Beck’s Rise to Prominence
Beck’s Influence and Impact
Today, he is the king of all conservative media, with a hit television show, a nationally syndicated radio program, and five books on the -seller lists. Now the consummate showman is already promoting a new book, The Plan, which he will debut in August with an open-air rally of followers on the Washington Mall. Will his speech offer a glimpse into his “plan” to take America from President Obama and what Beck has repeatedly called “the cancer of progressivism”?
Understanding Beck’s Past
One thing is certain: The man is crazy like a fox. The way to get a sense of where Beck might steer the conservative debate in 2025 is to study his past—it’s a story of ambition and addiction, mixing politics and religion. He recycles old fears with apocalyptic urgency, polarizing for profit, making himself the Pied Piper for a new generation of angry, anxiety-ridden, and alienated Americans.
Beck’s Unique Blend of Politics and Religion
The most influential Wingnut leader in the first year of the Obama administration wasn’t an elected official. He isn’t even a Republican but an independent conservative—a former Top-40 radio DJ, self-described “borderline schizophrenic”1 and recovering drug addict turned Mormon convert with a taste for confrontation and confession. He presents a manic mix of politics and religion, loftily billed as “the fusion of entertainment and enlightenment.”2
Beck’s Media Empire
In the course of a few years, glenn beck has transformed himself from a talk-radio curiosity into a multimedia cottage industry, with a nationally syndicated radio show, 5 p.m. Fox News program, a magazine, and five books—both fiction and nonfiction—on the bestseller lists.r-clai_n_351184.html” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>3 Behind his tearful Mad Hatter act, the man is crazy like a fox—a talented and intelligent radio -on-bet” target=”_blank”>, an entrepreneur of anxiety and redemption. His loyal customers constitute a standing army, and he has already proven they can be deployed at will to the tune of tens of thousands.via [read more here]
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