Right-wing podcaster Ben Shapiro on Friday defended Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musks's Wednesday tweet comparing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler.
Trudeau earlier this week invoked his emergency powers as a means of quelling the disruptions caused by the "Freedom Convoy" brigade of truckers – some of whom have flown Confederate and swastika flags – that have blocked key commerce hubs between the United States and Canada over opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Since its inception in late January, however, the rolling protest has morphed into a far-right conspiracy movement that has begun to trickle down into American conservative circles.
Musk deleted the Twitter post amid ferocious public outcry and accusations of antisemitism. But Shapiro, who is Jewish, believes that Musk's analogy was appropriate.
He said on The Ben Shapiro Show:
This is frightening stuff. All of this should frighten you. So, but here's the thing: what was the left all hot and bothered about yesterday? What the left was hot and bothered about was the fact that Elon Musk tweeted out an internet meme about Hitler. This is what the left was super worried about. So, just to get this straight, if a Black Lives Matter activist attempts to murder a Jew in Louisville, this is not antisemitism. Even if his page is loaded with antisemitism, not antisemitism. However, if Elon Musk makes a Hitler joke about a leader who has now invoked an emergencies act to freeze bank accounts and utilize dictatorial power, Elon Musk must be, secretly, a vicious antisemite.
And he tweeted out a meme of Hitler that said, 'Stop comparing me to Justin Trudeau. I had a budget.' OK, that's a very old internet joke, right? What's the difference between X politician and Hitler? Hitler had a mustache. Right? These are very old internet jokes. They're not antisemitic. Ok, like, let me explain as a person who's been attacked with, probably, more antisemitism than nearly anyone in American public life, I can safely say that is not an antisemitic meme.
But here's the thing. The left gets angry at memery that they can try to generate outrage about antisemitism but actual attacks on Jews, they don't give any craps. They don't care at all. Like, not one iota. Because always the double standard applies. If you're on the left, you must be good. If you're on the right, you must be bad. If you're libertarian – if you just don't agree with the left – you must be bad. The true antisemitism is Elon Musk tweeting out Hitler memes – not about the Jews – but about Justin Trudeau's treatment of dissent. That's, that's real antisemitism. Black activists trying to murder a Jew, not antisemitism.
