Ben Shapiro (editor-in-chief for The Daily Wire, host of The Ben Shapiro Show) and Bridget discuss going viral for stupid reasons, how Republicans don’t fight on a cultural level and Democrats do, their impressions of Hamilton, why the book White Fragility is biggest load of horsesh*t in the history of the world, why you should never cross Beyoncé fans, and what led him to write his latest book How to Destroy America In Three Easy Steps. They cover who his pick for president would be if Trump wasn’t running, the dangers inherent in the fact that people think the status quo will never change, why being too secure in your career is a big mistake, Ben’s predictions for what will happen if Trump wins or loses, and his burgeoning career as rap artist B. Shap.
The usual names that come up when a Conservative thinks about Cancel Culture or the Culture Wars in general: Saul Alinsky, Herbert Marcuse, Antonio Gramsci, etc.
My thoughts on Cancel Culture made some other names pop up in my head; Roy Moore, Ed Stack, Brett Kavanaugh, Ben Shapiro, Andrew Breitbart, Stanley Kurtz, Thomas Jefferson, Jared Polis, Michael Corleone, John Roberts, Heather Mac Donald, Ronald Reagan, Michael Lind, etc.
Story Hour with Bridget Phetasy is a segment where Bridget reminisces with cousin Maggie and tells stories explaining who she is and how she got here. Full transcript available here: WiW47-AccidentalPundit-Transcript
This week Bridget covers how she went from being the Playboy Advisor to an accidental pundit on Ben Shapiro’s Election Special. She can trace every opportunity she’s had since leaving waitressing behind to one thing – Twitter. The realization that Twitter is just like high school, with its cool kids and its cliques helped her understand it and how to use it to her advantage. She discusses using it to hone her writing and her wit, being blocked by Demi Moore, the wrath of Dane Cook and her first mobbing (you can read the essay here), and how Twitter helped her get sober. Hear about her first taste of virality with her essay Bill Cosby Raped Me… Kind Of, how she built her following and created her own community of people who offer support in some of her darkest moments. Her journey from Playboy to the Federalist was a direct result of the paradigm shift that occurred after Trump won the election. She honestly had no idea what she was getting into when it came to political commentary and being caught in the crossfire of the culture war. She wonders as much as anyone “How did I get here?”
Kassy Dillon is a staff writer for the Daily Wire and founder of Lone Conservative a small organization that teaches college students how to become writers and funnels them to media outlets. She discusses being one of two known Republicans at her small all-girls, liberal arts college, how she got into politics, and recording the infamous “Trigglypuff” video which created the face of the “campus crazy” movement. She talks about her trip to Iraq last year with a group including an Orthodox Jew and an Israeli Jew (who proceeded to pass out Israeli flags, which is illegal in Iraq), and she and Bridget compare their travel experiences in legitimate patriarchal societies and how oppressive they are to women. They cover Gen Z’s obsession with Ben Shapiro, how learning other languages forces you to think in different ways, and Kassy’s experience winning the ACU’s Ronald Reagan Award.
“Facts don’t care about your feelings.” – Ben Shapiro
The reaction to the release of the Muller Report reminded me of this quote. There seem to be a large number of people whose feelings conflict with the facts presented. As a result, many have rejected the facts in favor of their feelings.
David French of National Review and talk show host Greg Knapp reflect on the Mueller report 24 hours after its release to the public. They feel good that Trump is not guilty of a criminal conspiracy with the Russian government but David is struck by the vivid and deeply disturbing picture the report creates of a president who is not only an absolute, relentless serial liar surrounded in turn by thoroughly untruthful people, but also a president who is highly disorganized and profoundly weak. They are also perplexed that the Washington Post continues to malign Ben Shapiro.
David French of National Review and talk show host Greg Knapp discuss potential redactions in the Mueller report. What should and what should not be included? Then they critique an opinion piece published in the Washington Post. What does it mean to say that Notre Dame is a monument to Western civilization? With the final martini of the day they turn to a question posed in The Rolling Stone magazine: can the French be trusted to rebuild Notre Dame? David and Greg discuss whether this a legitimate concern and why.
Rob Long of National Review Online and Greg Corombos of Radio America applaud Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for sending Jussie Smollett a bill for more than $130,000 to cover the costs of the police to investigate his hate crime hoax. They also shake their heads as the supposedly moderate “Economist” magazine labels Ben Shapiro a “sage of the alt-right” but then changes it to call him a “radical conservative.” And they have a lot of fun with the news that Illinois State’s Attorney Kim Foxx didn’t really recuse herself from the Smollett case in the legal sense, just in the “colloquial” sense.
I’ve managed to get ahold of the president’s remarks for this year’s SOTU. “Madam Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, the First Lady of the United States, and my fellow Americans: Preview Open
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One of my favorite commentators today is Ben Shapiro. While I don’t agree with everything this thirty-four-year-old ball of fire says, I’d say 80% is a fair guesstimate. While I believe the word “brilliant” is sometimes thrown around too easier, I also believe it certainly applies to this young man. Preview Open
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“…I used to think that it was the most informed people in America who were going to save the country. And I’ve started to think maybe it’s the least informed people in America who are going to save the country, because those of us who are the most informed are busy smacking each other across the head on a regular basis.” — Ben Shapiro
Ben Shapiro had an interesting interview with Glenn Beck, who came across as more likable than I often find him. Perhaps it’s that he’s selling a new book. But a worthwhile conversation.
One topic that is being talked about often among the intellectual dark web is the relationship between religion and morality. Ben Shapiro argues that non-religious morality can only be developed to a limited extent. Sam Harris argues that we can derive our morality without reference to a deity or a Holy book. The discussion of […]
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When Joy Behar joked that VP Pence might be mentally ill because he allegedly believes Jesus actually talks to him the inevitable backlash was predictable. And unfortunately the response has been mostly about religious identity politics rather than the profound philosophical and theological discussion it actually is. Mollie Hemingway, a devout conservative Lutheran, defended Pence on Fox […]
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The latest spearhead for the “reasonable” Left’s response to Las Vegas has been found in the heartfelt, but factually false monologues from Jimmy Kimmel. Now, unlike many on the Right, I don’t harbor a dislike of the man himself. He seems a decent fellow and brought one of better libertarian-leaning minds to us, Adam Carolla. I no longer watch Kimmel, or any late-night comedians for that matter, as they continually find joy in insulting me while their barking seal audience lauds their vitriolic approval with enthused applause. Why would anyone want to be attacked before going to sleep by a supposed moral authority?
Back in his youth, Kimmel said he wanted to be David Letterman. For the same reason, I didn’t watch the not-so-funny Letterman at the end of his career either. However, just because we don’t watch him, we still can’t escape his political prolix. His rants are being replayed everywhere. Kimmel is affable and sympathetic, and many of us can envision being friends with him outside of the political debate. But he is currently being a bully. A great big, ignorant bully. In fact, he is the most dangerous kind of bully. Since he elicits empathy from a great number of people, he is elevated as a voice of reason and is now being used by the left to carpet-bomb their enemies, us.
Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are happy to see Ben Shapiro was able to give his speech at Berkeley without incident in the auditorium and minimal unrest outside, which this year counts as very good news. They also unload on Harvard for offering convicted spy Bradley Manning, who now identifies as Chelsea Manning, a position as a visiting fellow, and only rescinding the offer after the intelligence community denounces the move. And they groan as a terrorist attack on the London tube injures 22 people and suggests terrorists there might be changing their tactics.
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.
If one believes conservatism is the only cure for what ails the nation, then 2016 is a bleak year. We have before us a choice of a dedicated leftist whose entire public life has been dedicated to the destruction of our republic (and replacing it with yet another European-styel socialist welfare state), or a guy who can be charitably described as “not a conservative.” Because Hillary Clinton is such a well known statist and a threat to our way of life, it would seem obvious that the only viable option for conservatives would be to oppose her with everything they have. Under any normal set of circumstances that would be exactly the right course of action. Indeed, many have claimed that it’s so obviously correct that there can be no other argument. Ben Shapiro, however, takes a different view:
That brings us to the real reason to oppose Trump’s candidacy: the attempt to turn the conservative movement into a nationalist populist one, complete with shilling for Trump’s incomprehensible decisions and statements. If you believe that the only solution to America’s problems is true conservatism, your greatest fear is not a Hillary presidency: It’s the perversion of the conservative movement itself, the corruption of conservatism in favor of power. Hillary Clinton’s presidency does not snuff out conservatism, even though it provides a serious danger to the republic. Trump’s presidency does.
