Ben Shapiro is a personal hero of mine, so I may be biased. He’s a conservative star, and easily the most reasoned, logical, and effective voice speaking to young people on campuses across this country (including in Texas.)
He is famous for taking the argument to liberals, and making his case with facts, sound reasoning, and, frankly, a severe case of sanity the rest of America would do well to contract.
Some consider him a #NeverTrumper, though he is clearly not one. He is simply willing to criticize as well as praise, which should be the standard we all aspire to.
Today, President Trump tweeted about the Mueller investigation and Hillary et al. I won’t characterize his tweets, except to say they are about what you’ve come to expect. But Shapiro responded and he made an excellent point.
Here is what President Trump tweeted.
Never seen such Republican ANGER & UNITY as I have concerning the lack of investigation on Clinton made Fake Dossier (now $12,000,000?),....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017
...the Uranium to Russia deal, the 33,000 plus deleted Emails, the Comey fix and so much more. Instead they look at phony Trump/Russia,....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017
..."collusion," which doesn't exist. The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics, but the R's...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017
...are now fighting back like never before. There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017
And here is the reply from Shapiro that says a lot more than it may first seem.
Dude, you're the president. How about some suggestions instead of screaming on Twitter? https://t.co/qJdklNbEVo
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) October 29, 2017
That is a really important point, and it speaks to a whole range of issues the President has.
In the first place, he leans heavily on Twitter. Way too heavily. Why? Because that is how he can get a quick fix of renewed loyalty and ardor from his base. But also because it is a stand-in for actual action. Remember when everyone was making fun of Michelle Obama for taking selfies with hashtag signs for Twitter instead of using her position to take real world action? This is like that.
It’s commonplace on the left to substitute a superficial gesture for an actual effort. The temporary feeling of being “one of the good guys” replaces the work of actually doing good. President Trump is prone to the same impulse. He feels accomplished merely by achieving outrage or feedback, and then there is no need for something meatier.
But secondly, he is generally short on action even without the positive feedback loop of social media. That is not to say he never takes any action, he clearly has taken many. But it is to say he doesn’t do the hard work. The labor. He just doesn’t. If he did, we’d have repealed Obamacare with his leadership and the strong arm of the White House putting congress in line.
And to add to that, or expand on it, he doesn’t do leadership very well. Shapiro asks why not offer some suggestions? With the Russia probe, like everything else, he is loathe to offer specific, point by point recommendations. Leadership in other words.
Ask yourself why the FBI took so long to comply with Sen. Grassley’s subpoena for information on the dossier. Doesn’t Trump WANT them to hand that over? Doesn’t it serve his administration’s interest for his own FBI director to be cooperative? So where was Trump making this happen? Why didn’t he get it done?
Because he was on Twitter, that’s why. Stirring up the natives instead of doing the business he is there to do.
This is, again, not to say that he never does anything. But as Ben Shapiro right notes, what he does most is the thing we need least. He fights and scrapes and complains on Twitter. That really needs to change.