Q&A of the Day – Part 1- What’s the future for talk radio and the country?
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Twitter & Parler: @brianmuddradio
Today’s entry: Brian - Brilliant commentary, as always. Here's my question: Since we now know that nothing that anyone says in conservative talk radio will make a difference at the polls...and since we now know that 'the left' essentially owns everything (polls. polling machines. the courts. schools. universities. media. all of social media..etc) and that nothing conservatives do from here on out will actually change a thing...
What do people like Sean, Mark or Rush hope to accomplish now, other than to simply continue their 30-year narration of the downfall of a once great nation. And, of course, additional book sales? They spent the last 30 years winning the ARGUMENT. While the left won the war. Would be interesting to hear your perspective on that.
Bottom Line: Your question is a great one, something I considering as a matter of self-evaluation from time to time and warrants being addressed at a time like this when many conservatives are soul-searching. I’m going to answer your question and address your topic by respectfully rejecting your premise regarding the influence, or perception of the lack thereof, regarding this medium politically. And rather than speaking about broad political themes, I’ll start with a look at our state first.
For the better part of twenty years, most political analysts have viewed Florida as the future of the United States. The reasons go far beyond Florida simply having been a large swing-state. If you look at national demographics, Florida most closely resembles the overall composition of the country, given our wealth of diversity. With that in mind let’s set aside everything that happened this cycle outside of our state for moment. Here’s what happened in Florida this cycle:
- Republican voter registration set records and is now nearly at parity with Democrats for the first time in our state’s history
- Donald Trump grew his margin of victory in Florida from 1.2% in 2016 to 3.4%
- Republicans flipped two Congressional seats from Democrats
- Republicans, flipped four seats in the state house
All of that culminated in Florida now having more elected Republicans than at any other time in the state’s history. It was demonstrably the most successful election cycle for conservatives in Florida’s history. My point in mentioning this isn’t to dodge your question. It’s precisely to illustrate that your inference is incorrect that the ship has sailed politically for conservatives in this country. If you believe Florida is the future of the country, as again, most do when they’re addressing the issue, think about what this election cycle represents in context. It’s a case of it currently feeling worse than the reality is. For that matter, consider that in 2008 Barak Obama won the election with 59 more electoral college votes than Biden just did, and Democrats had forty, 4-0 more seats in the House of Representatives and 9 more Senate seats than they do today. Add into the conversation that President Trump won 13 million more votes than he won four years ago, and the overall picture is vastly different than it feels for many conservatives today. In the second part of today’s Q&A I’ll specifically speak to talk radio’s place in the context of this conversation.
Here's the link for Part 2: https://ihr.fm/3boa81S
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