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13 Dec, 15 tweets, 4 min read
The most fascinating figure from the God-Trump "Jericho March" was its emcee, Chrystal Christian radio host Eric Metaxas.

He started off hosting "Socrates in the City" pop philosophy discussions in NYC but his insatiable desire for fame took him to hosting Alex Jones. 1/x
It's a terrible story but, sadly, it's one that is extremely typical of aspiring conservative media figures.

People who try to bring nuance and to mix it up with religion skeptics always get stymied.
Because there is no center-right power in America, only far-right, this means that if you want to have a media career as a reasonable conservative, you must somehow win the NYT or WaPo lottery or labor in relative obscurity, regardless of your talent or achievements.
Additionally, until YouTube finally exploded in popularity, Fox News utterly controlled who became conservative commentators.

They banned me because I dared to try to create a TV show that wasn't dependent on them. Here's our sizzle reel FWIW: vimeo.com/131024130
"The Flipside" wasn't the funniest show ever but it was an attempt to be lighthearted and conservative. Our syndicated show received no support from right wing elites. People kept saying that we needed to make it angrier. But my colleagues and I refused.
Eric Metaxas tried doing things my way for the longest time as well. It didn't work for him either. Even though he was a national best-selling author, Fox News wouldn't give him the time of day. So after Trump, he pivoted to the far right. And it worked, just like it always does.
There is so much hatred and rage among fundamentalist Christians at their fellow Americans that anyone who's willing to pander to it can instantly command an audience. It's not a network level audience but it's a loyal one.
After Trump became president, Metaxas decided to become reborn in the image of Don. Just like Limbaugh or Hannity, he was now willing to say and do outrageous things.

But he's one-upped them by adding that Trump is God's servant. It's been rocket fuel to his career.
Metaxas's story is chronicled very well in this piece, I encourage you to read it.

Something has to be done about the invective toward insanity that pervades conservative media. Alas, only conservative elites can do it. religionnews.com/2020/12/03/met…
There is one thing that other media outlets can do though that would help improve things: Stop inviting bomb throwers onto panel debate shows.

If saying or doing crazy things got you permanently blacklisted from MSNBCNNBCBSABC, this would be very positive for America.
Oops the name Chrystal shouldn't be in that first tweet. Sorry!
PS: I forgot to link to some of Metaxas's recent rhetoric outside of the rally. He's turning into Alex Jones with glasses.

Last month, he told Donald Trump he was "happy to die" pursuing the deranged conspiracy theories that Biden lost the 2020 election religionnews.com/2020/11/30/eri…
And here is video of the incident referenced in the RNS article of Metaxas suckerpunching a man who was riding his bike. He was anti-Trump so Metaxas seems to have thought he deserved to be assaulted
PPS: While Metaxas and other white evangelical commentators sold out their convictions, not all did.

I discussed one profile in courage, Beth Moore, right here:
Wow! Proving his fall from sanity even further, Metaxas is now using anti-Semitic images in his videos

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More from @mattsheffield

Matthew Sheffield Profile picture
11 Dec
How can we as a society overcome a GOP that cynically embraces insanity?

By using grace to educate the mistaken while never enabling the malicious.

It won't be easy, but there is no other way.
What does this mean in practice? 1) Reformed defamation laws that contract the definition of a public figure so that liars can be sued. 2) Actively debunking extremist figures as they make their lies and hate. 3) Getting people to read more instead of using TV and radio.
4) Talking & taking action about racial injustice as matters of inclusion rather than exclusion. 5) Exposing how ignorant & emotional that right wing pundits are. 6) Helping conservative Christians see that a better faith community exists outside the GOP & would love to have them
Read 13 tweets
Matthew Sheffield Profile picture
11 Dec
Conservatives are blaming the mainstream press for not covering Hunter Biden enough, even though Rudy Giuliani wouldn't let MSM reporters have access to the files he had.

It's like the national GOP blaming PA for counting mailed ballots late because of choices made by the PA GOP
This sort of broken brain thinking is why there literally are scores of journalists who began their careers at right wing outlets but eventually leave. It's not because they "sold out," it's because they followed the facts.
Any conservative writer could report and verify what I'm saying but they never do. That's bc for all their complaints about the media, conservatives are just whiners.

They think people they believe are liberals should be producing conservative propaganda. Why would they ever?
Read 15 tweets
Matthew Sheffield Profile picture
10 Dec
This video of creationist Ray Comfort is so old but I still can't help but laugh at it. It's utterly ignorant while also being unintentionally gay at the same time.
I don't see anything wrong with believing in creators, what is absurd though is Comfort's ridiculous theorizing about a piece of fruit, one which actually was cultivated for thousands of years by humans to the shape and seedlessness that he remarks on.
This clip is, sadly, the sort of thinking that is so dominant within fundamentalist conservative Christian media. It's best to leave science to the scientists and leave the preaching to the preachers but there's such a misbegotten desire of the latter to speak to the former.
Read 6 tweets
Matthew Sheffield Profile picture
5 Dec
The Washington Post contacted all 249 Republicans in the Senate and asked them who won the 2020 presidential election. Only 10% told the truth that Biden did. 1% of them lied and said Trump won. Let's talk about the 89% who refused to answer.
Before I start the thread here, here's the link to the WaPo piece for those who haven't seen it yet: washingtonpost.com/politics/surve…
The 221 GOP members know that Biden won. It's blatantly obvious. Fear of Trump is a factor but it's more than that.

Despite their posturing, it is conservatives who practice "political correctness" much more than liberals.
Read 23 tweets
Matthew Sheffield Profile picture
5 Dec
So it's been 41 minutes now since @MattNegrin, a producer at the "Daily Show," called out Breitbart for calling him the host of "Hardball," a show that has been canceled for months. The site still has not fixed its mistake.

Don't worry, @BreitbartNews, I saved it for you!
This is the exact sort of unprofessionalism that I regularly encountered when I worked in conservative media. The Breitbart piece has other problems as well, chiefly that it uses an opinion essay to smear the Post's news operation. Full archive: archive.is/JxA69
I have no idea where they got the idea that Breitbart thought that Negrin hosted "Hardball." In the WaPo essay from him that it complains about, there's nothing on the page that says Negrin even works for NBC. Which, spoiler, he does not washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/1…
Read 6 tweets
Matthew Sheffield Profile picture
30 Nov
National Review's editorial is just the beginning of an avalanche of criticism that Trump will receive once out of office.

GOP elites hated Trump but they were too afraid to oppose him while he had power. This is how conservative media has worked since Bush 41...
Literally without fail since those days, conservative media unfailingly support the top Republican, no matter who it is.

Once he/she loses or retires, then they will actually say what they thought. It's why so few conservative journalists should be on debate shows.
The adulation that Trump received from most right wing sources was the exact same treatment that George W. Bush received when he was in the WH.

Once he left though, suddenly and miraculously, conservative figures somehow figured out he was a terrible president!
Read 18 tweets

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