carter administration. That was a stupid move. The Panama Canal has run significantly worse since the turnover to Panama. But it's not just that. The Panamanians have actually turned over both ends of the canals to Chinese companies.

If you've ever visited Panama, I have been down there. I have visited the Panama Canal. It's not all that wide. It's relatively narrow, particularly at the entrance and exit. And so it'd be very easy for those companies, these Chinese companies, to shut off the entrances and exits to the Panama Canal. And 40% of all American container traffic goes through the Panama Canal. That's a lot of American commerce that's moving through the Panama Canal. That's the reason we built it in the first place.

which would mean that if the United States were ever to get into a conflict with China, pretty much all shipping would stop dead because China would try to take control of the Taiwan Strait. They would try to take control of the Strait of Malacca, which is sort of the tip of the South China Sea. That would shut off another shipping route. And if they could shut off shipping in the Western Hemisphere, they could absolutely cripple the American economy.

You know, China shutting off the shipping, that's a major, major issue. And there's a lot of economic uncertainty these days. Smart investors are paying attention to the signs. With increased tariffs reshaping our trade relationships and sweeping changes to taxes and regulations, one investment vehicle has stood the test of time, gold. That's why I'm excited to tell you about a groundbreaking resource from my trusted partner, Birch Gold Group. They've just released the ultimate guide for gold in the Trump era, featuring an exclusive forward by Donald Trump Jr. The numbers don't lie. Our national debt keeps climbing with it, the interest payments that burden our economy.

In these challenging times, gold is still your hedge against a weakened dollar. And Birch Gold is still the company I trust to help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax-sheltered IRA in gold. Text Ben to 989898 for your free copy of The Ultimate Guide for Gold in the Trump Era. There is no obligation, only information. With an A-plus rating from the Better Business Bureau, countless five-star reviews, and thousands of happy customers, you too can trust Birch Gold. Text my name, Ben, to the number 989898.

Today, ask all of your questions, and then when you feel ready, invest in precious metals with my friends over at Birch Gold. Again, go check them out by texting my name, Ben, to the number 989898 today. Also, I used to think restless nights, those are just a part of life, you know, the tossing and the turning and the waking up with a sore back. I thought that's how people just normally slept. And then I discovered the magic of Helix Sleep. Game changer because...

It turns out that the mattress is personalized to use. Just like your coffee, you need a mattress that's made just for you. What makes Helix different is they don't sell you that random mattress.

You know the one where you go to the mattress store and you lie down on the mattress for like 7.3 seconds? Like, it's fine. And then you sleep on a bad mattress for the next 20 years. Instead, they actually match you with the perfect mattress for your body and sleep style. Whether you're a side sleeper, back sleeper, or somewhere in between, they've got you covered. And trust me, when you find the right match, you'll wonder how you ever slept on anything else. Right now is actually the perfect time to upgrade your sleep because Helix is offering an incredible deal. Head on over to helixsleep.com to get 25% off site-wide plus two free dream pillows with any mattress purchase.

That's helixsleep.com slash ben for 25% off site-wide plus two free dream pillows with any mattress purchase. Again, check them out right now at helixsleep.com slash ben and get the 25% off site-wide plus the two free dream pillows with any mattress purchase. Gordon Chang, an author writing for Newsweek, points out the serious risks over at the Panama Canal. He says, it's true there are no uniformed People Liberation Army soldiers now stationed in the canal zone. That's not the end of the story.

Almost certainly, there are Chinese operatives and military personnel in civilian garb there. The Panama Canal is a choke point that Beijing seeks to control and undoubtedly close off in the moments before the next global war. For instance, C.K. Hutchison Holdings, through its stake in Panama Ports Company,

operates a port in Balboa at the Pacific end of the canal and in Cristobal at the Atlantic end of the canal. Hutchison, therefore, is the biggest port operator in the zone. The Panama Maritime Authority renewed Hutchison's 25-year concession to the two ports in June of 2021. Now, Hutchison is supposedly a private company in Hong Kong, but as you'll recall, the Chinese took over Hong Kong, which means that every company that is being operated from Hong Kong is under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party. In times of war, those facilities would be controlled by the People's Liberation Army.

General Laura Richardson, who is the head of the U.S. Southern Command in July 2022, said in Aspen, quote, I was just in Panama about a month ago flying along the Panama Canal, looking at all the state-owned enterprises from the PRC on each side of the Panama Canal. They look like civilian companies or state-owned enterprises that could be used for dual use and could be quickly changed over to a military capability. Our Evan Ellis, professor of Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War College, said, quote, there are numerous ways a knowledgeable actor like the PRC, its companies and agents could temporarily shut down the canal.

The risk does not come so much from the physical control of ports on both sides of the canal, but the knowledge and access that comes from China's significant commercial and other activities across Panama that gives China bases from which to act. Also, China is embedded into the zone's infrastructure, including telecom systems that were supplied by, wait for it, Huawei, which is the Chinese official telecom association that basically embeds all sorts of intelligence apparatus inside the internet.

Surveillance cameras and other equipment has been provided by Hikvision, which again is a Chinese company. There's another bridge over the canal and China's building that one as well. So serious problems in the Panama Canal. Here's President Trump talking about the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal was built for our military. I'm not going to commit to that now. It might be that you'll have to do something. Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. It's being operated by China.

China. And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We didn't give it to China. And they've abused it. Yes, this. Yes. Very good, Trump. Very, very good, Trump. This is this is best Trump. This is excellent.

It is just an added benefit, by the way, that's taking off the entire left-wing media. Like, no, the human cry. No, there can't be more America. We can't talk about expanding America. We have to talk about contracting American territory. We have to do land acknowledgements. That's the most important thing. This is crazy. We can't do this stuff. This is bad. Here is CNN whining. One of the biggest things that stood out to me from that press conference from...

Moments when Trump got out there before he even started taking questions is the level of anger. He's really agitated. Well, we know why. He made it quite clear a few moments in. It's two things. It's his legal issues overall, but it's the sentencing that he is facing on Friday that so far is still Judge Mershon has denied efforts to delay it. His attorneys are still working to do so. And two, it's this report by Jack Smith that we are told is imminent and is going to come out. It is remarkable somebody who is two weeks

from resuming the presidency of the United States, who, whether you voted for him or not, whether you like him or not, just engineered a remarkable historical political comeback, is so whiny and so full of grievances. Now, that is Donald Trump's trademark. That has been his trademark since he came down that escalator. He uses grievance to keep his people together, to keep his base together, and to keep his team loyal.

Ugh. You want to talk about who's whining? You guys are whining. I'm sorry you lost, but you did. Meanwhile, by the way, over at the Washington Post, Philip Bump has an entire column titled, Trump Takes America First to Its Expansionist Endpoint. Oh, no.

No, no, we must never talk about the Gulf of America. That's bad because you see America's bad. And the more things we name after America, the worse it is. Quote, the Gulf of Mexico has been named the Gulf of Mexico since before the United States of America was named the United States of America, says Philip Bump. Since that is before there was a United States of America. You can see that name used on old maps like the one produced in France in 1717. George Washington wasn't born until more than a decade after that map was made. And yet in a few months, the Gulf might carry a new name, at least in the eyes of a U.S. officialdom

The Gulf of America. This isn't a reorienting of geography akin to when Trump, during his first term in office, drew a black line on a map of the southeastern United States. It is instead part of a much less innocuous pattern. One that has Trump extending his America first mantra to suggest that this nation has dominion over territory it doesn't currently control. Oh, no, no, no. Okay, let's be clear about this.

America's manifest destiny was a good thing. It is very good that America stands coast to coast. That is a wonderful thing. If America were to buy Greenland, that would also be a wonderful thing. If America were to either convince Panama to better control the Panama Canal, to take it out of Chinese hands, or to give it over to American control, that would be a very good thing. If Canada were to get rid of Justin Trudeau and elect Pierre Poliev, then I suppose all the threats of invasion go away. But...

Let's be real about this. The reason Canada is great is because America is great. That is the reality. They're completely dependent on the American economy. They're completely dependent on America's force of arms. Again, that doesn't mean we have to annex every place that's near us. Doesn't mean that we have to take every place over and we won't.

But if a country like Greenland is willing to allow itself and Denmark is willing to allow it to be used as a thoroughfare by the Russians and the Chinese, what exactly are we supposed to do? Sit there for that? If the Panama Canal is going to be used as a choke point by the Chinese, are we just supposed to sit there and do nothing about it? What exactly is the plan, my dude? What is the plan, guys? And the answer is there is no plan. It's just to just whine about America. Whine about America.

Justin Trudeau, by the way, is very angry at the suggestion that he would become governor of the 51st state. At this point, by the way, that is his best political path forward since he's not going to be prime minister for much longer. He tweeted out, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States. Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other's biggest trading and security partner.

Well, I mean, that actually is a pretty solid case where I should annex you. But in any case, even if we were to annex you, don't worry, you wouldn't end up in Canada. We'd ship you down to Panama so you can work that canal. We need somebody who's going to be working the canal. And Justin Trudeau isn't going to have anything better to do. That wasn't all that Trump had to say at this magnificent press conference. I loved it. It was just great. So on foreign policy, he was asked about what he is going to do if the hostages are not freed by Hamas by the time he takes office in just 13 days. And here was President Trump's answer.

All hell must be paid if they don't release the hostages. Do I have to define it for you? All hell will break out. If those hostages aren't back, I don't want to hurt your negotiation. If they're not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East. And it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don't have to say anymore, but that's what it is. And they should have given them back a long time. They should have never taken them.

There should have never been the attack of October 7th. People forget that. But there was. And many people are killed. They're no longer hostages. I have people from Israel and others calling, begging me to get, you know, we had also people there from the United States, just so you know. They're holding some so-called hostages from the U.S. This, this, Joe Biden never had any moral clarity about this because he's a fool. Donald Trump,

Has moral clarity about this. And this is the correct approach. If Hamas is not afraid, they're not releasing the hostages. It is that simple. There's nothing else that is going to make them release the hostages other than dire threats and action and allowing Israel to do exactly what it needs to do in the Gaza Strip.

And then Trump was asked about the possibility of a preemptive strike on the Iranian nuclear facilities if they were to ramp up their nuclear production. And Trump gave the correct answer on this one, too. Again, he gave more answers in this one press conference than Joe Biden has given in four years and said more intelligent things in this press conference than Joe Biden has ever said his entire career because Joe Biden was, is, and will be a dullard. And here is President Trump explaining that if...

Iran were to attempt a nuclear weapon, he's not going to tell you what he would do because he's the president and he's not going to tell some dumb reporter what he's going to do because it's a stupid question. That is correct. That is right. The U.S. launching a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. I said, I don't, I don't talk about it. It's a military strategy.

It is a legitimate question. Well, it's not really because only a stupid person would answer it. Look, it's a military strategy and I'm not answering your questions on military strategy. Yes, correct. Correct. This is good. This is good. And speaking of other good things.

President Trump also had some words about Joe Biden's attempts to shut down drilling for oil off pretty much all of America's eastern seaboard on his way out. And Trump says, look, in America, we like to produce energy. American energy independence has made us less dependent on some of the worst places in the world. That is a good thing. And Joe Biden is throttling America's energy independence. Here was President Trump on this. He wants all gas heaters out of your homes and

apartments. He wants them to be replaced by essentially electric heaters. I don't know what it is with electric. This guy loves electric. We're going to be ending the electric car mandate quickly, by the way. This guy loves electric. And we don't have enough electricity. And then we have AI where we need more. And he wants everybody to have an electric heater instead of a gas heater. Gas heater is much less expensive. The heat is much better. It's a much better heat

as the expression goes, you don't itch. Does anybody have a heater where you go and you scratch and that's what they want you to have. They don't want you to have gas where you don't have the problems of the electric.

It's the best. It's so good. It's just the best.

You get high quality, nutritious food, whether you're looking for anti-inflammatory options or gut-friendly meals, or you're just trying to get more protein in your diet, which

which I am. The best part, they learn your preferences over time. Everything in the offer is free from high fructose corn syrup and artificial preservatives. They even source top quality meats without hormones or antibiotics. My weekly deliveries can include everything from fresh smoothie ingredients and ready to eat meals to salad kits. It's transformed how I approach healthy eating. You're going to love Hungry Root because it's awesome. Take advantage of this exclusive offer for a limited time. Get 40% off your first box plus get a free item in every box for

We'll be right back.

You know it's important, but it feels like a daunting task. Well, that's where trust and will comes in. I recently went through the process. I took a look at it. I was amazed how straightforward it is. You can literally create your estate plan while you're relaxing on your couch. The platform is designed by attorneys, but it's customizable by you, which makes it both reliable and personal. And they guide you

through everything, step by step. Every will or trust is state-specific. It's legally valid. It covers everything from care wishes to guardian nominations. Listen, you don't want the state doing this if you die. You want to preset all this stuff. Plus, all your documents are stored securely with bank-level encryption, giving your family easy access when they need it the most. The best part? You're not alone in the process. They offer live customer support through phone, chat, and email. They've helped hundreds of thousands of families already. They have an excellent rating and thousands of five-star reviews on Trustpilot. Those speak for themselves. Check one of your goals off early this year with Trust and Will. Protect what matters most.

In minutes, trustandwill.com slash Shapiro. Get 10% off plus free shipping. That's 10% off and free shipping at trustandwill.com slash Shapiro. Among other things the Trump administration will be doing, Tom Homan, who again, straight out of central casting, he's going to be in charge of making sure that the border is closed and that illegal immigrants are deported. He's the border czar. He was on Fox News or Fox Business rather yesterday.

And he says, listen, I'm perfectly willing to talk with the press about what it is that I do. I'm going to be more transparent than you have ever had before. Here he was yesterday. You're planning to hold weekly White House press briefings. What will be in those briefings? I mean, they put the border right at the very center of the White House and the administration. What will you be doing in the briefings? List of deportees?

We'll be doing what the current administration isn't doing. We're going to be transparent with the American people. Well, good, good. And here's the thing. Trump is not hiding the ball. Nobody was hiding the ball. What you saw with President Trump is what you're going to get with President Trump. And the American people by the polling data like it. President Trump's approval ratings are in positive territory for probably the first time in his entire political career.

Meanwhile, the House passed a bill on Tuesday that would target undocumented immigrants charged with nonviolent crimes for deportation, according to The New York Times, an opening salvo from a Republican majority that has vowed to deliver on President-elect Donald J. Trump's promised crackdown at the border. The measure, by the way, drew unanimous Republican support and also 48 Democrats.

This measure was named after Lakin Riley, the 22-year-old nursing student who was killed last year in Georgia by an illegal immigrant who had crossed into the United States and was arrested and charged with shoplifting but was not detained. The idea being, if you come here and you commit a nonviolent offense, you still shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be here. You should go away. You should not be in the country. This is very commonsensical. The fact that more than two-thirds of Democrats voted against this demonstrates where the Democratic Party is, and they are totally disconnected from the American people.

The American people are not interested in illegal immigrant shoplifters remaining in the country. To what end, precisely? In the Senate, by the way, John Fetterman is joining as a co-sponsor because Fetterman is the only Democrat who has his head screwed on straight. That was after I had a stroke.

Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the number three Republicans, had, quote, this bill is more than just a piece of legislation. It's a return to common sense American values. Under President Trump's leadership, there will be a lot more where that came from. And again, bipartisan vote 264 to 159 is because the Democrats have run themselves right off the reservation. The Democrats are so far away from the common sense center that Donald Trump has claimed all of it.

Now, meanwhile, I want to point out that President Trump is going to be quite pragmatic in how he approaches all of these issues. That includes things like spending. So if you are expecting – here's the downside of a pragmatic Republican administration. If you are expecting massive spending cuts to happen under Donald Trump, it's not going to happen. The reason it's not going to happen is because the American people don't like massive spending cuts.

They don't. The American people have always wanted to have it both ways. On the one hand, they don't like the national debt. On the other hand, they don't like cuts to any of the programs that they like. So if you ask them, if the government spends too much, they'll tell you yes. And if you ask them what they'd want to cut, the answer is like around the edges. So Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who is at root a fiscal conservative,

He is saying the true thing out loud, which is that the GOP is not going to cut benefits or restructure any of the major entitlement programs, which, again, was not only highly likely with a very slim majority, it was a guaranteed certainty. So I'm putting that on the map right now because one of the things that's going to happen is when this whole thing is wrapped up into one big, beautiful bill, as Johnson and Trump have said,

or even two big, beautiful bills, the border bill and a tax bill, when all this stuff gets wrapped up together in one big bill and spending is not decreased, understand there was never any real taste in Congress or unfortunately, this is unfortunate, by the way, or with the American people in serious, steep cuts in the spending. There isn't. That's just the reality. And you can either yell at the reality or you can deal with the fact that that is the reality and work to convince your neighbors that everybody needs to rethink this whole giant spending thing. But it ain't going nowhere. Here is Speaker of the House Johnson.

The Republican Party is not going to cut benefits, okay? We've made that very clear over and over and over, and that's the commitment of the White House and the commitment of this Republican conference. We do know, however, at the same time, there are many, many areas of fraud, waste, and abuse. The government is too large. The agencies are too many. They have too many divisions and employees and all the rest, and there will be a very deliberate auditing of all of that in various aspects as we go through the process.

Now, there will be a big battle among Republicans over the debt limit. And let's be real. Raising the debt limit is generally a useful tool in clawing back some of the spending. And I'm up for the battle. I think it'll be good for there to be an internal Republican firefight paring away some of the provisions. But overall, if you are expecting a massive reduction in the curve of spending under a Republican administration, just be prepared. It is not going to happen. There is not a majority for that. Among Republicans, there's not a majority for that.

That's just the reality. All righty, meanwhile, the left is so frustrated today. They are so frustrated with Mark Zuckerberg, wildly frustrated with Mark Zuckerberg. As we discussed at length on yesterday's show, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook have now completely rewritten the censorship rules on their social media network, which is a good thing.

To be completely frank, they actually structured pretty much all of their censorship rules to shut down the Daily Wire specifically because we were the number one news publisher on their platform. And this gave no end of heartburn to the legacy media as well as to the Biden White House. And Facebook fell for it and Facebook fell to the pressure. And now Facebook is reversing all of that. One of their new policy executives, Joel Kaplan, explained some of these changes that are being made to the censorship policies on Fox News yesterday.

So, Joel, why now? I know you said it's a change, but did you feel restricted over the last four years? And this is the first time you have... It's in your business interest to express this quest for freedom?

Well, there's no question that there's an opportunity here with a new president taking office, as I said, who really believes in free expression. And that's just going to give us the space to get back to those values that Mark has talked about for a long time. Mark gave a big speech six years ago at Georgetown about free expression, about these values.

Unfortunately, you know, there's been a lot of political and societal pressure here and around the world that have pushed away from those values. We've got a real opportunity to reset, get back to them and really provide a space. OK, so this is the take. President Trump was asked at this press conference about Mark Zuckerberg and the changes in policy at Facebook. Here was his answer. Honestly, I think they've come a long way. Meta.

Facebook. I think they've come a long way. I watched it. The man was very impressive. I watched it. Actually, I watched it on Fox. I'm not allowed to say that. Say it. Do you think he's directly responding to the threats that you have made to him in the past? Probably. You're not going to get Trump sugarcoating that one. You're really not. And by the way, if that's true, I would hope that it's not. I would hope that

that when Zuckerberg says that he has changed his mind back to what it was in 2019, that he would like this to be the rule all the way out. I hope that's true. Regardless, there's no question that Trump's election is what got this done over at Meta. Now, the media are fighting mad about this. I mean, they are losing their ever loving minds over this, which leads to one of the great headlines I've seen. This is from the New York Times. Quote, Meta says fact checkers were the problem. Fact checkers rule that false.

What the ever? What the? What the F? Meta says fact checkers were the problem. Fact checkers rule that false. Well, so the hell what? That's because fact checkers are constantly political. What do you think they're going to say? No, it's true. We were the problem. What exactly did you think they were going to say? What a joke. This headline should have been from the Babylon Bee. Absolutely ridiculous. So the fact checkers are all really mad. They're mad because Mark Zuckerberg said we're no longer using your fact checking resources because you're too politicized.

He said, quote, fact checkers have been too politically biased and they've destroyed more trust than they created. That is 100% true, 100% true. And they are mad as hell. They are so mad. They're mad for a couple of reasons. One, somebody called them on their book.

And two, they're really, really mad because other money's going away and they need the subsidies of big social media companies. Don't you see the Democrats cuddled social media into paying their friends at the fact-checking organizations to fact-check on behalf of Democrats, to help out Democrats and to hurt Republicans. And now the gravy train is going away and these people are gonna have to get real jobs where they, you know, earn a living doing useful things as opposed to being leeches on the ass of society.

These are the patronage friends of Democrats given top level jobs outside social media companies in order to police speech. That's what these fact checkers were. And they are mad as hell. Neil Brown, president of the Pointer Institute, a global nonprofit that runs PolitiFacts, said, quote, I don't believe we were doing anything in any form of bias. There's a mountain of what we could of what could be checked. And we were grabbing what we could.

Sure, sure. Yeah, no bias at all. None. You did an amazing job, guys. So when you fact-checked the same statement by Trump and Biden, but for Trump it was false and for Biden it was true, no problem whatsoever. No problem. When you treated every Joe Biden lie as a slip of the tongue and every Donald Trump generality as an overt lie, no, no, that was unbiased, totally unbiased.

Meta's fact checkers, by the way, have called an emergency meeting. According to Business Insider, the International Fact Checking Network has convened an emergency meeting of its members following Meta's announcement on Tuesday will end its third party fact checking partnerships in the U.S. and replace them with a form of community notes. In an interview with Business Insider, the IFCN's director, Angie Holan, confirmed that the meeting scheduled for Wednesday was organized in direct response to Meta's decision. Quote, we hold these meetings monthly, but we call this one specifically because of today's news.

The meeting is expected to draw between 80 and 100 attendees from the IFCN's network of fact-checkers, which spans 170 organizations worldwide. The IFCN has long played a crucial role in Meta's fact-checking ecosystem. Certification from the IFCN signal to fact-checking organization met rigorous editorial and transparency standards. By the way, we actually at one point attempted to set up a fact-checking organization that would meet the standards for Meta, and Meta said no.

The social media companies said, no, you know how many hoops you had to jump through in order to do this? And those hoops were all being set by places like the IFCN. Angie Holan, again, one of the heads of this organization,

She put out a statement, quote,

It's capital C and a capital P for Code of Principles. So you know they're super principled in their code because they used capital letters requiring nonpartisanship and transparency. It's unfortunate this decision comes in the wake of extreme political pressure from a new administration. Man, the gaslighting is so strong. It is so strong. The gaslighting, which is...

You guys were only put in place because of pressure from Democrats, because of pressure from legacy media on Zuckerberg and Meta. That is the only reason you had your jobs in the first place. And now those jobs are going away because all the pressure went away. And now you're blaming Trump. You're blaming the Daily Wire. You're blaming the evil right for you losing your job. Well, fine. You want to blame us? Fine. You know what? I'll take it. You should lose your job. You were terrible at your job. You're trash at your job.

Your job was to be unbiased fact checkers, and instead you decided to be tools of censorious oppression and repression. That's what you were. Good on Meta for getting rid of you, for tossing you out on your ass. Go get a real job. Seriously, learn to code. All right, in just one second, we'll get to the latest with Joe Biden. I know these last 13 days, they feel interminable. They're never going to end. When will he go? When will that, when will he go? First.

Kick off 2025 with 25% off a new DailyWire Plus annual membership. This year will be one for the history books. In less than two weeks, President Trump will be inaugurated. The DailyWire will be there with live uncensored coverage of every monumental moment. While we celebrate what's ahead, the fight is not yet over. 2025 has already reminded us the bad guys don't rest, neither do we. Join us in the fight right now. Get 25% off your new DailyWire Plus annual membership. Every dollar fuels our mission. Go to dailywire.com slash subscribe. Join today.

All right, meanwhile, President Biden just won't go. Remember that guy when he was president? He's still president. I know. It's a mystery to all of us. Why isn't he? Why is he still there? Like, he's been dead for years. And there he is, still doing things. It's kind of amazing. I guess just proving...

One of Newton's laws of motion that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion. What if the object is technically at rest, but seems like it's in motion? That's sort of the story of President Biden. Well, I guess this is as his final farewell. He's going to release as many terrorists as humanly possible into the world political sphere.

On Monday, the Biden administration announced the transfer of 11 Yemeni detainees, including two former bodyguards for Osama bin Laden, to Oman, which has agreed to help resettle them amid steps to reduce the population at Gitmo. Yes, it was such a big deal. Oh, no, we can't hold terrorists at Guantanamo Bay because then bad things might happen to them at Guantanamo Bay. Oh, no, terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.

It was always stupid to be upset that we were holding terrorists at Guantanamo. It was always dumb. I never cared. I'm not sure why anyone cared. They're terrorists. In any case, the idea here is that all these people are now going to be released. The defense department said, quote, the United States appreciates the willingness of the government of Oman and other partners to support ongoing U.S. efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing Gitmo.

The 11 detainees were identified as Uthman Abd al-Rahim Muhammad Uthman, Muad Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi, Khaled Ahmed Hasim, Suhail Abdu Anem al-Sharabi. This is just an exercise in seeing how many Arabic names I can read. Hani Salah Rashid Abdullah, Taufiq Nasser Awad al-Bihani, Omar Mohammed Ali al-Rahma, Sanad Ali Islam al-Kazimi, Hassan Mohammed Ali Bib Atash, Sharkawi Abdu Ali al-Hajj, and Abd al-Salem al-Khila. So if I named one of your friends, come on down and collect your winnings.

In any case, all these people are terrorists. We are now going to release them to Oman. Certainly they won't go back to, you know, doing terrorism. That'd be crazy if they did that. You know, like every other terrorist seemingly that we release, they certainly won't do that. But wait, there's more. Biden is also attempting to trade some of the Gitmo prisoners for hostages being held by the Taliban. Wait, I thought the Taliban were our friends now. After all, this schmuck,

decided to turn over all of Afghanistan to the Taliban, saying that they had helped us in the transitional process. Now, it turns out that they're just as evil as they ever were, and they've gone right back to

beheading their enemies and they've gone right back to oppressing women and stuffing them into bags and basements and marrying off children and all the rest. The Taliban, the world's best people. So glad we decided to get 13 American service people killed and hand them billions of dollars in military technology. The only good news being only China got that military technology because the Taliban have no idea how to use a helicopter. In any case,

The Biden administration is now negotiating with the Taliban to exchange Americans detained in Afghanistan for at least one high-profile prisoner alleged to be an Osama bin Laden associate held at Gitmo. It's almost as though because the United States keeps trading away terrorists for Americans, people keep taking Americans hostage. It's totally crazy. I interviewed the incoming National Security Advisor, Mike Walz, about specifically hostage issues. And he said, listen, if anyone takes an American hostage...

while we are in office, they should know one thing. They are going to be dead. All their friends are going to be dead. That is the way that you treat with hostage takers. But that is not the way Joe Biden has. He's just been trading away as many terrorists as he can find in favor of people like Brittany Griner. The administration-

has been discussing a deal with the Taliban since at least July. Apparently, the U.S. will release Mohammed Rahim al-Afghani, who the U.S. government alleges was a senior al-Qaeda aide. If the Afghan rulers release George Glezman, Ryan Corbett, and Mahmoud Khabibi, American citizens seized in Afghanistan in 2022. Rahim is currently being held in Gitmo. Biden had yet to decide on the Taliban's proposal, apparently.

So that's great. We need to let more Gitmo prisoners go and incentivize more hostages to be taken. By the way, I am so glad that we decided to engage in the most ignominious surrender to a bunch of seventh century cavemen. It worked out well for everybody.

Well, the good news is Democrats are really at the top of their game right now. They've decided that it's very important to give AOC, the venerable AOC, the inimitable AOC, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, she, of the three names and three IQ points, they've decided to give her a plumb spot on the steering and policy panel, the Energy and Commerce Committee. So they decided to let her skip a few more senior people and instead give her a spot on that Energy and Commerce Committee.

That committee is responsible for jurisdiction over healthcare, energy, technology, and other policy areas that will be in the spotlight in the new Congress. There are a lot of more senior Democrats who are mad because given that this is the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Energy and Commerce Committee, you know, they might want to take a more moderate position than the Biden administration has historically taken on things like the Green New Deal. Nope, they decided to hand that over to AOC. So we'll see how that goes for them. Bold move, Cotton. We'll see how well all of that works.

Hey, small business leaders. Have you ever thought there's got to be an easier way to do all the busy work? With JustWorks' all-in-one platform, you can check all the boxes, run payroll in 90 seconds, access premium benefits, take care of tax reports, and even hire internationally. Any questions? Reach out to their expert staff for real human support, plus transparent pricing guaranteed. Visit justworks.com slash podcast to join the thousands of small businesses that trust JustWorks to take care of payroll.

benefits, compliance, and more. Meanwhile, with the Trump administration coming in,

The end of the war in Ukraine is going to be on the table. President Trump has made very clear that he wants to get to the end of the war in Ukraine as fast as humanly possible. And everybody knows what the outline of a deal looks like. Now, I don't believe that President Trump is going to force Ukraine into a situation where Ukraine will be invaded again in a year or two or three. I don't think that would be in President Trump's interest as president of the United States. And it's not in his interest for Vladimir Putin to go strolling through Kiev. That would look quite bad for the incoming Trump administration.

The most likely scenario here is keep up the military pressure on Russia sufficient to get Vladimir Putin to come to the table. So Vladimir Zelensky did an interview with Lex Friedman over the course of the last 48 hours or so, in which he called out to President Trump for enough continued aid to at least continue the battle. I think that President Trump not only has will.

He has all these possibilities and it's not just talk. I really count on him. And I think that our people really count on him. Now, I have to say, points to Vladimir Zelensky. He was asked by Lex Friedman. So Lex is a super nice guy. I know Lex, but one of Lex's big things is sort of this emotional sensitivity where he asks if people can find common ground with their enemies and all the rest. And so he asked Vladimir Zelensky if Ukrainians can find it in their heart to forgive Putin. He's like, no.

No, no, that's going to be a no from me, dog. The reality is that a compromise is needed in order to reach an agreement. So in your understanding, the fact that he is no in jail after all the murders, he is not in jail assuming all the murders and no one in the world is able to put him in his place, send him to prison. Do you think this is a small compromise?

This is not a small compromise. And to forgive him will not be a small compromise. To forgive. No one will forgive. This is absolutely impossible to forgive him. We cannot get into the head and soul of a person who lost their family. Nobody never will accept this. They simply took away the most precious thing from you, will you ask? Who ruined your life before going to rip their head off?

I'm just curious. They took your child away. Are you going to ask who did this? And they will answer that that dude did this. You will say, oh, well, then there are no questions. No, no, no. You will go to hell and bite their head off and it will be fair. He ain't wrong. He ain't wrong. Vladimir Putin is a bad guy. He's a very, very bad man, Vladimir Putin. He is a brutal, vicious dictator who kills his enemies and runs his country with iron control via a network of oligarchs he pays using money.

and resources that actually should be in the hands of the citizens of Russia who are not in the corrupt pay of the current regime in Russia. All that said, President Trump is looking for a practical offer. I'm here. What's amazing here is the Washington Post takes the Washington Post actually put out an editorial and the Washington Post editorial is amazing. It says, quote, Ukraine risks losing the war. A Trump imposed bad deal would be worse than losing the war. How? You don't have to explain that one.

You're not just the great, the great fear for the Washington Post is that Trump might cut a deal. So whatever Ukraine does, they must never take the deal. Never, ever take the deal. If you take the deal, then, you know, Trump might get a win and this war might end. Instead, you have to have the war continue, even though there is no hope that Ukraine is going to outright win the war by pushing Russia completely out of the Donbass region or Crimea. The war is going to come to an end because it has to come to an end because there is not an endless supply of men in Ukraine.

Nor is there an endless supply of desire in Russia for a continued war that ends in stalemate due to technical inferiority on the battlefield. So the most likely scenario here is, once again, a stalemate. The lines get drawn pretty closely where they are in place. Security guarantees to Ukraine to prevent future invasions by Russia.

Everyone knows this is the most likely end to the war, and that's why everyone's getting more realistic as President Trump comes closer to the office of the presidency day by day. All right, coming up, there is yet more good news for Republicans. We're going to take a look at a magical map. 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. I've often said that gender affirming care is health care. It is mental health care, and it can actually be suicide prevention care.

I think I'm gonna take some medicine so I can kind of like

Transform into a boy, get surgery. After the surgery, I didn't really feel any better. When it stopped being a thing for adults and it started to be a, let's teach this to kids. Total lie. Manipulation. It's gaslighting. Please stop. He's a boy, not a girl. How could she do this to my son? What they're talking about is hormonal therapy or sex reassignment surgery on children. I thought fixing me externally would fix me internally.

But of course I was wrong. The fact that the state thinks that they're more important and have a better say in what happens to your child over the actual parent's opinion is egregious. Puberty blockers, surgeries, big money makers for hospitals, for physicians. All I want to do is hold my son. Are you asking me to lie to parents? And he said yes. This is an weaponized...

Use of a parent's sympathy and caring and concern by the left to destroy your child. Let's tell kids that maybe they can be the opposite sex. Maybe they actually are the opposite sex. It is an evil thing to tell children that happiness lies on the other side of puberty blockers or double mastectomies. The left so badly wants to blur these lines. That's a five alarm fire. It's criminal.