Ep. 680 - Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop Investigating

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode centers on Michael Cohen’s interview and its legal/political fallout, including campaign finance, perjury, and possible impeachment implications for Trump. Shapiro argues the media is selectively treating Cohen as credible, Democrats are escalating toward impeachment, and the broader environment looks like a partisan witch hunt. The show also covers border-policy media framing, the Weekly Standard shutdown, and concludes with listener mailbag and personal/household anecdotes.

Main Topics: Michael Cohen interview and Trump legal exposure (Priority: 5/5): Shapiro dissects Cohen’s ABC interview, noting Cohen’s claim that Trump directed hush-money payments and lied to Congress. He argues Trump’s defense that Cohen was a lawyer/fixer is plausible but weakened by Trump’s own public comments. Impeachment politics and post-Clinton standards (Priority: 5/5): The episode argues Democrats are boxing themselves into impeachment by repeatedly labeling Trump’s conduct criminal, while Republicans are unlikely to revive older moral standards after the Clinton era normalized partisan loyalty over impeachment norms. Witch hunt framing and expanding investigations (Priority: 4/5): Shapiro says investigations into Trump’s inaugural committee, tax returns, and family members create the appearance of selective prosecution and a broad effort to 'get' Trump rather than neutral law enforcement. Media treatment and narrative bias (Priority: 4/5): He criticizes the press for elevating Cohen, framing the border child death misleadingly, and amplifying dubious claims against Trump, arguing that media incentives favor anti-Trump narratives over precision. Weekly Standard shutdown and conservative media fallout (Priority: 3/5): The episode briefly mourns the closure of The Weekly Standard, blaming anti-Trump editorial drift and noting the loss of talented writers while criticizing Bill Kristol’s political posture. Mailbag: law, writing, relocation, and economics (Priority: 2/5): The latter portion answers listener questions about law school, writing fiction, biblical creation and evolution, moving out of California, and why centralized economic planning fails versus free markets. Personal anecdotes and culture commentary (Priority: 2/5): Shapiro shares a family story about injuring his shin and jokes about Christmas-party singing and a comedy writer calling Pope Francis homophobic, using these to critique secular cultural commentary.

Key Arguments: Michael Cohen is being treated as a credible anti-Trump witness by the press despite having pled guilty to lying and heading to prison, which Shapiro says reveals partisan media double standards. Trump’s defense rests on the claim that Cohen was the lawyer/fixer and responsible for the legal details; Shapiro says this is weakened when Trump publicly minimizes Cohen’s legal work as 'low level' PR. Campaign finance violations and suborning perjury are serious, but Shapiro argues they are unlikely to justify removing Trump because the political system no longer enforces pre-Clinton moral standards consistently. Democrats are escalating toward impeachment by repeatedly calling Trump’s presidency criminal; once they do that, Shapiro says they have little room to avoid formal impeachment efforts. The media’s wide-ranging investigations into Trump’s finances, family, and inauguration committee look like selective prosecution and reinforce Trump’s 'witch hunt' narrative. The border-custody child death was primarily a tragedy rooted in the father’s decision to bring an undernourished child through the desert; the headline unfairly implies direct Border Patrol culpability. The shutdown of The Weekly Standard is presented as a consequence of a hard anti-Trump editorial line that alienated readers and reflected Bill Kristol’s politics. Free markets and decentralized decision-making are portrayed as more effective than centralized planning, which Shapiro says repeatedly fails over time. Human beings are not created in God’s image because of physical resemblance but because of unique moral and creative agency. A law career, especially corporate law, is depicted as primarily a financial choice rather than a calling, which Shapiro illustrates with his own interview experiences.

Data Points: Michael Cohen prison sentence: 3 years - Cohen was sentenced for campaign finance-related conduct and lying to Congress. Karen McDougal payment: $150,000 - AMI admitted paying Karen McDougal to suppress her story during the 2016 campaign. Campaign finance case threshold: Willful knowledge required - Shapiro explains that campaign finance crimes generally require knowing violation of the law. Trump Tower Moscow meeting attendees: 3 people - Trump says he was the third person in the room with Cohen and David Pecker in August 2015. Trump inaugural committee raise: $107 million - The Wall Street Journal report says prosecutors are examining possible misspending of inaugural funds. Border incident group size: 163 people - The child and her father were part of a large group that approached U.S. agents in New Mexico. Child’s measured body temperature: 105.7°F - Emergency responders measured the girl’s temperature after seizures began. Time before seizures: More than 8 hours - The child began having seizures about eight hours after being taken into custody. Number of law firm interviews: 32 - Shapiro describes his Harvard Law recruiting process. Law firm offers received: 1 - Shapiro says he received one offer from 32 interviews. Movement watches starting price: $95 - Used in a sponsor segment describing the brand’s minimalist watches. Membership price: $9.99 per month / $99 per year - Daily Wire subscription pricing mentioned during the call to subscribe. Daily Wire growth claim: Largest, fastest growing conservative podcast in the nation - Promotional statement made near the end of the episode.

Pivotal Quotes: "You are now seeing more evidence than ever that Donald Trump was associated with a criminal campaign, a criminal transition, and presides today very likely over a criminal presidency." — Eric Swalwell: Quoted by Shapiro as an example of Democrats narrowing the path toward impeachment. "Nobody got killed. Nobody got robbed. This was not a big crime." — Rudy Giuliani: Giuliani’s defense of the campaign finance conduct tied to Cohen’s sentencing. "It was always, in my opinion, a very stupid maneuver to suggest that Merrick Garland should get a vote if Hillary Clinton had been elected." — Mailbag question/readout: A listener question raised the 2016 Garland nomination debate and Senate confirmation politics.

Implications: Shapiro frames Trump’s legal and political troubles as less about singular crimes than about a collapsing standard of impartiality. For listeners, the takeaway is that impeachment, media trust, and partisan double standards will likely intensify heading into 2020.