Years ago, a young man told me that his generation doesn't care about Rush Limbaugh or Rachel Maddow.  Instead, they get their cultural and political information from podcasts and videos.  And in the world of podcasts and videos, one of the biggest political stars is 36-year-old Ben Shapiro — who refused to vote for Trump in 2016.  This time around, Shapiro has given Trump an enthusiastic thumbs-up, both because of Trump's proven history of conservative governance and because the Democrats have become insane.

In a statement that lasted less than nine minutes, Shapiro opened by succinctly stating the three reasons why he supports President Trump in 2020:

1. "I was simply wrong about Donald Trump on policy."

2. "I wasn't really wrong about Donald Trump on character, but whatever damage he was going to do has already been done, and it's not going to help if I don't vote for him this time."

3. "Most importantly, the Democrats have lost their [bleeping] minds."

Shapiro then used the remainder of the podcast to develop those ideas.  Regarding policy, he said Trump has been the most conservative president of his lifetime.  On issue after issue, Trump has fulfilled the conservative, pro-American wish list.

Thus, according to Shapiro, Trump has cut regulations; appointed dozens of originalist judges; cut taxes; lowered unemployment; supported the pro-life movement; pulled America out of the disastrous Paris Accords and Iran deal; crushed ISIS, al-Baghdadi, and Soleimani; refrained from starting any wars; moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem; brokered real peace deals in the Middle East; cracked down on China; restored due process on college campuses; and, perhaps most importantly, refrained from using the excuse of the Wuhan virus to increase government control over Americans.

Shapiro still can't make himself like Donald Trump.  He thinks Trump's tweets and habit of picking fights hinder his ability to govern.  However, Shapiro also believes that Trump is correct to have taken on the media, which is, as Shapiro said, a dumpster fire.

What I believe Shapiro misses is that the same parts of Trump's temperament that allow him, rightly, to challenge an unhinged and biased media are also what drives those tweets and fights.  They're a package deal.  You cannot have the fighter America needs and, at the same time, deprive him of his chosen weapons.

Shapiro was also worried that Trump's personality flaws would cause problems down the ballot.  He imagined that Republicans would lose in the House and Senate and that special interest groups, such as women and minorities, would become even more alienated from Republicans.  Some of what he feared would happen did.  In other areas, nothing bad happened — and, indeed, Trump has higher positives with minorities than he did in 2016.  He also bests McCain's and Romney's standing with minority voters.

Ultimately, though, Shapiro said the things that trouble him about Trump's conduct don't matter in 2020.  They're already baked into the cake and would not get worse or create future problems.

What's most important, said Shapiro, is that the Democrats are out of their minds.  They've corrupted all of America's institutions.  America's media, bureaucracy, academia, and corporations are no longer functioning normally.

Shapiro notes that the Democrat party's current state has moved so far left in four years that it doesn't even resemble the party that nominated Hillary Clinton.  Indeed, Barack Obama, circa 2008, looks positively conservative, because he still supported marriage and wasn't talking about packing the Supreme Court.

Today, the Democrat party is the party of Bernie Sanders and Noam Chomsky, not Obama 2008 or even Hillary 2016.  Biden is a Potemkin village candidate, giving cover to a hard-left agenda that the Democrats intend to impose on all of us, by force if necessary.  These people are incredibly dangerous and should never be allowed near power.

.@BenShapiro: I did not vote for @realDonaldTrump in 2016.

I am voting for Donald Trump in 2020. pic.twitter.com/Yx9zxdu9Q1

— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) October 19, 2020

So why does it matter what a 36-year-old podcaster says?  It matters because he's hugely popular.  On iHeartRadio, Shapiro has the seventh most listened to podcast:

On YouTube, his channel has 2.13 million subscribers, and the audience for his videos, on average, ranges between 350,000 and 1 million listeners per episode.

And on Apple's podcasts, Shapiro has the sixth most popular podcast in America.

Shapiro is a young man with enormous reach.  His endorsement matters, especially for people who, like Shapiro himself, can't warm up to Trump's larger-than-life personality.  When a minimal shift in voters can win national elections, this endorsement could make a big difference.

Image: Ben Shapiro's Apple podcast presence.