Ben Shapiro: Trump Voters Don't Care If He Loves Hitler, Because Street Crime In LA
There are no uncrossable lines for these people.
Earlier this week I saw some post on social media about how we should constantly be talking about how The Atlantic reported this week that Trump said, straight up, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” adding, “People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.”
This is not the first time Trump has praised a dictator. In fact, you would be very hard pressed to see him praise any leader who was not a dictator or the leader of any country where people are remotely happy.
Now, while Trump spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer said that this is absolutely false and he never said it, some of his biggest defenders have reacted to this news with a big ol’ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Case in point? Ben Shapiro.
Shapiro — who, mind you, is Jewish — responded to this news on social media by more or less saying that no one cares if Trump admires Hitler, because of street crime. Now, I would argue that Trump supporters don’t care if Trump admires Hitler because they are simply not the kind of people who would let a little Hitler admiration get in the way of some mega tax breaks for corporations and promising to put journalists in camps, but let’s hear him out!
You want to know why nobody cares about the left-wing media's latest oppo dump? The answer is obvious: People care about the quality of their lives. And life is getting worse under Democratic governance.
He then defended his point with a story about how, after he and his wife (the one who is a doctor, in case you did not know) had dinner with a couple of friends in LA this week, said friends were immediately robbed by “three young Black guys.” (Natch.)
We finish dinner at around 10:30 and head back to our car. Since my wife and I have 24/7 security, we're safe. Not so for our friends. They get to their car ... And as soon as they do, a Hyundai without plates speeds up and stops. Three young Black guys jump out of the car (suspect description relevant because they're still at large!) and rush up to my friend, yank him out of his car, and grab his watch, phone and wallet.
They then sprint around the car and grab his wife, start trying to pull off her jewelry. She screams and kicks, and presumably losing time, they take off in top gear down the street.
If that really did happen, those people are idiots who could have gotten themselves killed. If you do get mugged, you should not scream and kick, you should hand them whatever the hell it is they want and walk away with your life, which is more important than your wallet, your watch, or your jewelry. Doesn’t everyone know this?
As stated, they're still at large. It took about 15 minutes for the cops to arrive. Not their fault — LA is wildly understaffed, and the LAPD has been treated horribly by the city government, such that officers have been targeted for simply doing their jobs. I know and am friends with many of them.
In 2023, the LAPD had a homicide clearance rate of 76 percent, with the Operations-West Bureau managing a very impressive 95 percent. The national homicide clearance rate? 52.3 percent. The national clearance rate for all crimes is 36.7 percent. In fact, it bears pointing out here that the national clearance rate took a real nosedive … during the Trump administration.
Nota bene: The most effective deterrent for crime is not the fear of a draconian punishment, but the criminal’s belief that they will be caught.
Still, I don’t care what kind of police department you have, muggings are always going to be difficult to solve, unless people actually know the person who is mugging them, are somehow able to detain them, or the police are literally there when it happens.
What would he have expected? For the police to turn on the sirens and go rushing down the streets for muggers they’re not going to catch anyway? Honestly, 15 minutes is pretty fast for that kind of thing! I’m surprised they didn’t just tell them to come to the police station themselves to file a report for insurance purposes.
My friend and his wife weren't armed up, either, because it's nearly impossible to carry a gun in LA legally, and also because if you shoot a criminal in LA, there's a solid shot YOU end up in jail.
If we’re talking about a mugging where the victim is not in fear for their lives and they shoot to kill? Yes, they might. That is true in about half the states in the US. In most cases, it’s only considered justifiable force when someone reasonably fears for their life or the life of another.
It’s also probably not too smart to introduce a gun into a situation like that, anyway — godforbid the mugger get a hold of it themselves.
Now, here's the thing. My friend and his wife have lived in LA for decades. In the last several years, they've been assaulted more than once on the street. Zero arrests. Zero prosecutions.
Gee, you’d think after that they’d ask their friends with the 24/7 security to walk them to their car, but what do I know?
Again, how does Ben Shapiro expect the LAPD to solve random street muggings for which they are not present and have no description for beyond “three Black guys in a Hyundai”? I’m not on the side of cops here, but really! What does he want them to do? Go around arresting every Black guy in a Hyundai in the Los Angeles area and then bring these people in to identify them? Is this truly a good use of resources, particularly when cross-racial identification is notoriously unreliable?
This is just one of the reasons we left LA, where I had lived my entire life. And it's getting worse, not better.
It’s worth noting that the LAPD reported at the end of last year that “Citywide Violent Crimes showed a 3.2% decrease in 2023 compared to 2022.”
But back to his point!
This is why people increasingly don't give a shit about the media's latest horror story about Trump Saying Bad Things™. The same people who maintain that street crime is no big deal, or a reflection of institutional racism, or that inflation is hunky dory, or that biggest issue in American life is whether or not Billy has the right to be called Susan ... these are not serious people. But people's lives are serious business. And bad governance means worse lives for people.
I’m going to need to point out here that the people who think that the “biggest issue in American life is whether or not Billy has the right to be called Susan” are the ones who are voting for Trump.
Crime rates are actually down. No matter how much Trump supporters “feel” that they are up, they are actually down.
All of this being said, the president has nothing to do with violent crime — except, you know, when they’re suggesting the “Second Amendment people” go after Hillary Clinton or encouraging their other supporters to try to overthrow the government because they lost an election.
What’s a lot more important is the tone the president sets, which is exactly why Trump Saying Bad Things™ matters. We don’t need any more kids to grow up thinking that the way that man behaves and what he says is normal and reasonable. The man was president for four years and what are many of the young men who came of age at that time doing now? They’re listening to and behaving like white supremacist Nick Fuentes and violent misogynist/(alleged) sex trafficker Andrew Tate. That has had as profound an effect on the United States as any legislation or appointment (not that his legislation and appointments were not also nightmares).
It is not petty to care about Trump Saying Bad Things™, particularly when those bad things involve wishing one had it as good as Hitler did. By that same token, not caring about Trump Saying Bad Things™ does not mean that you care about “real issues” instead, particularly when those “real issues” are largely figments of one’s own imagination.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
Shapiro's story of his "friend" that got mugged by "scary black dudes" so many times over the last few years: my strong suspicion is that it's that pie chart of mostly blue "did not happen" with a sliver of red "did not happen, but in red." These guys all lie as easily as their orange cult leader.
And speaking of lying, the whole pivot that voters don't care if Trump says something inflammatory, because he doesn't really mean it. I mean, how do you know? What lies do you get to throw out? And do you really want to put your trust in a guy that you, by your own admission, agree lies to you all the time?
Look, it's not like Trump wore a tan suit, OK? I mean, sure, Hitler wore a tan uniform, but it was by famous designer Hugo Boss.