Ep. 2534 - Obama's Big Return Is Not Going Well

October 26, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Barack Obama is back on the campaign trail in Michigan, and Ben Shapiro argues this is not a sign of Democratic strength but of desperation. The former president is being trotted out to boost a party that, in Shapiro’s telling, has become too radical for the average American voter. The episode is built around a central argument: the Democratic Party has adopted Obama’s unpopular policies while losing the personal appeal that once made him electable, and as a result, it now has to rely on the man himself—along with a series of dubious tactics—to avoid a midterm wipeout.

Why Obama Is Back (and What It Reveals)

Shapiro frames Obama’s return as a strategic admission. “Barack Obama is the guy you call when you’re down a little bit near the end of the game,” he says. “He is not the guy you have to call when you are up big.” The logic is straightforward: if Democrats were confident, they wouldn’t need their aging star. Shapiro cites CNN’s Harry Enten to note that every competitive race is currently a toss-up, and that if polling errors from past cycles repeat, Republicans could hold the Senate easily.

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What you'll learn

1 Ep. 2534 - Obama's Big Return Is Not Going Well
2 (00:06) **Opening** - Shapiro introduces the episode's thesis: Democrats are in trouble despite media claims otherwise, evidenced by needing Barack Obama to campaign in Michigan
3 (04:23) **Why Obama Is Campaigning** - Shapiro argues Obama's presence proves Democrats are not confident about the midterms
4 (06:25) **Obama's Iran Deal Claims Debunked** - Shapiro fact-checks Obama's claim that the Iran deal prevented nuclear weapons
5 (11:28) **Obama's Rally Crowd** - The overflow room at Obama's Michigan rally was overwhelmingly white and college-educated
6 (14:17) **Kamala Harris Returns** - Shapiro mocks Harris's word salad performance in New Hampshire
7 (17:20) **Alaska's Dan Sullivan Lookalike Scandal** - Democrats are running a fake Dan Sullivan to confuse voters

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Ben Shapiro

Show Notes

Democrats are trotting out Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Kamala Harris in the last days of the midterms... so how confident are they really? Plus, Brazil's election gets incredibly messy, and major European cities are still on fire.

Ep. 2534

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