Is Ben Shapiro Aware Of Himself?

Yesterday, Republican commentator Ben Shapiro said the following on his show:

Republicans . . . never made an effort to impeach Barack Obama. . . I’m not aware of a single major Republican figure who said that Barack Obama was not the legitimate President of the United States. Despite the fact Democrats said George W. Bush was illegitimate and Donald Trump was illegitimate, so this is just not true.

First off, maybe the reason no one ever called Barack Obama illegitimate — on that account at least — was because there was never a month long recount around either of his elections. And there was such a thing around Senator Al Franken, Ben called Franken illegitimate.

And a number of Republicans did call to impeach Obama. Including Rep. Darrell Issa (who is soon to be the Director of the Trade and Development Agency), Rep. Michael Burgess, Senator Jon Kyl, Senator James Inhofe, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Senator Tom Coburn, Rep. Blake Farenthold, Rep. Kerry Bentivolio, and Rep. Louie Gohmert.

Oh, and then there’s the man himself. Even ignoring people like Jerome R. Corsi, author of Where’s The Birth Certificate: The Case That Barack Obama Is Not Eligible To Be President — whose previous book Unfit For Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list from 9/5/2004–9/26/2004, this point has to be wrong because Ben Shapiro himself has supported these theories.

Here’s an article he wrote on 5/18/2012 for Breitbart:

While the internet buzzed with Breitbart News’ release of a booklet from President Obama’s literary agency circa 1991 describing him as being “born in Kenya,” the mainstream media still refuses to report the story, or plays defense for Obama.

Never mind that the agency used the “born in Kenya” biography until 2007. Never mind that authors who have worked with the agency state that the agency asks that authors pen their own biographies. Never mind that Obama has routinely padded his biographical details to appeal to particular audiences.

Nothing to see here.

So know we know Ben and Breitbart under his leadership believed in it. While we’re at it, here’s an NYT article Ben quotes from in that article:

Perhaps the darker side of politics is always close to the surface … the conservative Drudge Report Web site published a headline: “BORN IN KENYA,” based on a three-decade-old promotional booklet for a publisher that included an inaccurate biography of Mr. Obama. It stayed on the site for much of the afternoon. The headline linked to a report at Breitbart news, another conservative site, which suggests that the booklet represents a pattern in which Obama — or the people representing and supporting him — manipulate his public persona.

So that’s another prominent one — Matt Drudge.

When people started calling him out on this, back peddle Shaprio said the following on Twitter:

Trump was a fringe character for nearly the entirety of the Obama presidency; he wasn’t a “Republican figure” until he ran. You can’t name a single major elected Republican official during Obama’s presidency who challenged the legitimacy of his presidency. This entire clip, again, revolves around Jamelle Bouie’s claim that “the Republican Party of the Obama years…pursued a policy of total opposition, not just blocking Obama but also casting him as fundamentally illegitimate and un-American.” Nonsense. And, once again, you can just listen to or watch the show to see me say this. But hey, glad that I’m keeping otherwise unemployable losers paid over at MMFA!

First off, Shapiro praised Trump during the Obama administration. In a column for 4/13/2011, Shapiro wrote the following:

His name is Donald Trump. His slogan is ready-made: “You’re Fired.” He does not give a damn what the media thinks of him — he steamrolled Meredith Vieira during his NBC interview with her last week. He can self-fund to the tune of $1 billion.

. . .

Is Donald Trump the best Republican candidate for president out there? It would be tough to argue otherwise. He’s got all the makings of a breakout star; he’s got bravado and the cash to back it up. If he really runs, he won’t have any trouble finding supporters. And as he puts it, he is the Obama administration’s “worst nightmare.” So far, who can argue with him?

As for the idea no elected Republican questioned Obama’s birth certificate — which is quite different from a major figure as major figures have forced those elected to do certrain things (ex: Bob Woodward, Martin Luther King Jr., Phyllis Schlafly)—well there are a number of them as well. There’s the aforementioned Blake Farenthold as well as the Arizona State House, Rep. Bill Posey, Joe Arpaio, Newt Gingrich, Louie Gohmert, Rudy Giulinai, Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee, and Roy Moore.

This is what Ben Shapiro does, he says something, defends it, and then pretends he never said it. Just like all Republicans, Shapiro just says whatever the party tells him.