Right-wing commentator Mark Burns, who is in a Republican primary run-off for a U.S. House seat in South Carolina, told a misogynistic host last year that “man is the leader of his family. His wife, the Bible says, is to be submissive to her husband.” Referring to the role of a wife, he said, “You're supposed to obey.”
Burns is a Christian nationalist pastor and right-wing media guest who has a history of making toxic remarks, including about LGBTQ people. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Burns. Media Matters recently reported that he is a repeat guest on the show of Stew Peters, a Hitler-praising antisemite who has promoted Holocaust denial. Burns has called Peters a “friend.”
Burns appeared on the February 3, 2023, edition of The Fallen State. The show is hosted by Jesse Lee Peterson, who has a long history of extreme rhetoric. The Southern Poverty Law Center has noted that Peterson has “been infamously quoted as saying, ‘Thank God for slavery,’ suggesting it got Black people out of Africa and into the U.S.” Peterson, who is Black, said that “most Blacks today -- unlike the days when I was growing up -- are mentally ill, they’re mentally retarded.” And he’s also claimed that “unless white people take over, it’s over for America.”
Peterson is also virulently misogynistic. He said in 2012 that “one of the greatest mistakes America made was to allow women the opportunity to vote.” He wrote in 2021: “If women didn’t vote there would be no such thing as ‘LGBTQ rights’ ‘reproductive rights’ (right to kill babies), and all the mess that’s going on today.” And he said: “I do not recommend women get involved in politics — they cannot handle power in the right way. Women were created to follow, not to lead. If she’s not married, or doesn’t have kids, she should work though.”
During their interview, Peterson asked Burns for his opinion on the role of women. Burns replied, in part, that “man is the leader of his family. His wife, the Bible says, is to be submissive to her husband.” Citing the Bible, he added that a husband is supposed to be the head of his wife and the wife is “supposed to obey” her husband.