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June 29, 2017 - The Ben Shapiro Show
25:00
Media Wars: The Trump Awakens | Ep. 329
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Senator Bernie Sanders, loonbag of Vermont, has been the leading voice in the United States for socialized healthcare.
His call for such a policy amounts to this tweet he issued last night, quote, This of course has nothing to do with policy, and everything to do with an immature worldview that suggests that government can tame every unfairness in life.
Of course, No one deserves to die because they can't afford health care.
But no one deserves to die for any reason other than their own evil criminality.
People don't deserve to die of cancer.
People don't deserve to die in car accidents.
People don't deserve to die peacefully in their beds in old age.
As Clint Eastwood says in Unforgiven, deserve's got nothing to do with it.
The question in public policy isn't one of motivation.
Nobody right or left believes that poor, sick people deserve to die.
The question is how to best increase access to healthcare.
The right believes that increase in supply is necessary in order to create competition, and therefore lower cost and increase quality.
This means deregulation.
The left believes that current supply must be redistributed.
One of these views in every single area of life has generated more access to wealth and health.
One of these views has generated less.
If there is a question of morality attendant to healthcare, it isn't whether people deserve death based on cost, but whether healthcare providers can be forced to serve people at a loss, and whether doing so will help more patients in the long run.
But Sanders' simplistic kindergarten sloganeering convinces a lot of people who refuse to acknowledge the decent intentions of their ideological opponents.
It's not designed to achieve better health care.
It's designed to slander people who disagree about the method for achieving better health care without violating the rights of others.
I'm Ben Shapiro.
This is the Ben Shapiro Show.
This is the Ben Shapiro Show.
But before we get to any of that, I first want to say thank you to our sponsors over at Legacybox.
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Okay, so.
Yesterday, there was a lot of hubbub over the sort of media fight that took place at the White House.
So, Trumpcare and all of its vagaries have now receded into the background because, honestly, who wants to talk about all of the infighting over what amounts to a significant cut to Medicaid's future growth, but accepts Obamacare's central premise.
I mean, nobody cares about the details of Obamacare.
All they know is that they don't like whoever touches it, which is why the polls today are showing 12% of Americans in favor of the Senate healthcare version of Trumpcare.
So we'll get to all of the hubbub surrounding that, but the truth is both the right and the left would much prefer, it's much more entertaining, to talk about the media fights that are currently happening.
So Trump keeps saying that the media are fake news.
And the news keeps saying that Trump is a fake president.
So, uh, both of them are, uh, are equally, well, I wouldn't say they're equally wrong.
I think that the news is more fake than Trump is a fake president.
Obviously Trump is the president and the media do sometimes report fake news.
But what you really have right now is this piece of Kabuki theater where the only people who benefit are the partisans on both sides.
And I'm speaking as someone who is quite partisan, right?
I'm a conservative, I'm very partisan on behalf of my viewpoint, but This whole kind of ridiculous play theater slap fight between the media and Trump is silly.
And the reason it's silly is because the media are going to do what the media are going to do.
Trump's going to do what Trump is going to do.
None of this is going to change.
Trump wins points from smacking the media around.
The media wins points by smacking Trump around.
And nothing changes.
And then we just bitch about it.
That's basically the way this dynamic works.
So yesterday was a perfect example of this.
You have Sarah Huckabee Sanders who is in for Sean Spicer.
Sean Spicer has been relegated to the outhouse.
He's been locked there actually by President Trump after Sean Spicer didn't do a good enough job.
First he relegated him to the bushes, then he relegated him to the outhouse.
So Sarah Huckabee Sanders has now taken his place in the White House press briefing room.
And they actually were allowed to tape this press briefing, which is Which is nice.
I mean, it's nice to be able to see this stuff visually.
So Sarah Huckabee Sanders is doing this, and she's asked about a story we discussed at length yesterday, the CNN story that accused Anthony Scaramucci, who's a Trump associate, of associating with e-e-e-e-e-evil Russian banks.
And it turned out that that story was complete crap.
There was nothing of substance to it.
CNN had to retract the story.
They fired the reporters who were involved in the story.
And so Sarah Huckabee Sanders is asked about this and she just uses it as an opportunity, a legit opportunity, to go after the press with both barrels.
Here she goes.
I don't know that it's that the response isn't good enough for the president.
I think it's the constant barrage of fake news directed at this president, probably, that has garnered a lot of his frustration.
You point to that report.
There are multiple other instances where that outlet that you referenced has been repeatedly wrong and had to point that out or be corrected.
There's a video circulating now, whether it's accurate or not.
I don't know, but I would encourage everybody in this room and, frankly, everybody across the country to take a look at it.
I think it's a disgrace to all of media, to all of journalism.
I think that we have gone to a place where if the media can't be trusted to report the news, then that's a dangerous place for America.
She's totally right about all of this, right?
She's totally right about all of this.
Everything Sarah Huckabee Sanders says right here about the media's coverage of Trump is exactly right.
They've put forward a bunch of fake news.
They've violated their own journalistic standards in order to do so.
They're out to attack Trump.
They're out to get Trump.
They've been pushing this Trump-Russia collusion hoax.
For a year now.
Even if Russia interfered in the election, which they probably did.
And when I say probably, I mean they almost certainly did because I haven't seen the underlying evidence, but I believe our intel community, which says that they did.
But even if that happened, there's no suggestion evidentiarily that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
At least we haven't seen anything yet.
So it's a year of hubbub for ratings.
And then, of course, she's referring back to the James O'Keefe video of a CNN producer talking about how CNN had been pumping up the Trump-Russia stuff in order to generate future ratings in order to generate better ratings.
So she's totally right about all of this.
And then she goes too far.
Here's what Sarah Huckabee Sanders says next.
If we make the slightest mistake, the slightest word is off.
It is just an absolute tirade from a lot of people in this room.
But news outlets get to go on day after day and cite unnamed sources, use stories without sources.
You mentioned the Scaramucci story where they had to have reporters resign.
OK, so again, this part is now a little bit crazy because it's one thing to say that they report stuff, violate their own ethical standards and all that.
I totally agree.
Totally agree.
The media is wildly biased.
They hate Trump and they're out to get Trump.
All true.
All true.
But then when she says, well, if we get anything a little bit wrong, everybody goes crazy.
Well.
You are the White House.
You are the President.
I mean, not to try to be too fair-minded here, but there were those of us on the right who were pretty critical of President Obama.
I remember because I was one of them, right?
I mean, we were on top of President Obama as well.
We should have been.
The President of the United States deserves scrutiny.
And then she says news outlets go on day after day and they cite unnamed sources.
They use stories without sources.
Okay, again, the White House does this too.
The White House leaks routinely to the press.
The White House uses anonymous sources.
This is a little bit hypocritical.
And then she says that the CNN story, they had to have reporters resign.
Well, that conflicts with the idea that news outlets don't see any ramifications for what they do, right?
I mean, if news outlets have to fire their reporters because of the blowback after they write a bad story, that is a ramification, that is a form of accountability.
You may not think it's enough, you may think they're pressured into it, but it doesn't really matter.
Bottom line is, to pretend the media is not being held accountable by people like me, people like you who watch the show, people like the president, is just Silly.
Okay, so, but Sarah Huckabee Sanders is into scoring points because the Trump administration would rather score points off the media than actually promulgate good policy, at least openly.
Like, some good policy is happening, but it's all happening behind the scenes.
So, what does this do?
This prompts a guy named Brian Karam of Sentinel Newspapers, who I guess is a Playboy reporter.
He's a reporter for Playboy.
And I would make a joke about a Playboy reporter Being in the White House briefing room asking questions, except that we've had a number of weird people in the White House briefing room asking questions, and President Trump has a picture of himself on the cover of Playboy in his office, so I can't really mock that too much.
Anyway, Brian Kerr of Sentinel Newspapers, he then pipes up and he goes on just this rant against Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the White House.
Come on.
You're inflaming everybody right here, right now with those words.
This administration has done that as well.
Why in the name of heavens?
Any one of us, right, are replaceable.
And any one of us, if we don't get it right, the audience has the opportunity to turn the channel or not read us.
You have been elected to serve for four years at least.
There's no option other than that.
We're here to ask you questions.
We're here to provide the answers.
And what you just did is inflammatory to people all over the country who look at it and say, see, once again, the president is right and everybody else out here is fake media.
And everybody in this room is only trying to do their job.
Okay, so he says this, and this, of course, goes viral.
The entire media says, yes!
He's our champion now!
He's our champion!
Yeah, except for the fact that when he says, everybody's just here trying to do their job.
We're all just trying to do our job.
Yes, but what you consider your job to be is getting Trump, right?
I mean, your job is not just to cover the news for a lot of the media.
The job is to get Trump, to get that moment where he can finally fulfill that leftist fantasy that Trump is going to be thrown out on his ample posterior right out of the White House and into prison, right?
Who does this benefit?
Okay, who does this benefit?
Well, first and foremost, it benefits this reporter who gets to become a hero on MSNBC.
He goes on MSNBC right after this and he talks about how brave he was.
Now, again, I think that this is not particularly brave because bravery entails undergoing some sort of risk.
Okay, saying things to Sarah Huckabee Sanders is not exactly like Martin Luther King and Selma Brave.
It's mostly like you mouthing off and then getting celebrated on MSNBC, which is virtue signaling.
Anyway, here he is being feeded.
They basically give him a medal over on MSNBC, this guy.
Are they truth tellers?
That's why we're here, is to try and find out.
And there have been, what got me, when you ask about what got me rankled, it's the fact that they sit there and say, we're dishonest in the media, and we're being dishonest.
Well, there's consequences, but I have yet to hear anyone from this administration even admit a mistake.
And so it's a little hard to take because the people in that room I have a healthy respect for.
I've been coming and going in this room off and on since the Reagan administration.
Those people I held up as heroes, some of the people that were here.
In addition, there are reporters who have given their lives to get news to the public and to be just labeled as dishonest and fake media.
rankles me and uh... i'd like the you know maybe i lost my temper at that moment but it uh...
it was a long time coming it was six months i would like to see that taken off the uh...
in just taking off the table and let us talk about real issues let us ask our questions quit hitting us with fake media i mean everyone including bright part that's in their heads been respectful they've asked tough questions and the administration is not often been forthcoming with What I would say are factual answers.
So, yeah, I'm a little concerned about it.
And then Chris Matthews, oh yeah, hero!
Unbelievable!
I'm gonna have a say!
Chris Matthews, I'm gonna have a say!
I love it!
Look at this guy!
I think we should give him an honorary burial pod in Arlington National Cemetery!
Ah!
Hero!
Hero!
Okay, so this is, so who benefits?
First of all, the media benefit from this perception that they are speaking truth to power, right?
This goes all the way back to Sam Donaldson doing the same thing with Ronald Reagan back in the 80s.
And then who else benefits?
Well, Trump benefits, obviously, because we on the right, we hate the media!
We think the media are totally full of crap.
But does anyone benefit in terms of policy?
Well, not really, because it turns out all the acolytes of the media don't trust Trump, all the acolytes of Trump don't trust the media, and so we have nothing to talk about, really.
And the fact is that bad media performance happens on both sides.
It does happen on both sides.
Like, I would prefer, I said this before, I've said this many times, I would prefer a left media to cover Trump and a right media to cover Obama.
Because whoever is most in opposition to the president seems to me the person who is most likely to actually Keep that president being held responsible.
Like, I would rather have tough questions being asked than this question from Lifeset.
Lifeset is a Laura Ingram's publication.
Here's a Lifeset reporter asking a question yesterday.
Given the news about CNN's erroneous story about Anthony Scaramucci, does the White House believe there are other Russia-related stories from major outlets that have not been retracted and are just as false, including the February 14th story in the New York Times about collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, which James Comey called into question, which many believe the CNN story was based upon?
Does the White House now believe the news media have an obligation to review stories on the Russian Okay, I mean, it's ridiculous.
Here's a softball, Sarah, just enjoy, right?
Name all the stories you think have been bad over the past year.
Again, what we have to understand as consumers of media is the media have an agenda, Trump has an agenda, and their real agenda here is to play this slap fight game where both of them win points off of each other.
That doesn't mean you should trust the media over Trump.
It doesn't mean you should trust Trump over the media.
It means you should trust the facts.
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And of course, use that promo code, and that will ensure that you are, not only do they know that we sent you, There are areas where I think that the media bias is a little more insidious, believe it or not, than even in politics.
premium suit so 379 bucks enter shapiro at checkout again shapiro at checkout okay so speaking of media bias there are areas where i think that the media bias is a little more insidious believe it or not than even in politics so i am an advocate of the position that andrew breitbart used to take which is that culture is upstream of politics meaning that more people are impacted by their views on politics by culture than they are by actual politics Like, there's a select group of people who listen to this show and it's, thank God, big and growing.
But it is not nearly the number of people who watch sports, for example, or the number of people who watch entertainment TV.
The fact is that if you look at views, even among Republicans, from the time that Modern Family premiered on Gay Marriage to now, There's like a 30 point drop in the number of people who disapproved of gay marriage in the Republican community between modern family premiering and now, because people tend to follow culture.
People tend to imitate culture and imbibe culture.
This is where the media bias is really the worst.
Because in politics, there are some checking mechanisms, right?
I am a check and balance on the media.
President Trump is a check and balance on the media.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a check and balance on the media.
You, yourself, as a consumer, you are aware of media bias, so you are now a check and balance on the media.
This is not true when it comes to cultural areas.
When it comes to cultural areas, there is no check and balance because most of us don't even want to think about the fact that the left is infiltrating all of the areas of culture that we inhabit and trying to twist them to their own viewpoint.
So for me, one of my pet peeves is sports.
So I am a huge sports fan.
I particularly enjoy baseball and basketball, although I do like football as well.
But the three big sports are my sports.
I wish I knew more about hockey, because I've been to a couple hockey games and they're wonderful, but I don't know enough about it to be a big fan.
I don't know enough of the players.
I'd really have to sort of engross myself in it.
But in any case, I'm also a tennis fan, so I like tennis.
And there's been a controversy that is now broken out that is just ridiculous and stupid over Serena Williams.
So we talked about this a little bit yesterday.
John McEnroe is, of course, one of the great men's players of all time.
He came out and he said, Serena Williams is a great player, but Serena Williams is not as good as men, right?
Serena Williams is a girl.
And that prompted Serena Williams to begin tweeting about it, because she was now very, very, very, very, very, very offended.
This just demonstrates, again, how things work in the sports media.
Everything has to be politicized.
So she tweets out, Dear John, I adore and respect you, but please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based.
I've never played anyone ranked there, nor do I have time.
Respect me and my privacy as I'm trying to have a baby.
Good day, sir.
I don't understand what her having a baby has to do with the questions.
He was asked a direct question.
We played it yesterday.
He was asked a direct question about where Serena would rank because he said she is the best female player of all time and people said, why not the best player of all time?
And then the media asked him to apologize.
So here are the CBS anchors who are angry at McEnroe asking him to apologize for it.
I felt the need.
However, unfortunately, I'm probably to defend myself.
I don't know.
Just say what I really felt.
I mean, which is about what I think she would be.
I think you're referring to the fact that I said she'd be about 700 in the world.
Yeah.
I've got a solution, Gail, though, because I know that you're friendly with Serena, and I think, at least until yesterday... I'm just waiting.
Would you like to apologize?
Uh, no.
You really do need to answer Charlie's question.
What was it?
I didn't... You're right, I wasn't paying attention.
Why did you do this?
It wasn't necessary.
It was not necessary.
You knew it would create... I didn't know it would create... You didn't?
No.
John, has anybody ever- I've said this a thousand- Did Bobby Riggs say anything?
No apology to Serena, really?
Uh, listen, I would be happy to apologize to Serena, Gail, if that makes you feel better.
Anyone, I think Serena's incredible.
I don't want anything to go wrong with Serena because she's pregnant.
I don't want to upset her, or whatever it was.
I think she was doing it tongue-in-cheek as well, and I think the deep down... Okay, so the whole thing's ridiculous.
This whole thing is just ridiculous and insane, okay?
It's totally nuts.
You've got the CBS anchors berating him, badgering him over something that is obvious, perfectly obvious.
Again, Serena Williams did play a practice match with a guy who's ranked like 203rd in the world to win one game off of him.
One.
Okay?
Like, no.
I'm sorry.
She is not as good as the men because she is a girl.
And that is just... She's amazing.
She'd kick my ass, but that has nothing to do with whether she would be on the professional men's tour.
In fact, you know who has said this in the past?
You know who has said this?
Some woman named Serena Williams.
Here's Serena Williams on David Letterman a couple of years ago.
Actually, it's funny because Andy Murray, he was been joking about myself and him playing a match.
And I'm like, Andy, seriously, like, are you kidding me?
Because for me, tennis and men's tennis and women's tennis are completely almost two separate sports.
So I'm like, if I were to play Andy Murray, I would lose 6-0, 6-0 in five to six minutes, maybe 10 minutes.
No, it's true.
It's a completely, it's a completely different sport.
The men are a lot faster and they serve harder.
They hit harder.
It's just a different game.
And I love to play women's tennis.
I only want to play girls because I don't want to be embarrassed.
I would not do the tour.
I wouldn't do Billie Jean any justice.
So, Andy, stop it.
I'm not going to let you kill me.
Okay, so there she is admitting it, okay, because it's true.
Because it's true, but that doesn't stop those CBS anchors from going after men.
How dare you suggest biological reality?
That's just terrible.
Actually, my favorite thing of the night last night is Christina Hoff Summer, the factual feminist friend of mine.
She was tweeting out, she was tweeting out, I guess it was book segments from some feminist queer theory book.
And there was a segment from some woman who thinks she's a man, a transgender man, talking about how she had given birth.
And the whole piece was, a man gives birth.
And so I tweeted back, What, via the urethra?
Like, how would that work?
I mean, that's passing a hell of a kidney stone right there, because the fact is that men can't give birth, gang!
Only women can give birth.
But you speak basic biological truths now, and suddenly, it's a problem.
Like, I'm up in Canada right now, I'm over in Toronto because I'm gonna give a speech tonight, and Jordan Peterson, who we're gonna have to have on the show when the studio is finally set up totally, Jordan Peterson has basically been reamed out by his own university, by the government, for having the temerity to say things like men are men and women are women.
This is the way that we are moving.
And in the media, the media are pushing that as hard as they possibly can.
And then, of course, they are firing every conservative they can get their hands on.
Britt McHenry, who was a controversial figure because there was a video of her getting angry at some sort of car attendant at one point.
She was fired and she came out yesterday and she said, ESPN fired me because I'm conservative, which is perfectly plausible.
She said, I mean, I've been openly conservative.
Look how that ended up, is what she tweeted out yesterday, which is correct.
Okay.
ESPN will fire people who are openly conservative, whether you're talking about Mike Ditka or Curt Schilling, it doesn't seem to matter.
Curt Schilling's great sin, you recall, was that Curt Schilling at one point had said, No, sports should be left to sports.
They should not turn into the political whims of the radical left.
It's really stupid.
is that he didn't support President Obama.
Ooh, just so terrible.
Unbelievable.
But this is how culture bleeds down into politics, and that's why we have to fight back against it.
No, sports should be left to sports.
They should not turn into the political whims of the radical left.
It's really stupid.
Okay, we're going to continue by talking about the latest on Trumpcare, plus some things I like, things I hate, and some Bible talk.
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