Ben Shapiro is cracking under the pressure to shill for Trump

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.

Shapiro is smart enough to know that a 30% tariff is still wildly inflationary, but he caved to pressure to return to the North Korea-style praise of Trump as the ultimate genius. “Trump’s great strength? He lives in a world of results,” Shapiro gushed after the "concept of a plan" was announced. “When a policy doesn’t deliver, he adjusts.” This still wasn’t enough slobber for his audience, however. “He didn't adjust, that was the plan all along,” one fantasized in comments. Another accused Shapiro of having brain damage from vaccines.

Shapiro is one of the most prominent and frankly hilarious examples, but his dilemma is felt throughout the massive world of professional Trump apologists. Even for people who have years of practice declaring Trump a “genius” while he prattles on about bleach injections or pet-eating immigrants, it's getting harder to feign ignorance about basic realities. That's especially true when Trump's actions, as with this pointless trade war, are so politically toxic they threaten the longevity of the MAGA movement. Trump has surrounded himself with flatterers who keep their position by only telling the boss that his every move is the smartest choice ever made. The only possible source for constructive criticism the narcissist-in-chief might hear is from the right-wing press — but they're hamstrung by audiences who don't want to listen to it, either.

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Shapiro barely had a chance to release posts and videos praising Trump for his infinite wisdom for temporarily rolling back some of the stupidest economic policies in American history, before Trump made another decision that is nigh-impossible for even his biggest boot-lickers to defend: accepting a $400 million bribe from Qatar's royal family, in the form of a highly photographable super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet known as the "flying palace." Especially since Trump defended his acceptance of this "gift" by insisting that only "a stupid person" would think that there might be strings attached. Even people with MAGA-decimated cognitive abilities can grasp that the opposite is true and that no one offers such a showy present without expecting something unpleasant in return.

It's an especially tough look for Trump mere days after he went on the lecture circuit, scolding American children for wanting more than their allotted "two dolls," explaining that a miserly toy collection is a necessary sacrifice for the president's mysterious economic agenda. (So mysterious that he doesn't even seem to know what his goals are!) The news of Trump's luxury aircraft also coincides with an explosion of horror stories of air traffic failures and delays, which is exactly the sort of disaster that was predicted when Trump unleashed Elon Musk on federal workers, firing and bullying thousands from their jobs — including 400 crucial workers for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Shapiro gets that it's a bad look for Trump to be kicking it on the world's fanciest airplane, as the voters watch endless news reels about his fancy new jet while they get morosely drunk waiting for their flight reports at an airport bar. So, even though he's already on eggshells with his snappish fanbase, Shapiro waded into Trump criticism again on Monday. "Define 'America first' in a way that says you should take sacks of cash from the Qatari royals," he complained on his show. "If you want President Trump to succeed, this kind of skeezy stuff needs to stop," he demanded, adding that it's already having a political impact.

Shapiro isn't speaking truth out of the goodness of his heart, the existence of which is still debatable. He's very clear that his concern is the future of the MAGA movement. It may be that he understands better than his followers how fascism is not inevitable. His own company has been quietly struggling in recent months. In March, Will Sommer of The Bulwark reported that the Daily Wire CEO, Jeremy Boreing, had abruptly stepped down. The Daily Wire "has been bleeding talent," Sommer reports, and they seem to have flushed unseemly amounts of cash down the toilet on "Boreing’s 25-year passion project to film a book series about King Arthur," which now looks like it will never be finished. Shortly after Boreing was let go, the Daily Wire was hit with layoffs, a relatively rare event in the right-wing media world that is buoyed by cash infusions from far-right billionaires.

But the gravy train of MAGA media depends on the viability of their political movement. Trump is threatening their futures by inflicting needless economic damage. The pitch for fascism is that voters can trade off human rights for prosperity. It was always a lie. Autocratic governments tend to underperform healthy democracies on economic metrics, precisely because corrupt leaders drain public coffers to benefit themselves. But Trump's speed and flash with his destructive agenda could sink the fascist ship before it even sets sail. Shapiro isn't the only MAGA media star who is worried that Trump's greed could destroy their fragile power base. Even Laura Loomer, one of the nuttier figures with real sway over Trump's addled mind, is griping that the Qatar plane is a bad look (though, as usual, she has racist reasons for her calculations).

Shapiro's dilemma reflects a tension that is increasingly untenable for much of the right-wing media, including Fox News. They make a handsome living by telling Trump voters soothing lies, about how they were always right and the liberals were always wrong and Trump is actually a genius. It's an evil job, but undeniably has some difficulties, especially for those who haven't killed the lingering conscience telling them that lying is bad. But now the problem isn't just moral decay. There are increasing demands to make excuses for behavior so stupid that the rest of the GOP should consider it political malfeasance. Keeping the MAGA movement going may mean saving Trump from himself, but that's impossible to do when your central message is that Dear Leader can do no wrong. Here's hoping the cracks start showing from the pressure.