How is it that as far as I have seen, no one appears to realize that Glenn Beck's success is almost entirely due to the way he has adopted the semiotics, syntax, rhetoric, style, etc. of traditionally anitcapitalist, antiracist, feminist, and related discourses, and uses "their" (if I can even provisionally claim this unity) kind of an analytical strategy in a brilliantly perverse way? Listen to any given show and see how this is borne out.

In a country where you can't be overtly racist, he often takes the tack of appearing to support 'minorities' by promoting legislation or action that most not of his spectacularly [bizarre? expedient?] political position DO consider racist, and then calls people opposing him the "actual" racists. I guess his tricks resemble Slavoj Zizek's in that respect.

Glenn Beck uses a gently retuned "leftist" discourse to mute, cauterize, castrate the "left." It's in this way that we can finally understand what is otherwise a mindfuck of a book cover:



We can understand it because that was exactly and literally Benito Mussolini's strategy and greatest political strength, and whatever intent Beck might've had with this cover aside, it literalizes this fact more perfectly than could any lettered image (yes, I know, digital images are lingual, so to speak). His shocked, indignant guilelessness is exactly his guile; the only thing left for me to determine in that respect is whether it's in service to sincere political principles or fiscal expedience.

Glenn Beck's discourse is:
-Pro-capitalist

-Classist in the way that follows from the first principle, but also simultaneously

-Populist. And overwhelmingly so, not only rhetorically, but also in light of Beck's organizations (9/12 project, association with/de facto spiritual leader of the Tea Party), and in this way is reminiscent of

-Intensely nationalist (and I would argue this strategy both makes class resentment abate [we're on the same team!] and allows for the imaginary classlessness provided by that kind of identification as identity)

-Simultaneously traditional and revolutionary (in every significant sense of that word "American" or otherwise)

-Alarmist; adopts a tone of immanent threat and of necessary response. Glenn Beck, I would imagine, is a big fan of the state of exception

-Militarist; despite his 'peaceful protest' rhetoric, his tears (if nothing else) speak to a 'my home is being attacked/destroyed' sort of pathos, and a threatened home or family is excuse enough for anyone to behave violently


To say this is not therefore to call the other side of mass politics non-suspect, or to suggest that this sort of new fascism (one that in fact probably should not be named this way for a few reasons, not the least of which is the fact that Beck would certainly not identify as such and identification DOES MATTER) is not ultimately a biopolitical Janus, but I do think it accounts for something about Beck that has otherwise frustrated and confused a lot of people.