Ben Shapiro Compares Needing Healthcare to Wanting a Nice Couch

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro invited a wave of rebuke by comparing needing health care to wanting a nice piece of furniture.
Shapiro was responding to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who has called healthcare a right and denounced President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans’ plan to repeal Obamacare.
You heard it here first folks—health is an accessory in the same way high-quality, hand-stitched, Napa leather couches are. Thanks Ben! pic.twitter.com/DoR6MDxrkL
— Lucas Grillos (@LGrillos) January 8, 2017
Shapiro’s tweet garnered angry responses from people condemning his remarks as heartless.

Image by twitter
Although Shapiro often supports positions taken by President-elect Donald Trump, he does occasionally criticize him. Early Monday Shapiro called out Trumps “hackneyed defense” after Meryl Streep denounced him at the Golden Globes Sunday.
Disappointed in Trump’s Streep tweetstorm. Began strong, fell apart with hackneyed defense of indefensible disabled journalist imitation.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 9, 2017
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
