Conservative Hall Monitor Ben Shapiro: ‘Nothing Has Been Accomplished’ in North Korea

An avowed NeverTrumper and generally annoying “conservative” commentator is not celebrating one of the greatest diplomatic feats of our lifetime.

“Pre-emptive celebration of a Great Victory by the president is sheer partisan hackery,” tweeted Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro. “Nothing has been accomplished…yet. Perhaps it will be. Celebrate then.”

But what about the North Korean government’s willful destruction of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site during peace talks between countries? What about those three hostages North Korea freed during the same time? What about the top North and South Korean leaders holding talks at the DMZ for only the third time in history? What about opening up diplomatic relations between the United States and the world’s most isolated country?

None of those things count as accomplishments in the eyes of Ben Shapiro, conservative moral arbiter and so-called “voice of reason.”

The Trump/Kim summit in itself is an accomplishment, one that even Democrats had to acknowledge. Even Time magazine called it a “genuine victory.” But not Shapiro. And not his neoconservative buddies like Matt Walsh, who compared the summit to the rise of Hitler. Why be optimistic about peace?

Shapiro has been tweeting up a storm since yesterday about how patriotic Americans are wrong for viewing last night’s summit as a step towards peace in the Korean Peninsula.

“Imagine the Nazi flag in place of the North Korean flag,” he said. “Kim is the closest thing to Hitler on the planet today. We put our flag alongside his, and Trump praised him fulsomely. That better reap some dividends.”

“If we receive nothing but empty words and a photo op between the most powerful leader in the world and an evil tinpot dictator who murders his own family members, that’s a true disgrace to the American flag,” he continued.

But we have already “reaped dividends.” What else would one call the freeing of hostages and destruction of a nuclear test facility?

Of course, none of this is meant to lionize the Kim regime or suggest that our work is finished. North Korea has promised denuclearization before.

But negotiations require give-and-take, and America has already taken some rewards. The ultimate prize is peace, which can only be accomplished through diplomacy. Shapiro cannot seem to wrap his head around what a fruitful negotiation looks like.

“Virtually all of the people cheering loudly today for the Trump/Kim meeting would have SAVAGED Obama for the same exact meeting — and vice versa,” he said.

But that is flat wrong. When Obama “negotiated” with Iran, America received nothing at all. Before sending pallets of cash to Iran and receiving a promise of denuclearization, Obama did not receive a single assurance. No freed hostages. No demolition of nuclear sites. Nothing. The average American (or the “people cheering loudly” as Shapiro calls them) understand this dynamic. Obama capitulated to Iran without any assurances, before or after signing the dotted line.

There are other forces at play that give Trump leverage over the Kim regime. UN Sanctions on oil and coal exported from China to North Korea, combined with a moratorium on North Korean imports, are crushing the Hermit Kingdom.

“The trucks [of Chinese goods] are increasingly coming back empty,” said a New York Times piece from September. “And that could present a potential weak point that the Trump administration and others could exploit, if China is willing to go along, as they look for ways to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.”

Even the New York Times gets it! But not Shapiro.

Trump is sending a loud and clear message to Kim. Play ball, or the sanctions stay in place. Kim understands that those sanctions are a death sentence.

But you (stupid Trump supporter) are supposed to believe Shapiro (“smart conservative”) when he says that this deal mirrors the Iran deal.

And that is the crux of the matter. Shapiro truly believes that Trump is stupid, and that Trump’s supporters are even more stupid. In Shapiro’s eyes, Trump could not possibly have a plan, and if Trump does have a plan it will never work.

Influential Trump supporters are quickly losing patience with Shapiro.

“Is Ben Shapiro actually mad at [Trump] for meeting Kim, something that no other politician could do?” asked YouTube star and commentator Ashton Whitty. “The level of annoying this elf is getting is absolutely ridiculous.”

https://twitter.com/ashtonbirdie/status/1006609426009198598

“Ah, good to see Ben has become a full neoliberal and adopted the ‘Everyone I don’t like is Hitler” argument,’ said Breitbart reporter Charlie Nash.

https://twitter.com/MrNashington/status/1006588871856087041

“Shapiro BLASTS Summit — ‘Treating Kim Jong Un As Leader Is Wrong,’ said radio show host Wayne Dupree. “You would think some of these so-called leaders of the ‘conservative movement’ had money on Trump failing.”

Even Shapiro’s own reporters disagree with him.

“To those saying we received nothing in negotiations with North Korea: we already received our American prisoners and DPRK committed to denuclearization,” said Daily Wire writer Kassy Dillon. “It’s too early to be making blanket statements. It is still progress. We’ll see what happens.”

Expecting Shapiro to come around and support the most conservative president in his lifetime, and probably yours? Don’t bet on it. The NeverTrump is nearly impossible to wash out. It will follow Shapiro for a lifetime.