Right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro has been eviscerated online, after a tone-deaf attack on Americans forced to take a second job to make ends meet. He called poverty a “you problem” as the country faces a possible recession.
“If you had to work more than one job to have a roof over your head or food on the table, you probably shouldn’t have taken the job that’s not paying you enough,” Shapiro explained on his podcast on Wednesday.
That’d be a you problem.
Ben Shapiro: “If you had to work more than one job to have a roof over your head or food on the table, you probably shouldn’t have taken the job that’s not paying you enough. That’d be a you problem” pic.twitter.com/HDKSvIGBfW
— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) August 14, 2019
He went on to claim that while 8.3 percent of US workers had more than one job in 2013, these 13 million people were a negligible fraction of the population, and suggested many of those were only working two jobs to “gain more experience or explore different interests.”
Shapiro, the multimillionaire son of wealthy Hollywood executives, was immediately torn to shreds by Twitter, which pointed out that his ultra-privileged position might not be the best vantage point for disparaging the downtrodden masses.
“Would love to see Ben say this to a working person’s face rather than on his little video show funded by Texas fracking billionaires,” one user tweeted.
“When I am president, I will fix poverty by having Ben Shapiro personally phone up every [food stamp] recipient and suggest that she try getting a higher-paying job,” pledged another.
Many mocked Shapiro’s uber-privileged background: “Why don’t poor people just buy more money?”
“Gather ’round poor children and let’s listen as the son of a TV exec and composer, who never worried a moment that he wasn’t attending the absolute best schools, much less about where his next meal would come from, shits on your struggles.” https://t.co/PG0mGzCS9X
— Josh Moon (@Josh_Moon) August 14, 2019
“Not everyone can get a job as a propagandist working for billionaire evangelicals,” another person tweeted. Others, hoping to appeal to his human side, urged him to have compassion for the less fortunate.
I would tell Ben Shapiro to not quit his day job but I don’t think he has ever had one of those.
— Joe Kassabian (@jkass99) August 14, 2019
Shapiro has made a shockingly remunerative career out of delivering fast-paced neoconservative talking points and “destroying” college social justice warriors in debates.
His Daily Wire website, funded by fracking baron Farris Wilks, launched him as a brand along the lines of his fellow conservative radio personalities Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham, and provided a “safe space” allowing him to avoid debating anyone too challenging.
When he does venture out of his bubble, the results are not pretty – as shown by a BBC appearance last month, when an interviewer’s pointed questions led him to end the segment in a huff.
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Meanwhile, nearly half of US families cannot afford basic necessities each month, according to the United Way ALICE Project. Two-thirds say they could not afford a surprise $600 expense, and homelessness rates are at record highs in major cities like New York and Los Angeles. Unemployment numbers are low, but those figures don’t count Americans who have given up looking for work, those who have never held a job, and those who work even a handful of part-time hours.
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