Meet “Mancow” Muller, The Conspiracy Theorist Star Of History Channel's New Gun Show
Written by Timothy Johnson
Published
History announced the premiere of a new series, God, Guns & Automobiles, that will feature Erich “Mancow” Muller, a far-right radio host who has engaged in a plethora of conspiracy theories -- including the claim that President Obama was born outside the United States -- and has suggested that an armed revolution will occur in America.
God, Guns & Automobiles will document Mancow and his brother Mark Muller's operation of Max Motors, a car dealership located in rural Missouri that “embodies the values and the spirit of the heartland of America.” The series is slated to premiere on History, formerly called The History Channel, on Monday, July 8 at 10 p.m. EST. Mark Muller, the founder of Max Motors, has frequently incorporated firearms into his car business. Since at least 2008, Max Motors has given away firearms -- often AK-47 assault weapons -- with the purchase of certain vehicles. A typical newspaper clipping appearing on the Max Motors website states that “The Nation's Outlaw Car Dealer Is Doing It Again!” and offers a “free AK-47” with the purchase of any truck.
According to Mark Muller, his promotions have engendered controversy. In comments published at Human Events in 2011, Muller said that a past AK-47 giveaway had drawn scrutiny from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as a bank that provided Max Motors with financing. Muller also said that General Motors threatened to rescind his dealership agreement because of the promotion. In 2008, Mancow highlighted his brother's promotion with a post on his website that warned “you'll need a gun to protect yourself from the violent masses during the coming depression.” In his posting, Mancow also repeated the falsehood that Germany's gun laws were responsible for the Holocaust.
On April 13, Max Motors hosted its “1st Annual Great Gun Buyback,” offering $50 to $10,000 to purchase firearms from the public. According to an ad on the Max Motors website, “We'll take any and all guns with no limit to the number you can bring in!” A contemporaneous Facebook posting added, “There will also be a camera crew here that day. Come in for a chance to be on TV!!”
History's new program showcasing Mancow is reminiscent of the Discovery Channel's decision to give National Rifle Association board member and conservative columnist Ted Nugent a television special in 2012. Discovery aired Ted Nugent's Gun Country, despite Nugent's history of inflammatory remarks on race and gender, among other topics. Nugent claimed that his special would be part of a series, however Discovery denied that a series was in the works and, after the Newtown school shooting, stated that Nugent would not have any future appearances on the channel.
In recent years, Mancow has engaged in bizarre conspiracies, often while appearing on 9-11 truther Alex Jones' radio program.
History Channel declined to comment on the new show. The production company, Zone 3 International of Montreal, did not respond to requests for comment.
Here are ten of his most outrageous claims:
Obama Is Operating Out Of “Mao's Playbook ... To Take The Guns” With Gun Law Push
During a January appearance on Jones' show, Mancow said that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to allow civilians to own machine guns to defend against the government and that an attempt is being made to “take our guns in America.” From the January 11 edition of The Alex Jones Show:
Later in the show, Mancow added, “It's Mao's playbook, it's Hitler, it's Pol Pot, it's all these guys, it's Castro, they got to take the guns, this is the final straw. And look, I've got little kids; you've got adorable little kids. The fact that they are using these children, exploiting these children to destroy us, it really is an insidious evil isn't it?”
Mancow also predicted gun confiscation and a subsequent armed insurrection against the government because of “the destruction of the Second Amendment,” and added, “I don't want anyone hurt.”
The Government “Scrambles” Mancow's Radio Broadcast When He Talks About FEMA Camps
While appearing on The Alex Jones Show in June 2012, Mancow claimed that “the government went into every home,” including his own, to erase recordings of a TruTV program that featured Jones as a consultant. He then played recorded audio of callers who claimed that the government interfered with his radio broadcast whenever he discussed the FEMA camp conspiracy theory, including one caller who explained, “Every now and then you get scrambled on certain stations when you talk about certain subjects, and not all of them do it that's how I know they are scrambling you, you should investigate some of that. These antennas that they have that are cell phone towers, you might want to go research that, they're not cell phone towers it's more like a Tesla Tower that sends cable signals, cell phone communications, it even sends electricity. It does it all, and that's how they're tapping in and blocking you.”
Andrew Breitbart May Have Been Murdered For Taking On “Obama's Brownshirt Army”
During a March 7, 2012, appearance on The Alex Jones Show, Mancow suggested that conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart, who died of heart failure on March 1, 2012, may have been murdered. Mancow claimed that Breitbart told him that he would reveal on March 1 “information that will destroy Barack Obama.” Mancow also claimed that all 5,000 attendees of Breitbart's memorial “feel that this guy was murdered.” He went on to state that he warned Breitbart that “they're going to kill you” for taking on “Obama's brownshirt army” and that Breitbart's death was a “warning shot” to other conservative commentators including himself, Jones and Rush Limbaugh.
During his appearance, Mancow also said Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio found out that “Obama's paperwork, not just the birth certificate, but much of it is fraudulent,” and claimed that acquaintances of Obama remembered him being introduced as “foreign exchange student Barack Obama”:
Mancow was more definitive during a June 20, 2012 appearance on Jones' show, stating, "Look at Breitbart, I mean I believe they literally killed him, in my opinion."
The Release Of Obama's Birth Certificate Was Part Of A “False Flag” Operation
Mancow posited that the release of Obama's long form birth certificate on April 27, 2011, could have been a “false flag kind of situation” on an appearance on Alex Jones' radio show that also featured birther Philip Berg. Referencing riots that occurred after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Mancow then suggested that someone was hiding the truth about Obama to prevent similar calamities, stating, “You're going to come out and tell America that their first black president isn't eligible and I live in the inner city with two children. My god our cities will burn. I think they're all too afraid to admit what this guy is.”
President Clinton Was Responsible For The Death Of His Commerce Secretary
During the February 23, 2011, edition of The Alex Jones Show where Jones discussed his theory that 7 World Trade Center was destroyed by a controlled demolition, Mancow endorsed the conspiracy theory that Clinton administration Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, who died in a plane crash in Croatia in 1996, had “a bullet in the back of his head.” The claim that Brown was murdered, either before, during or after the plane crash, originates from the conspiracy theory that a large number of people associated with President Clinton died under mysterious circumstances.
Pharmaceuticals Are Being Added To The Water Supply To Turn People Into “Zombies”
During the August 4, 2010, edition of The Alex Jones Show, Mancow stated that his observations of people acting like “zombies” gave credence to Jones' claim that pharmaceuticals are being added to the water supply in order to pacify the public. Mancow then suggested that he still has the “ability to get angry” and “get upset at injustice” because he was not exposed to fluoride as a child. According to Mancow, the public is so “brainwashed” that Obama “could get on TV and eat a baby” and his supporters would “let it go.”
America Wants Gaza Rebuilt So “Radical Muslims Have A Level Place To Kill Jewish Children”
Mancow has also made inflammatory remarks during appearances on Fox News. During the March 3, 2010, edition of Fox & Friends, Mancow suggested that America is “going to rebuild Gaza” so “radical Muslims have a level place to kill Jewish children.”
Obama Was “Excited” And “Popping Champagne” With Rev. Wright After Holocaust Museum Shooting
Progress Illinois posted audio on June 12, 2009, of Mancow claiming on his Chicago-based radio show that “Obama and Reverend [Jeremiah] Wright were popping champagne last night” because they were “excited” that a man killed a security guard during a June 10, 2009 attack on the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Mancow added, “when you see the way Obama is kissing Muslim butt and selling out Israel, you realize where it all came from: the radical wife, okay? The radical, Black Panther wife and Reverend Wright the anti-Semite.”
Obama Is “Our Kenyan-Muslim President Who's Destroying This Country”
On July 15, 2009, Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn published audio of Mancow claiming on his radio program that Obama is “our Kenyan-Muslim president who's destroying this country, you know, seriously, you can polish a turd, you can polish a turd, it's still a turd.”
Obama Wanted To Use Private Army To Commit “Kristallnacht” Against Mancow For Hosting Tea Party Rally
During a September 2009 appearance on Alex Jones' radio show, referencing the conspiracy theory that Obama was assembling a “civilian national security force” to serve as his private army, Mancow said that the Obama administration “wanted to start like a Kristallnacht with me” over his hosting of a Tea Party rally. Mancow also made other allusions between Obama and Nazism, complaining, “If you dare to question Herr Obama, you're called a racist” and later sarcastically exclaimed “Heil Obama,” while discussing an alleged plan by Obama to “seize the internet.”