Laura Loomer, Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro, Tucker Carlson

Andrea Austria / Media Matters

Podcast Wars: PBD Podcast rages at Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro calls Steve Bannon a “parasite,” and Tim Pool on the “anti-Jew” right

This week's right-wing podcaster infighting

Written by Ben Van Bloem & Noah VanDowe

Published

Welcome to Media Matters’ regular debrief on the Podcast Wars. This week, infighting between online right-wing hosts and commentators remained at a boiling point, with Tucker Carlson again taking the brunt of the heat. 

  • Everyone vs. Tucker Carlson

    • The panel of the PBD Podcast piled on Tucker Carlson for defending Democratic Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and saying he “wouldn't vote for Mike Rogers at gunpoint.” Panelist Vincent Oshana accused Carlson of “giving ammunition to the other side that wants to destroy America from within,” while fellow panelist Adam Sosnick complained the former Fox host “has Trump derangement syndrome, hates MAGA, hates Trump.” Host Patrick Bet-David agreed, adding, “People looked at Charlie [Kirk] and said I would love my son to grow up and follow that example. I don't think anyone's saying that about Tucker anymore.”
    • Rudy Giuliani also set his sights on Carlson over El-Sayed, asking, “Where are you, Tucker? What the hell happened to you?” Giuliani, who once used Carlson’s Fox News show as a platform for his conspiracy theories, mused, “I don't know what happened to Carlson. I don't know if it's worth even trying to find out. I don't think enough people follow him to really care.”
    • Right-wing host Tim Pool declared Carlson’s recent interview with Jess Elofson complaining about the existence of algebra “might be the most insane thing I've ever seen from any mainstream personality.” 
    • On his own show, Carlson fired back at Mark Levin, suggesting the Fox host is “basically … calling for Kristallnacht.” “He's got what we used to refer to in right-wing world as antifa face. Screwed up in rage,” Carlson said, continuing, “Maybe this is what power does to people.”

  • Ben Shapiro and Steve Bannon go on the attack amid wider AI fight

    • Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro slammed Steve Bannon as “a parasite who ends up destroying the host,” describing Bannon’s career as “trying to live off the fame and fortune of others.” “‘Sloppy Steve’ is totally right,” Shapiro commented, adding, “I mean, that dude wears more shirts than are available at your local Salvation Army, and he also probably gets them at the Salvation Army.” Describing Bannon’s attendance at a “pro-human” conference aimed at curbing the development of artificial intelligence which also hosted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Shapiro said, “I can’t think of people who are less pro-human than Steve Bannon and Bernie Sanders,” calling Bannon “an itinerant derelict.”
    • Bannon himself attacked Fox host Jesse Watters “and all these clowns out there” for their commentary on artificial intelligence. “We’ve been at the frontline, Jesse Watters and Fox, while you guys [have] been cheerleading,” Bannon said. “We’ve been at the frontlines of stopping AI amnesty — this show and this audience — and we’ve stopped it every time.” 

  • Tim Pool teases scandal with Alex Jones

    • Pool lashed out again at erstwhile ally Alex Jones, lamenting that the former Infowars host is now “fully on board with” the “anti-Jew people like Candace [Owens]” whom he previously characterized as “demonic.” Referencing voice memos from Jones that he allegedly possesses, Pool added, “I'd love for people to hear what he had to say three months ago.”

  • Candace Owens conspiracy theories continue to churn

    • On his podcast, former Daily Wire CEO Jeremy Boreing said Candace Owens “needs to be stopped,” warning, “The kind of evil that she's visited on Erika [Kirk], she will only visit on other people in the future.”
    • Owens continued her assault on Turning Point USA’s handling of Charlie Kirk’s death, claiming the group’s response to vandalism on the TPUSA campus is “all about fundraising” and “powering their machine” because “they never know how to just have a regular human emotion.” In an interview with Stephen A. Smith, Owens also criticized Erika Kirk for “emotional asset manipulation” through using “the widow card” and accused her of paying “influencers to go out and attack people she doesn’t like while she pretends that she’s a victim — I don’t buy it.”