Representative Eric Swalwell dragged peewee free speech absolutist Ben Shapiro before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, brilliantly calling out his support for the Trumpian Project 2025.
Shapiro appeared before the GOP-led hearing—titled “Collusion in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media”—to testify in support of the far-right conspiracy that media collusion is suppressing conservative voices.
During the hearing, Swalwell asked Shapiro point-blank about the right-wing Project 2025’s proposal to ban same-sex marriage.
“You think it’s a sin to have same-sex marriage?” Swalwell asked. “I’m just asking, is it a sin to be gay?”
“From a religious Jewish perspective, orientation is not a sin, but activity is,” Shapiro replied.
Swalwell then presented a large printout of a quote from Shapiro during a 2018 interview with Slate where he justified his opposition to “homosexual activity” by referring to himself, saying, “For example, I may have a desire to sleep with many women, but I do not.”
“I agree with me,” Shapiro interjected, at which Swalwell coyly hit back, “I’m sure it’s very hard to restrain yourself.”
Swalwell: You did say you think homosexual activity is a sin… and you said you may have a desire to sleep with many women, but you do not.
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 10, 2024
Shapiro: I agree with me
Swalwell: I’m sure it’s very hard to restrain yourself pic.twitter.com/LeMAftycHF
The absurd back and forth followed questions where Swalwell asked Shapiro his opinions on various other aspects of Project 2025, much of which he expressed agreement with. Shapiro spent the rest of the hearing arguing against responsible media practices, claiming that restrictions against hate speech and misinformation inhibit free speech of conservatives and hurt propagators of far-right content, such as Shapiro’s own Daily Wire, the far-right website Breitbart, and conservative media outlet Fox News.
“It is time to stand up for the First Amendment in this Congress,” Shapiro declared in his testimony.
A multitude of research has found disinformation proliferates among the far right, stoking waves of extremist activities such as the election-denialist January 6 Capitol riot and far-right anti-vax protests that followed it.
In 2021, it was discovered that Facebook’s algorithm promoted inflammatory content and disinformation that incited violence in Myanmar, with researchers declaring Facebook was complicit in genocide. During the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, racist disinformation touted by Donald Trump falsely claiming China created the virus as a bioweapon led to violence against Chinese Americans. Research has found disinformation poses a serious threat to democracy in the United States and abroad as conspiracy theories fueled by the far right continue to spread relatively unchecked.
