“Nothing that this government does feels in any way shape or form American. And that’s the thing that scares me. We’ve accepted the fact that our White House and this administration: they are cowards. They are bowing before the world. And they don’t represent any of the things I was brought up to believe this country stands for. So.”
Curt Schilling’s podcast on Breitbart.com debuted on Tuesday morning and like boiling a pot of water, it took a few minutes for the takes to heat all the way up. But by the 30-minute mark of the debut of his new daily show, the former Red Sox ace was scalding the ears of callers from Massachusetts to California. Obama and his administration is un-American. Hillary Clinton is “evil”. And Donald Trump is going to win the presidency in a “Reaganesque landslide,” all while regularly hitting on the themes of a biased media, biased polls and the possibility of a rigged vote – the loophole in the landslide prediction.
The two-hour show was dubbed by the “alt right” flagship Breitbart in its promo materials as: “not your run-of-the mill talk radio program. The caller intensive show will feature Schilling’s unfiltered and insightful commentary on a mix of topics ranging from politics and culture to current affairs and perhaps some sports.”
Indeed, this is not another sports podcast. Schilling briefly alluded to his dismissal from ESPN a quarter of the way through the show and only spoke about the World Series when callers specifically asked him. (For the record, Schilling is not picking Chicago or Cleveland but feels that “whoever wins will be a big middle finger to Red Sox ownership, which is something I’m never, ever sad about.” So we probably shouldn’t expect Schilling’s 38 to be honored anywhere outside of his Twitter account.)
Of the more than a dozen callers who filled the show’s two hours, all but one sounded like they shared the same world view as Schilling and Breitbart Media as a whole. It was preaching to the choir or, if you prefer: throwing BP to your team-mates. The second caller, a man named Brian from New Jersey, brought up Schilling’s recent question to Jake Tapper on CNN in which the retired pitcher wondered how any Jewish Americans could support the Democrats. Brian from New Jersey insisted there are many possible reasons and that it is a very “nuanced issue.” Schilling responded: “No, I agree.” But the final hour and 45 minutes of the show did not exude a particular appreciation of nuance from Schilling or his callers. Even the call-in number itself, (877) 240-1776 – that’s right: 1776 – was square on the nose.
One woman promoted a YouTube video she made about Benghazi, something she said “millions” of people don’t know about. A man named Patrick, who said he is a regular caller to Breitbart shows, referenced “typical Liberal retardation syndrome” and talked about a world in which we are “surrounded by a bunch of animals” Patrick was calling from Indianapolis.
Erica in Massachusetts said she sensed the election is going Trump’s way because “I see more Trump signs in the yard than Hillary signs. Where I live is more conservative, but definitely more Trump signs.” And Scott in Alabama started off with “Roll Tide. If you come down here to try to take our guns, you’re going to get more than you bargained for,” before seguing into: “There’s no more racism. You still got pockets, but there’s no more racism directly.”
But Schilling gave as good as he got when it came to takes. On racism he echoed Scott: “That’s absolutely right. Great call.” Schilling stressed that racism is absolutely just “in pockets,” adding that while prejudice does still exist, there are no ways to enact laws that end prejudice: “You can’t pass laws that to make people believe in something that they don’t believe. That’s just the way it is.” (He did not say how this viewpoint fits with his feelings on transgender bathroom laws.) Colin Kaepernick and other athletes are “kneeling for a lie,” Schilling continued. “The 75 most violent cities in this country, 52% of the murders are committed by black criminals, though they make up just 13% of the population.”
Schilling also brought his fastball for issues of faith, referencing the bible and then urging listeners to not allow themselves to be “brought down and dragged down by this horrific group of agenda-driven, liberal, socialist I-want-the world-to-live-in-peace people. We live in the real world.” Unfortunately, the next caller was Ryan in South Carolina and not Jesus. It would have been interesting to hear Christ’s thoughts on that peace take.
On and on it went as Schilling served the red-state meat that Breitbart promises its core audience. His delivery featured a calm, practiced tenor developed from years as a broadcaster in the mainstream media – anyone hoping for Alex Jones-style tirades would be disappointed – and he closed his debut with thoughts on why more athletes don’t come out as conservative: “These athletes are more worried about a brand than a flag.” No streaming figures were listed on the site, but the number of callers alone made the debut broadcast undoubtedly more successful than Schilling’s Trump rally this past weekend. The show will be back at 9am ET tomorrow and every weekday. At least until Schilling decides to dump the world of podcasting for his own a run at the presidency.
“If I was going to run for president, Colonel Allen West would be my running mate,” Schilling told his listeners. But we’ll have to wait at least eight years for that since Trump is going to win in a landslide.
