It's hard to say which is less surprising: that far-right troll Ben Shapiro tried to indoctrinate a bunch of little kids into the idea that "taxes are theft," or that one of those little kids clapped back at him better than most adults could.
Either way, these are both things that happened recently in Florida, during an appearance of Shapiro's at a public library. The ostensible point of the appearance was to teach kids about government in a "fashion that kids can understand," but in practice it was just an attempt to brainwash them with far-right ideology.
And one kid wasn't having it. When Shapiro went in on taxes, he flatly told Shapiro that what he was saying wasn't true. See the moment below.
Ben Shapiro lost a debate to a 8 year oldpic.twitter.com/RJ1cDbpQ72— Right Wing Cope (@Right Wing Cope) 1643552189
Shapiro's discussion of taxation went off the rails immediately. He claimed:
"The government takes all your money and gives you very little in return."
To which one of the eight-year-olds in attendance immediately shot back.
"That’s not true."
Shapiro then tried to soldier on, and it only got worse. When he claimed that it's "kind of true" depending on "the kind of government," another child called out, "That's what taxes are for!" Shapiro then soldiered on again, telling the children:
"Yeah that is what taxes are for, but taxes are theft, children... They're supposed to spend it on things like the police. They’re not supposed to spend it on just random projects or silly things that they have in their head.”
To this, another youngster had just one thing to say.
"Yeah he's way off base about that."
Shapiro, as always, was undeterred, moving on to mock his home state of California as a place "where monsters roam the streets" (also not true, for the record), and then told the kids that Democratic President Joe Biden "doesn't care" about America. Charming.
While there were children in the crowd who seemed to be on his side, a lot of the more outspoken kids seemed to think Shapiro was bonkers. And on Twitter, people found it absolutely delicious.
get sniped by a kidpic.twitter.com/Q6Er1hI6QM— Dylan Burns\ud83d\udd4a\ufe0f\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Dylan Burns\ud83d\udd4a\ufe0f\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1643517397
Ben Shapiro being schooled by kids but it's an episode of The Officepic.twitter.com/h02Xk6VnHs— Ben (@Ben) 1643598584
Ben Shapiro getting owned by children is my favorite thing about 2022. . .so far.pic.twitter.com/qcFgNNnPwF— The Liberal Poet \u270d\ufe0f (@The Liberal Poet \u270d\ufe0f) 1643609392
BEN SHAPIRO OWNED BY LITERAL CHILD IN THE MARKETPLACE OF IDEASpic.twitter.com/A0PjIcKwo0— Budrino Politics (@Budrino Politics) 1643575112
Kids don't like Ben Shapiro.pic.twitter.com/891t86zPCt— Vote #Beto Feb 14 To Mar 1 To Help Turn Texas Blue (@Vote #Beto Feb 14 To Mar 1 To Help Turn Texas Blue) 1643590227
They\u2019re always doing what they say the left is doing. #BenShapiropic.twitter.com/2WKgUrMHUX— The Emo Dragon \ud83c\udfb8\ud83d\udc09\ud83d\udda4 (@The Emo Dragon \ud83c\udfb8\ud83d\udc09\ud83d\udda4) 1643646155
Ben Shapiro gets corrected by a 5 year old..pic.twitter.com/8Gi3zmfqEi— aes (@aes) 1643675343
If you can suffer through listening to Ben Shapiro\u2019s high-pitched castrato voice, he gets totally destroyed by a child as he tries to brainwash them with dumbass libertarian lies.pic.twitter.com/XqK7WqQcZN— The USA Singers (@The USA Singers) 1643590686
Whoever\u2019s kid this is who shut down Ben Shapiro\u2019s winey ass pic.twitter.com/dBWOWxkP1H— itsallrealitv (@itsallrealitv) 1643590431
Y\u2019all want to see a video of Ben Shapiro getting his ass kicked by a child lmaopic.twitter.com/rbTL0jfyqa— \ud835\ude72\ud835\ude98\ud835\ude96\ud835\ude9b\u24b6\ud835\ude8d\ud835\ude8e \ud835\ude82\ud835\ude9d\u262d\ud835\ude9b \ud83c\udff4\ud83d\udd3b (@\ud835\ude72\ud835\ude98\ud835\ude96\ud835\ude9b\u24b6\ud835\ude8d\ud835\ude8e \ud835\ude82\ud835\ude9d\u262d\ud835\ude9b \ud83c\udff4\ud83d\udd3b) 1643522689
Any way we can get these kids on the ballot for this fall's elections?
Sad Michael Scott GIF
Monsters Inc Hug GIF