A Liberal Deconstructs Conservative Talk Radio: 03/15/2018

Each day I listen to random conservative talk radio shows to get a sense of the mood of conservative voters. And to get a heads-up on what the "Fox & Friends" morning show will be discussing tomorrow. Plus, it's just pretty damn funny.

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Mike Gallagher Is Unhappy
As I noted a number of times, even in the universe of Trump-supporting conservative talk show hosts, Mike Gallagher is a true believer. There is no principled reason to ever fail to support the President. You are either in 100 percent of the way or you are a "Trump Hater." Congress isn't a separate branch of government. In his words, Trump is the team captain and it's the role of Congress to support him and help him win the game. No questions, no qualms.

Which makes this a hard day for Mike Gallagher. A more reflective person would look at the manifesto written by the New Zealand shooter and at least ponder if there is some small sliver of truth to that document's claim to be influenced by American White Nationalism, President Trump and conservative commentators such as Candice Owens. A more intellectually honest person would note the impact the white nationalist movement in Australia had on the shooter and wonder.

While I don't know that I agree with the premise, it would have been very possible for Mike Gallagher to say, "You know, President Trump & his supporters don't incite violence, we don't hate Muslims and we're not white nationalists. But we haven't always been willing to stand up and say no to white nationalists who support our cause. We haven't always been willing to tell them that we don't agree with their hateful actions." But like a lot of Trump supporters in 2019, Mike Gallagher is incapable of honest self-reflection. Admitting even a sliver of culpability would mean also having that feeling that you were somehow owned by the liberals and lots of conservatives would rather see their world burn than wake up one morning feeling as if they had been owned by their political opponents.

Instead, Mike Gallagher twisted himself into knots trying to deflect any hint of a conservative connection to America's white nationalism movement. He played a quote from some newscast discussing how the current "climate of hate" in the U.S. is continuing to spark violence. Gallagher then agreed there was a lot of angry political rhetoric, then went through a litany of moments of anger directed at the President. He'd deflect a bit by saying "sure, there's plenty from the other side as well," then go back to examples of people hating Trump. It's bad enough that he shrugs off any culpability with the casual "other side" disclaimer. But he is literally the "other side" in this context. And he can't even bring himself to take the responsibility for being part of the other side.

To be clear, for all of his loathing for people who disapprove of Trump, Gallagher is not one of these people who advocates or even utters especially derogatory remarks. But he's just as morally complicit, because he is apparently incapable of even considering that standing silent while some fellow supporters of the President stoke hatred towards Muslims is okay. Conservatives spent the eight years of the Obama Administration arguing that the President should disavow any support for any leftist radical he ever casually met at a party. But when white nationalists who publicly support President Trump & consider him an intellectual inspiration grow more violent, now the reaction is to simply shrug and say "ah, what can you do."


If You've Ever Wanted To Hear Glenn Beck's Attitude Without Any Of The Nuance...
Glenn Beck is away from his radio show today and normal sidekick Pat Gray is leading things. So if you're longing for nonsensical snark, then you've come to the right (so to speak) place. Of course, the show begins with talk about the New Zealand shooting and he notes that "of COURSE, CNN is blaming the President for this," without mentioning that the primary reason some people are making a connection is that the shooter's manifesto literally mentions President Trump and says he's an inspiration. Sure, Gray somehow manages to find a mention of environmentalism and fascism and argues "well, neither one of those things comes from the right!" But if you listen to just this show, you'd never know the manifesto talked at length about the President, conservative American commentators such as Candice Owens and white nationalists. All of whom I am pretty sure ARE from the Right.

Gray also goes on this weirdly sad intellectual tangent about how whites are going to be blamed for this shooting. "Every single time something happens, it's the fault of white people." He then makes his way through a litany of complaints about white privilege, etc.  He also mocks the idea of political "dog whistle" speech, going this weird riff about how a dog whistle can only be heard by dogs. So racist talk that is a dog whistle could only be heard by dogs, and who cares of your dog turns out to be racist?

There's also the inevitable discussion about gun control and how while guns ownership is seriously limited in Australia and New Zealand, that didn't stop this shooting. "So I suppose that's one thing they don't have in common with us," he notes. But here's one thing Australia has in common with the U.S. and some countries in Europe. An angry, vocal and sometimes violent white nationalist movement. One which targets Muslims and sees immigration as a scourge to be eliminated. And those white nationalist movements are inevitably linked to politically conservative political parties. As Glenn Beck would ponder: "Hmm...I wonder why that's the case?" 

And When I Talk About The Links Between Conservative Politicians And White Nationalism
Here is a bit of context. This press release comes from New Zealand Senator Fraser Anning, who is ultra conservative politician who says that these are some of his top priorities:

Ending all third world immigration 
Absolute freedom of speech 
Banning foreign ownership of our land 
Firearms for self defense
Traditional family values 
Exit the UN and end foreign aid 

Sound familiar, my American conservative friends?

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