Politics

Ben Shapiro: ‘McConnell Was Not Elected To Give An Up Or Down Vote On Hillary Clinton’s Judicial Nominees’

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Jamie Weinstein Senior Writer
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Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro says should Hillary Clinton win the presidency, Republicans are under no obligation to confirm any of her Supreme Court picks.

The NeverTrump editor-in-chief of Daily Wire and Harvard Law School grad explained how the Senate GOP should handle Clinton judicial nominations in the latest episode of “The Jamie Weinstein Show” podcast, where he also discussed the negative consequences of his NeverTrumpism, his views on foreign policy and who is responsible for Donald Trump’s rise.

Listen:

Show Map:

  • What Trump’s nomination says about the Republican Party (4:19)
  • How Trump succeeded (12:24)
  • Whether we will see a Breitbart News-Trump media collaboration (15:29)
  • Twitter and the consequences of going NeverTrump (17:40)
  • Who Ben is voting for and why (22:08)
  • What happens to the GOP if Trump loses (23:33)
  • How the GOP should handle Hillary Clinton’s judicial nominations (36:47)
  • On Israel and Syria (38:31)
  • The time Elizabeth Warren recruited Ben to go to Harvard Law (42:02)
  • What you need to do to become the next Ben Shapiro (43:31)
  • On his influences (50:50)

You can Subscribe and Listen to the Podcast on iTunes, and be sure to leave me a Rating and Review!

“She’ll be garbage on judges,” Shapiro, whose first fiction book “True Allegiance” comes out Nov. 1, predicted of a new President Clinton. “Republicans should stonewall her on every judge she puts up.”

Asked if this means the GOP should refuse to confirm a replacement to Antonin Scalia and keep a 4-4 Supreme Court indefinitely, Shapiro said, “yes.”

“It’s always been my view that you do not abdicate your constitutional responsibilities just because an election has taken place,” Shapiro explained. “[Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell was not elected to give an up or down vote on Hillary Clinton’s judicial nominees. He was elected to fulfill his constitutional obligations, which in this case means not allowing an up or down vote on a wild left nominee that Hillary puts forward.”

A month after Scalia’s February passing, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to replace him on the Supreme Court. But Republicans in the Senate have refused to hold hearings on his nomination, much less give him a vote, hoping that a Republican president would be elected in November.

If a liberal justice is ultimately confirmed to replace Scalia, it will tip the balance of the court in the left’s favor.

Even though Shapiro says he has suffered significant financial consequences for refusing to back Donald Trump, he says he doesn’t want to see a “firefight within the party” between NeverTrumpers and supporters of the Republican nominee after the election, as some have predicted.

“I’m not interested in doing recriminations after this election,” he explained, contrasting his approach to Trump-supporting Fox News host Sean Hannity, who Shapiro says is “already prepping” for a fight with NeverTrumpers after the election. “I think that we have to do some soul searching, we have to correct some mistakes, but I’m not so much interested in the blame game for people who I think made honest mistakes and did things wrong.”

Shapiro did say that Republicans and conservatives should evaluate after the election who in the conservative movement and media is trustworthy.

“I think that people should give a hard look to whether they were told the truth by Hannity and [radio host Laura] Ingraham and then decide, is this somebody who I want to trust with sort of messaging for the future of the conservative movement?” he said. “I think in certain areas sure, but only when they are talking about principle, not when they are talking about politicians clearly.”

Listen to past episodes of “The Jamie Weinstein Show” and subscribe to it in iTunes:

Is Tomi Lahren the future face of Trump TV? 

Bill Kristol On NeverTrump, The State Of The Republican Party And Why He Didn’t Run For President 

Rick Wilson on a coming Trump oppo dump, The Rock for president and the creation of a new conservative party 

Jack Abramoff on why Hillary Clinton’s Corruption  

Grover Norquist On Trump, NeverTrumpers And Meeting George Soros 

Matt Lewis On How He Went From Flipping Burgers To CNN

Roger Stone On What Donald Trump Learned From Roy Cohn

Former Israeli Amb. Michael Oren On Trump, Clinton, American Leadership And His Future Ambitions

Karl Rove On The State Of The Race, Getting Under Hillary’s Skin And What Happens To The GOP After Trump

Alan Dershowitz On 2016, Knowing Trump And Hillary, And Going From Academic Failure To Legal All Star 

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