Is Right Wing Podcaster Michael Knowles Eyeing a Future in Politics?

CPAC was just the beginning

By David Andrew Stoler, March 14, 2023

In what was generally considered a desultory CPAC in early March, Conservative commentator and Daily Wire podcast host Michael Knowles might just have come out the winner. While Don Jr. played to half-empty halls, it was Knowles who owned the libs when he stepped awfully close to calling for genocidal violence, saying, “transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.”

For those unfamiliar with Knowles, he can seem hard to pin down. With his clean cut good looks and southern comfort voice he’s reminiscent of 1990s Christian Coalition star and Bill Clinton nemesis Ralph Reed. But Knowles’s content casts a wide net that’s difficult to pigeonhole: amidst the ever-popular reaction videos and standard cheap shots at the left, Knowles also focuses on more out-there fare, like conversations with astrologists and exorcists. Likewise, the view counts on his YouTube channel, where he has over a million subscribers, are wildly inconsistent – his exorcist show pulled in nearly half-a-million views in four days, while a recent rant on Hershey’s controversial International Women’s Day ad campaign didn’t even break 40,000 over the same time period.

But if you know Knowles’s pre-troll history, his lack-of-focus, try–anything approach begins to make more sense. Far from a single-issue culture warrior who, like his brethren, really believes in what he’s saying, Knowles’s roots point to something else: the man just wants to be famous.

Hollywood or, Well, Bust.

Like Steve Bannon before him, Knowles had Hollywood dreams. Born and bred in the tony New York suburb of Bedford Hills, he studied acting at Stella Adler Studio as a teen before attending Yale, where he produced a play by – N.B. – Machiavelli. After graduating, Knowles followed his acting bug to Los Angeles, where he was rewarded with such unforgettable roles as “Guy 1,” “Marshall,” and – a highlight – “Surgeon” in an episode of Cinemax’s The Knick.

Things took a decided turn for the better when Knowles got the part of a lifetime – that of guest commentator on his buddy’s dad’s podcast, The Andrew Klavan Show. He parlayed that appearance into more guest spots and eventually his own eponymous show, which has grown to become the seventh-ranked US News Commentary podcast on Apple, according to Chartable. 

And he’s a perfect fit for the role – young, classically handsome, his bio photos are interchangeable with his headshots on IMDb. Still, like many young actors, his performances are as inconsistent as his themes: e.g. at times the New Yorker speaks with a thick southern preacher’s accent, particularly when discussing religion. Other times the drawl is nowhere to be found – even in the exact same show.

In This Scene, You’re Outraged

Of course, so far Knowles’s most successful bit is that of Outraged Homophobe, and you can expect him to lean in on this one, especially if it gets him the attention he craves. The week after his CPAC speech made national headlines, Knowles’s new podcast episodes focused on anti-trans rhetoric again and again. One might believe in this homophobia as a core Knowles issue – unless, again, you’ve followed his career at all: he cut his political teeth working for former U.S. Congresswoman and Tea Party Republican Nan Hayworth, who made headlines standing up for Knowles’s trans-bogeymen as one of the few right wing members of the LGBT Equality Caucus.

But Knowles is going to play the role as written, and right now the Right demands outrage from its podcast hosts. Knowles is so good at it, one can’t help but wonder if he’s got his eyes on a bigger prize: that of public office. He wouldn’t be the first entertainer to try the transition, though he was by far less successful than the most noteworthy on a long list: Reagan, Arnold, and of course he-whose-name-shall-not-be-mentioned. It would explain why Knowles is pushing his Ralph Reed impression so hard. A major political operative, Reed, too, ran for higher office in his home state of Virginia.

Knowles is just 33, so it may be we’re witnessing the beginning of what is actually a very deep form of method acting. He could be throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks. But the part Knowles is auditioning for is a lucrative one, and as the recent Fox News election revelations have made clear, believing in your takes was never part of the character.

David Andrew Stoler’s writing has appeared in the Guardian, Politico, and McSweeney’s, among many others. He is the founder of misanthropictures, an independent film company whose award-winning work tells the stories of the traditionally underrepresented.

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