A Liberal Deconstructs Conservative Talk Radio: 08/15/2019

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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More Than You'll Probably Want To Know About Mike Gallagher
I generally don't do deep dives on Gallagher's show unless he has on a noteworthy guest, because Gallagher is a true believer. He is in all in for Trump and makes a point of frequently arguing that if you're not 100 percent behind the President, then you're just a traitor to conservatism and the political party. Any politician who makes even the smallest effort to separate themselves from Trump is a "never Trumper" and someone who has "betrayed the President." With those guidelines in place, you're not going to get a lot of deep, soul-searching thoughts from Gallagher or his callers.

But I'm spending a lot of time on his show today, because the conversations illustrate how certain themes and talking points have dug in deep in conservative media. And there's almost no point to bringing up evidence to the contrary, because it won't be believed.

Gallagher spent some time touting today's job numbers and he repeats his mantra that he doesn't understand how anyone can fail to support his President given the strong economy. Of course, there's the argument that a strong economy doesn't make up for other bad behavior. Any more than arguing, "sure, Daddy drinks to much and screws around, but he makes good money, so whatever."

The other problem with the "strong Trump economy" is that the economy is weakening, based on the government numbers every conservative is touting. Not only are we adding fewer jobs on average than in the past two years of the Obama Administration, the job numbers released this week were accompanied by a downward revision of the job numbers for the previous two months, which subtracted 40,000 jobs in total. I'm not arguing the economy isn't doing okay. I'm just arguing (based on government numbers) the job market under Trump hasn't taken some huge move upwards.



It's the same story when it comes to wage growth. Yes, wages have moved up slightly due to a tighter job market and relatively strong economy. But that big tax cut wasn't the reason for the increased wages. It's a combination of more places imposing a higher minimum wage along with companies being forced to pay more to retain entry-level employees. 

But you know who REALLY benefited from the $1 trillion-plus tax cut? I bet you can guess:



But you'll never hear any of this on conservative radio, because it doesn't fit their narrative. And that's fine. Conservative talk radio serves a purpose and it's not to give people options. But it's important for liberals to know what arguments Conservatives are hearing. Because that's the first step in converting people.

Hugh Hewitt's Blind Spots
I heard just a bit of Hewitt's show this morning. But I'm fascinated by his policy blind spots, especially when it's in an area that he knows conservatives are weak on right now. He's spent endless amounts of time focusing on the current upheavals in Hong Kong & rightfully so. But it's a reflection of his priorities and the weirdness of the Trump era that neither Hewitt or any of his conservative radio colleagues have spent much time discussing the events playing out in Russia - from the series of massive demonstrations to the nuclear explosion which seems to have been the result of a test firing of a nuclear-powered cruise missile. 

It's one thing to argue that the Russian interference in the 2016 election didn't have an impact on the Presidential race. I'm pretty sure you're wrong, but it's still possible to make that argument in good faith. But I'm flabbergasted by the reaction from people like Sean Hannity, who now claim that any stories about Russian attempts to interfere in U.S. elections is fake news. That goes past partisanship into editorial malpractice.

I'll continue updating throughout the day. And check back in tomorrow.......

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