Glenn Beck was bashing Americans opposed to illegal immigration, decrying partisan politics, and positioning himself toward the center just as he was reportedly trying to strike a deal to get his programming on CNN.
CNN’s Brian Stelter reported that “the idea fizzled fast and talks aren’t expected to resume.” CNN and HLN are expected to lay off at least 550 more people in what is being called another “bloodbath,” and Beck was reportedly trying to get on the HLN network, where he got his first break in cable television.
Stelter, who is one of the best-sourced reporters in the television industry and made a name for himself out-scooping more established mainstream media reporters, claimed he had no knowledge of the negotiations whatsoever when he unusually gave Beck two Sundays worth of relatively good PR, showcasing Beck’s Texas offices and future plans.
During that interview, Stelter said industry sources have said that major cable networks are reluctant to pick up Beck’s network because “there’s no other must-see TV on the channel.” However, Stelter’s line of questioning revealed that industry executives may be hesitant to make deals with someone who once referred to President Barack Obama as a racist and accused Obama of having problems with white people.
Stelter suggested that Beck was responsible for inflaming much of the polarization he now decries during his mainstream media appearances and told him that many Americans remember Beck for “saying on [Fox News] that President Obama is a racist.” Beck said he regretted making the comment and replied, “we all live and learn.”
Stelter also praised Beck for how “you evolve your views” and “change your mind” on issues, and Beck mentioned that he does so after various “pivot points.” Beck also said he would rather be Walt Disney than Edward R. Murrow or Rush Limbaugh.
While he was reportedly negotiating to partner with CNN, Beck tried to get the mainstream media to love him at the expense of conservatives. Beck, who reportedly has a net worth of nearly $100 million, claimed that he has “never taken a position more deadly to my career than this” and suggested that giving illegal immigrants soccer balls was “more right” than calling out the kind of radical Islam that leads to the beheading of Americans.
Beck also suggested that those opposed to giving soccer balls to illegal immigrant juveniles – nearly 90% of whom, according to Pew Research, are teenagers – were “pusses.” He even said that conservatives and citizens should not worry about the illegal immigrant gangsters – many of whom have raped and murdered Americans – who are coming across the border.
As Breitbart News’s John Nolte wrote, Beck’s condemnation “delighted a mainstream media that looks for every opportunity to portray conservatives as heartless, or worse.” And left-wing and mainstream outlets quickly and gleefully tried to say conservatives who, in good faith, believed that the compassionate thing to do is to send the illegal immigrant juveniles back home were somehow un-Christian.
As Nolte noted, “the problem isn’t what Beck did. The problem is how he did it.” Nolte emphasized that for Beck and the mainstream media “to pretend there isn’t a compassionate argument to be made against what Beck’s doing is simply wrong, unfair, and a bit sanctimonious” because the “truly compassionate thing to do is to ensure you’re not doing anything that might encourage more parents to send their unaccompanied children on that harrowing trek.” Conservatives like Sen. Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin have also emphasized that the compassionate thing to do is to reunite the illegal immigrant juveniles with their parents in their home countries.
“It is not insane, unreasonable, or lacking in compassion to argue that news of a major American media figure greeting children at the border with toys could be used by the drug smugglers and human traffickers already exploiting these kids as a way to recruit more,” Nolte continued.
Stelter emphasized that the cable “industry is top-heavy, and only two of the ten biggest providers” have supported The Blaze. Even after his unsuccessful overtures to CNN, Beck is still looking for mainstream media partners to get his shows on more cable channels.
Perhaps that is why he again ripped Americans who do not want to lure more illegal immigrants to make the harrowing journey to America in The Huffington Post. And, as the Huffington Post noted, Beck has also not been as vocal as other conservatives in calling out a mainstream press that, according to Rush Limbaugh, wanted to turn the “gentle giant” Michael Brown into Rodney King. The mainstream press, though, could not do so because of new media watchdogs that were not around during the Rodney King trial.