Ben Shapiro Comes Armed With Advice and Warnings for ‘Least Popular Midterms in History’

Rebecca Downs

•   September 25, 2026

Thursday’s episode of “The Tony Kinnett Cast” featured a discussion with Ben Shapiro centered around the upcoming midterms, including as they pertain to a recent film by The Daily Wire.

Shapiro described “Run, Hide, Fight: Infidels” as a film that “makes clear the threat of political Islam and the most radical manifestation” of that. It has been lambasted by the media despite positive audience reaction.

Shapiro connected the film to his concerns with Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat candidate for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat.

Shapiro referenced El-Sayed as an example of “putting people in positions of power to cover for the radicalization campaign that’s taken place inside of our borders.”

He took issue with El-Sayed’s response to an attack on a Jewish school in the Detroit suburbs from March, in which El-Sayed said that “hurt people, hurt people” and compared the attack to the Israel Defense Forces killing a member of Hezbollah in Lebanon. “When you put your head in the sand, it’s not as though the problem goes away. It just grows in size and scope,” Shapiro warned.

Kinnett criticized the “very bizarre correlation-causation the Left is trying to run,” saying dissatisfaction with Republicans does not equal enthusiasm for Democrats, a point Shapiro later brought up when discussing “outlier polls.” Kinnett emphasized that he does not see “any excitement for anyone,” calling the 2026 election cycle “the least popular midterms in history.”

Shapiro agreed as he spoke further about Democrats’ motivations. “I think that what you’re seeing from Democrats is excitement to vote against Republicans, which, you know, is worth something. But I don’t think that you’re seeing a lot of enthusiasm for the most radical ideas of El-Sayed, who is “trying to hide the ball” about who he is.

Shapiro also took issue with El-Sayed attempting to distance himself from Hasan Piker, as well as El-Sayed’s non-answer during Wednesday’s event at the University of Michigan, when a young man spoke about the plight his family faced in Iran, only for El-Sayed to offer what Shapiro called “a clear misdirect.”

“The reality is that, again, these candidates are unbelievably radical,” Shapiro said, adding that “Republicans need to keep hammering this home.”

Kinnett and Shapiro also discussed Republicans potentially doing poorly. Shapiro blamed “pseudo-Republicans who have been basically jumping off the train as fast as humanly possible and then casting aspersions.”

While Republicans could underperform due to President Donald Trump’s approval rating or general economic uncertainty, Shapiro said he doesn’t foresee a blue wave. “I think it’s going to be more like a moderate ripple in favor of the Democrats, as opposed to this kind of gigantic tsunami that’s going to eat the entire Republican Party whole,” he added.

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs | Ohio Correspondent
Rebecca Downs is an Ohio correspondent for the Daily Signal.

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