Ben Shapiro vs. Imaginary Obama Explains the Republican Party

Reviewing the conservative pundit’s critique of Obama’s recent speech, and what it says about conservatism in America

On Thursday, Barack Obama returned to the political fray with a speech at the University of Illinois. It was unmistakably a campaign speech, perhaps the most partisan speech he’s ever given.

Ben Shapiro didn’t like it. The popular conservative pundit posted an article denouncing Obama’s address, accusing the former president of abdicating his responsibility for the troubled state of American politics. This is from the first paragraph:

The central lie of the speech is that time began on November 8, 2016 — that the collapse of America’s social fabric and civic institutions had nothing to do with Barack Obama. The reality of the situation, of course, is that Trump is a symptom…

The problem with calling this “the central lie” is Obama said the exact opposite:

It did not start with Donald Trump. He is a symptom, not the cause. He’s just…