The Most Absurd Conservative Controversies of 2024
Unpacking 2024’s most absurd conservative outrages, from Taylor Swift’s political stances and the supposed “wokeness” of “Wicked.”
Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Universal Pictures/Getty Images
Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher
From mysterious drones to pet-eating immigrants in a small Ohio town, conservatives had plenty of reasons to rage this year—or did they?
With so much fodder to choose from, Andrew Lawrence, deputy director of rapid response at Media Matters, joins the latest episode of The New Abnormal to discuss the biggest and most notable MAGA “non-troversies” of 2024.
It was a big year for conservatives pretending to care about the WNBA with Caitlin Clark, Lawrence notes to co-host Andy Levy, adding Clark quickly became “an avatar” for conservative media. When Clark missed the Olympics U.S.A. basketball team, for example, “conservatives saw her as this way to sort of push their talking points of particularly reverse racism—racism against white people—which they’ve really opened up about and has become a central theme in conservative media.”
Subscribe to The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or Overcast.
Also making the list: Taylor Swift being a supposed Pentagon “asset,” the Wicked movie becoming too “woke,” and Fox News’ Sean Hannity steaming over the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Plus! Professor Ray Brescia, legal columnist for the Daily Beast, joins The New Abnormal co-host Danielle Moodie to highlight the dangers of our digital data—and who has access to it.
“It is the Wild West when it comes to private actors. And there is now a very thin line between the private and the public in terms of who has access to this information. And there are real threats because of this.”
Get the best of The Beast delivered right to your inbox
By clicking “SUBSCRIBE” you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher
See more of our coverage in your search results.
Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.