I don’t listen to much syndicated right-wing talk radio, but Lars Larson is also local here in Portland so I hear his ramblings once in a while, and he is rabidly pro-Trump. I was wondering how other right-wing talk hosts are handling this election at this time-are they all Trump supporters, or have some jumped ship(or at least started questioning his words and actions)?
There’s a lot of variety in the Right Wing Talk arena. Some are reluctantly supporting Trump (Dennis Prager), some are not supporting Trump (but not supporting Hillary either) (Michael Medved), and others seem to be fairly Pro-Trump (Rush Limbaugh). Most acknowledge that he was not their first choice, but are pretty much all #Never-Hillary camp members…
Scroll down to “pundits” (many from TV), I would’ve like to have more subtlety than “(soft) nay/yea,” as some of the quotes seem to be faint praise
Older link for “nays”: http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/03/02/20-plus-conservative-pundits-who-have-vowed-not/208951
I mostly listened during the primaries, when things were most entertaining. Toward the end, when it was down to Cruz vs. Trump, the hosts were really caught in the middle, with both sides claiming they were favoring the other side.
In many cases the hosts claimed to be neutral, and I believe in Rush Limbaugh 's case that was actually true–he seemed bemused by the whole process, and as far as I could tell was unbiased when reviewing the Republican party actions.
Sean Hannity claimed to be neutral – technically he is not even a Republican, because he is registered with New York’s Conservative Party, thus didn’t vote in the NY primary. However, we was clearly enamored with Trump, and now has gone all out in support, to the point of telling his listeners how “conservative” Trump really is.
Mark Levin – who endorsed Cruz – was extremely anti-Trump during the primaries, calling him unfit both due to his personal behavior and his lack of conservative bona fides. Since then Levin has said he will vote for Trump, although he still doesn’t think of him as a true conservative.
There is a national overnight show called Redeye Radio, with two hosts that remind me of Cliff Clavin – they spend most of their time lecturing listeners about the errors of their ways. Both before and after the convention they have called Trump “a liberal” – not surprising, since they have also said they thought Reagan was “too liberal”. I’m not sure if they make endorsements, but they sure aren’t going to be voting for Clinton.
Ronald Reagan (that’s their default setting).
Ah, yes, Lars “I make way more money as a right-wing shill” Larson. Remember that he could have been a good News person in Stumptown but somehow fell off the rails years ago.
Was Jerry Doyle voting for Trump? I didn’t listen to his radio show, but I always hoped he was a somewhat rational right-wing host.
A few conservative radio hosts, like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, have been enthusiastically pro-Trump from Day One.
The ones I listen to are reluctantly pro-Trump.
I won’t vote for Trump or for Hillary. Not that my principles matter, since Trump will easily win Texas anyway.
They are supporting themselves. Any political positions publicly espoused are likely to be heavily influenced by that consideration.
I usually listen to audiobooks in the car, but when my last book ended I turned on AM radio and caught Laura Ingraham. I generally don’t mind her in small doses, but her pro-Trump diatribe was hard to listen to. She went on and on, and threw in “who are you going to vote for? Hillary? That pothead Gary Johnson?”
Way to dismiss the one candidate who has principles, honesty and ethics as “that pothead”, as if a) that explains what you need to know about Johnson, or b) his support for the freedom to buy and use pot and end the disastrous war on drugs is somehow a negative. No thanks, Laura, I won’t vote for either authoritarian, lying, dishonest candidate the two major parties are shoving down our throats.
I can’t stand Limbaugh or Hannity, and won’t listen for even a minute. I used to listen to G. Gordon Liddy, and found him entertaining, but I really don’t listen to much political radio anymore, as I find the liberals and conservatives to both be tiresome, petty, shallow and uninteresting.
Then they are all secretly hoping Hilary wins. It’s always easier to attack than defend and it makes better radio.
I don’t know if he decided to vote for Trump eventually but he endorsed Kasich during the primaries. In the past he was a Ron Paul supporter.
Oh, they know Clinton’s going to give them eight years of Wingnut Welfare, and they’re salivating at the prospect for a return to the Good Old Bad Old Days of the 1990s, when they were a bona fide oppressed minority in a world gone hard left. It’s going to be interesting to see if AM radio’s demographics change substantially through the new Clinton administration.
Well, remember that Les Moonves freely admitted he’d given Trump tons of free publicity, saying “Trump may not be good for America, but he’s great for CBS.”