Former president tells Glenn Beck he would have ‘no choice’ but to lock up opponents ‘because they’re doing it to us’
For those too young to know who Glenn Beck is, he’s a mixture of Alex Jones, Tucker Carlson, and a batshit insane TV preacher with a dark secret and a private jet. Not a true believer, from what I can tell, but someone putting on a show. He’s in part responsible for US politics going off the rails. Very popular when he was still on Fox News. He spread theories about Soros, Obama building FEMA deathcamps for conservatives, that kind of thing. IRC he’d regularly fake crying about ‘them’ coming to get ‘us’.
9/11 really did a number on the US.
It’s really hard to describe the damage Glenn Beck has done. To my knowledge, he was the first, mainstream talk show host to actually give a platform to the alt-right. Many conspiracy theories he started are still a problem today.
His show also basically taught people how to justify their own conspiracy theories. He pretty much walked everyone through his “thought process” on every show. He also did it in a way that radicalized people who originally were just disgruntled with, or distrusting of, government.
I remember one time he even went so far as to have a purported “insider” come on the show as a black silhouette with a fake deep voice to “confirm” everything Beck was saying about Obama and the “Liberal Agenda.” How people fell for that is beyond me, but they did.
Eventually he got so out of control Fox News fired him. But the damage was done.
Edit: grammar
And then you look at people who came after, like Alex Jones. Batshit fucking Alex Jones talking about goblins and gay frogs.
In some sense, I’m not surprised people followed Glenn Beck. Because at least there was some “thought process.”
It’s funny and sad to look back at some of the early characters in all this. Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, the “I’m not a witch” lady, in addition to people like Glenn Beck. Bill O’Reilly is another one. But they don’t even compare to the charlatans we have today. And probably those that’ll we’ll have tomorrow.
Pure fascism.
These people are so far removed from reality I don’t even know where to start. The worst part is Trump’s own supporters will use his trials as the justification for persecuting their political enemies, all the while completely ignoring the part where Trump actually committed crimes.
Also, fuck Glenn Beck. While the origins of the alt-right in the US are murky and somewhat implacable, he definitely holds some responsibility for making them mainstream. If memory serves, he praised them as an alternative to the republican establishment 10 years ago on his stupid show and gave them legitimacy no sane person would have. He also capitalized on and sowed distrust in US Institutions with wacky conspiracies he drew on his chalkboard. He gave the alt-right a platform and a perfect opportunity to recruit.
TLDR Fuck Trump and fuck Glenn Beck.
