He was once a loud Never-Trumper. Now he's ready to "walk over broken glass" to back the MAGA leader.
In 2016, Ben Shapiro said he would "never... ever" vote for Donald Trump. Fast forward to 2024, and Shapiro is planning to host a fundraiser in The Don's honor.
"I'm not just voting from Donald Trump, I'm co-hosting a fundraiser for him," he told viewers and listeners of his podcast on Friday.
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The outspoken pundit suggested that he was cornered into voting for the 45th president once Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis bowed out of the contest.
“My calculus is very simple, America was better off under Donald Trump than it is under Joe Biden,” said Shapiro. "At home, America was safer and more prosperous."
He added: “I will always be honest with you about Donald Trump, he wasn’t my first choice in the primaries. He’s a deeply flawed human. I’ve been open in my criticisms of Trump on both character and policy… But Donald Trump is the man standing between America and a second Joe Biden term.”
He considers Biden to be "the worst president of my lifetime."
Shapiro reinforced his committal to Trump saying not only will he be voting for the former president, but that he would "walk over broken glass to vote for him" and that "actually go into my own pocket to vote for him."
In 2016, Shapiro broke down the rationale of opposing the real estate tycoon's maiden try for the White House, writing, "if we don’t say 'no' to Donald Trump now, we will continue drifting ever further left, diluting conservatism into the vacillating, demagogic absurdity of Trumpism. Conservatism will become the crypto-racist, pseudo-strong, quasi-tyrannical, toxic brew leftists have always accused it of being."
Four years later he flip-flopped saying he was justified in his concerns about Trump's characters, but "wrong" about Trump's policies.
But the central reason for his change of heart was that "the Democrats have lost their f---ing minds."
The suspected hypocrisy didn't sit well with some.
"So pathetic," wrote Christian Conservative attorney Heath Mayo. "Not only is this absurd, but it’s also downright stupid. Trump’s just going to take your money and pay his legal bills. How are you this blind?"
@LoganDavis said: "Ben has to keep dancing the dance, or else his customers move on to another extremist outlet willing to entertain."
"Stunning if there are still people that will give," writes @Yode1J. "Fool me once, twice or 500 million times."
