NRA's Inflammatory Ted Nugent To Make First Primetime Fox News Appearance Since 2011

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Written by Timothy Johnson

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National Rifle Association board member and Outdoor Channel spokesman Ted Nugent is scheduled to appear this week on The O'Reilly Factor, his first primetime appearance on Fox News since 2011.

Since a 2011 appearance on Huckabee, Nugent caused controversy for claiming in April 2012 he would be “dead or in jail” if President Obama was reelected and has used increasingly inflammatory rhetoric to voice his opposition to the Obama administration and to attack the African-American community.

Nugent previewed his O'Reilly Factor appearance on birther Peter Boyles' Colorado radio show by praising O'Reilly for bringing “a lot of piss and vinegar to an otherwise flatlining Mr. Rodgers media,” but also by raising a previous dispute between him and the Fox host about whether it is possible for civilians to obtain machine guns and other heavy weaponry.

During his appearance on Boyles' show, Nugent reacted to the host's admission that he is a “hardcore birther,” by saying that “The man is a scam, his name is Barack 'Scam' Obama.” In July 2013, Nugent claimed that Obama has a “phony birth certificate.”

During his 2011 Huckabee appearance, Nugent struck a conciliatory tone towards the president, stating, “God Bless President Obama for making that right decision” to order the raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. O'Reilly most recently substantively discussed Nugent on his show on February 5, 2013. After playing a clip of Nugent opposing new gun laws on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight following the Newtown massacre, O'Reilly said, “Now that kind of straight talk is what the Republican Party needs.”

While Nugent also has a history of misogynist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim rhetoric, recently he has focused on attacking the Obama administration and criticizing the African-American community:

Nugent Kicks Off Racial Tirade With Claim Trayvon Martin Was A “Dope Smoking, Racist Gangsta Wannabe”

Nugent responded to the acquittal of George Zimmerman on charges he murdered Trayvon Martin by attacking Martin's family and issuing unwarranted critiques of the African-American community, a topic familiar to O'Reilly:

  • In a July 2013 column Nugent labeled Martin a “dope smoking, racist gangsta wannabe” who was “responsible for his bad decisions and standard modus operendi of always taking the violent route.”
  • Days later while discussing the Martin case on Alex Jones' conspiracy theory radio show, Nugent claimed that African-Americans could fix “the black problem” if they just put their “heart and soul into being honest, law-abiding, [and] delivering excellence at every move in your life.”
  • A week later on entertainer Nick Cannon's podcast, Nugent suggested that African-Americans should be profiled the same way members of a community might profile a breed of dog that was attacking children.
  • Also in July 2013, Nugent claimed that the African-American community has a “mindless tendency to violence” and that an inability to “read or speak clearly is the root of unemployment for blacks.”
  • In a January 2014 column, Nugent wrote that African-Americans must “admit to the self-inflicted destructo-derby they are waging” in order to honestly celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
  • While representing the Outdoor Channel at the gun industry's annual trade show, Nugent called Obama a “mongrel” -- a term for a dog of indeterminate breed.

Nugent's Claim He Would Be “Dead Or In Jail” Just The Tip Of Outrageous Claims About The Obama Administration

Since his claim at the 2012 NRA annual meeting that he would be “dead or in jail” if President Obama was reelected in 2012, Nugent has continued to make incendiary attacks on the Obama administration, often evidencing his habit of comparing his political opponents to Nazis:

  • Making an allusion to the first battles of the Revolutionary War, Nugent claimed at the 2013 annual gun industry trade show that the Obama administration “is attempting to re-implement the tyranny of King George” and that “if you want another Concord Bridge, I got some buddies.”
  • During a February 2013 interview with birther website WND, Nugent claimed that Obama has a “racist agenda.”
  • Nugent appeared on 9-11 truther Pete Santilli's radio show in March 2013 to compare Obama to “a German in 1938 pretending to respect the Jews and then going home and putting on his brown shirt and forcing his neighbors onto a train to be burned to death.”
  • Doubling down on his “dead or in jail” claim during an April 2013 appearance on the NRA's radio show, Nugent said not enough people helped him in trying to prevent Obama's reelection before using the following “metaphor”: “When I kick the door down in the enemy's camp, would you help me shoot somebody?”
  • During a July 2013 concert, Nugent told the crowd, “When the British came to take our guns we met them at Concord Bridge and we blew their fucking brains out ... 2013, happening all over again, we got to be ready.” Nugent then referenced his lyrics from “Stormtroopin” -- a song about a Nazi-like attack on the United States -- before telling the audience, “keep a fucking gun in your hand, boys.”
  • Riffing on a previous claim, Nugent said in October 2013 that, "[W]hen you've got leadership that is the enemy of America, you've got the heroes of the U.S. military committing suicide at record numbers because their commander-in-chief is the enemy of the country."
  • Nugent suggested that Obama and other liberal politicians should be jailed and face “the just due punishment that their treasonous acts are clearly apparent” in a January 2014 interview with Guns.com.