In an example of the increasing intolerance for opposing views, particularly about President Donald Trump, a conservative Denver radio host at 710 KNUS was cut off the air in mid show and fired after he criticized Trump. According to the Denver Post, former district attorney Craig Silverman had just criticized the President in a segment on Roy Cohn when the Program Director Kelly Michaels came into the studio and simply said “You’re Done.” Update: The company belated responded to media inquiries to deny that it fired Silverman for his views of President Trump.
Later on Twitter, Silverman (who voted and supported Trump until recently) said “I cannot and will not toe strict Trump party line. I call things as I see them. I see corruption and blatant dishonesty by President and his cronies. I also see bullying/smearing of American heroes w/courage to take oath and tell truth. Their bravery inspires me.”
In an interview on Sunday on CNN with Brian Stelter, Silverman said that the company was also unhappy about a column that he wrote that was critical of Trump. Silverman said that he found witnesses in the hearings to be quite credible and has rejected Trump’s continued insistence that his call with the Ukrainian president was “perfect.” As of Sunday afternoon, Silverman said that he had not heard from the company. Likewise, various media organization have also said that the company has declined to respond — a curious position for any media organization on a legitimate news story.
The Republicans have long prided themselves on being a “big tent party” but it seems to be shrinking to the size of a pup tent. The party cannot survive as simply the Grand Trump Party as shown in yesterday’s defeat of the Republicans in the Louisiana governor’s race despite multiple visits from Trump. Trump himself cast the race as a referendum on his impeachment in a state where he won by 20 points. The fact is that, while winning on electoral college votes, the GOP has lost the national popular vote in six out of seven presidential elections since 1992. That does not bode well for a party facing massive demographic and generational challenges.
KNUS is owned by by Salem Media of Colorado. It is a Christian values media company was founded by Stuart Epperson and Edward G. Atsinger III. They are brother-in-laws who run the stations as a for-profit company. Epperson is a member of the board of directors of the National Religious Broadcasters Association. The company has been criticized for pressuring hosts to maintain a pro-Trump line on their shows.
There is rising intolerance and orthodoxy on both ends of the political spectrum. However, the termination of a host for voicing widely shared criticism of the president is an ominous sign of this worsening age of rage.
Chris Hedges was fired from the NYTs for being against the bush lies
Phil Donahue and Jesse Ventura were fired for being against the Iraq lies
Ed Shultz was fired for wanting to cover Bernie Sanders
It’s a bi partisan problem
You do not even have facts to prove what is coming out of your mouth. Radio news needs to be unbiasised and tell the truth. If you got fired from your job for your beliefs you would be screaming foul and suing for everything they got. Don’t quit your day job.
“ The Republicans have long prided themselves on being a “big tent party” ” and you believed them. Not much of an independent thinker I see.
Tony – I don’t think he was kicked out of the party, he just lost his job and then went crying to the Communist News Network.
Not relevant to my comment but you never are.
Tony – it was dead on point and you know it.
“You’re Done”: Conservative Radio Host Fired On The Air After Criticizing Donald Trump”
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Fun Fact: That’s “Crazy Abe” Lincoln’s MO.
Suspend Habeas Corpus and throw the entire spectrum of opponents in prison.
Destroy the printing presses and imprison opposing publishers.
Detain anyone speaking in public or within earshot against your war or administration and throw the offending party in prison entirely
bereft of due process.
When do Americans tear down that Lincoln memorial which is a tribute to a psychotic, tyrannical and oppressive despot?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
The Founding Fathers are now opposed by the Demolishing Children.
The inmates have taken over the asylum.
The entire communistic American welfare state is unconstitutional.
America is in a state of hysteria, incoherence, chaos, anarchy and rebellion.
Abraham “Crazy Abe” Lincoln seized power, neutralized the legislative and judicial branches and ruled by executive order and
proclamation to “Save the Union.”
President Donald J. Trump must now seize power, neutralize the legislative and judicial branches and rule by executive order and
proclamation to “Save the Republic.”
What cracks me up is hearing Nancy Pelosi say on Face The Nation today that President Trump is “in over his head” as president. Say whaaat??? AS IF Barry from Honolulu, head of the Choom Gang, was even remotely qualified and NOT a total puppet in WAY over his head??? Give me a break Democrats.
Anonymous – please, you forget that Barry was a “community organizer” and so he knew everything.
And trump? The chosen one, the one with unmatched wisdom also being a stable genius. Who knows more than the generals, who makes perfect phone calls. Who gets his marching orders from Putin, who built the greatest wall in the history of the world. And will go down in history as the most incompetent, and corrupt president we ever had. Not to mention the worst liar of all time.
FishWings – Trump is the chosen one, deal with it, For someone who supposedly gets his orders from Putin, he seems to be making Putin’s life uncomfortable. He has gotten more accomplished in 3 years than Obama did in 8, and that is with the courts, media and Congress fighting him. His glass is never just half full, it is always full.
Maybe you can remind everybody how many of Obama’s staff, lawyers and friends went to jail.
FishWings – maybe this is a question you are not going to want to ask at this time next year. 😉
Paul — I hope what you say comes to pass, but I fear we will hear something else instead —-> No indictments. DOJ Declined to Prosecute.
Then the Obama criminal cabal can continue cashing-in and join with domestic terrorist and Obama family friend, Bill Ayers in shouting from the rooftops: “Guilty as sin. Free as a bird. God bless America.”
Watch. Don’t be stunned when nothing, absolutely nothing happens to the lawless, lying, teasonous, and lawbreaking Obama admin.
Or maybe they’ll have one sacrificial lamb because the evidence of criminality is too overwhelming. Like, say, John Brennan?
Anonymous – I would like them to knock off some low hanging fruit just to even the score. However, that is just me.
FishWings — the best the Obama/Biden admin can say is they didn’t get caught. That’s hardly a “scandal-free” admin as they repeat over and over till their big lie sticks in the weak minds of uninformed-soundbite-fed-The View watching-stupid voters like yourself. Democrats count on it. Obama survives only due to the fact that he is protected by the mainstream press. And he knows it. Obama has plenty of pals who were or should be in prison. But alas, the media doesn’t harp on those names.
The “dirty” little irony is that Nanny Peeloosi and her San Francisco district are in “human and animal excrement” way over her head.
Now there’s a switch!
ESSENCE OF DONALD TRUMP:
‘THE TRUTH IS A LIE AND LIES ARE NOW THE TRUTH’
The featured incident in this column reflects the cult-like state of Trump’s base; a mindset where Trump is totally infallible. And we see it every day on these comment threads. Loyal Trumpers perform intellectual cartwheels in an effort to justify Trump’s daily outbursts.
Half-truths, What Abouts and demented conspiracy theories are routinely employed to defend Donald Trump. These defenses create volumes of disinformation to pollute the discussion.
Analysts have noted the Soviet Union suffered chronically from disinformation. It was a deliberate technique of the KGB, an organization where Vladimir Putin began his career. The concept is to ‘disperse the truth’ so ordinary citizens are never quite sure what the truth really is. Trump and rightwing media employ these techniques on a routine basis.
Defenses of Donald Trump frequently hinge on red herrings: references to people or incidents that have little to do with the issue at hand. But said references are presented with shrieking urgency!! And typically mainstream media is ‘covering up’!!! Therefore the commenter can only post from no-name sources.
These distractions force us to google red herrings to learn what relevance they might actually have. Red herrings can only be verified by no-name sources, of course. But in the minds of Trumpers, no-name sources are more credible. Poorly-written accounts, accompanied by cheap ads, seem to lend credence to crackpot conspiracies.
This is where we are in the Trump era: ‘crackpot conspiracies polluting the discussion’. And forcing us to waste our time consulting no-name sources. The late Walter Cronkite would turn over in his grave if he knew we had come to this.
The fact that he went on Steltzer’s show on CNN gives me pause about his bona fides.
So what? Trump isn’t a conservative just as he isn’t a liberal. Meaningless phrases anyway. He is a however a Constitutionalist and supports a Constitutional Republic which is more than i can say for the cave to the left comments I see posted here and there. Remember there are three types of socialists. Internationalists, Nationalists and Regressives. The last intentionally using the accurate description for what many falsely call the Democrat Party which is no where near democratic …. even if we had a Democracy which we don’t and never have had
Have a great Turkey Day but can you remember what you are giving thanks for?
/s/ Constitutional Centrists. The Center in our Republic is where you will find The Constitution.
Here is something to cure your misconceptions
Reference “What Is A Republic: A Concise Definition You Were Never Taught. John Chambers available from Amazon and useful for those who never read The Constitution!
Sorry, but I’m calling hearsay until and unless we get the whole story, and I don’t think that’s unreasonable at this point. In fact, thus smacks of precisely the kind of contextless sound byte the left have been happy to publish over the last three plus years. I am not taking the bait. Enough, already.
Bear in mind that radio stations, TV stations, newspapers and magazines are basically propaganda outlets, all of them. That’s how media was started in the first place, to advance a political point of view. The commentator who was fired is not bravely advocating his point of view, he’s an idiot for going against the position of the station. By the way, you mention “the popular vote.” There is no such thing in the United States. We don’t have national elections, we have state elections all on the same day and they’re to chose electors, not elect a president. Jon, your, of all people, know this. Incidentally, the votes from Democrats come from only a mere handful of states as any election map makes clear.
No one should be allowed to say bad things about Trump. That could make people brave to say more bad things about him. And tho he dont go to church Trump needs church voters. Cuz if Christian’s dont vote for Trump he dont stand as chance.
He is the chosen one, the one with unmatched wisdom and a stable genius, he said so himself.
‘Bout time you finally came around to agreeing with that, Fishwings.
Natacha will be the next convert.
Thank you, Anonymous. (Another “stable genius.” Said with dripping sarcarsm.)
Anonymous – speaking from experience, it is not easy being a stable genius. 🙂
To be clear, my comment at 6:03 was about “Anonymous” @ 5:47 PM , and not FishWings.
And, yes, Paul, we know you’re another “stable genius.” Thanks for letting us know, again.
Anonymous – you are welcome. 😉
In a world of jack asses, at best, you are a destabilized ninny.
Tony – you are mixing metaphors.
Radio KNUS backstory: “No threat to our cult myths and primitive beliefs about the nature of reality will be tolerated,” a general theme that has replayed over and over in degraded eras of human history.
First, I am wondering why I can’t find the exact script or video version of the situation?? I’ve searched all over the web but for some reason the detailed version, instead of hearsay and claims by Mr. Silverman are not on line – so why not wait and have a more complete and honest discussion with actual evidence. Let’s not be like Democrats on Impeachment, ignoring all juris prudence and trying to be above the law!
And how dare you criticize conservatives as being a pup tent when not even a flea – nor you – are actually considered legitimate by liberals and they have aggressively and consistently suppressed and punished speech, from the very top Democrat to the Always-Fa bottom. Democrats are now expressly against free speech and will violently suppress it, almost on a daily basis.
You prove his larger point well in your strident, ad hominem response, frankly.
Mr Turley with all due respect
Your 4th paragraph where you write about “yesterday’s defeat of Republicans in Louisiana” is very misleading to your readers
In the Governor’s race Bel Edwards only won by a mere 2% of the vote
The Louisiana Sec of State was won by a Republican
29 State Senate seats up for grabs in which 18 of those seats were won by Republicans
And several of those seats were also won by Independents
I therefore don’t consider a “defeat” for Republicans (plural as you wrote it) in Louisiana as accurate writing
With all due respect Mr Turley your blog has become nothing more than the equivalent of a “gossip magazine”
It is a blog after all. That’s what blogs are.
ya think?
When the point of view is threatened that easily probably a sign that it is a feable position.
Feeble. Sorry
A simple question.
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-dont-know-who-to-believe-in-this-impeachment-hearing
Talk radio – becoming State Radio – Just like fox is just State TV. Right in line with TASS and Pravda.,Facism is alive and well
What do you think CNN CNBE NBC CBS KNBC and a host of other stations are?
How would I know? I don’t have a TV am out of radio range and never listen to the Marx Brothers.
It’s nice to be a Constitutional Centrist in the largest voting block which does not include any of the left and does include a good chunk of the GOP but almost all the independent self governing citizens of the USA.
That seems rather impetuous of the programming director. I wonder of there had been an accumulation of issues with this particular radio host.
Nothing to say about this particular person. However, as a rule, the NeverTrump caucus is vastly more common among the Republican commentariat than it is among Republican voters. This is in part because of the financial pipeline from liberal media outlets to particular persons (although some of them don’t need the money). David Brooks, Ross Douthat, Jennifer Rubin, George Will, Conor Friedersdorf, David Frum, and S.E. Cupp are employed to provide emotional validation to those on the staff of their employer (and to a selection of their readers). The Bulwark crew is currently on the patronage of Pierre Omidyar; they’re the 2d string shills. Max Boot, Mona Charen, and several figures at National Review (Ramesh Ponnuru, Jim Geraghty, Jonah Goldberg, David French) are supported by donation and endowment funds and by the subscription and advertising stream that the accumulated accountant’s good-will can still bring in. Patrick Frey makes his real living as a public prosecutor and admits his readership has largely deserted him. Hot Air, like National Review, is NeverTrump by default but not NeverTrump exclusively. There are now indications Salem may shut it down. In truth, starboard voters who read topical commentary are encountering a NeverTrump perspective every day of the week unless they’re assiduously avoiding it.
Good for goose, good for gander. How many commentators have been let go for simply giving the president credit where credit was due?
Not sure, but likely not at this station or those like it.
NB, among starboard media, only The Weekly Standard has been constitutionally NeverTrump in its orientation in a persistent and obnoxious way. Salem shut it down because they were running out of readers. Commentary is NeverTrump, but topical commentary is not their main book of business.
The Guilty to proven innocent is the danger – not the Bull in the China shop