Ep. 1803 - Get Ready For The Censorship

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode argues that elites, media, and tech platforms are reviving censorship and “misinformation” narratives to control the 2024 election, while ignoring inconvenient evidence about Biden, COVID, immigration, and crime. It also highlights Trump’s legal exposure and growing internal blame-shifting, contrasts Biden’s boring but politically useful image with his weak record, and spotlights economic and governance failures across the U.S. and abroad.

Main Topics: Media-driven misinformation and censorship push (Priority: 5/5): Shapiro argues that “misinformation” is a vague tool used by mainstream media and allied institutions to suppress dissenting outlets and preemptively blame election outcomes on bad information rather than bad candidates or policies. Biden corruption and media denial (Priority: 5/5): A Washington Post fact-checker’s refusal to engage with Hunter Biden texts is presented as proof that some media figures ignore inconvenient evidence rather than assess it honestly, especially regarding Joe Biden’s family corruption. COVID resurgence as political cover (Priority: 4/5): The transcript frames renewed COVID alarmism, masking, and booster advocacy as a way to justify Biden staying out of public view and to revive the culture-war dynamics of the pandemic years. Trump legal peril and ballot-access fights (Priority: 5/5): The show covers ongoing criminal cases, possible co-defendant cooperation, and efforts by some figures to disqualify Trump under the 14th Amendment, which Shapiro calls legally baseless and politically motivated. Biden’s weak political standing and economic dissatisfaction (Priority: 5/5): Polls, inflation, insurance costs, and the administration’s economic messaging are used to argue that voters feel materially worse off, even as the White House insists Bidenomics is working. Immigration breakdown and Democratic backlash (Priority: 5/5): The episode describes overwhelmed shelters, National Guard mobilization, and criticism from Democrats themselves as evidence that Biden’s border policy is failing and creating visible crises in blue states. Broader governance failures: China, crime, and local policing (Priority: 4/5): The transcript links Chinese real-estate instability to bad state-driven economics and cites rising Austin crime and police shortages as examples of left-wing policy failure in public safety.

Key Arguments: “Misinformation” is being weaponized as a censorship label rather than a neutral truth-finding concept. The media are preparing to blame a Biden loss on misinformation instead of Biden’s age, record, or corruption. Philip Bump’s reaction to Hunter Biden evidence illustrates how some journalists simply refuse to process facts that contradict their narrative. Renewed COVID fear is being used to normalize masking, boosters, and Biden’s public retreat rather than to address current risk realistically. Trump’s legal cases may create pressure on aides and co-defendants, but ballot disqualification under the 14th Amendment is presented as legally unsupported. Biden’s economic messaging fails because voters experience inflation, higher insurance, and higher living costs directly. Democrats are now exposed by immigration chaos in blue states, showing that border policy failures cannot be indefinitely outsourced to red states. Left-leaning governance often fails at practical management: housing, crime control, and economic allocation. Joe Biden’s main political advantage is that he is boring and thus less scrutinized than Trump, not that he is effective. Bill Maher is cited as evidence that some former liberals now reject woke identity politics and public-safety denial as illiberal.

Data Points: Researchers surveyed: almost 300 - International Panel on Information Environment survey cited in Washington Post piece Countries represented in survey: 50 countries - Same misinformation survey Researchers expecting deterioration: 54% - Survey respondents who thought the information environment would worsen in 2024 Researchers expecting improvement: 12% - Survey respondents who thought the information environment would improve in 2024 Social media moderation accountability hurdle: two-thirds - Researchers saying inability to hold platforms accountable posed a significant hurdle Poor automated moderation cited as risk: 55% - Researchers flagging automated moderation as a problem U.S. COVID hospitalizations at 2023 peak cited: up to 10,000 per week - CDC director Mandy Cohen describing current hospitalization levels U.S. COVID hospitalizations at prior peak: 40,000 per week - Comparison point from last August Recent weekly hospitalization increase: nearly 19% - NPR citing CDC data for a single week increase Recent weekly deaths increase: more than 21% - NPR citing CDC data for a single week increase Hunter Biden text quote: 50% of my income to Pop - Referenced as evidence of possible family financial entanglement Car insurance cost increase year over year: 16% - Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited by The Washington Post Car insurance cost increase since 2013: 70% - Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited by The Washington Post Motor vehicle maintenance cost increase: 13% - July-over-July increase cited in the transcript Immigrant families in Massachusetts shelters: more than 20,000 people in about 6,000 families - Massachusetts shelter load reported by officials National Guard deployed in Massachusetts: 250 members - Mobilized to help transport asylum seekers Austin auto theft increase since 2020: 77% - Fox News report cited in the segment on crime Austin aggravated assault increase since 2020: 18% - Fox News report cited in the segment on crime Austin murder increase since 2020: 30% - Fox News report cited in the segment on crime Country Garden debt: $187 billion - Chinese homebuilder’s debt load amid real-estate collapse Country Garden postponed repayment: $537 million - Creditor-approved delay mentioned in NYT coverage Country Garden interest payment: $22.5 million - Made within grace period to avoid immediate default Offshore wind price adjustment request: 48% average - NY State Energy Research and Development Authority report cited Solar and wind project price increase request: 64% average across 86 projects - Alliance for Clean Energy New York request cited Trump ballot-access claim: 14th Amendment disqualification - Referenced as the basis for proposed ballot removal efforts Biden-related book sales: fewer than 10,000 copies - Politico report on a book about Joe Biden's presidency Hillary Clinton campaign book sales: more than 125,000 copies - Comparison point for book interest Fire and Fury sales: almost 1 million copies - Comparison used to show Trump’s higher public attention Peril sales: 400,000 copies - Comparison used in the book-market discussion

Pivotal Quotes: "Misinformation is just stuff the media doesn't like because sometimes it's true and sometimes it's false." — Ben Shapiro: Explaining how the term is used as a political and media weapon rather than a neutral category "It doesn't look like anything to me." — Ben Shapiro: Comparing Washington Post columnist Philip Bump’s refusal to engage Hunter Biden evidence to a Westworld robot "I think the larger question is he's going to be convicted of something, right?" — Sunny Hostin: The View discussion asserting Trump’s conviction and questioning why he is allowed to run

Implications: Listeners are being told to expect more censorship pressure, COVID panic, and election-law warfare in 2024. The episode predicts Biden will lean on boredom, public caution, and media protection, while Trump faces legal and institutional attacks but remains politically resilient.