Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (born January 15, 1984) is an American attorney, businessman, columnist,

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

political commentator A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

, and media personality. At age 17, he became the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the United States. Shapiro writes columns for

Creators Syndicate Creators Syndicate (also known as Creators) is an American independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns to daily newspapers, websites, and other digital outlets. When founded in 1987, Creators Syndicate became one of the few suc ...

, ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'', and ''

Ami Magazine ''Ami Magazine'' ( he, עמי, "My people") is an international news magazine that caters to the Orthodox Jewish community. It is published weekly in New York and Israel. The magazine was launched in November 2010 by Rabbi Yitzchok Frankfurter ( ...

'', and serves as editor emeritus for '' The Daily Wire'', which he founded. Shapiro is the host of '' The Ben Shapiro Show'', a daily political

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

and live radio show. He was editor-at-large of ''

Breitbart News ''Breitbart News Network'' (known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an Radical right (United States), American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentary ...

'' between 2012 and 2016. Shapiro has written eleven books.

Early life

Shapiro was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, California, to a

Conservative Jewish Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generat ...

family of Russian-Jewish and Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry. When he was 9 years old, his family transitioned to

Orthodox Judaism Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses ...

. He started playing violin at a young age and performed at the

Israel Bonds Israel Bonds, the commonly-known name of Development Corporation for Israel (DCI), is the U.S. underwriter of debt securities issued by the State of Israel. DCI is headquartered in New York City, and is a broker-dealer and member of the Financial ...

Banquet in 1996 at twelve years of age. His parents both worked in Hollywood. His mother was an executive of a TV company, and his father David Shapiro worked as a composer. Skipping two grades (third and ninth), Shapiro went from

Walter Reed Middle School Walter Reed Middle School is located in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. Originally called North Hollywood Junior High School, the school was later renamed in honor of U.S. Army Major Walter Reed. The school is a par ...

in The Valley to Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles in

Westside, Los Angeles The Los Angeles Westside is an urban region in western Los Angeles County, California. It has no official definition, but sources like ''LA Weekly'' and the Mapping L.A. survey of the ''Los Angeles Times'' place the region on the western side of t ...

, where he graduated in 2000 at age 16. He graduated from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

in 2004 '' summa cum laude'' and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

, at age 20, with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

, and then from Harvard Law School in 2007 '' cum laude''. He then worked at the law offices of

Goodwin Procter Goodwin Procter LLP is a global law firm. It is one of the largest law firms in the world as measured by revenue and consists of more than 1,800 lawyers across offices in Boston, Cambridge, Frankfurt, Munich, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Luxemb ...

. , he ran an independent legal consultancy firm, Benjamin Shapiro Legal Consulting, in Los Angeles.

Career

Author

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. In his first book ''Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth'' (2004), Shapiro argues that the

American Left The American Left consists of individuals and groups that have sought egalitarian changes in the economic, political and cultural institutions of the United States. Various subgroups with a national scope are active. Liberals and progressives ...

has ideological dominance over universities and that

professors Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

do not tolerate non-left opinions. 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 Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

agenda that it actively promotes through prime-time entertainment programming. In the book, the producers of ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...

'' and ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. Th ...

'' say they pursued a pro-pacifist, anti-Vietnam-War agenda in those series. Shapiro also became a fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. In 2013,

Threshold Editions Threshold Editions is an imprint of publishers Simon & Schuster, a division of ViacomCBS, specializing in conservative non-fiction. The publisher is Louise Burke; Mary Matalin was its founding editor-in-chief. Threshold Editions was founded to ...

published Shapiro's fifth book, ''Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans''. In 2017, he released his first and to date only fiction novel, ''True Allegiance''. 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 Judaeo-Christian values and laments the decline of those values in modern America. In a May 2019 interview on BBC where Shapiro was promoting his book, interviewer

Andrew Neil Andrew Ferguson Neil (born 21 May 1949) is a Scottish former journalist and broadcaster who is chairman of ''The Spectator'' and presenter of '' The Andrew Neil Show'' on Channel 4. He was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1983 to 1994. He f ...

suggested that Shapiro's history of remarks were inconsistent with the message of the book. Shapiro took offense to the questioning, accused Neil (a prominent British conservative journalist) of having a left-leaning bias, 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", before Shapiro ended the interview. Shapiro later admitted that he had been "destroyed" by Neil, commenting on Twitter that he " ad broken hisown rule, and wasn't properly prepared". In 2021, Shapiro published the book ''The Authoritarian Moment'', which argues that there is not a pressing authoritarian threat in U.S. politics from the right-wing. Rather, he argues that the authoritarian threat comes from the left's control of academia, Hollywood, journalism, and corporate America.

Columnist

In 2012, Shapiro became editor-at-large of

, a website founded by

Andrew Breitbart Andrew James Breitbart (; February 1, 1969 – March 1, 2012) was an American conservative journalist, and political commentator who was the founder of ''Breitbart News'' and a co-founder of ''HuffPost''. After helping in the early stages of '' ...

. 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 Corey R. Lewandowski (; born September 18, 1973) is an American political operative, lobbyist, political commentator and author who is politically associated primarily with Donald Trump. He was the first campaign manager of Trump's 2016 presi ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

's former campaign manager, in spite of video and eyewitness evidence of the assault. In his resignation statement, Shapiro stated that "Steve Bannon is a bully," Donald Trump is a bully, and that Bannon had "shaped the company into Trump's personal Pravda." 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. After leaving Breitbart News, Shapiro was a frequent target of antisemitic rhetoric from the alt-right. According to a 2016 analysis by the Anti-Defamation League, Shapiro was the most frequent target of antisemitic tweets against journalists. 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 Charles Timothy Hagel ( born October 4, 1946)U.S. Senator awaiting confirmation as Secretary of Defense as a nominee of President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

, but weeks later '' Slate'' reporter

David Weigel David Weigel (born September 26, 1981) is an American journalist. He works for ''Semafor''. Weigel previously covered politics for ''The Washington Post,'' ''Slate,'' and ''Bloomberg Politics'' and is a contributing editor for ''Reason'' magaz ...

reported there was no evidence such a group existed. Shapiro told Weigel that the story he published was "the entirety of the information ehad." On October 7, 2013, Shapiro and business partner

Jeremy Boreing Jeremy Danial Boreing (born February 5, 1979) is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and political commentator. He was a member of Coattails Entertainment, a production company, with Kurt Schemper, Joel David Moore, and Zachary Levi fr ...

co-founded TruthRevolt, a U.S. media watchdog and activism website, in association with the David Horowitz Freedom Center. TruthRevolt ceased operations in March 2018. On January 14, 2021, Shapiro was featured as a guest writer for ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

'' Playbook newsletter, where he defended House Republicans who opposed the second impeachment of Donald Trump. The newsletter drew immense backlash from many ''Politico'' staffers, some of whom argued that Shapiro should not have been allowed to write the article. Matthew Kaminski, editor in chief of ''Politico'', refused to apologize and defended the decision to allow Shapiro to write the article, stating that, "We're not going to back away from having published something because some people think it was a mistake to do so." According to the ''Daily Beast'', more than 100 ''Politico'' staffers signed on to a letter to publisher Robert Allbritton criticizing both ''Politico's'' decision to feature Shapiro's article and the response from Kaminski.

Host

In 2012, Shapiro joined

KRLA KRLA (870 kHz) "AM 870 The Answer" is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting a talk radio format. Licensed to Glendale, California, it serves Greater Los Angeles and Southern California. The station is owned by Salem Media Group, which al ...

-AM 870 as a host on their morning radio program alongside Heidi Harris and Brian Whitman. 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

during the

2016 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...

. Shapiro however remained highly critical of Trump throughout the election. Shapiro and Boreing founded '' The Daily Wire'' on September 21, 2015. He serves as editor emeritus as well as the host of his online political podcast ''The Ben Shapiro Show,'' broadcast every weekday. , the podcast was ranked by Podtrac as the second most popular podcast in the U.S.

Westwood One Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming. The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The compan ...

began syndicating ''The Ben Shapiro Show'' podcast to radio in April 2018. In 2018, ''

'' described the podcast as "massively popular". 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. 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. In June 2020, Shapiro stepped down from his role as

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

, which he had held since the site's founding, and took on the role of editor emeritus. In September 2018, Shapiro started hosting ''The Ben Shapiro Election Special'' on

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

. The

limited-run series In television programming, a limited-run series (or simply limited series) is a program with an end date and limit to the number of episodes. For instance, The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' definition specifies a "program with two or mo ...

covered news and issues relating to the

2018 midterm elections The 2018 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. These midterm elections occurred during Republican Donald Trump's term. Democrats made a net gain of 41 seats in the United States House of Representatives, gaining a majo ...

. Shapiro has made frequent appearances on

PragerU PragerU is an American advocacy group that creates videos promoting a conservative viewpoint on various political, economic, and sociological topics. It was co-founded by Allen Estrin and talk show host and writer Dennis Prager in 2009. Despi ...

with talks on

intersectionality Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of adva ...

and Hollywood with 4,900,000 to 8,400,000 views . In 2021, Ben Shapiro's podcast was ranked as the 9th most listened on Apple podcasts.

Speaker

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. Some students and faculty members at

California State University, Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public university in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degrees, 122 master's degrees, ...

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 canceled 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. 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.

Young America's Foundation Young America's Foundation (YAF) is a conservative youth organization founded in 1969. In 2018, the ''Los Angeles Times'' called YAF "one of the most preeminent, influential and controversial forces in the nation's conservative youth movement. ...

announced it was filing a lawsuit against the university (with Shapiro as one of the plaintiffs), claiming that the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the students were violated by Covino's attempted cancellation of the event as well as by the physical barricading of students from entering or leaving the event. In August 2016,

DePaul University DePaul University is a private, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul. In 1998, it became the largest Ca ...

revoked an invitation for Shapiro to address students at the school and barred him from entering the campus owing to "security concerns." On September 14, 2017, Shapiro gave a speech at the invitation of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

student organization Berkeley College Republicans in which he criticized

identity politics Identity politics is a political approach wherein people of a particular race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, social class, or other identifying factors develop political agendas that are based upon these i ...

. 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 Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

. 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.

Views

Ben Shapiro june 26 2016 cropped retouched

In 2016, Shapiro described himself as "basically a libertarian". In 2021, he described himself as "generally libertarian" in regards to the role of the government and as a

in regards to the role of

social structure In the social sciences, social structure is the aggregate of patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of individuals. Likewise, society is believed to be grouped into structurally rel ...

s. ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', '' Haaretz'' and ''Vox'' have described Shapiro as " right-wing". Shapiro's views have been described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' as "extremely conservative" and was described by ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'' as a "radical conservative" and as a "classically religious-conservative". A 2020 study ''News, Nationalism, and Hegemony: The Formation of Consistent Issue Framing Throughout the U.S. Political Right'' examining issue framing by right-wing podcasts used ''The Ben Shapiro Show'' as an example which "offered a mainstream conservative perspective that favors President Donald Trump and his framing on issues like "

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

"" in a two-by-two matrix that also examined a Stormfront podcast, an alt-right podcast, and the Daily Standard podcast; the study showed that Shapiro's rhetoric was similar to that used in the Stormfront podcast, though with a different tone. Shapiro accuses the political left of believing in an imaginary "hierarchy of victimhood" in which the opinions of members of persecuted groups like the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

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. He has stated that " political correctness breeds insanity". Shapiro is an outspoken opponent of

safe space The term safe space refers to places "intended to be free of bias, conflict, criticism, or potentially threatening actions, ideas, or conversations". The term originated in LGBT culture, but has since expanded to include any place where a margi ...

s, especially those on college campuses, arguing that they go against free speech. Shapiro frequently praises "

Western culture Leonardo da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Based on the correlations of ideal Body proportions">human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise ''De architectura''. image:Plato Pio-Cle ...

" and "Western civilization". In 2019, he said "I believe Western civilization is superior to other civilizations."

Abortion

Shapiro supports a ban on abortion, 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. He has referred to women who have abortions as "baby killers." In 2019, Shapiro asserted that "the Supreme Court overturning ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...

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

Alt-right

Shapiro is a critic of the alt-right movement, stating in 2017, "It is a garbage movement composed of garbage ideas. It has nothing to do with constitutional conservatism." In 2019, Shapiro criticized weekly newspaper ''

'' for describing him as "alt-right" in their interview with him; in response, ''The Economist'' issued an apology and modified the article title to instead describe Shapiro as a "radical conservative". Shapiro has been a target of online harassment and anti-semitic threats from the alt-right.

Climate change

Shapiro has acknowledged that

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

is occurring, but questioned "what percentage of global warming is attributable to human activity." Regarding

sea-level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryo ...

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?". He was accused of climate change denial by ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...

'' for an opinion piece on the

2020 California wildfires The 2020 California wildfire season, part of the 2020 Western United States wildfire season, was a record-setting year of wildfires in California. By the end of the year, 9,917 fires had burned , more than 4% of the state's roughly 100 mill ...

, with the outlet arguing climate change contributed more to the severity of the fires than state policies, as Shapiro had claimed. In 2021, he said he believed that 4 °C (7.2 °F) of global warming should not be considered an emergency and that he viewed this as "purely a political designation".

Facebook

In 2018, Shapiro argued that

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

was targeting conservative sites after the platform implemented an

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...

change, limiting their traffic, and that they are not transparent enough. In 2021, an article in

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

revealed that the ''Daily Wire'' dominated Facebook news feeds and received more engagement than any other news outlet under Shapiro's leadership.

Gun ownership

Following the December 2012

Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut, United States, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people. Twenty of the victims were children between six and seven years old, and t ...

, Shapiro appeared on CNN's ''

Piers Morgan Tonight ''Piers Morgan Live'' (formerly known as ''Piers Morgan Tonight'') was an American television talk show that was hosted by Piers Morgan and broadcast on CNN. The show premiered on January 17, 2011, and filled in the former ''Larry King Live'' ti ...

'' on January 10, 2013. On the issue of gun control, Shapiro called

Piers Morgan Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (; né O'Meara; born 30 March 1965) is a British broadcaster, journalist, writer, and television personality. He began his Fleet Street career in 1988 at ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun''. In 1994, aged 29, he was ...

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." Videos of the encounter quickly received millions of views and went viral. 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."

Health

In 2021, Shapiro said that he was in favor of the COVID-19 vaccine and that he was vaccinated, but is against

COVID-19 vaccine mandates Anti-vaccination activists and other people in many countries have spread a variety of unfounded conspiracy theories and other misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines based on misunderstood or misrepresented science, religion, exaggerated ...

Foreign policy

According to Shapiro, the reason behind the Israeli–Palestinian conflict was that "Israel exists, and

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam ...

wishes it didn't exist". In 2003, Shapiro published a column on ''

Townhall Townhall is an American politically conservative website, print magazine and radio news service. Previously published by The Heritage Foundation, it is now owned and operated by Salem Communications. The website features more than 80 columns (b ...

'' 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 Expulsion or expelled may refer to: General * Deportation * Ejection (sports) * Eviction * Exile * Expeller pressing * Expulsion (education) * Expulsion from the United States Congress * Extradition * Forced migration * Ostracism * Persona ...

as a precedent, 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."

Jeffrey Goldberg Jeffrey Mark Goldberg (born September 22, 1965) is an American journalist and editor-in-chief of ''The Atlantic'' magazine. During his nine years at ''The Atlantic'' prior to becoming editor, Goldberg became known for his coverage of foreign affa ...

was highly critical of these comments and cited them as an example of Shapiro's " fascist" behavior. Shapiro later reversed his view on the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

issue, saying it was "both inhumane and impractical". In 2010, Shapiro said "Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage". He later clarified that he was talking about the Israeli and Arab leadership, as well as terrorist groups in Palestine. Shapiro supported Israel's settlement building in the occupied

Palestinian territories The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The ...

in the West Bank. Shapiro is a longtime opponent of the

two-state solution The two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict envisions an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel, west of the Jordan River. The boundary between the two states is still subject to dispute and negotia ...

. In 2007, Shapiro wrote an article in which he described the "Palestinian Arab population" as "rotten to the core" and places the blame for the Arab–Israeli conflict "with the Palestinian Arabs themselves". He further believes Israel and America will "continue to pay the price in blood and treasure" if they refuse to recognize the "simple truth" that the "Palestinian Arab population breeds terrorism, antisemitism and anti-Americanism". In 2019, Shapiro said that Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, whose comments about American support for Israel were accused of evoking antisemitic tropes, and the white supremacist San Diego shooter, hold "a lot of the same opinions about Jews." In May 2021, during the

2021 Israel–Palestine crisis A major outbreak of violence in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict commenced on 10 May 2021, though disturbances took place earlier, and continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. It was marked by protests and police riot ...

, Ben Shapiro stated that Hamas' rocket attacks "would entail an anti-Semitic

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...

", adding that Hamas was spending "tens of millions of dollars in foreign aid" on building "terror tunnels and rocket capacity to strike at the Jews." Shapiro argued that Hamas was positioning its rockets in civilian areas, seeking to "force Israel to kill Palestinian civilians so Hamas can propagandize about supposed Israeli human rights atrocities." He stated that Hamas was killing not only Jews, but also

Israeli Arabs The Arab citizens of Israel are the largest ethnic minority in the country. They comprise a hybrid community of Israeli citizens with a heritage of Palestinian citizenship, mixed religions (Muslim, Christian or Druze), bilingual in Arabic an ...

and foreign workers. He also criticized the media coverage of the crisis, labeling it as "absurd", and ''

'' for their opinion article featuring a Palestinian writer titled "''The Myth of Coexistence in Israel''", saying that the main image used for the article, a map of Israel, was "so bad that

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

, which used the image in 2015, had to retract it and admit it was factually incorrect." 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 Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

or the

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. 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 Rules of engagement (ROE) are the internal rules or directives afforded military forces (including individuals) that define the circumstances, conditions, degree, and manner in which the use of force, or actions which might be construed as pro ...

"—he "expressed

hat point A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

in the worst possible way, and simplified the issue beyond the bounds of morality (particularly by doubting the civilian status of some civilians)". Shapiro supported the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

, arguing that "China is a

dictatorship A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship a ...

. 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."

LGBT issues

In 2010, Shapiro drew controversy for arguing that

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

should be listed as a mental illness in the DSM. Shapiro opposed the ''

Obergefell v. Hodges ''Obergefell v. Hodges'', ( ), is a landmark LGBT rights case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protect ...

'' Supreme Court ruling that deemed bans of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...

unconstitutional. 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. According to '' Slate''s Seth Stevenson, Shapiro has described homosexuality as a sin. He has said that "a man and a woman do a better job of raising a child than two men or two women". 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." In 2014, Heidi Beirich of the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...

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." Shapiro believes

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

people suffer from mental illness. He 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. Shapiro also opposes

same-sex couples A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. ''Same-sex marriage'' refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries ...

raising children. In July 2015, Shapiro and

transgender rights A transgender person is someone whose gender identity is inconsistent or not culturally associated with the sex they were assigned at birth and also with the gender role that is associated with that sex. They may have, or may intend to establi ...

activist

Zoey Tur Hanna Zoey Tur (formerly Robert Albert Tur; born June 8, 1960) is an American broadcast reporterNew Yorker Magazine-August 1, 1994. and commercial pilot who created Los Angeles News Service with fellow reporter and then-wife Marika Gerrard. ...

were on '' Dr. Drew On Call'' to discuss Caitlyn Jenner's receipt of the

Arthur Ashe Courage Award The Arthur Ashe Courage Award (sometimes called the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage or Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award) is presented as part of the ESPY Awards. It is named for the American tennis player Arthur Ashe. Although it is a s ...

. After Shapiro referred to Tur, who is a

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and s ...

, as "sir" and questioned her genetics, she placed her hand on the back of his neck and threatened on air to send him "home in an ambulance". Shapiro replied, "That seems mildly inappropriate for a political discussion." Later, Shapiro filed a police report charging Tur with battery and stated that he intended to press charges to teach the left a lesson. Tur said the report was Shapiro's attempt to keep the story in the news. In 2019, in response to 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate

Beto O'Rourke Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke ( , ; ; born September 26, 1972) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2013 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, O'Rourke was the party's nominee for the U.S. Senat ...

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, Shapiro would be forced to either "leave the country" or "pick up a gun."

Donald Trump

In the spring of 2016, Shapiro wrote an article for the ''Daily Wire'' in which he exclaimed that he "will never vote for

". Shapiro supported

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

in the

and opposed

's candidacy. In August 2016, Shapiro wrote an article for the Daily Wire suggesting that Trump, if elected, would not appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court. He called

Steve Bannon Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist in the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump during t ...

a "bully" who "sold out

Breitbart ''Breitbart News Network'' (known commonly as ''Breitbart News'', ''Breitbart'', or ''Breitbart.com'') is an American far-rightMultiple sources: * * * * * * * * * * * * syndicated news, opinion, and commentary website founded in mid-2007 b ...

founder

's mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump." Shapiro defended Bannon when he was accused of

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. Shapiro has suggested that the election of Trump was more a vote against

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

than a vote in favor of Trump. During his presidency Shapiro supported the Trump administration ordering the killing of

Qasem Soleimani Qasem Soleimani ( fa, قاسم سلیمانی, ; 11 March 19573January 2020) was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until his assassination in 2020, he was the commander of the Qu ...

, recognizing Jerusalem as capital of Israel, the nominations of

Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael Kavanaugh ( ; born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since ...

and Neil Gorsuch. Shapiro also supported Trump withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, cutting regulations, and his nomination of 12 appellate court judges. However, Shapiro opposed and criticized Trump for firing

James Comey James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his dismissal in May 2017. Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adul ...

, his appointments of Michael Flynn and

, and endorsing

Roy Moore Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as the 27th and 31st chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2013 to 2017, each time being removed fr ...

. On October 19, 2020, Shapiro announced that he would be voting for Trump in the 2020 presidential election: "There are three reasons I'm going to vote for Donald Trump in 2020 when I didn't four years ago: First, I was simply wrong about Donald Trump on policy. Second, I wasn't really wrong about Donald Trump on character, but whatever damage he was going to do has already been done, and it's not going to help if I don't vote for him this time. And third, and most importantly: The Democrats have lost their fucking minds." He rebuked Trump on election night, November 3, 2020, when Trump prematurely claimed himself the winner when neither he nor his opponent Joe Biden had yet reached the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency. He tweeted: "No, Trump has not already won the election, and it is deeply irresponsible for him to say he has." Shapiro denounced the false claim that Trump was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election. He criticized the January 6 Capitol attack whilst also criticizing the Democratic Party.

Race

He has acknowledged that

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

s were historically victims of injustice in the United States, but does not believe in the existence of widespread systemic injustice today. In 2017, Shapiro stated that "the idea that black people in the United States are disproportionately poor because America is racist; that's just not true." Shapiro has dismissed the idea that the United States was founded on

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

and argued that America was founded in spite of slavery. Shapiro is critical of

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...

and has argued that "the Black Lives Matter movement did indeed begin with protests about police brutality but quickly morphed into broader debates over the validity of looting and rioting, tearing down historic statues,

slavery reparations Reparations for slavery is the application of the concept of reparations to victims of slavery and/or their descendants. There are concepts for reparations in legal philosophy and reparations in transitional justice. Reparations can take numer ...

and defunding the police." 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 White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

" and "

white nationalism White nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that white people are a raceHeidi Beirich and Kevin Hicks. "Chapter 7: White nationalism in America". In Perry, Barbara. ''Hate Crimes''. Greenwo ...

". Shapiro called for King to be censured, and supported King's 2020 primary challenger

Randy Feenstra Randall Lee Feenstra (born January 14, 1969) is an American politician and businessman serving as the U.S. representative for Iowa's 4th congressional district. The district covers much of the northwestern quadrant of the state, including Sioux ...

Religion

Shapiro practices

, which informs his ideological positions. In a 2011 tweet, Shapiro claimed that

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

is plagued by "Bad Jews" who "largely vote Democrat". The same year, he wrote an article titled "Jews in Name Only" in which he claimed "Jews who vote for Obama are, by and large, Jews In Name Only (JINOs)" and that such Jews "do not care about Israel" or that they "care about it less than abortion, gay marriage and global warming". During the

, he wrote an article titled "No, It Doesn't Matter That Bernie Sanders Is Ethnically Jewish. He's a Jew In Name Only." In a 2014,

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

video entitled "The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority", Shapiro said, "We're above 800 million

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

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". Fact-checks by PolitiFact and ''

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

'' in the UK rejected his methodology largely on the basis that support for Sharia law being made the official law of a nation state was not sufficient to label an individual a "radical Muslim.", while adding that "The meaning of Sharia law varies from sect to sect and nation to nation." ''Channel 4 News'' also critiqued his usage of polls with sample sizes of a few thousand as an accurate representation of the views of tens of millions of Muslims. PolitiFact concluded that his claim was false. While ''Channel 4 News'' acknowledged "that some polls do show that very illiberal values and concepts can be prevalent in some Muslim countries.", there is also "a huge diversity of views among different Muslim countries and that people's beliefs can change dramatically in a few years." In 2018, a

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

(RCMP) document presented at the sentencing hearing of Quebec mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette showed that the murderer checked in on Shapiro's Twitter feed 93 times in the month leading up to the shooting. Shapiro condemned the attack and called Bissonnette an "evil piece of human crap". In October 2022, Shapiro condemned

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

's antisemitic comments, comparing them to

propaganda in Nazi Germany The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation of Nazi policie ...

. He also called West "unstable." He has also said immigrants from

Islamic countries The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. In ...

"degrade" the United States.

United States politics

In 2006, Shapiro called for sedition laws to be reinstated. He cited speeches critical of the

George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following a narrow victory over Democratic ...

by Democrats

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...

and

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 2009 ...

as "disloyal" and seditious. 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". Shapiro later described President

2010 State of the Union Address The 2010 State of the Union Address was given by the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, on January 27, 2010, at 9:00 p.m. EST, in the chamber of the United States House of Representatives to the 111th United States Congress. It w ...

as "philosophically fascist." Shapiro has called for lowering taxes on the very wealthy. He has also backed privatizing

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

and repealing the

Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...

. In August 2022, Shapiro argued that "

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...

can't work in America," saying this was because of "high levels of societal income mobility".

Personal life

In 2008, Shapiro married Mor Toledano, an Israeli medical doctor of Moroccan descent, and they lived in Los Angeles. The couple has two daughters and a son. They practice

. In 2019, the FBI arrested a man from Washington for making

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a de ...

s against Shapiro and his family. In September 2020, Shapiro announced that he and his family were moving out of California. Shapiro relocated the headquarters of his ''Daily Wire'' enterprise to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, but he resettled in South Florida. Shapiro's sister, Abigail Shapiro, who studied operatic singing, is a conservative female media influencer who posts videos on her YouTube channel "Classically Abby". She has been subjected to online antisemitic

trolling In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the i ...

due to her brother's high public profile.Pink, Aiden (October 30, 2017
"Anti-Semitic Trolls Attack Conservative Commentator Ben Shapiro's Sister"
''

The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ...

'' Ben Shapiro is a cousin of writer and actress

Mara Wilson Mara Elizabeth Wilson (born July 24, 1987) is an American actress and writer. She rose to prominence as a child for playing Natalie Hillard in the film ''Mrs. Doubtfire'' (1993) and went on to play Susan Walker in ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (199 ...

, though the two are not on speaking terms due to their conflicting political views.

Bibliography

* ''Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth''.

WND Books ''WND'' (formerly ''WorldNetDaily'') is an American far-right fake news website. It is known for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories, including the false claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. Th ...

(2004). . * ''Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future''. Regnery (2005). . * ''Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House''. Thomas Nelson (2008). . * '' Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV''.

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

(2011). . * ''Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America''.

(2013). . * ''The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against the Obama Administration''.

(2014). . * ''A Moral Universe Torn Apart''. Creator's Publishing (2014). . * ''What's Fair and Other Short Stories''. Amazon e-book only (no longer available). Revolutionary Publishing (2015). * ''True Allegiance''.

Post Hill Press Post Hill Press, distributed by Simon & Schuster, is a small United States print and e-book publishing house that focuses on publishing "conservative politics" and Christian titles. The company was founded in 2013, and has offices in New York City ...

(2017). . * ''Say It's So: Papa, Dad, Me and 2005 White Sox Championship Season''. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 2017). . * '' The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great''.

Broadside Books HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp ...

(2019). . * ''Facts Don't Care about Your Feelings''. Creators Publishing (Nov. 2019). . * ''How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps''.

(2020).
preview
* ''Catastrophic Thinking''. Creators Publishing (Feb. 2020). . * ''Facts (Still) Don't Care About Your Feelings''. Creators Publishing (Sep. 2020). . * ''The Authoritarian Moment: How the Left Weaponized America's Institutions Against Dissent''. Broadside Books (Jul. 2021). .

References

External links

The Daily Wire

California Bar profile
* * *
''In Depth'' interview with Shapiro, September 1, 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapiro, Ben 1984 births Living people 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American non-fiction writers Activists from Los Angeles American anti-abortion activists American chief executives in the media industry American columnists American conservative talk radio hosts American political activists American Orthodox Jews American infotainers American legal writers American libertarians American male bloggers American male non-fiction writers American male YouTubers American mass media company founders American mass media owners American media critics American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American political commentators American political writers American social activists American social commentators American YouTubers American Zionists Breitbart News people Businesspeople from Los Angeles Commentary YouTubers Critics of Black Lives Matter Harvard Law School alumni Jewish American attorneys Jewish American writers Jewish activists Lawyers from Los Angeles News YouTubers Radio personalities from Los Angeles The Daily Wire people University of California, Los Angeles alumni Writers from Los Angeles Writers on Zionism