Right-wing podcaster and co-founder of The Daily Wire Ben Shapiro lashed out at his fellow conservatives Friday—the latest in a series of high-profile conflicts between conservative media personalities.
Shapiro’s diatribe came in response to reports of problems at his company, which launched several years ago with lofty ambitions of being a conservative answer to “woke” media.
The Daily Wire has seen a recent mass layoff of 13% of its workforce, and the Washington Post characterized the problems facing the company as a “MAGA meltdown” in which the “‘anti-woke’ company faces contentious layoffs, ideological battles, and dwindling relevance online.”
During his rant, Shapiro described neo-Nazi podcaster Nick Fuentes as a “man who will never get a human woman pregnant through natural means.”
He also called right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson a “confirmed anti-capitalist and Muslim apologist,” conspiracy theorist Candace Owens a “confirmed slanderer of widows” and a “connoisseur of French testicles,” and reporter Megyn Kelly a “clickwhoring grandma groyper.”
The Daily Wire’s audience has reportedly shifted away from Shapiro’s brand of conservatism, which has been more affiliated with the pre-MAGA right—though he has often shilled for President Donald Trump—in favor of Trump-friendly pundits and outlets.
For example, when news of The Daily Wire layoffs first hit last week, Kelly called out Shapiro for openly criticizing other conservatives and apparently being too closed-minded about what conservatism should be.
But what’s happening is even more contentious than simple infighting.
Right-wing media had a sense of unity and purpose under Democratic presidents, like Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But in Trump’s second term, they’re finding it hard to keep up the sustained attacks against Democrats while also making excuses for Trump’s increasingly unpopular policies.
That has led to public spectacles, like Owens accusing Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, of profiting from her husband’s assassination, even implying that she played a role in his murder.
These fights are a bad enough distraction for media outlets that are supposed to be at war with liberalism, but the backdrop is a failing Trump administration that’s losing public support on both domestic and foreign policy issues.
The right-wing media world is fundamentally based on decades of grift, where a willingly receptive audience is sold falsehoods, smears, and bigotry—where they’re constantly told to buy this product or donate to this campaign, all with the purported goal of defeating the left.
Figures like Shapiro, Owens, the Kirks, and Carlson, as well as outlets like The Daily Wire and Fox News have also made millions of dollars in the process.
The increasingly extreme beliefs among the right—and the need to constantly one-up each other—have reached a natural end point, with figures like Fuentes gaining a foothold within the Republican Party.
Meanwhile, figures like Shapiro have realized that, outside of the right-wing media bubble, this is a bad look, and he would prefer a more mainstream form of bigotry to dominate the right.
Without their pro-Trump unity to bind them, right-wing media is breaking apart. But at least the fissures have become an entertaining spectacle as some of the worst people in the world tear each other down.
Published with permission of Daily Kos
