No one was more relieved than Daily Wire commentator Ben Shapiro when Donald Trump announced a 90-day “pause” on Chinese tariffs. Scare quotes around “pause,” because there will still be a 30% tariff on Chinese goods, which economist Paul Krugman characterized as “really, really high.” But Shapiro has been getting a lot of grief in recent days from his audience for ever-so-slightly acknowledging a reality everyone outside the MAGA bubble can see: Trump’s tariff impulses — which hardly rise to the level of “policy” — are both stupid and dangerous.
The first rule of MAGA is, “Trump is never, ever wrong.” Understanding this, Shapiro tried to avoid blaming the president for his own decisions, instead focusing his ire on White House advisor Peter Navarro. Calling Navarro “a dotard and a fool” for supporting tariffs, Shapiro begged Trump to fire his beloved yes-man. Shapiro initially aimed his criticism directly at Trump himself, only to be overwhelmed with blowback from the audience. But even the MAGA-blind can see Shapiro’s “dotard and fool” characterization better suits Trump than Navarro, so the anger at Shapiro for saying something true wasn’t dissipating.
