Ben Shapiro vs. Tucker Carlson — Who Will Win? Krystal Ball on ‘MAGA Podcast Wars’, AIPAC, and Iran

If you’re as terminally online as the rest of us at Zeteo, you may have noticed that conservative podcasters are at war with each other. Ben Shapiro is attacking Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson is attacking Ben Shapiro, and everyone is attacking Mark Levin. So for this week’s ‘We’re Not Kidding’, Mehdi is joined by Krystal Ball, co-host of the massively popular online news show ‘Breaking Points’, to unpack all of the MAGA drama. The two also get into how Donald Trump’s disastrous war with Iran is creating even MORE rifts within the Republican party, Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in instigating the war, and why we shouldn’t totally trust defectors like Trump’s now former counterterrorism chief Joe Kent. “They are very comfortable saying, ‘Israel, Israel, Israel. It's all Israel's fault,’” Krystal says. “But at the end of the day, this is Donald Trump's war. He's not a baby. He’s the most powerful man on the planet.” The two also discuss: Krystal’s famous hardball interview with Sen. Elissa Slotkin. How AIPAC’s brand has become “completely toxic” with Democratic voters. Why podcasts will be important for 2028 presidential candidates. And whether Gavin Newsom will be brave enough to appear on ‘Mehdi Unfiltered’ or ‘Breaking Points’... CHAPTERS 00:00 - Opening montage :53 - Intro 2:37 - Leaving MSNBC 4:39 - Elissa Slotkin interview 8:30 - Democrats and podcasts 13:39 - The ‘MAGA Podcast Wars’ 18:10 - Candace Owens 20:51 - Tucker Carlson 27:35 - Israel and Democratic politics 32:04 - Iran war 38:35 - Looking to 2028 This interview was published several days earlier on Zeteo.com. If you want early access to exclusive content and hard-hitting, independent journalism, subscribe on Substack here: https://zeteo.com/subscribe Watch, listen and subscribe to ‘We’re Not Kidding’ on Substack: https://zeteo.com/s/were-not-kidding-... Listen to ‘We’re Not Kidding’ as a podcast: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ogT7Zv... Find Zeteo: Twitter: Twitter: zeteo_news Instagram: Instagram: zeteonews TikTok: TikTok: zeteonews Find Mehdi: Substack: https://substack.com/@mehdirhasan Twitter: Twitter: @mehdirhasan Instagram: Instagram: @mehdirhasan Tik Tok: TikTok: mehdirhasan Credits: Hosted by Mehdi Hasan Guest Host: Krystal Ball Executive Producer: Kiran Alvi Senior Producer: Frank Cappello Editor: Liam Mann Music: Andy Clausen Design: Alicia Tatone Mix Engineer: Valentino Rivera Title Animation: Ehsaan Mesghali Special Thanks: Layla Nayfeh To advertise on the show, contact [email protected] or visit https://advertising.libsyn.com/networ...