Ben Shapiro Is Waging Battle Inside the MAGA Movement
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2026
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Ben Shapiro, the host of his eponymous podcast and the co-founder of the conservative website the Daily Wire, has lambasted the left and the Democratic Party for decades. Recently, though, Shapiro has taken to criticizing some of the loudest voices in the MAGA universe, including Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly. The rift is over the acceptance and promulgation of conspiracy theories and, in particular, the normalization of antisemitism. Shapiro discusses the Epstein files and what they show—and do not show—about the powerful people connected to Jeffrey Epstein. The belief in conspiracies of the élite reflects “people’s desire to abdicate control over their own lives,” Shapiro tells David Remnick. They discuss Shapiro’s adherence to the conservative value of personal responsibility, and how he squares that with MAGA and its champions.
The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week.
Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts.
Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choicesTranscript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the political scene. |
| 0:07.0 | I'm David Remnick. |
| 0:08.3 | Early each week, we bring you a conversation from our episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour. |
| 0:15.9 | This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. |
| 0:24.6 | Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. At the end of December, Turning |
| 0:29.5 | Point USA, one of the most important conservative organizations in the country, held its annual |
| 0:35.1 | conference, America Fest. |
| 0:43.6 | The speakers included mainstays of conservative media like Tucker Carlson, Riley Gaines, |
| 0:45.9 | Megan Kelly, and Jesse Waters. |
| 0:48.4 | Kicking things off was Ben Shapiro. |
| 0:56.1 | Founder of the Daily Wire and host of one of the most popular podcasts around. |
| 1:02.0 | Shapiro began by celebrating Charlie Kirk, Turning Point's co-founder, who had been murdered just a few months earlier. |
| 1:03.3 | I really believe that the best way to judge a goodness of a man is to see the goodness of |
| 1:08.4 | his wife and his children, and on that measure, Charlie was unsurpassed. |
| 1:13.7 | Erica and her children are in all of our hearts. |
| 1:17.5 | But Shapiro's real subject that day was the dangers facing the conservative movement. |
| 1:22.6 | Instead of focusing on opponents on the left or the few remaining never-trumpers, |
| 1:27.0 | he looked inward. |
| 1:29.2 | Shapiro warned of people he called charlatans and grifters. |
| 1:33.3 | He called out Tucker Carlson by name for friendly interviews with the accused sex |
| 1:37.5 | trafficker Andrew Tate and with anti-Semites like Daryl Cooper and Nick Fuentes. |
| 1:43.2 | If you host a Hitler apologist Nazi-loving anti-American peace of refuse like Nick Fuentes, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The New Yorker, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The New Yorker and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.