So Ben Shapiro is a leftist now too?
@Cripplecreek No, Ben Shapiro is not a leftist. He's a conservative who is going with a leftist smear because that particular smear -- the alt-right is racist - matches his own agenda. And I think he's doing that without realizing that he's giving away more than he likely thinks. So in that particular context, I'd say he'd fall into a category some might describe as a "useful idiot". I don't think he's an actual idiot -- but I think that concept is the closest to what is actually happening.
The full leftist smear is basically a syllogism: 1) Trump supporters are the Alt-Right, 2) the alt-right are racists, 3) Trump supporters are racists. If you don't think the left is pushing that, then you haven't been reading/listening to the same folks I have been.
I certainly think there are many people who self identify as "Alt-right" who are actual racists. But there also are
some self-identified alt-righters -- I know a few -- who are
not racist. And what I particularly dislike about the "racist" label in this context is that the left pushes a ridiculous definition of what it means to be racist. If you say "All Lives Matter", that's racist. Want to protect the southern border? That's racist. Slow down immigration from the Middle East? Racist! Heck, in some instances, just waving an American flag is racist. The left lumps all those points of view into the same cauldron, and then attach a label of "white supremacy" to it.
I don't think
Shapiro is doing that, at least not intentionally, but by going with the "the alt-right is racist" definition, he is actually supporting the screwy leftist definitions, and their efforts to convert all dissent on those issues into "hate speech".
This whole debate is why I don't like using the term at all. It is simply too imprecise, too ill-defined, and there is no gatekeeper to say who is in the "alt-right", and who isn't.