A CNN host suggested Monday that Glenn Beck is responsible for the political rise of Donald Trump, despite that the talk radio host has made it clear since the beginning that he opposes the current GOP front-runner.
“Donald Trump, I really truly believe is a dangerous man,” Beck told CNN’s Chris Cuomo Monday morning. “I’m here to talk to you about the Constitution and what I believe is an absolute right or wrong … The mood of the country is very angry but you never make a good decision when you are angry.”
Beck has railed against Trump repeatedly on his show, imploring his listeners to turn away from the billionaire businessman and to seek a more conservative candidate in the 2016 GOP primary.
Beck also endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, this weekend, telling a group of supporters that his prayers for the next George Washington have been answered.
But Cuomo sees Beck’s opposition to Trump as somewhat ironic.
“But here’s the thing,” Cuomo said Monday. “Is there a little bit of reap-what-you-sow in some of this with the GOP, that engendering an oppositional mode towards government, in ratcheting up negativity as a mainline discourse, you wound up somewhat birthing Donald Trump?”
“And now some of those people who were angry about what was going on and telling people to be angry, now they’ve got somebody who is harnessing the power of exactly that, and you’re disappointed,” he added.
Beck responded by saying he has always warned against things like the rise of Trump.
“The progressive movement, and that is what this is — Donald Trump is a progressive, make no mistake,” Beck said. “The progressive party was started by Theodore Roosevelt, it was started by a Republican.”
“Bernie Sanders is at least honest about who he is,” he added. “He’s not afraid to say, ‘I’m a socialist and I think we should be more like Denmark.'”
Along with talk radio host Hugh Hewitt, National Review and a few others, Beck is one of a select few in right-leaning media to have questioned Trump’s candidacy.
The casino tycoon has been showered with praise from several notable pundits, including Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, author Ann Coulter, and talk radio hosts Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, but not from Beck. He has stated his distaste for Trump since the GOP front-runner first announced his campaign in June.
