Before the end of the last term, British students at Cambridge University set aside their studies for a bit of verbal combat, stepping to the microphone late one evening with loose pieces of notebook paper in hand, or the Notes app open on their phones, all hoping their prepared questions would stump, or at least slow, the fast-talking, conservative champion across the dais. They fail.

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro announced last week to the more than 15 million monthly listeners of his eponymous podcast that he wouldn’t just vote for Donald Trump, he would also co-host a fundraiser for the former president.