Laura Loomer, Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson

Andrea Austria / Media Matters

Podcast Wars: A “Jeffrey Dahmer character,” a “twisted harpy,” and a “thug bastard”

This week's right-wing podcaster infighting

Written by Noah VanDowe & Ben Van Bloem

Published

Welcome to Media Matters’ regular debrief on the Podcast Wars. This week, Candace Owens stood at the center of the smoldering right-wing media civil war, exchanging fire with a variety of conservative commentators. 

  • Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson continue to draw scrutiny

    • Candace Owens called Jeremy Boreing — the former Daily Wire CEO for whom she once worked — a “Jeffrey Dahmer character cosplaying as a political commentator.” Owens further accused Boreing of using his podcast for the purpose of “stalking [her],” adding, “Charlie [Kirk] never liked him. He never liked Charlie.”
    • Still referring to Boreing, Owens remarked, “Partnering with people like this and Laura Loomer is not going to bring you votes. … Why are we voting for a party that traded Charlie Kirk for Laura Loomer? Like, who's doing that?” She added, “Vote for what? Speech censorship that’s being platformed, demanded by people like Mark Levin?”
    • The Charlie Kirk Show producer Blake Neff lashed out at Owens, calling her a “malicious, hateful, dishonest, destructive actor … who is recklessly damaging the conservative movement” and suggesting she “wants the person who killed Charlie to get away with it, because maybe deep down she hated Charlie himself.” Neff added that it was “painful” to see Tucker Carlson, his former employer, extending “maximum grace to Candace Owens.”
    • Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan described Owens’ show as “absolute crackpot nonsense, stuff that should be talked about by a guy sitting on the street with an aluminum hat on.” Klavan continued, “Tucker Carlson, same thing. Absolute garbage.”
    • White nationalist Nick Fuentes mocked Owens for not having a “better grasp on the English language.” Fuentes continued, “Jumping through hula hoops, I'm on the brink of my seat, the cream of the pie. It's like, are you an alien? Like, why are you — I'm sorry, are you an immigrant?”  
    • Fox host Mark Levin called Carlson a “thug bastard” and “two peas in a pod” with left-wing streamer Hasan Piker. The next day, Levin opened his show by bragging that he “took on Tucker Carlson 18 months, 20 months ago, when nobody would.” Levin also extended his ire with Carlson and the “woke reich” to Vice President JD Vance, saying, “We have people, Jews and non-Jews, who advise the vice president over and over and over again, or they ask him to denounce Carlson, but he won't. … That's the way it is. And if that's a litmus test for you come 2028, it's understandable.”

  • Alex Jones goes after “twisted harpy” Laura Loomer

    • Former Infowars head Alex Jones said that “soulless twisted harpy” Laura Loomer is “worse than an Israeli agent” for her well-documented attacks on “right-wing podcasters critical of Israel.” Jones further claimed Loomer creates propaganda for “people that want to fully enslave this country and put in martial law.”

  • Stew Peters on Carlson, Fuentes, and Jones: “They’re doing it for fame”

    • White nationalist streamer Stew Peters said he gets “really frustrated” with Tucker Carlson because “he makes it difficult to tell, like, are you well-intentioned?” He further suggested Alex Jones and Nick Fuentes are “leaving [their] people,” continuing, “They’re doing it in the interest of self-preservation. They're doing it for access. They're doing it for influence. They're doing it for prominence. They’re doing it for fame.” 

  • Alex Clark on the “godless” conservative movement: “There are no adults in the room”

    • Podcaster Alex Clark called the conservative movement “godless” and claimed that “there are no adults in the room” since Charlie Kirk was killed. Clark said the state of the movement has been “demoralizing” to her, adding that “it’s been very difficult.”