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David Hogg is a liberal thug, who wants to muzzle conservatives and free speech. He is just as rabidly opposed to the First Amendment, as he is to the Second Amendment. This is the larger meaning of his battle with Fox News host, Laura Ingraham. And it’s time this spoiled punk was finally put in his place.
Hogg called for his left-wing, pro-gun control supporters to organize an advertising boycott of Ingraham’s show. Her alleged crime? She mocked him in a tweet about his whining on social media about being rejected by four major colleges in California. The 17-year-old student activist, who the mainstream media have lionized as the spokesman for the anti-gun movement in the wake of the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, reacted with fire and fury. The Social Justice Warrior snow flake melted down, demanding that his progressive followers on Twitter pressure the companies that advertise on Ingraham’s program to join their economic boycott. Hogg’s goal: to starve the show of all ad revenue, forcing Fox to take her off the air.
Ingraham then made a huge mistake. She apologized for having offended Hogg, even inviting him to come back on her program to discuss and debate gun control legislation. This only emboldened Hogg and the radical left. Camera Hogg went on CNN to claim her apology was too little, too late. He now wants Ingraham to be fired, and for Fox to embrace a pro-gun control, anti-NRA agenda. Unless the network capitulates, Hogg vows to continue his economic boycott.
“A bully is a bully and it’s important that you stand up to them,” Hogg said to CNN.
Yet, the only real bully is him. He is trying to impose his leftist views not just on Ingraham, but Fox itself. What is most remarkable is how much support from corporate elites Hogg has managed to gain. Ingraham’s show has lost over a third of its big advertisers. Many are household names: Office Depot, Jenny Craig, Hulu, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Wayfair, StitchFix, Nestle, Johnson & Johnson, Atlantis Paradise Island, and Liberty Mutual—all of them have decided to pull their advertising.
Which begs the question: Why? What was Ingraham’s crime that justified such a furious, ruthless backlash? Who is Hogg? And why is corporate America and the media bowing to his every demand? The answer is a simple one: Hogg’s rise to national prominence signifies our society’s abdication of adult responsibility. Our elites are trying to tell us that ignorant 17-year-olds should be dictating public policy on an issue as complex and polarizing as gun control. This is cultural madness. Hogg doesn’t have the experience, the wisdom, the maturity or the knowledge to speak intelligently not just on gun rights but any other policy issue. In fact, he has practically admitted as much.
In a profanity-laden interview, Hogg revealed the full extent of his vulgarity, self-righteous arrogance and utter ignorance about the very issue the media has elevated him to pontificate about.
“The pathetic f***ers that want to keep killing our children, they could have blood from children splattered all over their faces and they wouldn’t take action because they all still see those dollar signs,” Hogg said, referring to the alleged power the NRA holds over many members of Congress.
He adds: “At this point it’s like when your old-a** parent is like, ‘I don’t know how to send an iMessage’ and you’re like, ‘Ok give me the f***ing phone’ and you take it and you get it done in one second. Sadly, that’s what we have to do with our government because our parents don’t know how to use a f***ing democracy so we have to do it.”
Yet, when the interviewer asks him what specific policy reforms he would like to have implemented, suddenly Mr. Democracy has no clue.
“I’m fu*king 17. I shouldn’t have to. I shouldn’t have to talk about these policy questions,” he said.
So let’s get this straight: Hogg wants to lecture adults about the need for sweeping gun control laws but when challenged to offer concrete solutions, suddenly he’s just a kid. Enough is enough. Hogg is a phony and a fraud masquerading as a serious political activist. He is simply a tool, who is being used by the Democratic left and the media to advance their goal of abolishing the Second Amendment. Camera Hogg is a narcissistic blowhard. He is being coddled by the likes of CNN and MSNBC because he suits their anti-gun, anti-American agenda.
He is also a vicious demagogue. During his speech at the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington, Hogg claimed that anyone—especially, pro-Second Amendment Republicans, such as Sen. Marco Rubio—who opposes stricter gun laws wants children to die. According to Camera Hogg, conservatives who back gun rights (such as myself) have NRA blood money on our hands.
“I’m going to start off by putting this price tag right here as a reminder for you guys to know how much Marco Rubio took for every student's life in Florida,” Hogg thundered.
This is beyond morally obscene. He is smearing anyone who disagrees with him, using his status as a “victim” of the Parkland shooting as a shield to protect him from criticism as he slanders constitutional conservatives. Moreover, he has attacked all white cops as being “racists,” most parents for being “stupid,” the NRA for being terrorists, and America for being a deeply bigoted nation.
In other words, he can dish it out but he can’t take it. So when someone, such as Ingraham, mocks him for being rejected by several high-profile colleges his response is that of a typical self-absorbed leftist: He tries to shut her down. The reason is obvious. Deep down, Hogg knows he is a charlatan. His mother is a rabid anti-Trump activist; his father is a former FBI hack. Hogg wasn’t even in Building 12 when Nikolas Cruz slaughtered 17 students and teachers at Stoneman Douglas High School. Hogg was in a completely different building. No wonder many of the students (and staffers) resent his claims to be speaking on behalf of the victims. He doesn’t. He’s speaking only for himself and the people behind him. Had he spent more time hitting the books, rather than hitting the airwaves and putting his face on camera, maybe the boy genius would be able to get admitted into a half decent university. Instead, he plays the victim.
Camera Hogg—and his media enablers—cannot have it both ways. If he’s too young to be mocked by Ingraham, then he’s too young to be taken seriously by adults on matters of public policy. He should then go away and stop his incessant lecturing and puerile moralizing. If, however, he is mature and old enough for adults to listen to, then he is old enough to be criticized and challenged. It comes with being a public figure and a political activist. It’s time for Hogg to fish or cut bait.
Fox News, to its credit, has issued a statement saying it will not bow to corporate leftist pressure. Despite the loss of key advertisers, the network refuses to pull the plug on Ingraham’s show.
“We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts,” said Jack Abernethy, co-president of Fox.
“We look forward to having Laura Ingraham back hosting her program next Monday when she returns from spring vacation with her children,” he added.
Good. In his battle with Ingraham (and Fox), Hogg has lost—for now. But he, like the progressive movement he serves, will be back. He is a young Lenin, an intolerant, smug, cold-hearted fanatic, who wants to silence and intimidate anyone who dares to oppose him. The left has made it clear: They want to purge conservatives from the media. They are waging an all-out assault on dissent and freedom of speech. Their latest weapon is economic boycotts. This is why Camera Hogg needs to be taught a lesson. Conservatives should boycott every single company that participated in his war against Ingraham and most importantly, free speech. Corporations that bow at the altar of Political Correctness need to learn that boycotts are a double-edged sword. They will pay a heavy price for engaging in them.
This punk has run amok for too long. Let’s give him the political-ideological spanking he deserves.
-Jeffrey T. Kuhner is host of “The Kuhner Report” on WRKO AM-680 in Boston.