Ep. 1165 - Election Showdown Week Begins

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: Ben Shapiro opens with sharp commentary on a congressional prayer controversy, then pivots to Trump’s January 2021 call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, arguing the call was bad but not criminal. The episode then examines Republicans’ plan to challenge Electoral College votes, explains the constitutional and historical background, and assesses the effort as legally weak and strategically doomed. It closes with attacks on media bias, Georgia runoff politics, pandemic policy failures, and a New York Times story on cancel culture.

Main Topics: Congressional prayer controversy and cultural ridicule (Priority: 3/5): Shapiro mocks a House prayer ending with 'amen and a woman,' arguing it reflects ignorance of language, etymology, and basic logic rather than genuine inclusivity. Trump–Raffensperger phone call and election-fraud claims (Priority: 5/5): He reviews the released Trump call, distinguishing between unsupported claims about fraud and the claim that Trump was pressuring Georgia to change the result, arguing the call was ugly but not criminal or impeachable. Republican challenge to Electoral College votes (Priority: 5/5): The episode explains the January 6 objection process, historical precedent, and why a Senate/House challenge is unlikely to succeed because Democrats control the House and legal standards are narrow. Constitutional and historical background of election disputes (Priority: 5/5): Shapiro walks through the 1876 election, the Electoral Count Act of 1887, and the safe harbor rules to argue that Congress is not meant to arbitrarily override state-certified results. Georgia runoff elections and Senate control (Priority: 4/5): He urges listeners to vote in Georgia, framing the runoff as decisive for Senate control and warning that a Democratic Senate would enable radical policy outcomes. Media bias, cancel culture, and the New York Times (Priority: 4/5): Shapiro criticizes the media for partisan coverage of Raphael Warnock and for promoting a New York Times story that portrays the exposure of a teen’s racial-slur video as moral reckoning. COVID policy and public health administration (Priority: 3/5): He attacks Los Angeles and New York officials for pandemic mismanagement, especially Cuomo’s vaccine prioritization rules and California’s handling of restrictions and reporting.

Key Arguments: The 'amen and a woman' prayer was linguistically ignorant because 'amen' is Hebrew-derived and unrelated to gender. Trump’s Raffensperger call contained unproven fraud claims and a bad-faith focus on the vote margin, but Shapiro says it did not amount to criminal threats or a clear impeachable offense. Objections to Electoral College votes have historical precedent, but using Congress to override certified state results would create a dangerous new precedent. The Constitution and Electoral Count Act assign the core role to states and courts, not to Congress or the vice president acting alone. Republicans cannot realistically use the January 6 challenge to keep Trump in office because the Democratic House would reject it. Mark Levin’s state-legislature argument is intellectually interesting, but Shapiro says it is inconsistent with existing court rulings and would federalize election law in a way conservatives should oppose. Josh Hawley and allies are, in Shapiro’s view, using the objection process more as political posturing and a way to spotlight election concerns than as a viable legal strategy. The Georgia runoffs matter more than symbolic electoral challenges because Senate control will shape Biden’s agenda. The mainstream media are described as selectively aggressive toward conservatives and indulgent toward Democrats, especially in their coverage of Warnock and Ossoff. The New York Times story on the teen girl is framed as glorifying a deliberate attempt to destroy someone’s life over a short video clip.

Data Points: Senate Republicans challenging electoral votes: 12 - Opening line references 12 Senate Republicans joining House Republicans in objecting to electoral votes. Trump–Raffensperger call length: about 1 hour - Shapiro says the Washington Post released the full hour-long phone call. Specific vote Trump wanted to 'find': 11,780 votes - Trump’s line to Raffensperger about flipping Georgia's result. Georgia margin Trump referenced: 11,000 votes - Shapiro paraphrases Trump’s repeated claim that he only needed about 11,000 votes. House objection vote threshold: at least one member each of the House and Senate - Explanation of what is required to trigger an Electoral College objection under the Electoral Count Act. Debate time on objection: maximum of 2 hours - The two chambers separate and debate objections for up to two hours each. Electoral Count Act year: 1887 - Historical origin of the statute governing Electoral College objections. 1876 electoral votes: Tilden 184, Hayes 165 - Background on the disputed presidential election leading to the Electoral Count Act. Votes needed to win in 1876: 185 - Tilden fell one electoral vote short of victory. Barbara Boxer objection year: 2005 - Shapiro cites Democrats objecting to Ohio’s electoral votes after the 2004 election. Republican popular-vote presidential wins since 1988: 1 - Shapiro says Republicans have won the popular vote only once since 1988. LA County New Year COVID cases: 19,000 - Reported as a third-highest single-day total during the surge. LA County 7-day average COVID cases: over 16,000 per day - Used to illustrate the scale of the post-holiday outbreak. COVID vaccination in Israel: over 1 million people vaccinated - Example of a faster rollout compared with U.S. states. Possible Cuomo fine for vaccination fraud: up to $1 million - Shapiro criticizes New York’s enforcement threat for giving vaccines out of order.

Pivotal Quotes: "The word amen has literally nothing to do with gender." — Ben Shapiro: His critique of the congressional prayer ending with 'amen and a woman.' "Look, all I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state." — Donald Trump (quoted by Shapiro): The core Trump line from the Raffensperger phone call that triggered major controversy. "If Congress purported to overturn the results of the Electoral College, it would not only exceed that power, it would establish unwise precedents." — Tom Cotton (quoted by Shapiro): Used to support Shapiro’s argument against congressional nullification of certified state results.

Implications: The episode argues that conservatives should avoid legal and procedural shortcuts that weaken federalism and the Electoral College, even in anger over the election. It also frames Georgia’s runoffs as the immediate political battleground and warns of media/cultural power shaping future elections.