Glenn Beck: “The Alt-Right Is Real. It Is Truly Terrifying”
Beck Points Out The Racist Intellectual Leaders That Make Up Alt-Right, And Steve Bannon's Support For Them
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
From the November 15 edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360:
GLENN BECK: We have two responsibilities when it comes to an election as citizens. We have the responsibility to vote and then to honor that vote even if we disagree with it. That doesn't mean that we blindly follow. It just means we can't afford the president to fail. We can't afford any president to fail. It's getting worse and worse. And Anderson, you know -- you and I have talked several times -- I am concerned about the tenor of the nation and, especially when it comes to the press, on this particular issue when it comes to Bannon. The alt-right is real and it's maybe -- I don't even know -- maybe 1 percent, 3 percent of the Trump vote. So we're talking anywhere between 300,000 people to 1.5 million people, maybe. That's a lot of people. But it is not the Trump crowd.
They are being influenced without knowing it and for the media, who is distrusted on both sides but mainly on the right, to be talking about Bannon and to be talking about the alt-right, I really, truly fear that this is going to be something that they don't listen to and they don't hear the warning. In fact, they dismiss it. So I want to be really careful on what is said. Because this needs to be heard.
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It's the mistake that I made by throwing around the word “Marxist.” There are Marxists and there are people that are socialists, but the label of Marxist takes on a whole new meaning. Even “socialist” for a while took on a whole new meaning. Now, that's OK. I made this mistake and nobody on the right -- nobody on the left would listen. So, let's not make this mistake. And I don't want to be part of that mistake. I want to make sure that everybody understands that the alt-right is real. It is truly terrifying, in my opinion.
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Bannon said that Breitbart “is a platform for the alt-right.” This is 2016. He did an interview with Sarah Posner, described Breitbart as a platform, this is a quote, of the alt-right. The next thing that happened was Breitbart told the right what the alt-right is and who is the center of alt-right thought and they said, in quote, an establishment conservative guide to the alt-right. Under the heading “intellectuals” they identified Richard Spencer and Steve Sailer as the intellectual leadership running the websites considered to be the center of alt-right.
So let's just follow this. Steve Bannon said in 2016, to the LA Times, “we are the platform giving voice to the alt-right.” Then they identified the two leaders of the center of thought. I want to give you some of the quotes. This is from Richard Spencer: “Our dream is a new society, an ethno state that would be the gathering point for all Europeans. It would be a new society based on very different ideals than, say, the Declaration of Independence.” Then in 2013: “Today, in the public imagination, ethnic cleansing has been associated with civil war and mass murder, understandably so. But this does not need to be the case,” end quote. He then later went on with Salon where he was talking about the government, partnering with the government for sterilization of races.
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Steve Sailer said, quote, “Look, ‘Let the good times roll is especially or risky message for African-Americans. The plain fact is that they tend to possess poorer native judgment than members of better educated groups. Thus, they need stricter moral guidance from society,” end quote. This is -- I do not believe that Donald Trump is a member of the alt-right. I don't believe he believes any of this. I don't even think that Donald Trump is a racist. He is many things, but I don't think he's a racist. Steve Bannon, I don't know him. I know several people that work for him. I want to give people the benefit of the doubt, but, Anderson, here’s the real problem. The media doesn’t have -- look, I don't have credibility with your viewers and I know that. Because I made mistakes. So the media doesn't have credibility. The media -- I just saw a new study today that said 5 percent of people who voted for Donald Trump said there was some disturbing things said in the media, but they didn't believe them. And if they would have believed them, they would have voted for Hillary Clinton or against Donald Trump.
Previously:
What Is The “Alt-Right”? A Guide To The White Nationalist Movement Now Leading Conservative Media
A White Nationalist Who Hates Jews Will Be Trump's Right-Hand Man In The White House