Ben Shapiro is in trouble with grandma.

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Appearing on The Rubin Report yesterday, the conservative social media personality waxed philosophic about the factors states will weigh as they decide whether and how to lift restrictions meant to slow the spread of coronavirus.

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In his opinion, elderly people dying of coronavirus, the virus that causes COVID-19, should not be high among those factors. Shapiro takes the view that they’ve got one foot in the grave anyway, so who cares.

“Nobody just wants to say the obvious truth, which is that we’re all making actuarial deductions about what are the costs in terms of how many human lives, how many years of life…” Shapiro said.

“If somebody who is 81 dies of COVID-19, that is not the same thing as somebody who is 30 dying of COVID-19. I mean, if this were killing children, everyone would be in lockdown forever.”

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“…If grandma dies in a nursing home at age 81, that’s tragic and it’s terrible, also the life expectancy in the United States is 80, so that is not the same thing.”

“In moral terms, you want to save every life you can, at the same time, to pretend that it is of the same calculation, the age of the person, no public policy acts like that, not a single public policy in America acts like that,” Shapiro said with all the bravado of a lawyer who never studied criminal law.

Ben Shapiro: "If somebody who is 81 dies of COVID-19, that is not the same thing as somebody who is 30 dying of COVID-19…If grandma dies in a nursing home at age 81, that's tragic and it's terrible, also the life expectancy in the United States is 80" pic.twitter.com/L2UJi95OUN — Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) April 29, 2020

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People were deeply concerned for Shapiro’s elderly relatives.

“Man, I’m glad I’m not @BenShapiro‘s grandma,” tweeted Jon Cooper.

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Many called Shapiro a hypocrite. He’s both pro-life (anti-choice) and has previously railed against the “death panels” he promised the Affordable Care Act would usher in. Neither position is exactly consistent with being all good with octogenarians dying from coronavirus.

“Sounds like Ben’s in favor of death panels,” remarked Parker Molloy, editor-at-large for Media Matters for America, a liberal media watchdog group whose researcher, Jason Campbell, tweeted the footage.

Some pointed out that Shapiro repeating a conservative talking point isn’t exactly a surprise.

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“‘Old people dying scared and alone is totes fine if it fixes the economy since everyone dies’ is a take I expected from Ben Shapiro,” said one.

Ben Shapiro is more concerned about an unborn fetus than he is about grandma.



Let that sink in.



So much for being pro-life.



It's telling that he's considered to be one of the conservative movement's "great thinkers."



He's basically Candace Owens with a yarmulke. pic.twitter.com/VL3RvARs5V — Russell Drew (@RussOnPolitics) April 29, 2020

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the idea that bureaucrats were going to be making decisions about the value of human life based on actuarial tables, in the form of "death panels," is something that ben shapiro was very, very against not that long ago https://t.co/SaJar159nO — Christopher Hooks (@cd_hooks) April 29, 2020

Shorter Ben Shapiro: "Some lives are worth more than others"



Also, LOL at "shorter Ben Shapiro" https://t.co/6LvUXIW1a3 — Ed Gruberman (@E_Gruberman) April 29, 2020

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Here is Ben Shapiro talking about "years of life" as he argues that we should kill those we have confined to nursing homes. https://t.co/SbVsyuQNVQ — Matthew Cortland, Esq (@mattbc) April 29, 2020

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If the other side openly rationalized loss of life like this, @benshapiro would do an entire podcast entitled “Democrats Hang Granny Out to Dry” and sell accompanying “Save Granny” merch on the Daily Wire website. https://t.co/noXmiMkgrt — Heath Mayo (@HeathMayo) April 29, 2020

Oh I don’t know, what’s wrong with culling people older than the life expectancy? — Jane S (@raspberry477) April 29, 2020

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There also IS 5 year olds dying of covid19, but they don't want to acknowledge that. — Rebecca Thompson (@Momof3gngrs) April 29, 2020

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And let her know that Ben wants her dead — lost (@dtalley2000) April 29, 2020

People are saying that Ben Shapiro just voted for Grandma — Trumpy Trumpy (parody) (@outofcontroljb) April 29, 2020

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Trump would make a good communist. — T.Jones (@ohboy51) April 29, 2020

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And, just to give @benshapiro some statistical education, life expectancy at birth isn't relevant for someone grandma's age. The average life expectancy of an 81-year-old woman today is 90.4 years, according to @SocialSecurity. — Bob Drummond (@bobdrummond) April 29, 2020

I bet Alison did not get to be a grandma https://t.co/29Tb5753Fn — Jaynie's Got a Bun (@FreeGirlNowNYC) April 29, 2020

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would you believe this guy read toothbrush ads at a pro-life rally https://t.co/s5LePSfwtz — kilgore trout, multiyear slanderer (@KT_So_It_Goes) April 29, 2020

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Wee Ben Shapiro is so excited to move from legislating women's vaginas to wholesale of killing people, he peed himself a little. — The Rube Report (@GuadalahonkyToo) April 29, 2020

To date, the coronavirus has infected one million Americans and killed 60,000, among them infants, children, and thousands of other people under the age of 80.

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