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In the wake of the El Paso massacre, the prominent conservative commentator Ben Shapiro — aka the “cool kid’s philosopher” — took to Twitter to berate those who dare draw any kind of line between President Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and U.S. conservatives on the one hand and white nationalist terrorists on the other.

So, we now have two separate NYT columnists arguing that all conservatives are basically violent white supremacists, but slightly more subtle. Let me put this gently: f*** yourselves. pic.twitter.com/aqJjZjfPra — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 5, 2019

He continued:

Your conflation of all conservatives with white supremacist monsters who despise actual conservative principles -- you know, like the universal, non-racially-based applicability of the principles of Western civilization -- is cynical, deliberate, and disgusting. — Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 5, 2019

Got that? “Conflation” is “cynical, deliberate, and disgusting.” Shapiro himself is Jewish and has been targeted by white nationalist terrorists. It would therefore be insane — to borrow a word favored by Shapiro — to suggest he has anything in common with the hate-filled bigots who are trying to kill him, right? It would be crazy to talk about a commentator who has said that Arabs “like to bomb crap and live in open sewage,” and has predicted that “the next race war will come not from racist whites, but from racist blacks and Hispanics” in the same breath as white nationalists and white supremacists. It would be mad to connect Shapiro — whose Twitter feed was visited by the Quebec City mosque shooter 93 times in the month leading up to the attack — with domestic terrorists. Amirite? Here are six other conservatives who have nothing whatsoever to do with white nationalism. Nothing, nada, zilch. Tucker Carlson The fact that the host of one of the highest-rated shows on cable news went live on Monday evening, after the El Paso killings, to dismiss concerns about white nationalism as a “conspiracy theory” and a “hoax” doesn’t make him a white nationalist. Nor does the fact that he has claimed immigrants are making America “poorer and dirtier,” accused the Democrats of pushing for “demographic replacement” via a “flood of illegals,” and referred to an “invasion” of Europe by refugees who are “profoundly chang[ing] the demographics” of the continent. Nor does the fact that neo-Nazis are fans of his show because “he is making the white nationalist talking points better than they have and they’re trying to get some tips on how to advance it.” It’s all a “hoax,” remember? Donald J. Trump The president of the United States declared that “our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy” in a speech on Monday. So how can he be a white nationalist or supremacist? What evidence is there that the El Paso shooter has anything in common with Trump (aside from the fact that he and the president have both denounced an “invasion” of immigrants; both accused the Democratic Party of “treason”; both referred to the media as “fake news”; and both approved of the “send them back” message)?

Candace Owens, at the southern border, says "they want to import criminals" and a "new class of victim voters" pic.twitter.com/gjBhPC7T4T — Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) August 5, 2019

Owens, in fact, is keen to disconnect nationalism (good) from white nationalism (bad). “If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well — OK, fine,” she said, after she was asked about the word “nationalism” at an event in London. The problem, she explained, “is he had dreams outside of Germany. He wanted to globalize. He wanted everybody to be German.” OK, fine. But apart from all that: Why would you think she’s on the far-right? John Cornyn So what if the senior senator from Texas likes to cite Benito Mussolini? Who among us hasn’t quoted Il Duce? So what if Cornyn, since Saturday’s massacre in his home state, has devoted more tweets and retweets to attacking the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus than he has to attacking the white nationalist terrorist who perpetrated the killings? So what if, only a few weeks ago, he tweeted out statistics suggesting Hispanics are “replacing” white people in Texas?

Texas gained almost nine Hispanic residents for every additional white resident last year https://t.co/rbjpkzMGwf via @TexasTribune — Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) June 22, 2019