Death Threat Sends Bellwether Conservative Radio Host Into Hiding
Selwyn Duke
The New American
January 7, 2019
In another sign of our intensifying cold civil war that threatens to go hot, the Internet’s most-streamed terrestrial talk-radio host has been forced to change locations owing to a credible death threat. Sent via e-mail, the would-be killer warned a restaurant favored by the host — radio giant Michael Savage (shown) — that he’ll turn the eatery into a “shooting gallery” unless it refuses the commentator service.
Savage has received death threats before, but this one is serious enough so that city, state, and federal agencies are investigating the matter, according to the Washington Times.
As American Thinkers’ Thomas Lifson reports, “Superficially, this is aimed at preventing Michael Savage from patronizing a favorite restaurant, which is now a well accepted tactic on the left, though usually accomplished by harassing conservatives or public officials while dining. This threat of mass casualties is different in kind, because it could deny service to the targeted person in addition to potentially killing many bystanders.”
The e-mail itself is truly vile. As the Times relates:
Portions of the email sent to the restaurant state, in all caps, “I DEMAND THAT YOU REFUSE TO ALLOW MICHAEL SAVAGE … IN YOUR F-ING RESTAURANT AGAIN. HE IS A RACIST WHITE SUPREMACIST PIECE OF SH— … DONT WANT TO LISTEN TO ME? WELL I GUESS YOURE ALL GONNA F—ING DIE THEN CUZ I AM WAITING FOR THE MOTHAF— AND I WILL WAIT AND WATCH YOUR F—ING BUSINESS AND WHEN I SEE HIM GO IN THERE IM GOING TO START SHOOTING EVERY BODY I CAN FIND.”
The suspect then gets very specific.
“I OWN 3 GUNS AND I CAN DO SOME SERIOUS F—ING DAMAGE,” the email went on. “I WILL KILL AS MANY OF YOU RACIST-SUPPORTING/ENABLING WHITE SUPREMACISTS AS I F—ING CAN.” …“PEOPLE WILL F—ING DIE,” the email messenger wrote. “IM GOING TO KILL THAT F—ING CRYPTO JEW BUT IF YOU DONT WANT YOUR WHOLE BUSINESS TO TURN INTO A F—IN SHOOTING GALLERY AND YOUR CUSTOMERS TO GET CAUGHT UP IN THIS YOU BETTER KEEP HIM OUTTA THERE OR ELSE … YOURE ALL GONNA F—IN DIE UNLESS YOU DO WHAT I F—IN SAY. ILL REALLY MAKE U F—IN FAMOUS.”
Despite this, a “shocking silence on the left” greets this news, as Lifson puts it. “So far as both a Duckduckgo news search and a Google news search reveal, no left wing politician or media figure has spoken up against this hideous threat,” according to Lifson and as of January 3.
In contrast, just imagine the uproar if a corresponding leftist figure received such a threat. Note that when President Trump merely renders unflattering opinion about the media (i.e., “fake news”), it’s said to threaten reporters’ safety and imperil the First Amendment. Yet we hear crickets when media figure Savage receives an actual threat.
In a way, though, Savage is the canary in the coal mine here. To understand why, consider that today is the day the host is “going dark” on some big-city radio stations, kicked off the air — apparently for ideological reasons — despite earning them millions and having high ratings.
Moreover, in 2009 he was placed on a list with criminals and jihadists and banned from entering Britain allegedly for having “extreme views” (the actual reason was likely because U.K. authorities, anxious to fend off “racism” allegations, wanted to have a white conservative on their list to “balance” its Muslims).
And now Savage is subject to the vile death threat in question. Why is he so assailed?
One likely reason is that of all the high-profile media figures, Savage is the most “outside the box” — the establishment box. In fact, considered instrumental in the election of our nation’s most assailed, anti-establishment president, the radio rebel and raconteur has been dubbed “the Godfather of Trumpmania.”
(This phenomenon also explains why Fox News host Tucker Carlson was subjected to violent protests outside his home for speaking out against immigrationism.)
But what’s befalling Savage will eventually, if we remain on our cultural trajectory, be visited on other high-profile conservatives. For there’s something quite ominous occurring here.
I warned in 2012 that what everyone was still calling the “culture war” was no such thing — that war was well over.
What we were, and are now, experiencing is a pacification effort.
As I wrote last month, this issue actually concerns
a cultural revolution that will, barring something that upsets the apple cart, consume each and every American who won’t bend to the Left’s demonic will.
The Left long ago largely purged academia, with conservative, thought-criminal academics being denied tenure or forced to resign; entertainment, with conservative actors blacklisted; and media, with conservatives either never hired or being ousted.
Now big business has joined the phalanx. Big Tech has been “cleansing” dissident voices via deplatforming (Alex Jones) and methods such as Twitter’s shadowbanning, Facebook’s censorship, and Google’s blacklists and burying of conservative search results. Companies also eliminate ideologically non-conforming employees (e.g., Mozilla’s Brendan Eich, Google’s James Damore).
Added to this can now be “financial blacklisting,” which is when “online financial platforms — as well as Visa and MasterCard — … deny service to customers for political reasons,” explainsBreitbart. “Financial blacklisting doesn’t just rob you of a chance to spread your message: it robs you of your ability to do business, your livelihood, your very means of functioning in a capitalist society.”
In other words, the Left’s new Red Guards are moving from one sector of society to another as they stamp out visible dissent’s last vestiges, using official means, organized economic ostracism, and social pressure.
A recent example of the latter was caught on video (below — warning: foul language), when a vape-shop clerk exploded in anger and sought to refuse service to a man sporting a Trump shirt.
As for Savage, he’s not the first conservative figure recently targeted for injury or assassination. As Thomas Lifson also tells us, “Right now, actress Ellen Barkin is calling for the rape and death of a comedian of whom she disapproves. She already has called for the assassination of President Trump and ‘endorsed a Tweet calling for Republicans to die via Hurricane Isaac.’”
Moreover, 2017 saw the congressional baseball shooting of Representative Steve Scalise (R-La.) and others, and the poisoning of Jihad Watch proprietor Robert Spencer (who, like Savage, is banned in Britain) by a leftist in Iceland.
It’s all the handiwork of the Ideology of Peace’s adherents, who preach tolerance when seeking power — and practice tyranny upon attaining it.
Selwyn Duke writes for the New American, where this article first appeared.
