One thing I often wonder about right-wing demagogues and hacks (and bloggers) is whether or not it’s all an act. Are they broken enough to believe what they say, or they deliberately posturing (with a full understanding of the damage that they’re doing)?
Whatever, a couple of them in America have recanted recently. Here’s one:
Conservative radio host: ‘We’ve created this monster’ of fact-hating right-wing voters
In an interview with Business Insider’s Oliver Darcy, a conservative radio host lamented the fact that conservative media has conditioned its followers to distrust the mainstream media so much that they have become fact-free “monsters.”
In a tweet promoting an upcoming piece on rightwing media, Darcy posted an excerpt from an interview with conservative radio host Charlie Sykes who claims candidates like Donald Trump can say anything on the stump without fear of being fact-checked by the likes of Fox News or conservative websites.
“We’ve basically eliminated any of the referees, the gatekeepers. There’s nobody. Let’s say that Donald Trump basically makes whatever you want to say, whatever claim he wants to make. And everybody knows it’s a falsehood,” he explained. “The big question of my audience, it is impossible for me to say that. ‘By the way, you know it’s false.’ And they’ll say, ‘Why? I saw it on Allen B. West.’ Or they’ll say, ‘I saw it on a Facebook page.’ And I’ll say, ‘The New York Times did a fact check.’ And they’ll say, Oh, that’s The New York Times. That’s bullshit.’”
…
“We’ve created this monster,” he warned. “Look, I’m a conservative talk show host. All conservative talk show hosts have basically established their brand as being contrasted with the mainstream media. So we have spent 20 years demonizing the liberal mainstream media. And by the way, a lot has been justifiable. There is real bias. But, at a certain point you wake up and you realize you have destroyed the credibility of any credible outlet out there.”“And I feeling, to a certain extent, that we are reaping the whirlwind at that,”…
Here’s another one. Glenn Beck. Yes that Glenn Beck (interviewer in italics):
Glenn Beck Is Sorry About All That
…
Now we’re here in crazy town. What we need now is for reasonable people to sit down with each other and say: O.K., your guy [Obama] wasn’t the end of the world. My guy [Trump] wasn’t the end of the world. How can we talk to each other?But this guy might actually be the end of the world. It’s why I didn’t vote for him. Because if it’s going to get bad, he could bring out the worst in us. I think he could be one of the most dangerous presidents to ever come into the Oval Office. We have to watch him carefully, but also focus on each other and make this work.
You’ve admitted that you were part of the problem that paved the way to Trump — you’ve expressed regret, for example, for calling President Obama a racist — but I see your role in all of this as a bit more than just “a guy who insulted the president.” I could excuse it, to some degree — I won’t — but I could excuse some of it by saying that I was trying to, in some ways, accomplish what Jon Stewart can accomplish: draw huge crowds, make points and then encourage you to do your own homework. I know I wouldn’t believe me if I heard myself apologizing, so I’m telling you now: Don’t take my word for it. Watch my actions. I don’t care what you think about me. All I care about is saying, Please, don’t make the mistake I made.
…
You’ve certainly been directly complicit in the mainstreaming of a conspiratorial way of thinking about our politics. I see the conservative media sphere, in general, as having created a hothouse atmosphere, where there’s this idea that everyone is out to get us. I don’t think that’s fair. The first time I ever really heard that kind of serious talk from anybody was about there being a vast right-wing conspiracy out to get us. We both play that game; we’ve done, on the right, the same thing that we accuse the left of doing. You have to know what’s true and what’s not, and quite honestly that’s where the media is supposed to come in and fill the gap. …
Sigh.
I mean – what – do you even?
The most constructive thing I can think of to say is that I reckon there’s a whole lot more who should follow their brave lead.
Bonus content: GLenn Beck interviewed on this by the incomparable Samantha Bee. Worth it for the sweaters alone…
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