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Ben Shapiro on Antifa, Bannon and Conservatism
Best-selling author, columnist and former Breitbart Editor-at-Large Ben Shapiro joins Whiskey Politics to discuss President Trump, Conservatism, his strong feelings about Steve Bannon, the Iran Deal, the Antifa threats against campus free speech and answers some Ricochet Member questions. You can find Ben’s columns at The Daily Wire, musings on Facebook and his #1 ranked conservative podcast on iTunes & Soundcloud.
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I like Ben Shapiro, and I know a lot of college students love him. I thought his opposition to Trump was principled, and I certainly understood it. One of the things I like about Ben Shapiro is that he puts principle above strategy. At least that’s been my impression.
However, I did recently hear a podcast in which he interviewed a fellow named Base Stick Man (?) who regularly shows up at Antifa fights armed with a stick and shield.
Forgive me, but when someone goes to a rally armed and in a gas mask, he is looking for a fight.
Ben Shapiro did not have to get into a violent altercation to make the point that brown shirt-like behavior is currently rising in places like Berkeley, and videos of that violence are much more effective than anything else anyone else could be doing.
So I guess I think having guests like the stick guy who talked about molotov cocktails being thrown into the crowd and a woman having her face skinned by a flying carburetor seemed entirely over the top to me. Shapiro didn’t ask the dude any hard questions but praised him as if he really were a knight out there with his broomstick cracking heads. No wonder people feel as if the people in those streets are like the KDP fighting the Nazis! I find both scary as all get out.
Now do not get me wrong. I do not think people have to submit to violence as if they are walking across the Pettus Bridge in the 1960s, but when they go the other way and act a bit like Huey Newton in the name of free speech, I’m not sure how seriously I can take them either.
I prefer it when Shapiro uses his platform to force local officials to act rather than encourages vigilante crusaders. Shapiro himself grabbed the law as a weapon and sued a university that didn’t protect his event like a Harvard trained lawyer should when threatened.
I wonder how that suit turned out.
This was nicely timed. I had just finished the last of the Ben Shapiro Thug Life compilations.
Ooh, new video logo at the beginning and end. Good interview, Dave, although I get the feeling you don’t have to work hard to draw intelligent answers out of Ben Shapiro.
I don’t know very much about this guy as I never went to the Breitbart site for news. That said, I’m not sure I want to be told what to think about politics from a young kid barely out of school.
He’s 32 now. He had a syndicated column when he was 17-18.
Great job, Dave.
He founded DailyWire.com a couple of years ago after leaving Breitbart in a much-publicized disagreement. Yes, he’s young but brilliant. He graduated UCLA summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa … at 20. Don’t know about anyone else but at 20 my primary focus was the next party. He’s already written over a dozen books (NY Times bestsellers) and is one of the smartest columnists on the right.
Antifa IS scary. I didn’t hear the Stickman interview, but I did hear the Lauren Southern piece. Check it out.
https://youtu.be/uvOzGVj18zU
He’s a very impressive young man. I hate to think back on myself at 20 compared to him. (Don’t ask)
I agree that Antifa is a major problem, and the government’s reaction in Berkeley is insane. I still believe there is a difference between this woman talking about this event–and fighting back, btw, when hit by people in black–and a guy who shows up with a stick in a gas mask.
Look. I know my history very well, and I know that people put their hands over their eyes when these sorts of things began to happen in Germany. But we are not Germany. This should have a thousand spotlights immediately. The Berkeley city council is a tiny group, if they are behind the stand-down orders.
Can’t policemen who are mad about what they’ve been told to do give interviews to the Wall Street Journals of the world? Can’t people like this woman initiate lawsuits against the city for putting her group in a precarious position?
I don’t watch a lot of cable news, but when Richard Dreyfuss is agreeing with Tucker Carlson about the absolute abomination that is a violent group shutting down free speech on a college campus, I believe there is plenty of will to fix this thing… to put pressure on the officials running the state of California.
It requires more exposure. I’m glad Ann Coulter and YAF are suing for viewpoint discrimination.
The Mayor of Berkeley is a member of Antifa.
Then the spotlight should be the hottest on him.
The inmates are running the asylum.
Awesome stuff. It’s always great to hear Shapiro’s speeches and interviews!
Great question Ian.
I think this is where you might be losing some touch with reality. The Left is formidable in the legal arena and it is not a place where individual private citizens can expect to do well in a civil action without high legal fees. Have you noticed policemen getting objective reporting in media lately. Ann Coulter probably has resources to do this. Violence, initiated by those trying to stop legitimate activities, may be the only opportunity for really effective counter-action. Intimidation is big in this instance. Stickman is simply prepared to defend against expected violence. Then, when this violence actually happens, the DoJ Civil Rights Division should enter the picture and the legal actions should be public, not private.
Conservatives have money, too. I’m personally happy to contribute to legal funds to defend free speech via the courts. I mean, since the ACLU seems to have lost its way, there are other lawyers, yes? Can’t groups like the ACLJ be used? Are there not other conservative law groups? Is there no way to create them?
If I recall correctly, the ACLU came out of the Wilson era when freedom of speech was also being radically impinged upon… when people were being thrown in jail without due process on the shakiest of grounds. How did people resist that? The full power of the federal state??? Was that not more intimidating than a do-nothing mayor in Berkeley?
And I do think that there are people who are much, much further left than I am who are disturbed by what is happening now…. people who are not natural allies but who do recognize what’s at stake.
As posted on the main thread, I see that the editor-at-large for Ricochet is using a right leaning media platform to start talking more about this to a broader audience, which I think is important.
Also, what is the point of holding all the levers of power in the country if Republican politicians can do nothing about this??? I understand Jerry Brown is the governor of California, but is there nothing presidents can do to protect people when their Constitutional rights are violated?
I recall mob violence in the South when schools were being integrated. Both Eisenhower and JFK federalized the National Guard and protected black students when state governors wouldn’t.
Isn’t freedom of speech also a federal issue?
I am afraid I fail to see how using a stick and racking up felonies in Berkeley is useful when there seem to be to me other sticks–much BIGGER sticks–on the table.
The thing that has to happen first is that people have to understand the level of violence in those places. Journalists have to go take the pictures and video required for a new Time Magazine photo spread.
Somebody, go win a Pulitzer.
Can’t the FBI investigate terrorist organizations like Antifa????
We do not need to resort to violence.
I agree with you. I just don’t know or have confidence that the acts of intimidation causing cancellations as happened in Berkeley will be enough to stimulate the Feds to act. Illegal violent actions give them a much stronger cause for action.
Well, if you listen to Stickman, Antifa throws sticks of dynamite and parts of car engines at people. That is either correct or made up. If it is correct, it should be well documented, and it is both illegal and very violent.
And if people like Stickman are really brave, they should defend themselves–of course–but never, ever be aggressive. This was the strategy of the Little Rock Nine, and acid was thrown at Melba Patillo.
This country has a culture and deep history of detesting violence in the streets–of turning on whomever perpetuates such violence–when that violence is on display.
I understand this is easy for me to say where I sit typing on my computer, but we are part of the real resistance–the irony!–as well because we as citizens elsewhere push the politicians who–supposedly–hold the big sticks.
That is also either true, or it isn’t.
Lauren Southern is a brave woman. Here’s her report immediately after the Berkeley riot in the form of an interview with Stefan Molyneux.
Super. Cogent, incisive, and fun. Thanks Whiskey folks.
I really enjoyed this one Dave. Thanks.
Based Stick Man only fought back when threatened and assaulted, but I guess Conservatism means to just take it nowadays. Maybe find out what happened before commenting.
You should just follow Conservatism’s strategy. Just Acquiesce.
We need more Based Stick Men.
I looked at all accounts. I saw Kyle Chapman swinging his stick. I stand by everything that I wrote, and I never write anything at all without looking for as much information as possible before commenting. So… uh. Yeah. I formed my opinion based on the information available. If you want, you can contribute to his legal funds, which is certainly fine with me.
Is that what Huey Newton said to Martin Luther King? ;)
I’m sure Kyle Chapman feels as if he is doing something noble. That’s fine. Let Kyle Chapman be Kyle Chapman. But I tend to view other strategies apart from showing up with a stick, shield and gas mask as making more sense in this country… even when talking about the “battles of Berkeley.”
(Picture person shrugging on the couch and you’ve got a vision of me in this moment.)
I simply don’t agree with Ben Shapiro on this one though I don’t wish any ill to the “alt-knight” or anyone else.