Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro
Born	Benjamin Aaron Shapiro (1984-01-15) January 15, 1984 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Ethnicity	Jewish
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles Harvard Law School
Political party	Republican
Religion	Orthodox Judaism
Spouse(s)	Mor Shapiro (née Toledano)
Children	1

Benjamin Aaron Shapiro, known as Ben Shapiro (born January 15, 1984),^[1] is an American conservative political commentator, best selling author, radio talk show host, attorney, and media consultant.

A native of Los Angeles, California, Shapiro graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles and Harvard Law School. He has written five books, starting with Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth in 2004, writes a column for Creators Syndicate, is editor-at-large of Breitbart News, and founder/editor-in-chief for the media watchdog group TruthRevolt.

Early life

Shapiro was born in Los Angeles, California. He is a cousin of actress Mara Wilson.^[2] Skipping two grades, Shapiro graduated from Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles in 2000 at age 16.^[3][4] He then enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and graduated with a political science degree summa cum laude in 2004. He also wrote a column for the Daily Bruin student newspaper at UCLA from 2000 to 2002. Shapiro graduated from Harvard Law School in 2007. The Daily Bruin suspended Shapiro after he appeared on radio talk shows claiming that the newspaper refused to print his column, which accused Muslim student groups of supporting terrorism.^[3]

Career

His third book, Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House, was published by Thomas Nelson in 2008.

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 which it actively promotes through primetime entertainment programming. For the book, Shapiro interviewed many in the entertainment industry.^[5] In an interview with Thom Hartmann on RT's The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann, Shapiro cited the children's show Sesame Street as an example of left-wing propaganda.^[6] Shapiro also interviewed several producers who said that Happy Days and M*A*S*H had an intended pro-pacifist orientation.^[7] Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times questioned Shapiro citing The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Simpsons as examples, and Goldstein argued that those shows have "gone over like gangbusters with middle America."^[5] The same year Primetime Propaganda came out, Shapiro became a fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.^[8]

In 2012, Shapiro became editor-at-large of Breitbart.com, a news and opinion website founded by Andrew Breitbart.^[9]

In 2013, Threshold Editions published Shapiro's fifth book, Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans. Bullies is Shapiro's first book to be listed on The New York Times Best Seller List; the book debuted at #32 in the combined print and e-book nonfiction list on January 27.^[10]

Shapiro writes a column distributed by Creators Syndicate that appears on sites like Breitbart.com and Townhall.com.

On October 7, 2013, in association with the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Ben launched the website for media watchdog group TruthRevolt in response to the left-leaning Media Matters for America. Periodically, Ben will write and post his own articles to the site.^[11]

"Friends of Hamas" controversy

On February 7, 2013, Shapiro published an article citing unspecified Senate sources who claimed that a group named "Friends of Hamas" was among foreign contributors to the political campaign of Chuck Hagel, a former US Senator awaiting confirmation as Secretary of Defense as a nominee of President Barack Obama. In the article, Shapiro castigated the Obama administration for ignoring his questions about Hagel's foreign associations and called for full disclosure of Hagel's foreign ties.^[12]

On February 20, Slate reporter David Weigel reported that he could not find any convincing evidence "Friends of Hamas" actually existed, based on personal interviews with Senate staffers, the conservative Center for Security Policy, and the US Treasury Department Terror Sponsors list.^[13] Shapiro told Weigel that the story he published was "the entirety of the information [he] had."^[14]

Subsequently, New York Daily News reporter Dan Friedman reported on February 20 that he may have been the unwitting source of the "Friends of Hamas" allegation. Friedman said that the story arose in the course of questioning Republican aides over Hagel's connections to foreign terrorist groups, presuming that one of the aides had interpreted his asking about such political connections as evidence of their existence.^[15] Shapiro responded by reporting that his source had averred that Friedman was not a source.^[16][17]

In an interview with Salon.com, Shapiro said the following in regards to the controversy: “We’re all striving for some semblance of truth, even if there’s angles to it. When people make corrections or find things that I do wrong, it doesn’t upset me. It urges me to do better.”^[18]

Perspective on Israel

In a column written for Townhall.com in 2003, Shapiro proposes to expel the Palestinian population from the West Bank. As Jeffrey Goldberg noted, "this was the position of the extremist Meir Kahane, who was banned by the Israeli Supreme Court from participating in Israeli politics because of his racist views."^[19] In the article, Shapiro states that "if Germans, who had a centuries-old connection to the newly created Polish territory, could be expelled, then surely Palestinians, whose claim to Judea, Samaria and Gaza is dubious at best, can be expelled."

A decade later, however, Shapiro abandoned this position. In an article published on March 13, 2013, Shapiro wrote, "Some on the right have proposed population transfer from the Gaza Strip or West Bank as a solution. This is both inhumane and impractical. Moving millions of Palestinians out of areas they have known for their entire lives will certainly not pave the way to peace" and while "both right and left agree that a population separation is necessary," he proposes that Israel "has no choice but to weather [the anti-Israel propaganda]" until a realistic solution comes to light.^[20]

Radio and television

Shapiro guest hosts regularly for major talk show hosts including nationally syndicated hosts Jerry Doyle and Rusty Humphries. From May 2, 2010 to 2011, he hosted The Ben Shapiro Show on the Orlando, Florida talk radio station WEUS.^[21] Shapiro currently acts a co-host on "The Morning Answer" on KRLA 870 Los Angeles and KTIE 590 San Bernardino with Brian Whitman and Elisha Krauss. The show was listed as #80 on Talkers Heavy Hundred list of top 100 radio shows in the country.^[22]

Shapiro appears regularly on news channels including CNN, Fox News, and Sun News Network in Canada.

As of January 6, 2014, Shapiro began hosting a talk radio program in Seattle with a Bonneville Communications station, KTTH. Shapiro will split time in Los Angeles^[23] and continue to broadcast on "The Morning Answer."

Legal

After graduating from Harvard Law School in 2007, Shapiro briefly practiced law at the Los Angeles office of Goodwin Procter LLP but now does independent legal consulting for major media clients.^[24]

Personal life

Shapiro married Mor Toledano 2008; both practice Orthodox Judaism.^[25][26] They have a daughter, born in 2014.

Bibliography

• Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (ISBN 0785261486). WND Books: 2004.
• Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future (ISBN 0895260166). Regnery: 2005.
• Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House (ISBN 159555100X). Thomas Nelson: 2008.
• Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV (ISBN 0062092103). HarperCollins: 2011.
• Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America (ISBN 1476710015). Threshold Editions: 2013.
• The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against the Obama Administration (ISBN 1476765138). Threshold Editions: 2014.

See also

• List of Harvard Law School alumni
• List of syndicated columnists

References

External links

• Shapiro's website
• California Bar profile
• In Depth interview with Shapiro, September 1, 2013

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