Conservative radio host Michael Savage accused those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, including military veterans, of being “weak,” “narcissistic,” “losers.” Savage added that “we're being laughed at around the world. No wonder ISIS can defeat our military.”
As Right Wing Watch's Brian Tashman documented, Savage began an October 14 segment by complaining about a plan to rename a San Francisco tunnel after the late comedian Robin Williams. Savage called Williams “a depressed clown who was so selfish he choked himself to death with a belt.” He added: “What is this sick, backwards area I live in?”
After getting into a heated argument with a caller who said he suffered from PTSD while in the military, Savage went on an unhinged rant in which he explained why he is “so sick and tired of everyone with their complaints about PTSD, depression”:
SAVAGE: I am so sick and tired of everyone with their complaints about PTSD, depression. Everyone wants their hand held, and a check -- a government check. What are you, the only generation that had PTSD? The only generation that's depressed? I'm sick of it. I can't take the celebration of weakness and depression.
See, I was raised a little differently. I was raised to fight weakness. I was raised to fight pain. I was raised to fight depression. Not to give into it. Not to cave into it and cry like a little baby in bed. “Boo-hoo-hoo. Boo-hoo-hoo.” Everyone has depression in their life. Everyone has sickness and sadness and disease. And loss of relatives. And loss of career. Everyone has depression in their life. But if the whole nation is told, “boo-hoo-hoo, come and get a medication, come and get treatment, talk about mental illness.” You know what you wind up with? You wind up with Obama in the White House and liars in every phase of the government. That's what you wind up with. It's a weak, sick, nation. A weak, sick, broken nation. And you need men like me to save the country. You need men to stand up and say stop crying like a baby over everything. Stand up already. Stop telling me how sick you are and sad you are. Talk about the good things in your life.
When have you last heard that? Oh, everyone's holding their hand. “Oh, welcome to Good Morning America, sir. You almost committed suicide, how interesting. Please tell us your story.” Maybe a young child who's on the edge can commit suicide. What a country. No wonder we're being laughed at around the world. No wonder ISIS can defeat our military. Take a look at that. Take a look at that, why people aren't even getting married anymore to have children. They don't even have the guts to raise a child. The men are so weak, and so narcissistic, all they want to do is have fun. Bunch of losers. Just go have a brewski and look at the 49ers, you idiot, you. They won't even get married, won't have a child, it takes too much of a man to do that. What a country. You're not a man, you're a dog. A dog raises babies better than most American men do.
Savage continued that he has “no sympathy for suicides, especially inside a family home when your wife's sleeping next to -- in the next room. To me it's an act of cowardliness. It's an act of aggression.” He later posited his conspiracy that the “medical establishment” is convincing “you that you're unique in the history of the human race. You're the only ones who've experienced any kind of trials or tribulations, and as a result you're depressed. And as a result of your depression you need medication. And you need therapy. You need the government to pay for your medication, your therapy. You need mental health treatment. No, I don't believe that's the answer. In some cases, maybe. But not in all cases for sure.”
Savage, whose Cumulus Media Networks program has an estimated weekly cumulative radio audience of over five million listeners, is no stranger to incendiary attacks about the military. He previously said that military sexual assaults are “such trivial nonsense” and wondered why the U.S. Senate is having a hearing on “this rubbish.” He added of U.S. Senators discussing the military: “When I watch these Khmer Rouge feminists try to take over the military, this looked like an attempted coup to me.”