Political commentator Ben Shapiro is facing criticism after he defended President Donald Trump retweeting a video in which one of his supporters yelled "white power." Speaking during Monday's The Ben Shapiro Show, Shapiro suggested that "the sound was off" on Trump's computer when he retweeted the clip and said that the outrage sparked by the retweet is "reflective of a narrative that the left would like to push, which is that President Trump is a white supremacist."
Shapiro went on to challenge people, asking, "do you think that he really would intentionally retweet a video in which somebody is shouting 'white power,' which is what happens in this video?" He added that the president likely saw "a person yelling with a Trump 2020 sticker on the front of the golf cart" and decided to retweet the video, according to MEAWW. He also said that "when you are bored, you just start retweeting things" and that "when you retweet things, you don't always watch the video all the way to the end."
The controversy started Sunday when the president retweeted a video showing one of his supporters chanting "white power." Taken at The Villages, a Florida retirement community, the video showed a verbal clash between Trump supporters and opponents, with a man chanting the racist phrase from his golf cart just moments into the clip, which Trump had shared with the caption, "Thank you to the great people of The Villages." White House spokesman Judd Deere later suggested that the president "did not hear the one statement made on the video," according to CNN.
Just as Trump's retweet had, Shapiro's defense of it sparked a fierce discussion on social media. Many pointed out that Shapiro's case for Trump wasn't necessarily a good reflection of the president. Keep scrolling to see what social media has to say.