Glenn Beck says he may drop his membership in the National Rifle Association amid (baseless) fears that the organization has been infiltrated by radical Islamists -- a conspiracy theory that centers on anti-tax activist and NRA board member Grover Norquist, who is currently seeking re-election to the board.
Peddled primarily by neoconservative campaigner and former Reagan administration official Frank Gaffney, the charge is this: Norquist is a man "actively involved, both enabling and empowering, Muslim Brotherhood influence operations against our movement and our country." As Media Matters' Tim Johnson notes, much of Gaffney's "evidence" concerns the fact that Norquist has Muslim family members. But while the board of the American Conservative Union unanimously determined that Gaffney's claims lacked any foundation, Beck said on Wednesday night that he's "heard enough" to convince himself that Norquist is "a very bad man."
Interviewing Gaffney on the Glenn Beck Radio Program, Beck said, "I will tell you that I am so concerned about this, Frank — and I am not an expert on Grover Norquist by any stretch of the imagination — but I’ve heard enough that makes me concerned enough that — and I hope that the leadership of the NRA hears this, and that every member of the NRA hears this — that if this man is elected, or re-elected, and confirmed on the board of the NRA, I may drop my membership in the NRA."
"I mean, I just — I am that concerned that he is a very bad influence and a very bad man, that if this is who the NRA decides to put on their board of directors, I don’t think I can be associated with them," Beck continued.
That Beck buys Gaffney's conspiracy theory shouldn't be surprising. Beck has warned viewers of a coming Muslim caliphate spanning "the Mideast and parts of Europe," enabled by "the Marxists." (I suppose we'll now have to add the libertarian conservatives, and expand the scope of the caliphate to the US of A.) And who could forget Beck demanding, in 2006, that Rep.-elect Keith Ellison --the first Muslim elected to Congress -- "prove to me that you are not working with our enemies"?
With allies like that, Gaffney's crusade is sure to prove a smashing success.
Watch Beck's latest remarks below (h/t Slate):
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