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Ben Shapiro Fights Back When Bill Maher Tries To Pin Incivility On Trump — ‘I Needed 600 Officers To Protect Me At Berkeley’

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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Ben Shapiro punched back at Bill Maher during a Friday night appearance on HBO’s “Real Time,” taking issue with Maher’s claim that President Donald Trump was ultimately responsible for the decline of civil discourse in American politics.

“I needed 600 officers to protect me at Berkeley,” he reminded Maher.

Maher asked whether there were any circumstance under which Shapiro would vote for a Democrat.

“I would say under some circumstance,” the Daily Wire editor-in-chief responded, “but the Democratic Party would have to stop being insane. Meaning that they would actually have to approach something like moderation in terms of policy, and also present a face that doesn’t look like people shouting down people at gas stations or entering restaurants and trying to throw them out.”

Maher argued that Republicans chanting “lock her up” in reference to Hillary Clinton or “lock him up” in reference to former FBI Director James Comey were indicative of the roots of the problem. “Shouldn’t we stop the ‘lock them up’ before we care about who gets their entree?” he asked.

But then Shapiro brought up the recent comments made by California Rep. Maxine Waters, arguing that it was possible to simply say that civility was lacking on both sides. (RELATED: Maxine Waters: God Is On The Side Of People Driving Trump Officials From Restaurants)

Maher then broke in, saying, “Ben you can’t walk into a room and see an elephant and a mouse and not know which is bigger.”

“It’s not an elephant and a mouse, it’s two elephants,” Shapiro countered. “I needed 600 officers to protect me at Berkeley. Yes, it’s two elephants.”