Ben Shapiro

Shapiro became interested in politics at a young age. He started a nationally syndicated column when he was 17 and had written two books by age 21.[13]

In his first book Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (2004), Shapiro argues that students are not exposed to a variety of viewpoints at universities and that those who do not have strong opinions will be overwhelmed by an atmosphere dominated by liberal instructors even if discussion is encouraged in classrooms.[14]

In 2011, HarperCollins published Shapiro's fourth book, Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV, in which Shapiro argues that Hollywood has a left-wing agenda that it actively promotes through prime-time entertainment programming. In the book, the producers of Happy Days and M*A*S*H say they pursued a pro-pacifist, anti-Vietnam-War agenda in those series.[15] The same year Primetime Propaganda came out, Shapiro became a fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.[16]

In 2013, Threshold Editions published Shapiro's fifth book, Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans.[17]

In 2019, Shapiro published the book The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great which focuses on the importance of Judeo-Christian values and laments the decline of those values in modern America.[18][19][20] In a May 2019 interview on BBC where Shapiro was promoting his book, the interviewer Andrew Neil suggested that Shapiro's history of remarks were inconsistent with the message of the book.[18] Shapiro took offense to the questioning, accused Neil (a prominent British conservative journalist) of being a leftist, said Neil was trying to make a "quick buck...off of the fact that I'm popular and no one has ever heard of you", and stormed out of the interview.[21][18][22][23][24][25] Shapiro later said that he had been "destroyed" by Neil, commenting on Twitter that he "[had broken his] own rule, and wasn't properly prepared".[26]

In 2012, Shapiro became editor-at-large of Breitbart News, a conservative website founded by Andrew Breitbart.[27] In March 2016, Shapiro resigned from his position as editor-at-large of Breitbart News following what he characterized as the website's lack of support for reporter Michelle Fields in response to her alleged assault by Corey Lewandowski, Donald Trump's former campaign manager.[28][29] After Shapiro's departure, Breitbart published a piece, falsely attributed to Shapiro's father's pseudonym, saying "Ben Shapiro betrays loyal Breitbart readers in pursuit of Fox News contributorship", which Breitbart later deleted.[30][31] After leaving Breitbart News, Shapiro was a frequent target of anti-Semitic rhetoric from the alt-right.[31] According to a 2016 analysis by the Anti-Defamation League, Shapiro was the most frequent target of anti-Semitic tweets against journalists.[32][33]

On February 7, 2013, Shapiro published an article citing unspecified Senate sources who said that a group named "Friends of Hamas" was among foreign contributors to the political campaign of Chuck Hagel, a former U.S. Senator awaiting confirmation as Secretary of Defense as a nominee of President Barack Obama, but weeks later Slate reporter David Weigel reported there was no evidence such a group existed.[34] Shapiro told Weigel that the story he published was "the entirety of the information [he] had."[35][36][37]

On October 7, 2013, Shapiro and business partner Jeremy Boreing co-founded TruthRevolt,[38] a U.S. media watchdog and activism website, in association with the David Horowitz Freedom Center. TruthRevolt ceased operations in March 2018.[39]

In 2012, Shapiro joined KRLA-AM 870 as a host on their morning radio program alongside Heidi Harris and Brian Whitman.[40] By 2016, he was one of the hosts for KRLA's The Morning Answer, a conservative radio show. Internal emails showed that Shapiro faced pressure from Salem Media executives, the syndicate that owned the show, to be more supportive of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election. Shapiro however remained highly critical of Trump throughout the election.[41]

Shapiro and Boreing founded The Daily Wire on September 21, 2015. He is editor-in-chief as well as the host of his online political podcast The Ben Shapiro Show, broadcast every weekday.[42][43] As of March 2019, the podcast was ranked by Podtrac as the second most popular podcast in the U.S.[44] Westwood One began syndicating The Ben Shapiro Show podcast to radio in April 2018.[45] In 2018, Politico described the podcast as "massively popular".[46] In January 2019, Westwood One expanded Shapiro's one-hour podcast-to-radio program, adding a nationally syndicated two-hour live radio show, for three hours of Ben Shapiro programming daily.[47] As of March 2019, according to Westwood One, The Ben Shapiro Show is being carried by more than 200 stations, including in nine of the top ten markets.[48]

In September 2018, Shapiro started hosting The Ben Shapiro Election Special on Fox News. The limited-run series covered news and issues relating to the 2018 midterm elections.[49]

Shapiro has made frequent appearances on PragerU with talks on intersectionality and Hollywood with 4,900,000 to 8,400,000 views as of December 2018.[50][43][51]

Shapiro speaks at college campuses across the United States. In his speeches, he often presents a conservative viewpoint on controversial subjects. He spoke at 37 campuses between early 2016 and late 2017.[8]

Some students and faculty members at California State University, Los Angeles objected to a speech that Shapiro, who was then an editor at Breitbart News, was scheduled to hold at the university on February 25, 2016, titled "When Diversity Becomes a Problem". University president William Covino cancelled the speech three days before it was to take place, with the intention of rescheduling it so that the event could feature various viewpoints on the subject of campus diversity. Covino ultimately reversed his decision, allowing the speech to go on as planned.[52][53] The day of the speech, student protesters formed human chains, blocking the doors to the event, and staging sit-in protests. When Shapiro began his speech, a protester pulled the fire alarm. After the speech ended, Shapiro was escorted out by campus police.[54] Young America's Foundation announced it was filing a lawsuit against the university (with Shapiro as one of the plaintiffs), claiming that the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the students were violated by Covino's attempted cancellation of the event, as well as the physical barricading of students from entering or leaving the event.[55]

In August 2016, DePaul University revoked an invitation for Shapiro to address students at the school and barred him from entering the campus due to "security concerns."[56]

On September 14, 2017, Shapiro gave a speech at the invitation of the University of California, Berkeley student organization Berkeley College Republicans where he criticized identity politics.[57][58] The event involved a large police presence which had been promised by Berkeley Chancellor Carol T. Christ in her August letter that supported free speech. Together, the university and the city of Berkeley spent $600,000 on police and security for the event, which transpired with nine arrests but no major incidents.[59][60][61]

Shapiro supported Ted Cruz in the 2016 presidential election and opposed Donald Trump's candidacy.[62] He called Steve Bannon a "bully" who "sold out Breitbart founder Andrew Breitbart's mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump."[63] Not voting for Trump or Clinton in 2016,[64] Shapiro has suggested that the election of Donald Trump was more a vote against Hillary Clinton than a vote in favor of Trump.[8]

Shapiro speaking at the 2018 Young Women's Leadership Summit in Dallas, Texas.

Shapiro supports a ban on abortion,[65] including in cases of rape and incest, with one exception: when competent medical authority determines that the life of the mother is in jeopardy as a result of the pregnancy. He has further clarified that this includes extreme cases of mental illness where the life of the mother is at risk due to suicide. He also believes that doctors who perform abortions should be prosecuted.[66] He has referred to women who have abortions as "baby killers".[67] In 2019, Shapiro asserted that "the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade" was "not going to happen", and added that he had "serious doubts" about "whether the Supreme Court, as currently constituted, would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade".[68]

In 2019, Shapiro spoke at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., where he said abortion is a "violent act".[69]

In 2018, Shapiro argued that Facebook was targeting conservative sites after Facebook implemented an algorithm change, limiting their traffic, and that they are not transparent enough.[70]

Following the December 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Shapiro appeared on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight on January 10, 2013. On the issue of gun control, Shapiro called Piers Morgan a "bully" who "tends to demonize people who differ from you politically by standing on the graves of the children of Sandy Hook, saying they don't seem to care enough about the dead kids."[71][72] Videos of the encounter quickly received millions of views and went viral.[43]

Writing in October 2017, in the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting, Shapiro argued that "banning all guns would be unwise as well as immoral," but "we must balance the need and right to firearms with public policy concerns, including the risk that a machine gun will be used in public." Shapiro suggested that policy makers "should look at ways of enforcing federal laws banning the sale of guns to the mentally ill."[73]

In 2003, Shapiro published a column demanding that Israel "transfer the Palestinians and the Israeli-Arabs from Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Israel proper." Citing expulsion of Germans after World War II as a precedent,[74] Shapiro insisted that "expelling a hostile population is a commonly-used and generally effective way of preventing violent entanglements." In the same article, Shapiro said that "The ideology of the Palestinian population is indistinguishable from that of the terrorist leadership."[75] Jeffrey Goldberg was highly critical of these comments and cited them as an example of Shapiro's "fascist" behavior.[76][77] Shapiro later reversed his view on the West Bank issue, saying it was "both inhumane and impractical".[78]

Vox describes Shapiro as a polarizing figure, in part due to tweets such as "Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage" (2010).[79][80]

Shapiro supported Israel's settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank. Shapiro is a longtime opponent of the two-state solution.[81]

Shapiro opposed the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling that deemed bans of same-sex marriage unconstitutional.[82][83][84] However, he opposes government involvement in marriage, saying, "I think the government stinks at this," and expressing concern that because of the ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, at some point the government may try to force religious institutions to perform same-sex weddings against their will.[85][86] According to Slate, Shapiro has described homosexual activity as a sin.[66] He has said that "a man and a woman do a better job of raising a child than two men or two women".[67]

He has stated he does not feel same-sex marriage should be taught to students in schools, saying, "In California, they've already passed laws that you have to teach same-sex marriage in public schools, for example... I went to public school for elementary school and junior high, I don't know why the government is teaching me anything about this stuff. This is for my parents to teach me. This is a values thing". He also states, "I'm very much anti gay-marriage in the social sense. As a religious person, I think homosexuality is a sin, I think that lots of things are sins that people engage in, I think they should be free to engage in them."[85] In 2014, Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center disputed Shapiro's assertion that the United States "is not a country that discriminates against homosexuals" and that "there is a vastly minute amount of discrimination against gays in this country."[87]

Shapiro believes transgender people suffer from mental illness.[88][89] Shapiro has commented, "You can't magically change your gender. You can't magically change your sex," and has compared such changes to the notion of changing one's age.[8]

In July 2015, Shapiro and transgender rights activist Zoey Tur were on Dr. Drew On Call to discuss Caitlyn Jenner's receipt of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.[90][91] After Shapiro repeatedly referred to Tur, who is a trans woman, with male pronouns, she grabbed his neck and threatened on air to send him "home in an ambulance". Shapiro replied, "That seems mildly inappropriate for a political discussion." He later filed a police report against Tur.[92][93][94]

In 2019, in response to 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke calling for the removal of the tax-exempt status of religious institutions opposed to same-sex marriage, Shapiro said that if O'Rourke was going to try to "indoctrinate" his children in religious schools he would be forced to either "leave the country" or "pick up a gun."[95]

In a 2014 YouTube video entitled "The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority", Shapiro said, "We're above 800 million Muslims who are radicalized – more than half the Muslims on earth. That's not a minority... the myth of the tiny radical Muslim minority is just that: it's a myth". An analysis of the video by PolitiFact and Channel 4 News in the UK rejected his contentions.[96][97]

In a 2002 article, Shapiro wrote, "I am getting really sick of people who whine about 'civilian casualties'... when I see in the newspapers that civilians in Afghanistan or the West Bank were killed by American or Israeli troops, I don't really care". Shapiro declared that "One American soldier is worth far more than an Afghan civilian", accusing Afghan civilians of being "fundamentalist Muslims" who provide cover for terrorists or give them money.[98] Shapiro later apologized for these assertions. He stated that the 2002 article was "just a bad piece, plain and simple, and something I wish I'd never written". He said that while he still partially agreed with his article's main point—"that we must calculate the risk to American services members when we design rules of engagement"—he "expressed [that point] in the worst possible way, and simplifie[d] the issue beyond the bounds of morality (particularly by doubting the civilian status of some civilians)".[80]

An RCMP document presented at the sentencing hearing of Quebec mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette showed that the murderer checked in on the Twitter feed of Shapiro 93 times in the month leading up to the shooting. Shapiro condemned the attack and called Bissonnette an "evil piece of human crap".[99][100][101]

In 2019, Shapiro said that American-Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar, whose comments about American support for Israel were accused of evoking anti-Semitic tropes, and the white supremacist San Diego shooter, hold "a lot of the same opinions about Jews."[102]

Ben Shapiro speaking at Politicon in Pasadena, California in 2016

The New Yorker, Haaretz and Vox have described Shapiro as "right-wing".[103][79][93] Shapiro's views have been described by The New York Times as "extremely conservative".[8] In 2016, Shapiro described himself as "basically a libertarian".[85] He accuses the left of believing in an imaginary "hierarchy of victimhood" in which the opinions of members of persecuted groups like the LGBT community are afforded more credence. He has argued that the left has dominated American culture through popular entertainment, media, and academia in a way that has made conservatives feel disenfranchised, and helped lead to the election of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.[8]

Shapiro supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, arguing that "China is a dictatorship. North Korea is a dictatorship. Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria, Pakistan and Egypt are all dictatorships. We can't overthrow all of those regimes simply to free their citizens. We have to focus on those regimes that endanger American security."[104]

In 2006, Shapiro called for sedition laws to be reinstated. He cited speeches critical of the George W. Bush administration by Democrats Al Gore, John Kerry and Howard Dean as "disloyal" and seditious.[105][106] Shapiro subsequently retracted these views in a 2018 column, stating that his 2006 column "absolutely blows. It's garbage" and adding that the idea of sedition laws was "inherently idiotic".[80] Shapiro later described President Barack Obama's 2010 State of the Union Address as "philosophically fascist."[107]

Shapiro is a critic of the alt-right movement,[108] stating in 2017, "It is a garbage movement composed of garbage ideas. It has nothing to do with Constitutional Conservatism."[88]

Shapiro has called for lowering taxes on the very wealthy.[8] He has also backed privatizing Social Security and repealing the Affordable Care Act.[8]

Shapiro has acknowledged that climate change is occurring, but questioned "what percentage of global warming is attributable to human activity."[109] Regarding sea-level rise as a result of climate change which will result in coastal property being flooded, Shapiro said, "You think people aren't just going to sell their homes and move?"[110]

Shapiro has argued that African-Americans were historically victims of injustice in the United States but that they are not victims of widespread systemic injustice today.[8] Shapiro has dismissed the idea that the United States was founded on slavery and argued that America "was founded in spite of slavery."[111] In 2017, Shapiro argued that "The idea that black people in the United States are disproportionately poor because America is racist; that's just not true."[112]

Shapiro was one of several conservative commentators condemning Representative Steve King (R-IA) after King's January 2019 comments in defense of the terms "white supremacy" and "white nationalism". Shapiro called for King to be censured, and supported King's 2020 primary challenger Randy Feenstra.[113]