History of Ben Shapiro in Timeline

Ben Shapiro is a prominent American conservative political commentator, media host, and attorney. He co-founded and is editor emeritus of The Daily Wire, hosting the popular "The Ben Shapiro Show." He previously served as editor-at-large at Breitbart News. Shapiro is a syndicated columnist and prolific author of sixteen non-fiction books, solidifying his presence in conservative media and political discourse.

Sections (3)

Full Timeline Career & Achievements Controversies & Scandals

2002: Controversial comments on civilian casualties

In 2002, Ben Shapiro wrote an article expressing indifference to civilian casualties in Afghanistan and the West Bank, valuing American soldiers far more than Afghan civilians, whom he accused of supporting terrorists. He later apologized for these comments, calling the article "bad" and regretting its writing, while maintaining his belief in prioritizing the safety of American service members during military operations.

2003: Support for the invasion of Iraq

In 2003, Ben Shapiro supported the invasion of Iraq, arguing that the U.S. should focus on regimes that endanger American security.

2003: Shapiro's Column on Transferring Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs

In 2003, Shapiro published a column stating that Israel must be allowed to 'transfer Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs from Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Israel proper', citing expulsion of Germans after World War II as a precedent.

2006: Call for reinstatement of sedition laws

In 2006, Ben Shapiro called for sedition laws to be reinstated, citing speeches critical of the George W. Bush administration by Democrats as "disloyal" and seditious. He later retracted these views.

2008: Marriage to Mor Toledano

In 2008, Ben Shapiro married Mor Toledano, an Israeli medical doctor of Moroccan Jewish descent. They lived in Los Angeles and later had two daughters and two sons. They practice Orthodox Judaism.

2008: Shapiro Supports Israeli Settlement Building

In 2008, Shapiro expressed support for Israel's settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank in a Townhall opinion piece.

2010: Criticism of Obama's State of the Union Address

In 2010, Ben Shapiro described President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address as "philosophically fascist."

2010: Shapiro on Homosexuality as a Mental Illness

In 2010, Shapiro argued that homosexuality should not have been removed as a mental illness from the DSM.

2010: Shapiro's Comments on Israelis and Arabs

In 2010, Shapiro said 'Israelis like to build. Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage'. He later stated that he was talking about the Israeli and Arab leadership, as well as terrorist groups in Palestine.

2011: Comments on "Bad Jews" and Jewish Democrats

In 2011, Ben Shapiro claimed that Judaism is plagued by "Bad Jews" who "largely vote Democrat". In the same year, he wrote an article titled "Jews in Name Only" claiming that Jews who vote for Obama do not care about Israel or care less about it than abortion, gay marriage and global warming.

December 2012: Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

In December 2012, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting occurred.

January 10, 2013: Shapiro Appears on Piers Morgan Tonight After Sandy Hook Shooting

On January 10, 2013, following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Shapiro appeared on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight. He called Piers Morgan a 'bully' for demonizing those with differing political views.

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2014: "The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority" video

In 2014, Ben Shapiro released a YouTube video titled "The Myth of the Tiny Radical Muslim Minority," claiming that over half of the world's Muslims are radicalized. PolitiFact and Channel 4 News disputed Shapiro's methodology, arguing that support for Sharia law does not equate to being a "radical Muslim".

2014: Shapiro on Discrimination Against Homosexuals in the U.S.

In 2014, Shapiro argued that the United States 'is not a country that discriminates against homosexuals' and that 'there is a vastly minute amount of discrimination against gays in this country'.

July 2015: Shapiro and Zoey Tur Incident on Dr. Drew On Call

In July 2015, Shapiro and transgender rights activist Zoey Tur had an altercation on Dr. Drew On Call after Shapiro referred to Tur as 'sir'. Tur threatened him, and Shapiro filed a police report accusing her of battery.

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2015: MSNBC retracts map of Israel

In 2015, MSNBC used a map of Israel that was factually incorrect. Ben Shapiro criticized The New York Times for using the same map in 2021, noting that MSNBC had to retract it and admit it was factually incorrect.

2015: Shapiro Opposes Obergefell v. Hodges Ruling

In 2015, Shapiro opposed the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. He also expressed concern that the government might force religious institutions to perform same-sex weddings.

August 2016: Shapiro on Trump and the Supreme Court

In August 2016, Shapiro wrote an article for the Daily Wire arguing that Trump, if elected, would not appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court. He described Steve Bannon as a 'bully'.

2016: Comments on Bernie Sanders' Jewish identity

During the 2016 presidential election, Ben Shapiro wrote an article titled "No, It Doesn't Matter That Bernie Sanders Is Ethnically Jewish. He's a Jew In Name Only."

2016: Shapiro on the Political Left and American Culture

In 2016, Shapiro described the political left as believing in an imaginary 'hierarchy of victimhood'. He argued that the left has dominated American culture, leading to conservatives feeling disenfranchised and contributing to Donald Trump's election. Shapiro also stated that 'political correctness breeds insanity'.

2016: Shapiro Target of Antisemitic Tweets

In 2016, according to an analysis by the Anti-Defamation League, Shapiro was the most frequent target of antisemitic tweets against journalists.

October 2017: Shapiro on Gun Control After Las Vegas Shooting

In October 2017, after the Las Vegas shooting, Shapiro argued that 'banning all guns would be unwise as well as immoral' and stated that no gun law short of full-scale gun confiscation would have prevented the shooting.

2017: Comments on systemic injustice and poverty in the Black community

In 2017, Ben Shapiro stated that the disproportionate poverty among Black people in the United States is not due to systemic racism and dismissed the idea that America was founded on slavery, arguing that America was founded in spite of slavery.

2017: Shapiro Criticizes Alt-Right Movement

In 2017, Shapiro stated that the alt-right movement 'is a garbage movement composed of garbage ideas' and has nothing to do with constitutional conservatism.

2017: Connection to Quebec City mosque shooting

In 2017, following the Quebec City mosque shooting where six Muslims were killed, police found that the shooter, Alexandre Bissonnette, had checked Ben Shapiro's Twitter feed 93 times in the month leading up to the attack. Shapiro condemned the attack and denied inciting the shooting.

2018: Retraction of support for sedition laws

In 2018, Ben Shapiro retracted his 2006 column calling for sedition laws to be reinstated, stating that it "absolutely blows. It's garbage" and adding that the idea of sedition laws was "inherently idiotic".

2018: Shapiro Argues Facebook Targeting Conservative Sites

In 2018, Shapiro argued that Facebook was targeting conservative sites after an algorithm change limited traffic. He said that they are not transparent enough.

January 2019: Condemnation of Steve King's comments

In January 2019, Ben Shapiro condemned Representative Steve King's comments defending "white supremacy" and "white nationalism".

2019: Shapiro Criticizes The Economist for Describing Him as Alt-Right

In 2019, Shapiro criticized The Economist for describing him as 'alt-right' in their interview. The Economist issued an apology and modified the article title to describe Shapiro as a 'radical conservative'.

2019: Shapiro on Ilhan Omar and the San Diego Shooter

In 2019, Shapiro said that Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar and the white supremacist San Diego shooter hold 'a lot of the same opinions about Jews'.

2019: Shapiro Responds to O'Rourke's Proposal on Religious Institutions' Tax-Exempt Status

In 2019, Shapiro said that if Beto O'Rourke was going to try to 'indoctrinate' his children in religious schools, Shapiro would be forced to either 'leave the country' or 'pick up a gun'.

2019: Shapiro Speaks at March for Life

In 2019, Shapiro spoke at the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., where he described abortion as a 'violent act'.

2019: Shapiro on Overturning Roe v. Wade

In 2019, Shapiro stated that 'The Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade' was 'not going to happen', and added that he had 'serious doubts' about 'whether the Supreme Court, as currently constituted, would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade'.

September 2020: Relocation from California

In September 2020, Ben Shapiro announced that he and his family were leaving California. He relocated the headquarters of his Daily Wire enterprise to Nashville, Tennessee, while he and his family resettled in Florida.

October 19, 2020: Shapiro Announces He Will Vote for Trump

On October 19, 2020, Shapiro announced that he would be voting for Trump in the 2020 presidential election, citing his changed views on Trump's policies and the Democratic Party.

November 3, 2020: Shapiro Rebukes Trump's Premature Victory Claim

On November 3, 2020, Shapiro rebuked Trump after Trump prematurely claimed victory in the election.

2020: Support for Randy Feenstra

In 2020, Ben Shapiro supported Randy Feenstra, who was challenging Steve King in the primary election.

2020: Shapiro on California Wildfires and Climate Change

In 2020, Shapiro argued that state policies contributed more to the severity of the California wildfires than climate change. Scientific American accused Shapiro of promoting climate change denial in response.

2020: Shapiro Responds to O'Rourke's Proposal on Religious Institutions' Tax-Exempt Status

In 2020, Shapiro referred to his 2019 comments about Beto O'Rourke.

2020: Study Uses The Ben Shapiro Show as an Example of Right-Wing Issue Framing

In 2020, a study titled 'News, Nationalism, and Hegemony: The Formation of Consistent Issue Framing Throughout the U.S. Political Right' used The Ben Shapiro Show as an example of mainstream conservative perspective, that favors President Donald Trump. The study argued that Shapiro's rhetoric was similar to that used in a Stormfront podcast, but with a different tone.

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2020: Reported estrangement from Mara Wilson

In 2020, it was reported that Ben Shapiro and his cousin, Mara Wilson, had not contacted each other for several years due to their differing political beliefs: Shapiro has right-wing views, while Wilson has left-wing views.

2021: Shapiro on COVID-19 Vaccine

In 2021, Shapiro said that he was in favor of the COVID-19 vaccine and that he was vaccinated, but is against COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

2021: Shapiro on Global Temperature Increase

In 2021, Shapiro stated that a global temperature increase of 4 °C (7.2 °F) did not amount to an emergency, and describing it as one was 'purely a political designation'.

2021: Daily Wire Dominates Facebook News Feeds

In 2021, an article in NPR revealed that, under Shapiro's leadership, the Daily Wire had dominated Facebook news feeds and received more engagement than any other news outlet.

2021: Op-ed on Israel-Palestine conflict

In 2021, during the Israel-Palestine crisis, Ben Shapiro published an op-ed stating the conflict's root was Israel's existence and Hamas's desire to eliminate it. He accused Hamas of spending foreign aid on terror tunnels and rockets for anti-Semitic attacks and using civilians as human shields to manipulate media coverage. He criticized The New York Times for an article and an incorrect map, previously retracted by MSNBC.

August 2022: Shapiro on Marxism in America

In August 2022, Shapiro argued that 'Marxism can't work in America' because of 'high levels of societal income mobility'.

October 2022: Condemnation of Kanye West's antisemitic comments

In October 2022, Ben Shapiro condemned Kanye West's antisemitic comments, comparing them to propaganda in Nazi Germany, and called West "unstable".

2022: Roe v. Wade Overturned

In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.

March 2024: Shapiro's Comments on Retirement Age Attract Criticism

In March 2024, Shapiro attracted criticism for stating on his show that 'No one in the United States should be retiring at 65 years old' and calling retirement a 'stupid idea'.

October 2024: Defense of Israeli actions in Gaza war

In October 2024, Ben Shapiro publicly supported the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces and the Netanyahu-led Israeli government during the Gaza war. When asked about the deaths of over 40,000 people during the ongoing Gaza war, he said he celebrates and lauds their actions and claimed Israel made extraordinary efforts to avoid civilian casualties, resulting in the "best civilian-to-terrorist kill ratio in the history of urban warfare". He blamed Palestinian casualties on Hamas using civilians as human shields.

October 2024: Shapiro Supports Trump after DeSantis Drops Out

In October 2024, Shapiro supported Trump after Ron DeSantis dropped out of the Republican primary. Shapiro also helped host a fundraiser for Trump and interviewed him on his show.

March 4, 2025: Website launch urging pardon for Derek Chauvin

On March 4, 2025, Ben Shapiro launched a website urging President Trump to pardon Derek Chauvin, convicted of George Floyd's murder, though a pardon wouldn't affect Chauvin's state conviction and 22.5-year sentence.