Glenn Beck

Being Glenn Beck
By MARK LEIBOVICH
Glenn Beck was sprawled out on is o!!ice
couc a couple o! weeks ago" taking — as self-
helpers like to say — an inventory. “I think what the country is going through right now is, in a
way, what I went through with my alcoholism,” he told me. “You can either live or die. You have a
choice.” Beck, who is !, was in the "idtown "anhattan offices of his production company,
"ercury #adio $rts, which is named for "ercury %heater, the company created &y 'rson (elles.
)e had *ust finished his three-hour syndicated radio show and was a few hours away from his
television show. It was a (ednesday afternoon in the middle of +eptem&er, and Beck had *ust
returned from a week,s vacation in the -rand %etons followed &y a .uick hop to $nchorage,
where he and +arah /alin appeared at an event on +ept. 00.
Beck has a s.uare, &oyish face, an alternately plagued and twinkle-eyed demeanor that con*ures
1when Beck is wearing glasses2 the comedian 3rew 4arey. )e is !-foot-5, which is slightly *arring
when you first meet him, &ecause he is all head and doughiness on television6 I never thought of
Beck as &ig or small, *ust as someone who was suddenly u&i.uitous and who talked a lot and
said some really astonishing things, to a point where it made you wonder — constantly —
whether he was &eing serious.
$t some point in the past few months, Beck ceased &eing *ust the guy who cries a lot on 7o8
9ews or a “rodeo clown” 1as he has descri&ed himself2 or simply a voice of the ultraconservative
opposition to /resident '&ama. In record time, Beck has traveled the loop of curiosity to ratings
&onan:a to self-parody to sage. It is remarka&le to think he has &een on 7o8 9ews only since
;anuary 5<<=.
In person, Beck is sheepish and approacha&le, &etraying none of the grandiosity or &luster you
might e8pect from a man who predicted “the ne8t -reat $wakening” to a few hundred thousand
people in late $ugust at the >incoln "emorial or who declared last year that the president has a
“deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.” )e wore a &lue dress shirt tucked into
*eans and &rown loafers, which he kicked off as soon as he sat down. )e showed little interest in
the results from primary elections held the day &efore — upsets in 3elaware and 9ew York for
%ea /arty candidates whose followers often invoke Beck and /alin as spiritual leaders and even
promote them as a prospective presidential ticket in 5<05.
“9ot involved with the %ea /arty,” Beck told me, shrugging. (hile many identify Beck with a
political insurgency — as #ush >im&augh was identified with the #epu&lican sweep of 0== — to
&elieve that the nation suffers from “a political pro&lem” comically understates things, in his view.
“I stand with the %ea /arty as long as they stand for certain principles and values,” Beck told me.
)e is a principles-and-values guy.
Beck talks like someone who is accustomed to thinking out loud and inflicting his revelations in
real time. )e speaks in the language of therapy, in which he has &een steeped through years of
05-step programs and the "ormon-affiliated addiction-treatment center he and his wife run in the
9ew York, 9ew ;ersey and 4onnecticut region. $s he lay on his office couch, he recalled a very
low moment. It was &ack in the mid-0==<s. )e was newly divorced, lying on the olive green shag
carpet of a two-&edroom apartment in )amden, 4onn., that smelled like soup. It had a tiny
kitchen, and his young children slept in a &ed together when they visited on weekends. “It was the
kind of place where loser guys who *ust got divorced wind up,” Beck said. “You,d see a new guy
come in, you,d say hello and he,d walk in alone, and you,d &e like, ?Yeah, I understand, &rother., ”
Beck understands, &rother. 4ommunists in the (hite )ouse are &ent on “fundamentally
transforming” the country6 progressives speak of putting “the common good” &efore the individual,
which “is e8actly the kind of talk that led to the death camps in -ermany,” as he said on his show
in "ay. 'r, as he said in ;uly of last year, “@verything that is getting pushed through 4ongress,
including this health care &ill,” is “driven &y /resident '&ama,s thinking on . . . reparations” and
his desire to “settle old racial scores.” It sounds harsh, may&e, &ut this is the rhetoric of crisis and
desperation, and so much of the population is too &lind drunk to recogni:e the reality — which is
that the country is lying on an olive green shag carpet on the &rink of ending it all. “+ome have to
destroy their family and their *o& and their house and their income,” Beck told me. “+ome don,t
get it, and they die.”
+ome do get it, and they revere -lenn Beck.
()I>@ %)@ #I-)% has traditionally responded to its aggrieved sense of alienation with anger,
Beck is not particularly angry. )e seems sorrowful6 his prevailing message is um&rage &orn of
self-taught wisdom. )e is more agoni:ed than mad. )e is post-angry.
Beck rarely speaks with the s.uinty-eyed certainty or smugness of #ush >im&augh or his fellow
7o8 9ews hosts Bill ',#eilly and +ean )annity. )e often changes his mind or nakedly contradicts
himself. “(hen you listen and watch me, it,s where I am in my thinking in the moment,” Beck told
me. “I,m trying to figure it out as I go.” )e will sometimes stop midsentence and recogni:e that
something he is a&out to say could &e misunderstood and could cause him trou&le. %hen, more
often than not, he will say it anyway.
In the middle of his analogy to me a&out his own personal crash and the country,s need to heal
itself, Beck looked at his pu&licist with a flash of alarm a&out how I might construe what he was
saying. “)e is going to write a story that I &elieve the whole country is alcoholics,” he said. $nd
then he went on to essentially compare his “#estoring )onor” pageant at the >incoln "emorial to
a large-scale $.$. meeting. “(hen I &ottomed out, I couldn,t put it &ack together myself,” Beck
told me. “I could do all the hard work. I could do the 05 steps. But I needed like-minded people
around me.”
)e needed support, *ust as responsi&le $mericans need it now to reinforce the principles and
values that the founders instilled and that, he says, have since decayed. “You need people to &e
a&le to reach out and connect and say, ?>et me help hold you when you,re stum&ling, and you
hold me when I,m stum&ling, &ecause what we,re going through now is a storm of confusion., ”
7ans approach Beck and give him hugs. 3o people feel they can hug >im&aughA
%here is something feminine a&out Beck — the soft features, the crying on the air, the refle8ive
vulnera&ility. It sets him apart from the standard, testosterone-addled rant artists of ca&le and talk
radio. (omen tune into Beck,s radio show more heavily than they do to other conservative
commentators, says 4hris Balfe, the president and chief operating officer of "ercury, which
employs more than < people. $nd Beck,s television show is on at B p.m. @astern, traditionally a
slot with more women viewers. 1'n a typical day, Beck,s show is recorded on more 3C#s than
any other ca&le-news program.2 But Beck also appeals to a more traditionally female sensi&ility.
“)e works through things in real time,” Balfe told me. “"ay&e he,ll come &ack tomorrow and say,
?You know what, I,ve given this some thought, and here,s what I,m thinking now., ” 'r may&e he,ll
come &ack sooner. (ithin a few sentences of proposing '&ama,s “deep-seated hatred for white
people,” he added this caveatD “I,m not saying that he doesn,t like white people.”
Beck,s staff and loyalists love to compare Beck with 'prah (infrey. Balfe was the first to say it to
me, adding the re.uisite fau8 apology. $s (infrey does, Beck talks a great deal a&out himself and
su&scri&es to the pop-recovery ethic. “/art of 'prah,s appeal is that people see her as a real
person,” says ;oel 4heatwood, the 7o8 e8ecutive who initially &rought Beck to 499,s )eadline
9ews and then to 7o8. “+he has struggled with her weight6 she is open a&out it. -lenn is not a
pretty &oy. )e comes off as a regular guy who has also &een open a&out his struggles.” 1Beck
da&&led in /ilates recently, he disclosed on radio.2
%he presumed 'prah parallel is corporate as well as stylistic. Beck, like (infrey, has a knack for
making &est sellers of &ooks he mentions on the air. )e pu&lishes a maga:ine, sells more than a
million dollars in merchandise and speaks of an array of possi&le multimedia ventures. Beck,s
maga:ine, 7usion, is so named &ecause it is a “fusion of entertainment and enlightenment.” Beck
himself is a study in fusions. )e &lends %C-ready empathy with push-the-edge conservative talk,
as well as self-dou&t with the self-a&sor&ed grandeur of a man whose hard-won recovery grants
him the power to speak from the steps of the >incoln "emorial.
Beck is constantly admitting his weaknesses and failures, which he wields as &oth a crutch and a
shield. “"ay&e -lenn,s transparency is what keeps him out of trou&le,” says #o&ert Beath, Beck,s
drama teacher at +ehome )igh +chool in Bellingham, (ash. Beath, who was fond of Beck as a
teenager, said Beck appears to now think that his revelations grant him license. “(hen he says, ?I
am not perfect,, he seems to escape accounta&ility for his various points of view. Yet he e8pects
others to &e accounta&le for their point of view without seeming to allow them the ?I am not
perfect, e8ception.”
%hat,s where the (infrey comparison falls apart. You could never imagine her *oking a&out
poisoning the speaker of the house or talking a&out choking the life out of a filmmaker or
fantasi:ing a&out &eating a congressman “to death with a shovel” 1as Beck did for 9ancy /elosi,
"ichael "oore and 4harles #angel, respectively2. Beck is divisive.
“)e has a spiritual connection to us6 you can hear his heart speaking,” +usan %revethan, a
psychiatric nurse from "ilford, 4onn., told me at the “#estoring )onor” rally. “I &elieve he has
&een divinely guided to &e here in this place,” she said. “)e is doing the research. )e is teaching
us.”
'r if you preferD “@ven the leather-winged shouting heads at 7o8 9ews look like intellectual giants
ne8t to this &leating, &enighted 4assandra,” wrote %he Buffalo Beast, in naming Beck one of the
B< most loathsome people in $merica in 5<<!. 19o. 5 then, &ut in ;anuary he made it to 9o. 0.2
“It,s like someone found a manic, doom-prophesying ho&o in a sandwich &oard, shaved him, shot
him full of Eoloft and gave him a show.”
'.F., the dude,s polari:ing. -ot it.
%he "ercury #adio $rts head.uarters are a museum to Beck,s .uirks, aspirations, successes and
self. /oster-si:e color photos of Beck, taken &y his personal photographer, -eorge >ange,
dominate the lo&&y. 'ne features Beck wrapped up head to toe in yellow police tape6 another has
him dressed and made up like a rodeo clown. %he offices evoke the self-image of a multimedia
entrepreneur and would-&e titanD portraits of 'rson (elles, #onald #eagan and (alt 3isney
hang on the walls. Balfe, the chief e8ecutive, keeps a massive red-and-&lue “4apitalism” poster
a&ove his desk — hand-painted &y Beck.
9e8t door to Balfe,s office is Beck,s, which is spacious, sun-filled and arrayed with family photos,
&ooks and a yellowed copy of %he Boston /ost with the headline “(oodrow (ilson Is 3ead.” )is
computer flashes with alternating screen savers of his second wife, %ania, and his four children —
two from each marriage — along with photos of landmarks like /ike /lace "arket in +eattle, near
where Beck grew up.
Beck can &e difficult to get to. )e is acutely conscious of his personal safety. )e feels targeted.
+ecurity guards trail him on the street. )e wears &ulletproof vests at pu&lic events. )e wanted to
&uild a si8-foot &arrier around his estate in 9ew 4anaan, 4onn., running him afoul of local :oning
ordinances. %he &arrier would not stop those who would do him harm, Beck,s lawyer told 9ew
4anaan,s :oning commission, &ut it would slow them down. “It will stop anything people send into
the property, whether photographs or &ullets,” the lawyer said, according to %he 9ew 4anaan
$dvertiser.
Beck says he trusts very few people. )e gives few interviews. I first spoke to him &y phone, a few
days after the rally in (ashington. )e sounded thrilled — on the phone, as he did on the air that
week — with how everything went on $ug. 5G. But he never seems far from the precipice of
something. It is all precarious.
“I said to someone the other day,” Beck told me, “I am as close today to a complete and total
collapse as I was on the first day of recovery.” )e calls himself a “recovering dirt&ag.” %here were
many days, he said, when he would avoid the &athroom mirror so he would not have to face
himself. )e was in therapy with “3r. ;ack 3aniels.” )e smoked mari*uana every day for a&out 0B
years. )e fired an underling for &ringing him the wrong pen. $nd, according to a +alon.com
report, he once called the wife of a radio rival to ridicule her — on the air — a&out her recent
miscarriage.
“You get to a place where you disgust yourself,” Beck told me. “(here you reali:e what a weak,
pathetic and despica&le person you have &ecome.”
Beck grew up in "ount Cernon, (ash., a&out B< miles north of +eattle. )e was an unfocused
student with discrete passions and talents who could have &enefited from a more sta&le home
environment — and a prescription for #italin. )is love affair with radio &egan, he says, when his
mother gave him an al&um set of radio classics that included (elles,s “(ar of the (orlds.” )e
was G and spent much of his free time honing his radio voice into a tape recorder.
Bill and "ary Beck, -lenn,s parents, owned a &akery in "ount Cernon that eventually closed. %he
couple divorced when -lenn was 0H, and "ary Beck, who &attled alcoholism, drowned a few
years later along with a male companion on a &oating e8pedition in 0=I= on a &ay near %acoma.
Beck deemed her death a suicide 1though local newspapers and government records called it an
accident, according to +alon.com,s $le8ander Eaitchik2. Beck was 0B then, and he says the
episode sank him into decades of misery, chemical dependence and misanthropic &ehavior that
played out on and off the air at a procession of 7" stations across the country — morning-3.;.
*o&s in markets like /rovo, Jtah6 /hoeni86 4orpus 4hristi, %e8.6 and 9ew )aven, where he hit
&ottom.
I asked Beck if he could pinpoint the moment he decided to change his life. “)ere,s something I
haven,t told anyone &efore,” Beck said. “(hen my mother was at her worst, she was dating a guy
who was a&usive. )e was a &ig 9avy guy too.” It was right at the end of her life. -lenn got
&etween his mother and the man during an ugly fight. “I *ust came in and stood &etween them
and said, ?-et out of our house., ” %he man left, &ut he came &ack a few days later and &egged
forgiveness. “(hen I so&ered up, I remem&er looking &ack to that point,” Beck told me.
“+omething I learned still kind of plays a role.” )e went on to sayD “'ne of the phrases I use isD
You need to &e who you were &orn to &e, not the people we have allowed ourselves to &ecome.
3on,t let life and the world shape us. %hat,s not who we are.”
I asked Beck how he knew that his mother,s death was a suicide. %he man who drowned with her
was that same a&usive &oyfriend, he said. @ither the two of them *umped over&oard at the same
time, or "ary fell in and the 9avy man *umped in to save her — and that was unlikely. (hyA Beck
said he &een out on a &oat with the &oyfriend &efore, and the man preached to him never to *ump
in and save some&ody who is drowning. It only endangers the would-&e rescuer. %hrow in a life
preserver instead. /lus, the 9avy man,s clothes were found neatly folded, along with his wallet
and watch.
$% ;J+% 50, Beck took a *o& as a morning-drive impresario in >ouisville. )is show, “4aptain Beck
and the $-%eam,” included the usual antics of the genreD *uvenile *okes, pranks, impersonations,
sound effects and fat *okes a&out a news reader for a rival station — anything to fill the four
hours.
By most accounts, Beck succeeded6 &ut &y his own, he was misera&le. “%here was a &ridge
a&utment in >ouisville, Fy., that had my name on it,” Beck wrote in his 5<<H &ook, “#eal $mericaD
"essages 7rom the )eart and )eartland.” “@very day I prayed for the strength to &e a&le to drive
my car at I< m.p.h. into that &ridge a&utment.” )e says he contemplated only violent suicides
1“like the &ridge a&utment thing and putting a gun in my mouth while listening to 9irvana”2. )e
attri&utes his ina&ility to off himself to cowardice and stupidity — .ualities that also suited him to
his tour of "orning Eoo $merica. “I hated people,” Beck wrote, wa8ing pop-psychological,
“&ecause I hated myself.”
By the mid-,=<s, Beck had &een married, divorced, pony tailed and seemingly at a dead end. )e
*oined $lcoholics $nonymous, reluctantly attending his first meetings in a church &asement in
4heshire, 4onn. %he olive-green-carpet episode was formative &ut not a singular turning point. “It
was more a point of recognition,” Beck told me. “$re you going to stand or are you going to grow
upA $re you going to succeed or fail, live or dieA (hat is it going to &eA %here weren,t any angels
or the sky opening up.” )e em&arked on a period of “searching” and self-education. %he process
was largely hapha:ard. )e tells of walking into a &ookstore and loading up on &ooks &y a
hodgepodge that included $lan 3ershowit:, /ope ;ohn /aul II, 4arl +agan, 9iet:sche, Billy
-raham and $dolf )itler. “%he li&rary of a serial killer,” he called it. )e even enrolled at Yale, with
a written recommendation from an alum who was a listener at the time, +enator ;oe >ie&erman.
)e took one class, early 4hristology, &ut says he “spent more time trying to find a parking space”
than in class and .uickly dropped out.
Beck met %ania in 0==G. +he walked into the 9ew )aven radio station where he was working to
pick up a +ony (alkman she won in a contest. %hey &egan dating. )e wanted to marry, and she
agreed, &ut only on the condition that they find a religion together. %hey shopped around,
attended services and eventually settled on "ormonism — inspired in part &y Beck,s &est friend
and radio sidekick, /at -ray, who himself is "ormon. Beck, who was &rought up #oman 4atholic,
has called his faith “the most important thing” in his life.
By the late 0==<s, Beck had come to despise the 7" :oo format. )e was &ecoming more
spiritual, more engaged in news and current affairs and more opinionated on the air a&out his
political views 1generally conservative then, though not as much as now — he favored a&ortion
rights at the time2. )e was a connoisseur of talk radio and yearned to &reak into the genre.
Beck moved to %ampa, 7la., in late 0=== — leaving his two daughters &ack in 4onnecticut — to
host his first talk-radio show, an afternoon slot on (7>$. “I may have made the &iggest mistake
of my life in taking this *o&,” Beck recalls saying during his first segment on the air. “Because I,ve
*ust made a pact that I was going to leave my children in 4onnecticut and move to 7lorida, and
it,s killing me. I may have traded my children for this *o&.”
Beck,s radio show was heavily political &ut not e8clusively. It was more stream of consciousness
— veering in unforeseen directions, as reflected in the first segment. “I found it to &e a very
?+einfeld,-like radio program,” says Fraig Fitchin, the former president of /remiere #adio
9etworks, who signed Beck to a national-syndication deal. “%here was one main plot streaming
through the program and two or three su&plots.”
;oel 4heatwood, then the e8ecutive director of program development for 499 and )eadline
9ews, heard Beck,s radio show in late 5<<, when Beck was on the air in /hiladelphia, and said
he &elieved that the host could translate to television. 4heatwood, a controversial innovator of
television news, pioneered the flashy “if it &leeds, it leads” local-news formats. )e persuaded
Beck to *oin )eadline 9ews in 5<<!. $s with his first stint in %ampa, Beck had early dou&ts.
“-lenn had &een on the air for a&out three weeks,” recalled 4heatwood, who has one of the most
thrillingly sculptured waves of slicked-&ack hair I have ever seen. “)e came into my office and
said something like, ?%his is kind of a disaster,, and he was right.” Beck struggled to adapt his
radio persona to the regimented &ites of television. “It was all over the &oard,” 4heatwood says of
the early )eadline 9ews show.
Beck compares his free-associative radio orientation to the real-time oversharing ethic of today,s
culture. “"y life is what I think our children are going though with 7ace&ook,” he told me. “%hey,re
putting things up there, &ecause they,re living their life, and every&ody,s doing it.” @ventually Beck
learned to harness his talent to the demands of television, at least somewhat. )is &est-known
episode at )eadline 9ews was a 9ovem&er 5<<! interview with Feith @llison, a 3emocrat from
"innesota, who had *ust &ecome the first "uslim elected to the )ouse. “I have to tell you, I have
&een nervous a&out this interview with you,” Beck told @llison to &reak the ice. “Because what I
feel like saying is, ?+ir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies., $nd I know you,re
not. I,m not accusing you of &eing an enemy, &ut that,s the way I feel, and I think a lot of
$mericans will feel that way.” -roups complained, Beck e8pressed regret for “a poorly worded
.uestion” and ;on +tewart played the clip on “%he 3aily +how.” “7inally,” +tewart said, “a guy who
says what people who aren,t thinking are thinking.”
B@4F ($+ >J#@3 to 7o8 9ews &y the prospect of more viewers and a recruiting pitch &y
4heatwood — who had since moved there — and the network,s president, #oger $iles. )e &egan
his 7o8 9ews show the day &efore Barack '&ama,s inauguration.
/eople watch Beck in remarka&le num&ers, at least &y the standards of his time slot on ca&le
news — he averages more than two million viewers, whether the topic is a founding father, an
o&scure president or a little-known (hite )ouse administrator.
“If you were in an imaginary meeting for a %C show,” Bill +hine, 7o8 9ews,s programming
director, says, “and someone saidD ?I have an idea. >et,s spend a month talking a&out the
founding fathers and get a &unch of pictures of Ben*amin 7ranklin and hang them up,, you,d &e
like, ?(hatA, But it works.” Beck fashions himself a kind of self-teaching populist for the Internet
age. )is characteristic chalk&oard lends his show an air of retro-professorial authority, despite the
fact that Beck did not attend college and says that &efore +ept. 00, 5<<0, “I didn,t know my &utt
from my el&ow.” )e recommends &ooks. )e recently started “-lenn Beck Jniversity,” a special
collection of “classes” on -lennBeck.com to go with Beck,s daily tutorials. /at -ray said Beck
was “$merica,s history professor.”
“Beck offers a story a&out the $merican past for people who are feeling right now very angry and
alienated,” says 3avid 7rum, a former speechwriter for /resident -eorge (. Bush and editor of
the conservative (e& site 7rum 7orum. “It is different enough from the usual story in that he
makes them feel like they,ve got access to secret knowledge.”
Beck,s 7o8 9ews show intersperses history with weeping laments, melodramatic calls to faith and
vehement attacks on “progressives.” )e also mi8es in campy stage props and laughs straight
from the "orning Eoo play&ook. 'ne moment, he is giving an impassioned plea for the would-&e
&uilder of /arkB0 to &uild elsewhere6 the ne8t moment, he is discussing possi&le names for a
hypothetical Islam-friendly gay &ar ne8t door 1“%ur&an 4ow&oy,” “You "ecca "e )ot”2.
“I find it riveting to watch,” says $nita 3unn, the former (hite )ouse communications director
whom Beck railed against prodigiously on the air last year after she named "other %eresa and
"ao Eedong as her “favorite political philosophers” 1she says she was *oking a&out "ao2 in a
commencement address. “%here is that edge where you are always thinking, Is he going to totally
lose it on cameraA” 3unn told me.
%he ethos of Beck,s program is e8treme doom and pessimism. In a lead-in to Beck,s show,
+hepard +mith referred to his fellow host,s studio as “the 7ear 4ham&er.” %his is another
departure from the >im&augh formula. “#ush is &asically of a .uite optimistic creed,” 7rum says.
“It,s the #eagan creedD $merica,s &est days are still to come. If we maintain the free-enterprise
system, we,re all going to &e richer and more united and stronger. (ith Beck, there is no
optimism.”
'n 7o8 9ews in early +eptem&er, Beck stood in a mock doorway painted gold. (hen the
country,s economic system reaches “the point of insanity,” he said, it is wise to invest in gold.
“-old prices are clim&ing,” Beck said, a point &uttressed throughout the hour &y advertisements
from gold dealers. 'n the other side of the golden doorway is where things get really scary, he
said. (ho knows what dark, apocalyptic things are thereA “Is it &ulletsA” Beck wondered. “Is it
whiskeyA Is it cigarettesA”
Beck often speaks of — and is teased a&out — his “&unker,” where he will retreat after the social
fa&ric rends and the economic system collapses. +ome of his most devoted advertisers include
companies that could thrive in a period of total collapse — makers of emergency power
generators, for instance, or “survival seeds” 1allowing citi:ens to grow their own food2.
I asked Beck if he actually had a &unker. 9o, he said, there is no &unker. )e does keep a great
deal of food in reserve, although he says that predates his fear that the world would melt down.
7ood storage is a tenet of his "ormon faith, he said. It is for when tough times come.
“$m I actively engaged in survival trainingA” he told me. “9o. +hould I &eA "ay&e.”
B@4F /@#7'#"+ "'#@ than 5< live stage shows a year as part of what has &ecome a
growing multimedia and merchandising empire that, according to 7or&es, earned KHB million
&etween ;une 5<<= and ;une 5<0<. $t the end of ;uly, I paid K0I for a ticket to see him and Bill
',#eilly perform together at a theater in the round in (est&ury, 9.Y., on >ong Island — part of
Beck and ',#eilly,s “Bold and 7resh” tour. %he theater drew an orderly su&ur&an procession of
khaki-wearing, 4amry-driving 4aucasians who say they want their country &ack. %he woman ne8t
to me complained that her large oil can of )eineken and a pret:el cost K0!. $ir +upply played
there a few days earlier.
Beck and ',#eilly each spoke solo for a&out < minutes, followed &y a conversational duet &y the
two 7o8 9ews hosts. %he sets mingled stand-up comedy with political rants and, in Beck,s case, a
history sermon. It included a call for $merica to return to the spirit of “divine providence” that the
founders intended — &efore it was perverted &y "anifest 3estiny in the mid-0=th century. “(e,ve
lost our way since $ndrew ;ackson,” said Beck, who wore an unlaced pair of &lack 4huck %aylor
sneakers. “"anifest 3estiny is ?-et out of my way, I,m on a mission from -od., %hat,s where we
went wrong. (e must hum&le ourselves.”
>ater, Beck and ',#eilly did a riff a&out 4helsea 4linton,s wedding, which was &eing held that
night.
“(hat are the odds of )illary 4linton inviting me to her daughter,s weddingA” ',#eilly asked
Beck.
“(hat are the odds we have a 4ommunist revolutionary in the (hite )ouseA” Beck replied, to
loud applause.
$ recurring theme of the evening was Beck and ',#eilly talking a&out how despised they are &y
venomous critics &ent on silencing them. Both wear this “constant a&use” as a &adge of honor
and defiance, although, unlike ',#eilly, Beck will &etray vulnera&ility, even woundedness. “%hey
want to destroy you, get you off the air,” ',#eilly told Beck. “$nd I want to know if that &others
youA”
“It &others me when I walk down the street with my children,” Beck said, “and my college-age
daughter is holding my hand, and someone says something horri&ly vicious. $nd my daughter
hears them, cries and says to me, ?3ad, all I wish is that people will remem&er that you are a dad
occasionally as well., ” 1%his was several weeks after Beck apologi:ed for doing an e8tended
imitation of then-00-year-old "alia '&ama on his radio show. “3addy,” Beck said, mimicking the
president,s daughter, “why do you hate &lack people so muchA”2
Beck seemed to draw more fans than ',#eilly, despite ',#eilly,s home-field advantage on his
native >ong Island. “)e is a modern-day prophet doing -od,s work,” a man named >ee )ein told
me. )e resides in )awaii, where he wakes at H a.m. to hear a live stream of Beck,s radio show on
the Internet. )ein, a plum&ing contractor, recently purchased three copies of Beck,s novel “%he
'verton (indow,” five copies of his &ook “-lenn Beck,s 4ommon +ense” and three copies of
“$rguing (ith Idiots.” )e likes to give the &ooks out to educate his friends.
+everal people at Beck,s events descri&ed themselves as “students of history” or “historians.”
(hen I asked one if he was affiliated with a school or college, he saidD “Yes. -lenn Beck
Jniversity.”
()@9 B@4F "@@%+ his fans, he does so with the gusto of a pu&lic figure engaging his
constituents. /eople he meets often give him presents and notes. )e signs autographs, poses for
photos. )e has perfected the @veryman shtick that presidential candidates spend years trying to
master in places like Iowa. 9o dou&t, someone loyal to Beck will read that and say, ?9o, no, it,s
not a shtick., >ike many famous performers, Beck is descri&ed &y friends and supplicants as
someone who is authentic and real, that what you see is what you get. 1It,s usually their pu&lic-
relations person who says this.2
'n the %hursday night &efore his +aturday &ar mit:vah at the >incoln "emorial, Beck walked
around the Fennedy 4enter for the /erforming $rts in anticipation of a “3ivine 3estiny” event he
would host the ne8t night. “3ivine 3estiny” featured music, speeches and testimonials from a
procession of prominent spiritual teachers — priests, pastors, ra&&is, 4huck 9orris.
7ree tickets to “3ivine 3estiny” were triple hot, like the concert passes Beck used to give away to
the 5Hrd caller on the "orning Eoo. /eople lined up outside in hopes of getting tickets. Beck
came out to say hello. %ania Beck handed out pi::a. Beck wore a &lue &ase&all cap, pink shirt
and thick-rimmed glasses. )e looked like a s.uare dad checking in on the kids at a sleepover.
“3o you smell the pi::aA” he asked. /eople greeted him with shrieks, whoops and gasps.
“$re you the first in lineA” Beck asked a man with a crew cut and wispy &eard from 7ayetteville,
$rk.
“Yes, sir,” the man said.
Beck had a special pri:e for the man. “I haven,t given this to any&ody,” Beck said. It was a Badge
of "erit, an award Beck modeled on the /urple )eart-like token that -eorge (ashington
&estowed for meritorious conduct 1for, say, valor in a war or the commitment re.uired to score
free tickets2.
Beck hugged his way through the line. /eople were moved, some tearful. “It,s such an honor,” a
woman said softly, hugging him. “-od &less you, man,” a guy in a 3allas 4ow&oys shirt said.
“%hank you for giving us a voice,” another woman added.
“(e hate (oodrow (ilson,” another woman called out. %his is like a secret handshake among
Beck followers, who have heard his diatri&es a&out the evils of our 5Gth president, a father of the
/rogressive @ra. “I hate him,” Beck affirmed for the (oodrow (ilson-hating women at the
Fennedy 4enter. “I hate that guy.”
$ mother asked him to pose for a photo with her and her autistic child who, the mother says,
watches Beck every day. >ike /alin, Beck has a special-needs child — a daughter, "ary, who has
cere&ral palsy — and he often hears from parents who have dealt with similar circumstances.
Beck then stopped and addressed a section of the line. “3o you guys know what,s going on here
tonightA” Beck asked them.
“"agic,” answered a woman in an orange %-shirt. “"iracles.”
“%here are 5,<< seats,” Beck e8plained. “"ost of them will &e pastors and priests and ra&&is.
$nd it,s the &eginning.”
)e started to cry.
“It,s the &eginning of the. . . .” )e choked up, making it hard to make out his words.
“It,s going to &e neat,” he finally mustered.
Beck seems a&le to cry on cue. )e says he is a softie who is prone to crying during television
commercials. )e is an emotional person, Balfe says, which speaks to his sincerity and the reason
that people are so .uick to identify with him.
$s Beck worked the Fennedy 4enter, his every move was captured &y a videographer who was
with him during his trip to (ashington. I watched the intimate event from my desktop — it was
linked on -lennBeck.com and availa&le to premium “insider e8treme” su&scri&ers 1K=.=B a
month2. It was one of the many times I found myself wondering whether this was real, part of the
show or some fusion of &oth.
'9 %)@ $I# and in person, Beck often goes on long stretches that are warm, conciliatory and
even plaintive. )e says he yearns for the cohesion in the country after +ept. 00, 5<<0, and will
speak in paragraphs that could fit into Barack '&ama,s plea for national unity in his speech at the
5<< 3emocratic 9ational 4onvention. “%here,s a lot we can disagree on, &ut our values and
principles can unite us,” Beck said from the >incoln "emorial.
But “standing together” can &e a tough sell from someone who is so willing to pick at some of the
nation,s most tender sca&s. Beck,s statement that the president,s legislative agenda is driven &y
'&ama,s desire for “reparations” and his “desire to settle old racial scores” is hardly a uniting
message. (hile pu&lic figures tend to eventually learn 1some the hard way2 that 9a:i, )itler and
)olocaust comparisons inevita&ly offend a lot of people, Beck seems not to care. In a forthcoming
&ook a&out Beck, “%ears of a 4lown,” the (ashington /ost columnist 3ana "il&ank writes that in
the first 0 months of Beck,s 7o8 9ews show, Beck and his guests mentioned fascism 0I5 times,
9a:is 0H times, )itler 00B times, the )olocaust BG times and ;oseph -oe&&els G times.
In his .uest to root out progressives, Beck compared himself to Israeli 9a:i-hunters. “%o the day I
die I am going to &e a progressive-hunter,” he vowed on his radio show earlier this year. “I,m
going to find these people that have done this to our country and e8pose them. I don,t care if
they,re in nursing homes.”
“#aising .uestions” is Beck,s favorite rhetorical method. >ast year during the health care de&ate,
Beck compared '&ama,s economic agenda to 9a:i -ermany — specifically he paralleled the
(hite )ouse chief of staff #ahm @manuel,s statement that “you never want a serious crisis to go
to waste” with how )itler used the world economic crisis as a pivot point. /hotos of )itler, +talin
and >enin then appeared on screen. “Is this where we,re headedA” Beck asked. )e allowed that
“I am not predicting that we go down that road.”
/resident '&ama is not a "uslim, Beck has said, correctly. But Beck can,t help wondering aloud
on his showD “)e needlessly throws his hat into the ring to defend the ground-:ero mos.ue. )e
hosts #amadan dinners, which a president can do. But then you *ust add all of this stuff up — his
wife goes against the advice of the advisers, *ets to +pain for vacation. (hat does she do thereA
+he hits up the $lham&ra palace mos.ue. 7ine, it,s a tourist attraction. But is there anything more
to thisA $re they sending messagesA I don,t know. I don,t know.”
Beck and his friends emphasi:e that he is driven &y principles, not politics. )e has &een critical of
#epu&licans as well as of 3emocrats, of -eorge (. Bush as well as of '&ama. )e says that
$merican citi:ens who are terrorist suspects should &e read their "iranda rights, and he opposes
a 4onstitutional amendment that would &an flag-&urning. )is friends o&*ect to any hint that Beck
has merely fashioned his worldview according to a marketplace that rewards shock, chut:pah
and discord. “If you know -lenn at all, you know he &elieves every word of what he says,” 4hris
Balfe says. “$nd he &elieves it down to the core of who he is.”
Beck is also a showman at his core and a workaholic. )is insomniac mind spins with ideas for
segments and revenue streams 1which he will duly e-mail to his staff at H in the morning2. )e
sleeps littleD three, may&e five hours a night if he is lucky, Beck told me. )is "ormonism for&ids
coffee, &ut he consumes a lot of 3iet 4oke and chocolate.
)e &egins his day with a IDH< meeting with a&out si8 or seven writers, researchers and producers
split &etween the television and radio teams. Beck, who runs the meeting, throws out ideas for
the show, and the staff will discuss them. “(hen he walks in, he has a&out !< percent of what he
wants to talk a&out mapped out in his &rain,” says +teve Burguiere, a Beck radio sidekick who
goes &y the name +tu. %hat, Burguiere says, will form the &asic kernel of what he will talk a&out
on the air. I asked Burguiere if Beck worked from a script, which made him chuckle. “If we could
only get him to work from a script,” he said.
B@4F I+ $ +%#@9J'J+ cross-promoter. )e spoke constantly on the air a&out his (ashington
rally &efore and after the event. )e invites viewers and listeners to visit his (e& site and, &etter
yet, the -lenn Beck +tore 1“#estoring )onor” photograph &ooks can &e preordered for KHB2 and
&ecome an “insider e8treme” mem&er for premium video and audio links. )e recently started a
new (e& site, the Bla:e, which he also mentions on his television and radio shows.
%he cross-promotion can &e a sore spot at 7o8 9ews, particularly for its president, #oger $iles,
who has complained a&out Beck,s hawking his non-7o8 ventures too much on his 7o8 show. $iles
has communicated this to Beck himself and through intermediaries. It goes to a larger tension
&etween 7o8 9ews and Beck in what has &een a mutually &eneficial relationship. $iles, a former
#epu&lican media guru, runs his top-rated ca&le-news network like a sharp-edged campaign,
speaking with a single voice and — ideally — for the &enefit solely of 7o8 9ews,s &ottom line.
%o some degree, all of 7o8 9ews,s top opinion personalities have side ventures — speeches,
&ooks, radio — that can invite static from the network. In $pril, for instance, 7o8 9ews &osses
vetoed a planned appearance &y )annity at a fund-raiser for a %ea /arty group in 4incinnati. But
more than any other person at 7o8 9ews, Beck operates as a stand-alone entity. )e is the only
ma*or personality at the network whose office is not at 7o8 9ews head.uarters in the 9ews 4orp
&uilding 1"ercury is a few &locks down +i8th $venue2. )e employs his own pu&licist, "atthew
)ilt:ik, a communications consultant who is the son of Beck,s agent, -eorge )ilt:ik. Beck
receives a K5.B million salary from 7o8 9ews, which &umps to K5.I million ne8t year, the last of
the contract. It is a small fraction of Beck,s revenues, the &ulk of which he &rings in from his radio
and print deals.
“%here is always going to &e the person within the organi:ation who may take issue with or
doesn,t like the way the network is programming certain things,” says 4heatwood, the 7o8 9ews
e8ecutive who oversees Beck,s show. “I allow for that anywhere. But in terms of the relationship
&etween 7o8 and -lenn, it,s e8tremely solid.”
$iles, who declined to comment for this article, has generally &een supportive of Beck. But he has
also &een vocal around the network a&out how Beck does not fully appreciate the degree to
which 7o8 9ews has made him the sensation he has &ecome in recent months. In the days
following Beck,s >incoln "emorial rally, which &y Beck,s estimate drew a half-million people, $iles
told associates that if Beck were still at )eadline 9ews, there would have &een H< people on the
"all. 7o8 9ews devoted less news coverage to the rally than 499 and "+9B4 did, which Beck
has pointed out himself on the air.
'ff-the-record sniping shoots in &oth directions. You can view some of this as positioning for what
could &e a contentious contract negotiation. But the friction is evident in many areas. (hen I
mentioned Beck,s name to several 7o8 reporters, personalities and staff mem&ers, it relia&ly
elicited either a sigh or an eye roll. +everal 7o8 9ews *ournalists have complained that Beck,s
antics are em&arrassing 7o8, that his inflammatory rhetoric makes it difficult for the network to
present itself as a legitimate news outlet. 7earful that Beck was &ecoming the perceived face of
7o8 9ews, some network insiders leaked their dissatisfaction in "arch to %he (ashington /ost,s
media critic, )oward Furt:, a highly unusual &reach at a place where complaints of internal
strains rarely go pu&lic.
(hile Beck,s personal ventures and e8posure have soared this year, his television ratings have
declined sharply — perhaps another factor in the network,s impatience. )is show now averages
two million viewers, down from a high of 5.G million in 5<<=, according to the 9ielsen #atings.
$nd as of +ept. 50, 5=! advertisers have asked that their commercials not &e shown on Beck,s
show 1up from 5! in $ugust 5<<=2. 7o8 also has a difficult time selling ads on “%he ',#eilly
7actor” and “7o8 and 7riends” when Beck appears on those shows as a guest. Beck,s show is
known in the %C sales world as “empty calories,” meaning he draws great ratings &ut is to8ic for
ad sales. If nothing else, I sensed that people around 7o8 9ews have grown weary after months
of “It,s all a&out -lenn.” I was sitting with Bill +hine, the director of programming, on the
(ednesday after the “#estoring )onor” event, which was held on a +aturday and still drawing
analysis in the news media four days later. $t the end of a half-hour interview in which +hine
spoke well of Beck, a look of slight irritation flashed his face. )e shook his head slightly. “%he
president of the Jnited +tates ends the war in Ira.,” +hine said, which '&ama did the night
&efore in a speech from the 'val 'ffice, “and on (ednesday we,re still talking a&out -lenn
Beck.”
9' '9@ +@@"+ to .uite know what to make of Beck these days. 'n “7o8 9ews +unday” the
day after the “#estoring )onor” gathering, 4hris (allace asked him, “(hat are youA”
Beck appears conflicted over whether he wants to &e the face of )onor #estored or the voice of a
-reat $merican 7reakout or whether some fusion of the two is possi&le. )e told me that he has
en*oyed himself more since $ug. 5G, an event that included no references to contemporary
politics. It is not clear if this new tenor is a trend or phase or whether Beck is in the midst of a
fundamental transformation. “I,m a work in progress, man,” he told me. “I don,t know how to make
this transition.” It has &ecome a nagging preoccupation. “I wrote +arah /alin a letter last night
a&out 5 in the morning,” Beck said on his radio show in +eptem&er. “$nd I saidD ?+arah, I don,t
know if I,m doing more harm or more good. I don,t know anymore., ”
Beck has made a determination in recent months, 4heatwood told me. “I think what he,s reali:ing
is you have to &e careful not to *ust &e part of the noise. You have to transcend the noise.” In the
weeks after the “#estoring )onor” rally, Beck,s 7o8 9ews show took a decidedly spiritual, historic
and even high-minded tone. But near the end of +eptem&er, Beck returned to a more
accustomed noise level. )e railed against the “clear and present danger” of progressive ideology
and attacked the '&ama administration more savagely than he had in some time, singling out
4ass +unstein, the (hite )ouse,s regulatory c:ar, as “the most dangerous man in $merica.”
'n +ept. 00, I traveled to $nchorage to watch Beck and /alin perform together at a downtown
civic center. $ woman outside carried a sign calling Beck and /alin “the dream team,” while
another dismissed them as “lipstick and dipstick.”
%he crowd was loud and even festive, despite the som&er anniversary. /alin spoke first and then
introduced Beck. %he pair stage-chatted for a&out 5< minutes &efore /alin turned over the stage
to Beck. )e spoke — with chalk&oards — for more than an hour. +itting in the row &ehind me was
a truck driver named ;erry 4ole, who was from 7air&anks and wore an “I 1heart2 (oodrow
(ilson” %-shirt with a slash through the heart. “)e was the start of the /rogressive @ra,” 4ole said
of the long-dead president. “)e &elieved that college intellectuals should decide how the world
should &e run.”
Beck,s $nchorage show started late — around = p.m. — and Beck was still speaking as 00
o,clock approached. )e kept going, and going, and delivered a stem-winding ending a&out how
-eorge (ashington &ecame terrified at the end of his life a&out doing something that would
dishonor himself and his country. I looked around the crowd of a&out ,<<<, and it seemed no one
had left. %he room was perfectly silent after two hours plus — late on a +aturday night — to hear
a self-descri&ed “recovering dirt&ag” with not a single college credit to his name teach them
history.
+itting in his "ercury #adio $rts office three days later, Beck told me that he, too, noticed the
silence and was astounded. “If someone had told me, ?)ey, why don,t you tell some history
stories at the end, and there will &e dead silence,, I,d have said, ?9o way., ” Beck has great
distrust of success, especially his own. 7riends say he is terrified of something going wrong,
someone in his audience “doing something stupid” 1presuma&ly code for violence2. %here is a
certain &oyish dis&elief in Beck as he engages in his real-time assessment, often on the air. “I told
my wife, ?I can,t &elieve I actually have reporters following me to $laska,, ” he said. 19oteD
reporter,s wife said the same thing.2
Beck told me that he recently threw away all of his old tapes from his "orning Eoo years, so his
kids could not hear them. )e has no idea what his role is in the political firmament. %he notion
seems to &ore him. )is most animated attacks on '&ama in the days after the “#estoring )onor”
rally were over his take on the president,s religious convictions, which Beck called “a perversion
of the -ospel of ;esus 4hrist as most 4hristians know it.”
)e is fragile, on the edge. %here is no template for him or for where he is headed. “I have not
prepared my whole life to &e here,” Beck told me from his plush couch, his face turning &right
pink. “I prepared my whole life to &e in a &ack alley.” I e8pected him to cry, &ut he did not.
"ark >ei&ovich is a reporter in the (ashington &ureau of %he %imes. )e last wrote for the
maga:ine a&out "ike $llen of /olitico.
Being -lenn Beck
By "$#F >@IB'CI4)
-lenn Beck was sprawled out on his office couch a couple of weeks ago, taking — as self-
helpers like to say — an inventory. “I think what the country is going through right now is, in a
way, what I went through with my alcoholism,” he told me. “You can either live or die. You have a
choice.” Beck, who is !, was in the "idtown "anhattan offices of his production company,
"ercury #adio $rts, which is named for "ercury %heater, the company created &y 'rson (elles.
)e had *ust finished his three-hour syndicated radio show and was a few hours away from his
television show. It was a (ednesday afternoon in the middle of +eptem&er, and Beck had *ust
returned from a week,s vacation in the -rand %etons followed &y a .uick hop to $nchorage,
where he and +arah /alin appeared at an event on +ept. 00.
Beck has a s.uare, &oyish face, an alternately plagued and twinkle-eyed demeanor that con*ures
1when Beck is wearing glasses2 the comedian 3rew 4arey. )e is !-foot-5, which is slightly *arring
when you first meet him, &ecause he is all head and doughiness on television6 I never thought of
Beck as &ig or small, *ust as someone who was suddenly u&i.uitous and who talked a lot and
said some really astonishing things, to a point where it made you wonder — constantly —
whether he was &eing serious.
$t some point in the past few months, Beck ceased &eing *ust the guy who cries a lot on 7o8
9ews or a “rodeo clown” 1as he has descri&ed himself2 or simply a voice of the ultraconservative
opposition to /resident '&ama. In record time, Beck has traveled the loop of curiosity to ratings
&onan:a to self-parody to sage. It is remarka&le to think he has &een on 7o8 9ews only since
;anuary 5<<=.
In person, Beck is sheepish and approacha&le, &etraying none of the grandiosity or &luster you
might e8pect from a man who predicted “the ne8t -reat $wakening” to a few hundred thousand
people in late $ugust at the >incoln "emorial or who declared last year that the president has a
“deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.” )e wore a &lue dress shirt tucked into
*eans and &rown loafers, which he kicked off as soon as he sat down. )e showed little interest in
the results from primary elections held the day &efore — upsets in 3elaware and 9ew York for
%ea /arty candidates whose followers often invoke Beck and /alin as spiritual leaders and even
promote them as a prospective presidential ticket in 5<05.
“9ot involved with the %ea /arty,” Beck told me, shrugging. (hile many identify Beck with a
political insurgency — as #ush >im&augh was identified with the #epu&lican sweep of 0== — to
&elieve that the nation suffers from “a political pro&lem” comically understates things, in his view.
“I stand with the %ea /arty as long as they stand for certain principles and values,” Beck told me.
)e is a principles-and-values guy.
Beck talks like someone who is accustomed to thinking out loud and inflicting his revelations in
real time. )e speaks in the language of therapy, in which he has &een steeped through years of
05-step programs and the "ormon-affiliated addiction-treatment center he and his wife run in the
9ew York, 9ew ;ersey and 4onnecticut region. $s he lay on his office couch, he recalled a very
low moment. It was &ack in the mid-0==<s. )e was newly divorced, lying on the olive green shag
carpet of a two-&edroom apartment in )amden, 4onn., that smelled like soup. It had a tiny
kitchen, and his young children slept in a &ed together when they visited on weekends. “It was the
kind of place where loser guys who *ust got divorced wind up,” Beck said. “You,d see a new guy
come in, you,d say hello and he,d walk in alone, and you,d &e like, ?Yeah, I understand, &rother., ”
Beck understands, &rother. 4ommunists in the (hite )ouse are &ent on “fundamentally
transforming” the country6 progressives speak of putting “the common good” &efore the individual,
which “is e8actly the kind of talk that led to the death camps in -ermany,” as he said on his show
in "ay. 'r, as he said in ;uly of last year, “@verything that is getting pushed through 4ongress,
including this health care &ill,” is “driven &y /resident '&ama,s thinking on . . . reparations” and
his desire to “settle old racial scores.” It sounds harsh, may&e, &ut this is the rhetoric of crisis and
desperation, and so much of the population is too &lind drunk to recogni:e the reality — which is
that the country is lying on an olive green shag carpet on the &rink of ending it all. “+ome have to
destroy their family and their *o& and their house and their income,” Beck told me. “+ome don,t
get it, and they die.”
+ome do get it, and they revere -lenn Beck.
()I>@ %)@ #I-)% has traditionally responded to its aggrieved sense of alienation with anger,
Beck is not particularly angry. )e seems sorrowful6 his prevailing message is um&rage &orn of
self-taught wisdom. )e is more agoni:ed than mad. )e is post-angry.
Beck rarely speaks with the s.uinty-eyed certainty or smugness of #ush >im&augh or his fellow
7o8 9ews hosts Bill ',#eilly and +ean )annity. )e often changes his mind or nakedly contradicts
himself. “(hen you listen and watch me, it,s where I am in my thinking in the moment,” Beck told
me. “I,m trying to figure it out as I go.” )e will sometimes stop midsentence and recogni:e that
something he is a&out to say could &e misunderstood and could cause him trou&le. %hen, more
often than not, he will say it anyway.
In the middle of his analogy to me a&out his own personal crash and the country,s need to heal
itself, Beck looked at his pu&licist with a flash of alarm a&out how I might construe what he was
saying. “)e is going to write a story that I &elieve the whole country is alcoholics,” he said. $nd
then he went on to essentially compare his “#estoring )onor” pageant at the >incoln "emorial to
a large-scale $.$. meeting. “(hen I &ottomed out, I couldn,t put it &ack together myself,” Beck
told me. “I could do all the hard work. I could do the 05 steps. But I needed like-minded people
around me.”
)e needed support, *ust as responsi&le $mericans need it now to reinforce the principles and
values that the founders instilled and that, he says, have since decayed. “You need people to &e
a&le to reach out and connect and say, ?>et me help hold you when you,re stum&ling, and you
hold me when I,m stum&ling, &ecause what we,re going through now is a storm of confusion., ”
7ans approach Beck and give him hugs. 3o people feel they can hug >im&aughA
%here is something feminine a&out Beck — the soft features, the crying on the air, the refle8ive
vulnera&ility. It sets him apart from the standard, testosterone-addled rant artists of ca&le and talk
radio. (omen tune into Beck,s radio show more heavily than they do to other conservative
commentators, says 4hris Balfe, the president and chief operating officer of "ercury, which
employs more than < people. $nd Beck,s television show is on at B p.m. @astern, traditionally a
slot with more women viewers. 1'n a typical day, Beck,s show is recorded on more 3C#s than
any other ca&le-news program.2 But Beck also appeals to a more traditionally female sensi&ility.
“)e works through things in real time,” Balfe told me. “"ay&e he,ll come &ack tomorrow and say,
?You know what, I,ve given this some thought, and here,s what I,m thinking now., ” 'r may&e he,ll
come &ack sooner. (ithin a few sentences of proposing '&ama,s “deep-seated hatred for white
people,” he added this caveatD “I,m not saying that he doesn,t like white people.”
Beck,s staff and loyalists love to compare Beck with 'prah (infrey. Balfe was the first to say it to
me, adding the re.uisite fau8 apology. $s (infrey does, Beck talks a great deal a&out himself and
su&scri&es to the pop-recovery ethic. “/art of 'prah,s appeal is that people see her as a real
person,” says ;oel 4heatwood, the 7o8 e8ecutive who initially &rought Beck to 499,s )eadline
9ews and then to 7o8. “+he has struggled with her weight6 she is open a&out it. -lenn is not a
pretty &oy. )e comes off as a regular guy who has also &een open a&out his struggles.” 1Beck
da&&led in /ilates recently, he disclosed on radio.2
%he presumed 'prah parallel is corporate as well as stylistic. Beck, like (infrey, has a knack for
making &est sellers of &ooks he mentions on the air. )e pu&lishes a maga:ine, sells more than a
million dollars in merchandise and speaks of an array of possi&le multimedia ventures. Beck,s
maga:ine, 7usion, is so named &ecause it is a “fusion of entertainment and enlightenment.” Beck
himself is a study in fusions. )e &lends %C-ready empathy with push-the-edge conservative talk,
as well as self-dou&t with the self-a&sor&ed grandeur of a man whose hard-won recovery grants
him the power to speak from the steps of the >incoln "emorial.
Beck is constantly admitting his weaknesses and failures, which he wields as &oth a crutch and a
shield. “"ay&e -lenn,s transparency is what keeps him out of trou&le,” says #o&ert Beath, Beck,s
drama teacher at +ehome )igh +chool in Bellingham, (ash. Beath, who was fond of Beck as a
teenager, said Beck appears to now think that his revelations grant him license. “(hen he says, ?I
am not perfect,, he seems to escape accounta&ility for his various points of view. Yet he e8pects
others to &e accounta&le for their point of view without seeming to allow them the ?I am not
perfect, e8ception.”
%hat,s where the (infrey comparison falls apart. You could never imagine her *oking a&out
poisoning the speaker of the house or talking a&out choking the life out of a filmmaker or
fantasi:ing a&out &eating a congressman “to death with a shovel” 1as Beck did for 9ancy /elosi,
"ichael "oore and 4harles #angel, respectively2. Beck is divisive.
“)e has a spiritual connection to us6 you can hear his heart speaking,” +usan %revethan, a
psychiatric nurse from "ilford, 4onn., told me at the “#estoring )onor” rally. “I &elieve he has
&een divinely guided to &e here in this place,” she said. “)e is doing the research. )e is teaching
us.”
'r if you preferD “@ven the leather-winged shouting heads at 7o8 9ews look like intellectual giants
ne8t to this &leating, &enighted 4assandra,” wrote %he Buffalo Beast, in naming Beck one of the
B< most loathsome people in $merica in 5<<!. 19o. 5 then, &ut in ;anuary he made it to 9o. 0.2
“It,s like someone found a manic, doom-prophesying ho&o in a sandwich &oard, shaved him, shot
him full of Eoloft and gave him a show.”
'.F., the dude,s polari:ing. -ot it.
%he "ercury #adio $rts head.uarters are a museum to Beck,s .uirks, aspirations, successes and
self. /oster-si:e color photos of Beck, taken &y his personal photographer, -eorge >ange,
dominate the lo&&y. 'ne features Beck wrapped up head to toe in yellow police tape6 another has
him dressed and made up like a rodeo clown. %he offices evoke the self-image of a multimedia
entrepreneur and would-&e titanD portraits of 'rson (elles, #onald #eagan and (alt 3isney
hang on the walls. Balfe, the chief e8ecutive, keeps a massive red-and-&lue “4apitalism” poster
a&ove his desk — hand-painted &y Beck.
9e8t door to Balfe,s office is Beck,s, which is spacious, sun-filled and arrayed with family photos,
&ooks and a yellowed copy of %he Boston /ost with the headline “(oodrow (ilson Is 3ead.” )is
computer flashes with alternating screen savers of his second wife, %ania, and his four children —
two from each marriage — along with photos of landmarks like /ike /lace "arket in +eattle, near
where Beck grew up.
Beck can &e difficult to get to. )e is acutely conscious of his personal safety. )e feels targeted.
+ecurity guards trail him on the street. )e wears &ulletproof vests at pu&lic events. )e wanted to
&uild a si8-foot &arrier around his estate in 9ew 4anaan, 4onn., running him afoul of local :oning
ordinances. %he &arrier would not stop those who would do him harm, Beck,s lawyer told 9ew
4anaan,s :oning commission, &ut it would slow them down. “It will stop anything people send into
the property, whether photographs or &ullets,” the lawyer said, according to %he 9ew 4anaan
$dvertiser.
Beck says he trusts very few people. )e gives few interviews. I first spoke to him &y phone, a few
days after the rally in (ashington. )e sounded thrilled — on the phone, as he did on the air that
week — with how everything went on $ug. 5G. But he never seems far from the precipice of
something. It is all precarious.
“I said to someone the other day,” Beck told me, “I am as close today to a complete and total
collapse as I was on the first day of recovery.” )e calls himself a “recovering dirt&ag.” %here were
many days, he said, when he would avoid the &athroom mirror so he would not have to face
himself. )e was in therapy with “3r. ;ack 3aniels.” )e smoked mari*uana every day for a&out 0B
years. )e fired an underling for &ringing him the wrong pen. $nd, according to a +alon.com
report, he once called the wife of a radio rival to ridicule her — on the air — a&out her recent
miscarriage.
“You get to a place where you disgust yourself,” Beck told me. “(here you reali:e what a weak,
pathetic and despica&le person you have &ecome.”
Beck grew up in "ount Cernon, (ash., a&out B< miles north of +eattle. )e was an unfocused
student with discrete passions and talents who could have &enefited from a more sta&le home
environment — and a prescription for #italin. )is love affair with radio &egan, he says, when his
mother gave him an al&um set of radio classics that included (elles,s “(ar of the (orlds.” )e
was G and spent much of his free time honing his radio voice into a tape recorder.
Bill and "ary Beck, -lenn,s parents, owned a &akery in "ount Cernon that eventually closed. %he
couple divorced when -lenn was 0H, and "ary Beck, who &attled alcoholism, drowned a few
years later along with a male companion on a &oating e8pedition in 0=I= on a &ay near %acoma.
Beck deemed her death a suicide 1though local newspapers and government records called it an
accident, according to +alon.com,s $le8ander Eaitchik2. Beck was 0B then, and he says the
episode sank him into decades of misery, chemical dependence and misanthropic &ehavior that
played out on and off the air at a procession of 7" stations across the country — morning-3.;.
*o&s in markets like /rovo, Jtah6 /hoeni86 4orpus 4hristi, %e8.6 and 9ew )aven, where he hit
&ottom.
I asked Beck if he could pinpoint the moment he decided to change his life. “)ere,s something I
haven,t told anyone &efore,” Beck said. “(hen my mother was at her worst, she was dating a guy
who was a&usive. )e was a &ig 9avy guy too.” It was right at the end of her life. -lenn got
&etween his mother and the man during an ugly fight. “I *ust came in and stood &etween them
and said, ?-et out of our house., ” %he man left, &ut he came &ack a few days later and &egged
forgiveness. “(hen I so&ered up, I remem&er looking &ack to that point,” Beck told me.
“+omething I learned still kind of plays a role.” )e went on to sayD “'ne of the phrases I use isD
You need to &e who you were &orn to &e, not the people we have allowed ourselves to &ecome.
3on,t let life and the world shape us. %hat,s not who we are.”
I asked Beck how he knew that his mother,s death was a suicide. %he man who drowned with her
was that same a&usive &oyfriend, he said. @ither the two of them *umped over&oard at the same
time, or "ary fell in and the 9avy man *umped in to save her — and that was unlikely. (hyA Beck
said he &een out on a &oat with the &oyfriend &efore, and the man preached to him never to *ump
in and save some&ody who is drowning. It only endangers the would-&e rescuer. %hrow in a life
preserver instead. /lus, the 9avy man,s clothes were found neatly folded, along with his wallet
and watch.
$% ;J+% 50, Beck took a *o& as a morning-drive impresario in >ouisville. )is show, “4aptain Beck
and the $-%eam,” included the usual antics of the genreD *uvenile *okes, pranks, impersonations,
sound effects and fat *okes a&out a news reader for a rival station — anything to fill the four
hours.
By most accounts, Beck succeeded6 &ut &y his own, he was misera&le. “%here was a &ridge
a&utment in >ouisville, Fy., that had my name on it,” Beck wrote in his 5<<H &ook, “#eal $mericaD
"essages 7rom the )eart and )eartland.” “@very day I prayed for the strength to &e a&le to drive
my car at I< m.p.h. into that &ridge a&utment.” )e says he contemplated only violent suicides
1“like the &ridge a&utment thing and putting a gun in my mouth while listening to 9irvana”2. )e
attri&utes his ina&ility to off himself to cowardice and stupidity — .ualities that also suited him to
his tour of "orning Eoo $merica. “I hated people,” Beck wrote, wa8ing pop-psychological,
“&ecause I hated myself.”
By the mid-,=<s, Beck had &een married, divorced, pony tailed and seemingly at a dead end. )e
*oined $lcoholics $nonymous, reluctantly attending his first meetings in a church &asement in
4heshire, 4onn. %he olive-green-carpet episode was formative &ut not a singular turning point. “It
was more a point of recognition,” Beck told me. “$re you going to stand or are you going to grow
upA $re you going to succeed or fail, live or dieA (hat is it going to &eA %here weren,t any angels
or the sky opening up.” )e em&arked on a period of “searching” and self-education. %he process
was largely hapha:ard. )e tells of walking into a &ookstore and loading up on &ooks &y a
hodgepodge that included $lan 3ershowit:, /ope ;ohn /aul II, 4arl +agan, 9iet:sche, Billy
-raham and $dolf )itler. “%he li&rary of a serial killer,” he called it. )e even enrolled at Yale, with
a written recommendation from an alum who was a listener at the time, +enator ;oe >ie&erman.
)e took one class, early 4hristology, &ut says he “spent more time trying to find a parking space”
than in class and .uickly dropped out.
Beck met %ania in 0==G. +he walked into the 9ew )aven radio station where he was working to
pick up a +ony (alkman she won in a contest. %hey &egan dating. )e wanted to marry, and she
agreed, &ut only on the condition that they find a religion together. %hey shopped around,
attended services and eventually settled on "ormonism — inspired in part &y Beck,s &est friend
and radio sidekick, /at -ray, who himself is "ormon. Beck, who was &rought up #oman 4atholic,
has called his faith “the most important thing” in his life.
By the late 0==<s, Beck had come to despise the 7" :oo format. )e was &ecoming more
spiritual, more engaged in news and current affairs and more opinionated on the air a&out his
political views 1generally conservative then, though not as much as now — he favored a&ortion
rights at the time2. )e was a connoisseur of talk radio and yearned to &reak into the genre.
Beck moved to %ampa, 7la., in late 0=== — leaving his two daughters &ack in 4onnecticut — to
host his first talk-radio show, an afternoon slot on (7>$. “I may have made the &iggest mistake
of my life in taking this *o&,” Beck recalls saying during his first segment on the air. “Because I,ve
*ust made a pact that I was going to leave my children in 4onnecticut and move to 7lorida, and
it,s killing me. I may have traded my children for this *o&.”
Beck,s radio show was heavily political &ut not e8clusively. It was more stream of consciousness
— veering in unforeseen directions, as reflected in the first segment. “I found it to &e a very
?+einfeld,-like radio program,” says Fraig Fitchin, the former president of /remiere #adio
9etworks, who signed Beck to a national-syndication deal. “%here was one main plot streaming
through the program and two or three su&plots.”
;oel 4heatwood, then the e8ecutive director of program development for 499 and )eadline
9ews, heard Beck,s radio show in late 5<<, when Beck was on the air in /hiladelphia, and said
he &elieved that the host could translate to television. 4heatwood, a controversial innovator of
television news, pioneered the flashy “if it &leeds, it leads” local-news formats. )e persuaded
Beck to *oin )eadline 9ews in 5<<!. $s with his first stint in %ampa, Beck had early dou&ts.
“-lenn had &een on the air for a&out three weeks,” recalled 4heatwood, who has one of the most
thrillingly sculptured waves of slicked-&ack hair I have ever seen. “)e came into my office and
said something like, ?%his is kind of a disaster,, and he was right.” Beck struggled to adapt his
radio persona to the regimented &ites of television. “It was all over the &oard,” 4heatwood says of
the early )eadline 9ews show.
Beck compares his free-associative radio orientation to the real-time oversharing ethic of today,s
culture. “"y life is what I think our children are going though with 7ace&ook,” he told me. “%hey,re
putting things up there, &ecause they,re living their life, and every&ody,s doing it.” @ventually Beck
learned to harness his talent to the demands of television, at least somewhat. )is &est-known
episode at )eadline 9ews was a 9ovem&er 5<<! interview with Feith @llison, a 3emocrat from
"innesota, who had *ust &ecome the first "uslim elected to the )ouse. “I have to tell you, I have
&een nervous a&out this interview with you,” Beck told @llison to &reak the ice. “Because what I
feel like saying is, ?+ir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies., $nd I know you,re
not. I,m not accusing you of &eing an enemy, &ut that,s the way I feel, and I think a lot of
$mericans will feel that way.” -roups complained, Beck e8pressed regret for “a poorly worded
.uestion” and ;on +tewart played the clip on “%he 3aily +how.” “7inally,” +tewart said, “a guy who
says what people who aren,t thinking are thinking.”
B@4F ($+ >J#@3 to 7o8 9ews &y the prospect of more viewers and a recruiting pitch &y
4heatwood — who had since moved there — and the network,s president, #oger $iles. )e &egan
his 7o8 9ews show the day &efore Barack '&ama,s inauguration.
/eople watch Beck in remarka&le num&ers, at least &y the standards of his time slot on ca&le
news — he averages more than two million viewers, whether the topic is a founding father, an
o&scure president or a little-known (hite )ouse administrator.
“If you were in an imaginary meeting for a %C show,” Bill +hine, 7o8 9ews,s programming
director, says, “and someone saidD ?I have an idea. >et,s spend a month talking a&out the
founding fathers and get a &unch of pictures of Ben*amin 7ranklin and hang them up,, you,d &e
like, ?(hatA, But it works.” Beck fashions himself a kind of self-teaching populist for the Internet
age. )is characteristic chalk&oard lends his show an air of retro-professorial authority, despite the
fact that Beck did not attend college and says that &efore +ept. 00, 5<<0, “I didn,t know my &utt
from my el&ow.” )e recommends &ooks. )e recently started “-lenn Beck Jniversity,” a special
collection of “classes” on -lennBeck.com to go with Beck,s daily tutorials. /at -ray said Beck
was “$merica,s history professor.”
“Beck offers a story a&out the $merican past for people who are feeling right now very angry and
alienated,” says 3avid 7rum, a former speechwriter for /resident -eorge (. Bush and editor of
the conservative (e& site 7rum 7orum. “It is different enough from the usual story in that he
makes them feel like they,ve got access to secret knowledge.”
Beck,s 7o8 9ews show intersperses history with weeping laments, melodramatic calls to faith and
vehement attacks on “progressives.” )e also mi8es in campy stage props and laughs straight
from the "orning Eoo play&ook. 'ne moment, he is giving an impassioned plea for the would-&e
&uilder of /arkB0 to &uild elsewhere6 the ne8t moment, he is discussing possi&le names for a
hypothetical Islam-friendly gay &ar ne8t door 1“%ur&an 4ow&oy,” “You "ecca "e )ot”2.
“I find it riveting to watch,” says $nita 3unn, the former (hite )ouse communications director
whom Beck railed against prodigiously on the air last year after she named "other %eresa and
"ao Eedong as her “favorite political philosophers” 1she says she was *oking a&out "ao2 in a
commencement address. “%here is that edge where you are always thinking, Is he going to totally
lose it on cameraA” 3unn told me.
%he ethos of Beck,s program is e8treme doom and pessimism. In a lead-in to Beck,s show,
+hepard +mith referred to his fellow host,s studio as “the 7ear 4ham&er.” %his is another
departure from the >im&augh formula. “#ush is &asically of a .uite optimistic creed,” 7rum says.
“It,s the #eagan creedD $merica,s &est days are still to come. If we maintain the free-enterprise
system, we,re all going to &e richer and more united and stronger. (ith Beck, there is no
optimism.”
'n 7o8 9ews in early +eptem&er, Beck stood in a mock doorway painted gold. (hen the
country,s economic system reaches “the point of insanity,” he said, it is wise to invest in gold.
“-old prices are clim&ing,” Beck said, a point &uttressed throughout the hour &y advertisements
from gold dealers. 'n the other side of the golden doorway is where things get really scary, he
said. (ho knows what dark, apocalyptic things are thereA “Is it &ulletsA” Beck wondered. “Is it
whiskeyA Is it cigarettesA”
Beck often speaks of — and is teased a&out — his “&unker,” where he will retreat after the social
fa&ric rends and the economic system collapses. +ome of his most devoted advertisers include
companies that could thrive in a period of total collapse — makers of emergency power
generators, for instance, or “survival seeds” 1allowing citi:ens to grow their own food2.
I asked Beck if he actually had a &unker. 9o, he said, there is no &unker. )e does keep a great
deal of food in reserve, although he says that predates his fear that the world would melt down.
7ood storage is a tenet of his "ormon faith, he said. It is for when tough times come.
“$m I actively engaged in survival trainingA” he told me. “9o. +hould I &eA "ay&e.”
B@4F /@#7'#"+ "'#@ than 5< live stage shows a year as part of what has &ecome a
growing multimedia and merchandising empire that, according to 7or&es, earned KHB million
&etween ;une 5<<= and ;une 5<0<. $t the end of ;uly, I paid K0I for a ticket to see him and Bill
',#eilly perform together at a theater in the round in (est&ury, 9.Y., on >ong Island — part of
Beck and ',#eilly,s “Bold and 7resh” tour. %he theater drew an orderly su&ur&an procession of
khaki-wearing, 4amry-driving 4aucasians who say they want their country &ack. %he woman ne8t
to me complained that her large oil can of )eineken and a pret:el cost K0!. $ir +upply played
there a few days earlier.
Beck and ',#eilly each spoke solo for a&out < minutes, followed &y a conversational duet &y the
two 7o8 9ews hosts. %he sets mingled stand-up comedy with political rants and, in Beck,s case, a
history sermon. It included a call for $merica to return to the spirit of “divine providence” that the
founders intended — &efore it was perverted &y "anifest 3estiny in the mid-0=th century. “(e,ve
lost our way since $ndrew ;ackson,” said Beck, who wore an unlaced pair of &lack 4huck %aylor
sneakers. “"anifest 3estiny is ?-et out of my way, I,m on a mission from -od., %hat,s where we
went wrong. (e must hum&le ourselves.”
>ater, Beck and ',#eilly did a riff a&out 4helsea 4linton,s wedding, which was &eing held that
night.
“(hat are the odds of )illary 4linton inviting me to her daughter,s weddingA” ',#eilly asked
Beck.
“(hat are the odds we have a 4ommunist revolutionary in the (hite )ouseA” Beck replied, to
loud applause.
$ recurring theme of the evening was Beck and ',#eilly talking a&out how despised they are &y
venomous critics &ent on silencing them. Both wear this “constant a&use” as a &adge of honor
and defiance, although, unlike ',#eilly, Beck will &etray vulnera&ility, even woundedness. “%hey
want to destroy you, get you off the air,” ',#eilly told Beck. “$nd I want to know if that &others
youA”
“It &others me when I walk down the street with my children,” Beck said, “and my college-age
daughter is holding my hand, and someone says something horri&ly vicious. $nd my daughter
hears them, cries and says to me, ?3ad, all I wish is that people will remem&er that you are a dad
occasionally as well., ” 1%his was several weeks after Beck apologi:ed for doing an e8tended
imitation of then-00-year-old "alia '&ama on his radio show. “3addy,” Beck said, mimicking the
president,s daughter, “why do you hate &lack people so muchA”2
Beck seemed to draw more fans than ',#eilly, despite ',#eilly,s home-field advantage on his
native >ong Island. “)e is a modern-day prophet doing -od,s work,” a man named >ee )ein told
me. )e resides in )awaii, where he wakes at H a.m. to hear a live stream of Beck,s radio show on
the Internet. )ein, a plum&ing contractor, recently purchased three copies of Beck,s novel “%he
'verton (indow,” five copies of his &ook “-lenn Beck,s 4ommon +ense” and three copies of
“$rguing (ith Idiots.” )e likes to give the &ooks out to educate his friends.
+everal people at Beck,s events descri&ed themselves as “students of history” or “historians.”
(hen I asked one if he was affiliated with a school or college, he saidD “Yes. -lenn Beck
Jniversity.”
()@9 B@4F "@@%+ his fans, he does so with the gusto of a pu&lic figure engaging his
constituents. /eople he meets often give him presents and notes. )e signs autographs, poses for
photos. )e has perfected the @veryman shtick that presidential candidates spend years trying to
master in places like Iowa. 9o dou&t, someone loyal to Beck will read that and say, ?9o, no, it,s
not a shtick., >ike many famous performers, Beck is descri&ed &y friends and supplicants as
someone who is authentic and real, that what you see is what you get. 1It,s usually their pu&lic-
relations person who says this.2
'n the %hursday night &efore his +aturday &ar mit:vah at the >incoln "emorial, Beck walked
around the Fennedy 4enter for the /erforming $rts in anticipation of a “3ivine 3estiny” event he
would host the ne8t night. “3ivine 3estiny” featured music, speeches and testimonials from a
procession of prominent spiritual teachers — priests, pastors, ra&&is, 4huck 9orris.
7ree tickets to “3ivine 3estiny” were triple hot, like the concert passes Beck used to give away to
the 5Hrd caller on the "orning Eoo. /eople lined up outside in hopes of getting tickets. Beck
came out to say hello. %ania Beck handed out pi::a. Beck wore a &lue &ase&all cap, pink shirt
and thick-rimmed glasses. )e looked like a s.uare dad checking in on the kids at a sleepover.
“3o you smell the pi::aA” he asked. /eople greeted him with shrieks, whoops and gasps.
“$re you the first in lineA” Beck asked a man with a crew cut and wispy &eard from 7ayetteville,
$rk.
“Yes, sir,” the man said.
Beck had a special pri:e for the man. “I haven,t given this to any&ody,” Beck said. It was a Badge
of "erit, an award Beck modeled on the /urple )eart-like token that -eorge (ashington
&estowed for meritorious conduct 1for, say, valor in a war or the commitment re.uired to score
free tickets2.
Beck hugged his way through the line. /eople were moved, some tearful. “It,s such an honor,” a
woman said softly, hugging him. “-od &less you, man,” a guy in a 3allas 4ow&oys shirt said.
“%hank you for giving us a voice,” another woman added.
“(e hate (oodrow (ilson,” another woman called out. %his is like a secret handshake among
Beck followers, who have heard his diatri&es a&out the evils of our 5Gth president, a father of the
/rogressive @ra. “I hate him,” Beck affirmed for the (oodrow (ilson-hating women at the
Fennedy 4enter. “I hate that guy.”
$ mother asked him to pose for a photo with her and her autistic child who, the mother says,
watches Beck every day. >ike /alin, Beck has a special-needs child — a daughter, "ary, who has
cere&ral palsy — and he often hears from parents who have dealt with similar circumstances.
Beck then stopped and addressed a section of the line. “3o you guys know what,s going on here
tonightA” Beck asked them.
“"agic,” answered a woman in an orange %-shirt. “"iracles.”
“%here are 5,<< seats,” Beck e8plained. “"ost of them will &e pastors and priests and ra&&is.
$nd it,s the &eginning.”
)e started to cry.
“It,s the &eginning of the. . . .” )e choked up, making it hard to make out his words.
“It,s going to &e neat,” he finally mustered.
Beck seems a&le to cry on cue. )e says he is a softie who is prone to crying during television
commercials. )e is an emotional person, Balfe says, which speaks to his sincerity and the reason
that people are so .uick to identify with him.
$s Beck worked the Fennedy 4enter, his every move was captured &y a videographer who was
with him during his trip to (ashington. I watched the intimate event from my desktop — it was
linked on -lennBeck.com and availa&le to premium “insider e8treme” su&scri&ers 1K=.=B a
month2. It was one of the many times I found myself wondering whether this was real, part of the
show or some fusion of &oth.
'9 %)@ $I# and in person, Beck often goes on long stretches that are warm, conciliatory and
even plaintive. )e says he yearns for the cohesion in the country after +ept. 00, 5<<0, and will
speak in paragraphs that could fit into Barack '&ama,s plea for national unity in his speech at the
5<< 3emocratic 9ational 4onvention. “%here,s a lot we can disagree on, &ut our values and
principles can unite us,” Beck said from the >incoln "emorial.
But “standing together” can &e a tough sell from someone who is so willing to pick at some of the
nation,s most tender sca&s. Beck,s statement that the president,s legislative agenda is driven &y
'&ama,s desire for “reparations” and his “desire to settle old racial scores” is hardly a uniting
message. (hile pu&lic figures tend to eventually learn 1some the hard way2 that 9a:i, )itler and
)olocaust comparisons inevita&ly offend a lot of people, Beck seems not to care. In a forthcoming
&ook a&out Beck, “%ears of a 4lown,” the (ashington /ost columnist 3ana "il&ank writes that in
the first 0 months of Beck,s 7o8 9ews show, Beck and his guests mentioned fascism 0I5 times,
9a:is 0H times, )itler 00B times, the )olocaust BG times and ;oseph -oe&&els G times.
In his .uest to root out progressives, Beck compared himself to Israeli 9a:i-hunters. “%o the day I
die I am going to &e a progressive-hunter,” he vowed on his radio show earlier this year. “I,m
going to find these people that have done this to our country and e8pose them. I don,t care if
they,re in nursing homes.”
“#aising .uestions” is Beck,s favorite rhetorical method. >ast year during the health care de&ate,
Beck compared '&ama,s economic agenda to 9a:i -ermany — specifically he paralleled the
(hite )ouse chief of staff #ahm @manuel,s statement that “you never want a serious crisis to go
to waste” with how )itler used the world economic crisis as a pivot point. /hotos of )itler, +talin
and >enin then appeared on screen. “Is this where we,re headedA” Beck asked. )e allowed that
“I am not predicting that we go down that road.”
/resident '&ama is not a "uslim, Beck has said, correctly. But Beck can,t help wondering aloud
on his showD “)e needlessly throws his hat into the ring to defend the ground-:ero mos.ue. )e
hosts #amadan dinners, which a president can do. But then you *ust add all of this stuff up — his
wife goes against the advice of the advisers, *ets to +pain for vacation. (hat does she do thereA
+he hits up the $lham&ra palace mos.ue. 7ine, it,s a tourist attraction. But is there anything more
to thisA $re they sending messagesA I don,t know. I don,t know.”
Beck and his friends emphasi:e that he is driven &y principles, not politics. )e has &een critical of
#epu&licans as well as of 3emocrats, of -eorge (. Bush as well as of '&ama. )e says that
$merican citi:ens who are terrorist suspects should &e read their "iranda rights, and he opposes
a 4onstitutional amendment that would &an flag-&urning. )is friends o&*ect to any hint that Beck
has merely fashioned his worldview according to a marketplace that rewards shock, chut:pah
and discord. “If you know -lenn at all, you know he &elieves every word of what he says,” 4hris
Balfe says. “$nd he &elieves it down to the core of who he is.”
Beck is also a showman at his core and a workaholic. )is insomniac mind spins with ideas for
segments and revenue streams 1which he will duly e-mail to his staff at H in the morning2. )e
sleeps littleD three, may&e five hours a night if he is lucky, Beck told me. )is "ormonism for&ids
coffee, &ut he consumes a lot of 3iet 4oke and chocolate.
)e &egins his day with a IDH< meeting with a&out si8 or seven writers, researchers and producers
split &etween the television and radio teams. Beck, who runs the meeting, throws out ideas for
the show, and the staff will discuss them. “(hen he walks in, he has a&out !< percent of what he
wants to talk a&out mapped out in his &rain,” says +teve Burguiere, a Beck radio sidekick who
goes &y the name +tu. %hat, Burguiere says, will form the &asic kernel of what he will talk a&out
on the air. I asked Burguiere if Beck worked from a script, which made him chuckle. “If we could
only get him to work from a script,” he said.
B@4F I+ $ +%#@9J'J+ cross-promoter. )e spoke constantly on the air a&out his (ashington
rally &efore and after the event. )e invites viewers and listeners to visit his (e& site and, &etter
yet, the -lenn Beck +tore 1“#estoring )onor” photograph &ooks can &e preordered for KHB2 and
&ecome an “insider e8treme” mem&er for premium video and audio links. )e recently started a
new (e& site, the Bla:e, which he also mentions on his television and radio shows.
%he cross-promotion can &e a sore spot at 7o8 9ews, particularly for its president, #oger $iles,
who has complained a&out Beck,s hawking his non-7o8 ventures too much on his 7o8 show. $iles
has communicated this to Beck himself and through intermediaries. It goes to a larger tension
&etween 7o8 9ews and Beck in what has &een a mutually &eneficial relationship. $iles, a former
#epu&lican media guru, runs his top-rated ca&le-news network like a sharp-edged campaign,
speaking with a single voice and — ideally — for the &enefit solely of 7o8 9ews,s &ottom line.
%o some degree, all of 7o8 9ews,s top opinion personalities have side ventures — speeches,
&ooks, radio — that can invite static from the network. In $pril, for instance, 7o8 9ews &osses
vetoed a planned appearance &y )annity at a fund-raiser for a %ea /arty group in 4incinnati. But
more than any other person at 7o8 9ews, Beck operates as a stand-alone entity. )e is the only
ma*or personality at the network whose office is not at 7o8 9ews head.uarters in the 9ews 4orp
&uilding 1"ercury is a few &locks down +i8th $venue2. )e employs his own pu&licist, "atthew
)ilt:ik, a communications consultant who is the son of Beck,s agent, -eorge )ilt:ik. Beck
receives a K5.B million salary from 7o8 9ews, which &umps to K5.I million ne8t year, the last of
the contract. It is a small fraction of Beck,s revenues, the &ulk of which he &rings in from his radio
and print deals.
“%here is always going to &e the person within the organi:ation who may take issue with or
doesn,t like the way the network is programming certain things,” says 4heatwood, the 7o8 9ews
e8ecutive who oversees Beck,s show. “I allow for that anywhere. But in terms of the relationship
&etween 7o8 and -lenn, it,s e8tremely solid.”
$iles, who declined to comment for this article, has generally &een supportive of Beck. But he has
also &een vocal around the network a&out how Beck does not fully appreciate the degree to
which 7o8 9ews has made him the sensation he has &ecome in recent months. In the days
following Beck,s >incoln "emorial rally, which &y Beck,s estimate drew a half-million people, $iles
told associates that if Beck were still at )eadline 9ews, there would have &een H< people on the
"all. 7o8 9ews devoted less news coverage to the rally than 499 and "+9B4 did, which Beck
has pointed out himself on the air.
'ff-the-record sniping shoots in &oth directions. You can view some of this as positioning for what
could &e a contentious contract negotiation. But the friction is evident in many areas. (hen I
mentioned Beck,s name to several 7o8 reporters, personalities and staff mem&ers, it relia&ly
elicited either a sigh or an eye roll. +everal 7o8 9ews *ournalists have complained that Beck,s
antics are em&arrassing 7o8, that his inflammatory rhetoric makes it difficult for the network to
present itself as a legitimate news outlet. 7earful that Beck was &ecoming the perceived face of
7o8 9ews, some network insiders leaked their dissatisfaction in "arch to %he (ashington /ost,s
media critic, )oward Furt:, a highly unusual &reach at a place where complaints of internal
strains rarely go pu&lic.
(hile Beck,s personal ventures and e8posure have soared this year, his television ratings have
declined sharply — perhaps another factor in the network,s impatience. )is show now averages
two million viewers, down from a high of 5.G million in 5<<=, according to the 9ielsen #atings.
$nd as of +ept. 50, 5=! advertisers have asked that their commercials not &e shown on Beck,s
show 1up from 5! in $ugust 5<<=2. 7o8 also has a difficult time selling ads on “%he ',#eilly
7actor” and “7o8 and 7riends” when Beck appears on those shows as a guest. Beck,s show is
known in the %C sales world as “empty calories,” meaning he draws great ratings &ut is to8ic for
ad sales. If nothing else, I sensed that people around 7o8 9ews have grown weary after months
of “It,s all a&out -lenn.” I was sitting with Bill +hine, the director of programming, on the
(ednesday after the “#estoring )onor” event, which was held on a +aturday and still drawing
analysis in the news media four days later. $t the end of a half-hour interview in which +hine
spoke well of Beck, a look of slight irritation flashed his face. )e shook his head slightly. “%he
president of the Jnited +tates ends the war in Ira.,” +hine said, which '&ama did the night
&efore in a speech from the 'val 'ffice, “and on (ednesday we,re still talking a&out -lenn
Beck.”
9' '9@ +@@"+ to .uite know what to make of Beck these days. 'n “7o8 9ews +unday” the
day after the “#estoring )onor” gathering, 4hris (allace asked him, “(hat are youA”
Beck appears conflicted over whether he wants to &e the face of )onor #estored or the voice of a
-reat $merican 7reakout or whether some fusion of the two is possi&le. )e told me that he has
en*oyed himself more since $ug. 5G, an event that included no references to contemporary
politics. It is not clear if this new tenor is a trend or phase or whether Beck is in the midst of a
fundamental transformation. “I,m a work in progress, man,” he told me. “I don,t know how to make
this transition.” It has &ecome a nagging preoccupation. “I wrote +arah /alin a letter last night
a&out 5 in the morning,” Beck said on his radio show in +eptem&er. “$nd I saidD ?+arah, I don,t
know if I,m doing more harm or more good. I don,t know anymore., ”
Beck has made a determination in recent months, 4heatwood told me. “I think what he,s reali:ing
is you have to &e careful not to *ust &e part of the noise. You have to transcend the noise.” In the
weeks after the “#estoring )onor” rally, Beck,s 7o8 9ews show took a decidedly spiritual, historic
and even high-minded tone. But near the end of +eptem&er, Beck returned to a more
accustomed noise level. )e railed against the “clear and present danger” of progressive ideology
and attacked the '&ama administration more savagely than he had in some time, singling out
4ass +unstein, the (hite )ouse,s regulatory c:ar, as “the most dangerous man in $merica.”
'n +ept. 00, I traveled to $nchorage to watch Beck and /alin perform together at a downtown
civic center. $ woman outside carried a sign calling Beck and /alin “the dream team,” while
another dismissed them as “lipstick and dipstick.”
%he crowd was loud and even festive, despite the som&er anniversary. /alin spoke first and then
introduced Beck. %he pair stage-chatted for a&out 5< minutes &efore /alin turned over the stage
to Beck. )e spoke — with chalk&oards — for more than an hour. +itting in the row &ehind me was
a truck driver named ;erry 4ole, who was from 7air&anks and wore an “I 1heart2 (oodrow
(ilson” %-shirt with a slash through the heart. “)e was the start of the /rogressive @ra,” 4ole said
of the long-dead president. “)e &elieved that college intellectuals should decide how the world
should &e run.”
Beck,s $nchorage show started late — around = p.m. — and Beck was still speaking as 00
o,clock approached. )e kept going, and going, and delivered a stem-winding ending a&out how
-eorge (ashington &ecame terrified at the end of his life a&out doing something that would
dishonor himself and his country. I looked around the crowd of a&out ,<<<, and it seemed no one
had left. %he room was perfectly silent after two hours plus — late on a +aturday night — to hear
a self-descri&ed “recovering dirt&ag” with not a single college credit to his name teach them
history.
+itting in his "ercury #adio $rts office three days later, Beck told me that he, too, noticed the
silence and was astounded. “If someone had told me, ?)ey, why don,t you tell some history
stories at the end, and there will &e dead silence,, I,d have said, ?9o way., ” Beck has great
distrust of success, especially his own. 7riends say he is terrified of something going wrong,
someone in his audience “doing something stupid” 1presuma&ly code for violence2. %here is a
certain &oyish dis&elief in Beck as he engages in his real-time assessment, often on the air. “I told
my wife, ?I can,t &elieve I actually have reporters following me to $laska,, ” he said. 19oteD
reporter,s wife said the same thing.2
Beck told me that he recently threw away all of his old tapes from his "orning Eoo years, so his
kids could not hear them. )e has no idea what his role is in the political firmament. %he notion
seems to &ore him. )is most animated attacks on '&ama in the days after the “#estoring )onor”
rally were over his take on the president,s religious convictions, which Beck called “a perversion
of the -ospel of ;esus 4hrist as most 4hristians know it.”
)e is fragile, on the edge. %here is no template for him or for where he is headed. “I have not
prepared my whole life to &e here,” Beck told me from his plush couch, his face turning &right
pink. “I prepared my whole life to &e in a &ack alley.” I e8pected him to cry, &ut he did not.
"ark >ei&ovich is a reporter in the (ashington &ureau of %he %imes. )e last wrote for the
maga:ine a&out "ike $llen of /olitico.