Category: Latest News

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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Yes, I Do Listen To Some Local Conservative Talk Radio Hosts
Here in the Twin Cities, there are two conservative AM talkers, one airing Salem Radio hosts and the other an i-Heart Radio-owned station airing a mix of a couple of local shows as well as Glenn Beck, Rush and Sean Hannity. "Justice & Drew" is the latter station's morning show and as far as broadcast skills go, they are both quite good. Funny and when they aren't talking politics, pretty damn entertaining.

Of the two, Jon Justice is the more aggressive in his support of Trump and generally speaking, all things conservative. For a bit of context, he once yelled at me on Twitter because he was convinced I was trying to troll him by attempting to look at both sides of an issue. He's not especially open or even comfortable confronting ideas outside of his political comfort zone, but he's also one of my inspirations for writing this daily column. So thanks, Jon. I'm sure you'll hate this as well.

I did catch a couple of minutes of their show this morning, as they were wrapping up a discussion of last night's rally by President Trump. I've heard their argument a lot in recent days in conservative media. The President is such a vibrant personality no one can stop him, that his nicknames for political foes and energy in front of an adoring crowd will allow him to easily stomp his Democratic opponent into submission.

At this point, we're all just guessing about what will happen in 2020. But given that Donald Trump was pretty much a political unknown in 2016 and only beat a historically disliked Democratic rival by a slim margin means that he needs to attract new voters if he hopes to win in 2020. Throwing around a few nicknames and "fake news" claims might thrill his base. But that base isn't big enough to win the election for him. Particularly if he is running against a candidate who is also able to rally his/her base. And for all of the talk about faux movements like "Jexodus," one consistent theme you hear from most Democrat voters is that while they may prefer candidate A or B, they'll vote for anyone who wins the party's nomination.

Which is why I remain confused by the almost joyful banter from the conservative media. Maybe Trump does end up winning. But I don't think even the people working for them think it is going to be as easy as conservative talk show hosts do.

If You Look Up The Word 'Sycophant' In The Dictionary, You'll See Mike Gallagher's Picture
I have no problem with someone supporting Donald Trump. I don't and in fact, I distrusted him so much before he was elected that the thought of him wielding the powers of the presidency convinced me to vote for Hillary "The Lesser of Two Evils" Clinton. But the difference between being a presidential supporter and a toady is that supporters are willing to admit their politician has made a mistake. I voted twice for President Obama and even in retrospect am happy with that choice. But he certainly made decisions I didn't approve of and I was willing to call him out for them. As opposed to Mike Gallagher, who seems at this point to be genetically incapable of criticizing President Trump.

And because he is such a super fan, Gallagher twists himself into all sorts of strange philosophical knots trying to support President Trump. For instance, he began one segment of his show today complaining that Democrats hate the President with such an irrational fury that they were incapable of giving him credit for any attempt to be bipartisan. And as an example of Trump's bipartisan efforts, he mentions the decision by the President to fully fund the Special Olympics, after his latest budget completely cut funding for the event. "They can't even give him credit for doing something they wanted to get done!" Gallagher complained.

Well, maybe he's not getting credit for it because he's the one (or his administration is the one) who proposed the cuts in the first place. And it's not as if it were an accident, since this is the third time the Trump Administration has proposed zeroing out funding for the Special Olympics. And in the current budget, that request was accompanied by a plan to cut $51 million worth of funding for assistance for Autistic children and other student with special needs. Giving the President credit for not cutting the Special Olympics is a bit like having someone pull a gun on you and then thanking them for not actually pulling the trigger.

Gallagher is one of those people I'd really love to talk to off the air. He could still be as strong of a support of Trump and still not bend his morals like a pretzel. But like a lot of conservatives, he conflates support with devotion. And those are two very different things.

I Have Officially Heard It All Now
Rush Limbaugh is like the Pied Piper of incorrect political takes. His broadcast skills are so strong that he can make even the most unlikely political theory begin to sound not just reasonable, but likely. Still, Limbaugh isn't immune from being an idiot at times and that's really the only way I can describe one part of his show today. Like most days, he spent a lot of time discussing how the Left and the Media hate Trump and how they'll do anything to embarrass or stop him. At one point he began discussing the Jussie Smollett case and he started thinking out loud about why the actor would have faked an attack on himself. He threw out the idea that "it wouldn't surprise me if it was all some stunt by the Left to embarrass Trump." Since Limbaugh tends to casually throw out hyperbole like that, I didn't much think about the comment.

But Limbaugh came back to the idea in a few minutes and proceeded to spin out his belief that some Democrat Party billionaire planned the entire thing. Smollett was convinced to claim he was attacked by racist Trump voters and he was assured he wouldn't go to jail. It's such an insane conspiracy that I'm somewhat surprised he also didn't mention QAnon at the same time.

Like all of Limbaugh's comments, I'm not quite convinced he's being sincere with this theory. But I suspect many of his listeners may buy into the idea, which is a bit unsettling.

Curt Schilling And Identity Politics
Former baseball player and analyst Curt Schilling was on "America First With Seb Gorka" and I'll give credit to Schilling for having developed a good spiel. He ranted about the Left and how they've institutionalized violence. He argued that Dems have kept blacks on the urban plantation since the 1930s. He essentially touched on every familiar talking point you'll hear from your Grandpa who watches a lot of Fox News. He's convinced an actual war is going to break out between the Left and Right and he insisted the things the Right have stood for hasn't changed at all since 1776. Which shows an impressive lack of historical knowledge, but props to him for going big with his misstatements.

As a Democrat, I'm thrilled every time I hear someone like Schilling suggest that if the election was held today, Trump would win in a landslide. Please, keep thinking that way and you will never see the train coming in November 2020 until it's all over.

But I mention his appearance primarily because listening to him reminded me of Seb Gorka's biggest flaw as a talk show host. When he has on a guest with a strong personality, he almost disappears until the segment is over. Which from a listener point of view is a bit of a bonus.

Honestly, I Love The Things That End Up Irritating Mark Levin
Mark Levin is a rabblerouser. He's conservative talk radio's answer to that slightly creepy guy on the subway train who mutters to himself while reading the newspaper. He's an acquired taste, but what I most love about him is the odd things that seem to irritate him. During one segment tonight, he asked for listeners to call him while they're driving, "assuming you don't live in one of those Fascist places that won't let you do that anymore!"

It was a bit of a short day today due to some family conflicts, but check back in Monday for more....

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