Talk Radio's Mark Levin

Mark Levin is a conservative talk show host with a weekday evening radio program from 6 to 9 eastern time.  A fervent supporter of Ronald Reagan since 1976, he served in the entire Reagan presidential administration in the 1980s, chiefly as an assistant to Attorney General Edwin Meese.  He calls himself a constitutional conservative and not only calls to task those in the opposition Democratic Party, but also those in the Republican Party who he believes have strayed from the Reagan philosophy.  He can be quite thoughtful with his opinions, but then again can go off into tantrum fits when he personally runs down those with whom he disagrees, calling them idiots, morons, and worse.  He supported Ted Cruz this year in the Republican primary process and is critical of eventual nominee Donald Trump on several fronts.  One of his objections is Trump's tendency to go off-message and engage in personal vendettas with various people instead of focusing on what Levin believes would eventually win him the election...i.e. continually emphasizing his opponent Hillary Clinton's liabilities.  However, it is clear to me that Donald Trump, a media figure who has depended heavily on other media figures...like Michael Savage, another radio talk show host...for his political outlook and how he expresses it, is only doing what Mark Levin himself does for three hours on his show.  Trump lays out his position on the issues...like Levin...and also engages in personal polemics with his enemies, real or imagined...again like Levin.  So although it's not precisely hypocritical for Mark Levin to criticize Donald Trump for his continual gaffes, it does raise the point that what one does to be successful in one area (like talk radio) doesn't necessarily translate into success in presidential politics.  I would add to this that what one does to amass fortunes in real estate and business...or to be successful on reality TV... also doesn't necessarily translate into success as a sitting president...

I don't know where Mark Levin got the moniker "The Great One", but he has no problem about boasting of it on his show.  I used to despise him for his insulting nature toward people with different viewpoints, and I still object to that methodology.  But I also recognize that he does stand by his own enunciated principles and isn't just some party or organizational hack (unlike Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity), nor will he hesitate to strongly criticize Republicans when they stray from his view of Reagan's legacy (unlike Rush Limbaugh).  I do have a problem whenever I've watched an Obama speech and then hear Levin read all sorts of nefarious inferences from it when I thought that the speech was positive and constructive.  There is definitely a gulf between what Levin and I regard as reasonable political debate...sometimes I wonder whether folks like Mark Levin and Michael Savage haven't placed themselves within an insulated bubble that only invites feedback from those who share their own peculiar outlooks...

In support of that notion, Mark Levin has begun his own TV channel, called LevinTV, that is available on a paid-subscription basis in different formats.  For this new venture of his, he has constructed his own special studio where he spends hours discussing his vision for America while inviting guests who buttress his own arguments and expand on them...but no moderates, liberals, or populists need bother to apply to appear on it.  To Levin, it's great to be in this big ideological bubble, shut off from those "idiots" and "morons" with differing perspectives.  But although he can be pretty obnoxious, he also has, in a way, a compelling personality...I can see why he's so popular.  Hey, even I listen to the dude...