A conservative political commentator who’s appeared on just about every national news network and author of four books, Ben Shapiro, says his black crocheted yarmulke is a welcome companion to his work
“H
ow dare you?”
It was January 10th, less than a minute into a debate over the hot-button issue of gun control. Already it was clear that CNN host Piers Morgan, the outraged speaker of those three words, was fighting a steep uphill battle. Morgan, a tall, sophisticated 47-year-old Briton and fierce critic of America’s gun culture, seemed stumped when his studio guest accused him of being “a bully … standing on the graves of the children of Sandy Hook” for invoking the horrific Newtown, Connecticut school shooting to denounce critics of certain gun control proposals.
Morgan continued debating the constitutional merits and crime-fighting effectiveness of gun bans for another 13 minutes, but he never seemed to be able to get the last word on any argument. When he implied that America need not fear a tyrannical regime rising in its midst and citizens don’t need guns to protect against that, Shapiro immediately retorted, “The fact that my grandparents and great-grandparents didn’t fear that in Europe is why they’re now ashes.”
After all was said and done, noted media critic Erik Wemple of the Washington Post explained that Morgan, a seasoned journalist, had “struggled to find the appropriate strategy” in the debate against a “foe of extraordinary polemical agility.”
A few weeks after this marquee debate that had conservatives cheering, liberals jeering, and pundits of all stripes taking note, it was this writer’s turn to speak to Morgan’s sparring partner: Ben Shapiro, a Los Angeles resident and Orthodox Jew who had just recently celebrated his 29th birthday but is already a successful attorney, widely featured political commentator, and accomplished author.
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