Advertisement

These facts don’t care about Ben Shapiro’s feelings

The author of "Rap is Crap" can't stop contradicting himself.

Frank Dale Twitter
Ben Shapiro attempts to make a joke on the set of the Ben Shapiro Show. (Twitter/@BenShapiro)
Ben Shapiro attempts to make a joke on the set of the Ben Shapiro Show. (Twitter/@BenShapiro)

Ben Shapiro wants you to believe he isn’t like the rest of the right.

The “conservative intellectual” is young, loves to debate, and — unlike the professional trolls who embrace everything President Donald Trump does to own the libs — eager for you to think he adheres to a strict code of principles, only saying what he really believes. After all, Shapiro frequently repeats this simple mantra:

“Facts don’t care about your feelings.”

But despite presenting himself as a voice of reason who stands up to the “MAGA movement,” Shapiro has a habit of contradicting statements he made before (and even after) Trump took office, and a long history of failing to follow his own advice.

NOW: Don’t call people Nazis

THEN: These people are Nazis

In a 2008 column called “The Danger of ‘Youth Movements’ “ published four days after Barack Obama’s election, Shapiro compared Obama supporters to Nazis:

“Why in the world should we be excited about young Americans defining our politics? No political mass movement led by young people has ever resulted in good. … Nazism became popular among the youth before it became the German national theology.”

Shapiro’s civility didn’t stop there, as he referred to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel as a “kapo” — a person carrying out Nazi orders — in 2010’s “An Open Letter to American Jews”:

“Al Sharpton wrongly called Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell “house negroes”; Emanuel is a kapo.”

Shapiro also called George Soros a “kapo” later that year:


Shapiro’s Nazi comparisons weren’t limited to this decade, as he took PETA’s bait and fired off a column entitled “The PETA Nazis” in 2003:

“The Nazis equated Jews with animals. In its Holocaust On Your Plate exhibit, PETA picks up where the Nazis left off.”

NOW: This is not fascism

THEN: This is fascism

Here was Shapiro’s reaction to Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address:


Shapiro’s reference to the President of the United States’ “fascist mentality” wasn’t a one-time thing. He also offered his unique insights on Obama’s 2010 State of the Union in a column called “Obama’s Philosophically Fascist State of the Union”:

“President Obama is, however, a man who embodies all the personal characteristics of a fascist leader, right down to the arrogant chin-up head tilt he utilizes when waiting for applause.”

Shapiro’s claims of fascism weren’t limited to Obama:

NOW: This is the real fascism

Encouraging political action? Fascism.


Criticism of Taylor Swift? Fascism.


Firing an employee who wrote a sexist manifesto? Fascism.


Not letting me speak? Fascism.

THEN: Conservatives are responsible for Trump

Shapiro railed against Trump in a March 2016 column entitled “I Will Never Vote for Donald Trump. Here’s Why.“:

“And if we don’t say “no” to Donald Trump now, we will continue drifting ever further left, diluting conservatism into the vacillating, demagogic absurdity of Trumpism. … I stand against the Republican Party that insists that victory matters more than principle, because victory without principle isn’t just meaningless, it’s counterproductive to my belief system.

#NeverTrump.”

NOW: The left and the media are responsible for Trump

Trump won because too many people were called racist:


Trump won because the media was mean to conservatives:


Trump won because a writer lost his job for saying women who have abortions should be hanged:


Trump won because something about Roseanne Barr:

NOW: Don’t share fake news

THEN: I am sharing fake news

In 2013, Shapiro claimed Chuck Hagel had received secret donations from a shadowy group:

“Senate sources told Breitbart News … one of the reasons that President Barack Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, has not turned over requested documents on his sources of foreign funding is that one of the names listed is a group purportedly called “Friends of Hamas.” “

There was just one problem: “Friends of Hamas” wasn’t real and the whole thing was apparently a joke that Shapiro didn’t understand. Breitbart later mocked him for the embarrassing mistake after he resigned as the editor-at-large of the site with a long history of racism and Islamophobia. Despite all of this, the story is still on Breitbart without any corrections; Shapiro claimed the burden was on Hagel to prove he hadn’t received money from the imaginary group.

In 2009, Ben ripped Emanuel over alleged controversial comments at AIPAC:

“Any Jew who continues to support Obama’s foreign policy should turn in his badge as a Jew — that means you, Rahm Emanuel.”

Again, there was just one issue: Emanuel never made the remarks that forced Shapiro to call for his “badge as a Jew.” And again, Shapiro didn’t apologize or correct his piece.

NOW: I am still sharing fake news

In March, Shapiro used a deceptively edited video to claim that Chuck Schumer is racist.

The Daily Wire, the conservative website founded and run by Shapiro, published an article in February that falsely claimed CNN had scripted questions during its town hall after a school shooting in Florida. The Daily Wire apparently never reached out to CNN for comment before running the story.

Advertisement

Earlier that month, Shapiro alleged that text messages between FBI agents showed Obama “wanted to know everything” about the investigation of Hillary Clinton. The actual context of the texts did not reference Clinton.

NOW: Stop making ridiculous discrimination claims

THEN: I am making ridiculous discrimination claims

In 2009, Shapiro claimed to prove Obama’s anti-Semitism in a column called “Barack Obama Proves His Anti-Semitism”:

“Obama, the Man of Tolerance, an anti-Semite?

Yes. An anti-Semite.”

Shapiro accused the Obama administration of being racist in 2010’s “Obama’s Race War“:

“The Obama administration is racist. … The next race war will come not from racist whites, but from racist blacks and Hispanics who feel empowered to act on their racism by an administration that excuses all minority misbehavior.”

In 2016, Shapiro speculated about Obama’s “anti-white racism” in a column entitled “Is Barack Obama Responsible for the Dallas Anti-Cop Terror Attack?“:

“Obama didn’t cause the Dallas shootings, but his attempts to turn the conversation toward gun control or police brutality are just another way to avoid a real conversation about anti-white racism.”

Shapiro said Jewish people who voted for Obama weren’t really Jewish in 2011’s “Jews in Name Only“:

“(T)he Jews who vote for Obama are, by and large, Jews In Name Only (JINOs). They eat bagels and lox; they watch “Schindler’s List”; they visit temple on Yom Kippur — sometimes. But they do not care about Israel.”

In 2015, Shapiro claimed it was anti-Semitic to call him a “neocon”:


Shapiro also embarked on a short-lived boycott of Mozilla Firefox in 2014 over alleged “anti-conservative discrimination”:

NOW: I am still making ridiculous discrimination claims


One aspect of Shapiro’s bigotry that has remained consistent is his belief that all transgender people have a mental illness. It led to this heated exchange in 2015:

NOW: I am not racist

THEN: I am pretty racist


In 2009, Shapiro penned what is arguably the greatest unintentional comedy of our time, a column called “Rap is Crap“:

“Since nobody seems willing to state the obvious due to cultural sensitivity … I’ll say it: rap isn’t music; rap culture is disgusting and degrading; rap creates racial stereotypes and revels in them.”

Shapiro suggested mass surveillance of Muslims was the best way to prevent terrorism attacks in 2006’s “Monitor the Mosques!“:

“Many imams are trustworthy; many mosques are clean. Nonetheless, law enforcement must pursue a strategy of “trust, but verify.” Lives depend on it.”

Shapiro advocated for forcibly removing Palestinians from their homes in a 2003 column entitled “Transfer is Not a Dirty Word“:

“It’s an ugly solution, but it is the only solution. … It’s time to stop being squeamish. Jews are not Nazis. Transfer is not genocide. And anything else isn’t a solution.”

NOW: I am still pretty racist


During a segment on The Ben Shapiro Show, he mocked the popularity of “Black Panther“:

“This is the most important moment in Black American history. Not Martin Luther King, not Frederick Douglass, not the Civil War… The most important thing is that Chadwick Boseman puts claws on his hands and a mask on his face and runs around jumping off cars in CGI fashion.”

Shapiro’s Daily Wire produced this racist Columbus Day video in 2017 and then deleted it after scrutiny from all sides of the political spectrum:

Shapiro initially defended the video despite bipartisan condemnation, claiming “Conservatives are allowed to make satire, too.” However, he changed his mind the next day after “24 hours of not sleeping.”

Shapiro has used his penchant for provocation and rhetorical flourish to build a large following on the right. But no matter how many times he tells us about his attractive “doctor wife” or his father defends him under a pseudonym, the facts are clear: the “right-wing elf on a shelf” isn’t as principled as he wants you to believe.