Ep. 2533 - The Most Desperate Political Attack You'll See This Election

October 23, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In a single episode of The Ben Shapiro Show, host Ben Shapiro argues that the political class on both sides has lost touch with normalcy, but he focuses his fire on what he sees as the Left’s hypocrisy and radicalism. The episode’s central thesis is that Democratic elites and media figures perform outrage over political attacks only when it suits them, while simultaneously engaging in far uglier tactics—and that the party’s candidates in key Senate races are too extreme for the swing voters they need to win.

The Lindsey Graham Attack as a Case Study in Hypocrisy

Shapiro opens with a detailed account of what he calls the “most desperate political attack” of the election cycle: a documentary released by The Young Turks and Swamp Watch Studios alleging that the late Senator Lindsey Graham, who died in July, paid male escorts for sex. The documentary, titled The Closetocracy, features testimony from three sex workers. Shapiro emphasizes that Graham’s body is “cold, in the ground,” and that the attack is not aimed at the dead senator himself but at his sister, Darlene Graham Norton, who is running to replace him in South Carolina.

Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.

Read Full Summary →

Free • No credit card required

Listen to Audio Summary Open in App

Never miss an episode of The Ben Shapiro Show

Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

What you'll learn

1 (00:06) **Episode Opening & The Lindsey Graham Smear** - Shapiro opens by framing the episode around a single thesis: the left’s selective, weaponized outrage in politics, using the attack on Lindsey Graham’s sister as the prime example.
2 (08:31) **The Young Turks Documentary & The Hypocrisy Argument** - Shapiro plays a clip from the documentary and dissects the logic of the attack, expanding his thesis that political outrage is a performative lie.
3 (13:54) **The Polling Replication Crisis & Wedgewood/SoCal Strategies** - Shapiro shifts to the unreliability of election polling, arguing that fabricated data is skewing the narrative and creating a false sense of a Democratic wave.
4 (18:56) **Michigan Senate Race: Abdul El-Sayed’s Radicalism** - Shapiro analyzes the Michigan Senate race, arguing that the only reason it’s competitive is because the Democrats nominated a candidate (El-Sayed) who is too radical for the state.
5 (21:54) **Maine Senate Race: Troy Jackson & The AOC Factor** - Shapiro moves to the Maine Senate race, arguing that Democrat Troy Jackson is running a losing strategy by campaigning with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
6 (36:31) **Sophia Franklin’s Abortion & The Spiritual Cost** - Shapiro pivots to a cultural analysis of a Vanity Fair excerpt from a book by podcaster Sophia Franklin, using her story to argue that the left has no language for the moral reality of abortion.
7 (47:21) **Virginia Senator’s Drug Ring & The “Generational Wealth” Excuse** - Shapiro covers the indictment of Virginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas for running a massive marijuana and money laundering enterprise.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Ben Shapiro

Show Notes

After hearing extraordinary umbrage from Democrats all week about Vivek Ramaswamy's dicey ad about Amy Acton, the same exact people have no problem with attacks on Darlene Graham Nordone... based on male hookers saying her dead brother had sex with them; the other lady from Call Her Daddy admits her abortion was difficult and rough, but can't see the forest for the trees; and a Democratic state legislator was allegedly running a drug ring.

Ep. 2533

"The American Way of Killing: The Invention of an Epidemic" by Malcolm Gladwell is available here: https://a.co/d/0erYZh81

Malcolm's podcast "Revisionist History" is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

- - -

Today's Sponsors:

Golden Crest Metals - Right now GoldenCrest metals will send you a free investor kit, a free portfolio review, and up to $25,000 in free silver on qualifying purchases. Text BEN to METALS—that's 638257—go to https://GoldenCrestMetals.com/Ben, or call (888) 429-3999.

PureTalk - Visit https://PureTalk.com/SHAPIRO to get unlimited Talk, Text and UNLIMITED DATA with a thirty-gig hotspot for just $29.95 a month... FOR LIFE!

Kalshi - Visit https://kalshi.com/shapiro to see live prediction markets and sign up today to trade on the outcomes that matter most to you. Trade $25, Get $55. Code is SHAPIRO

- - -

DailyWire:

Become a Daily Wire Member and watch all of our content ad-free: https://dailywire.com/subscribe

🇺🇸 Get 3-Months of DailyWire for just $17.76 📜

📲 Download the free Daily Wire app today on iPhone, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Samsung, and more.

🍿 Watch Run Hide Fight: Infidels https://www.dailywire.com/videos/run-hide-fight-infidels

📰 Follow me on the Daily Wire app or DailyWire.com to read my daily articles and receive my Friday newsletter.

📘 My book "Lions and Scavengers: The True Story of America (and Her Critics)" is available here:

https://dwplus.shop/LionsandScavengers

👕 Get your Ben Shapiro merch here:

https://dwplus.shop/BenShapiroMerch

- - -

Socials:

YouTube — https://youtube.com/@BenShapiro

Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/officialbenshapiro

Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/officialbenshapiro

Snapchat — https://www.snapchat.com/officialbenshapiro

TikTok — https://www.tiktok.com/@real.benshapiro

X — https://twitter.com/benshapiro

- - -

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices