Monthly Archives: June 2017

Conservative liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or, more simply, representing the right-wing of the liberal movement.[1] It is a more positive and less radical variant of classical liberalism.[2] Conservative liberal parties tend to combine market liberal policies with more traditional stances on social and ethical issues.[specify][3]

"Instead of following progressive liberalism [i.e. social liberalism] Robert Kraynak, a professor at Colgate University, writes , conservative liberals draw upon pre-modern sources, such as classical philosophy (with its ideas of virtue, the common good, and natural rights), Christianity (with its ideas of natural law, the social nature of man, and original sin), and ancient institutions (such as common law, corporate bodies, and social hierarchies). This gives their liberalism a conservative foundation. It means following Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Edmund Burke rather than Locke or Kant; it usually includes a deep sympathy for the politics of the Greek polis, the Roman Republic, and Christian monarchies. But, as realists, conservative liberals acknowledge that classical and medieval politics cannot be restored in the modern world. And, as moralists, they see that the modern experiment in liberty and self-government has the positive effect of enhancing human dignity as well as providing an opening (even in the midst of mass culture) for transcendent longings for eternity. At its practical best, conservative liberalism promotes ordered liberty under God and establishes constitutional safeguards against tyranny. It shows that a regime of liberty based on traditional morality and classical-Christian culture is an achievement we can be proud of, rather than merely defensive about, as trustees of Western civilization."[4]

In the European context, conservative liberalism should not be confused with liberal conservatism, which is a variant of conservatism combining conservatives views with liberal policies in regards to the economy, social, and ethical issues.[3][5] The roots of conservative liberalism are to be found at the beginning of the history of liberalism. Until the two world wars, in most European countries the political class was formed by conservative liberals, from Germany to Italy. The events such as World War I occurring after 1917 brought the more radical version of classical liberalism to a more conservative (i.e. more moderate) type of liberalism.[6] Conservative liberal parties have tended to develop in those European countries where there was no strong secular conservative party and where the separation of church and state was less of an issue. In those countries, where the conservative parties were Christian-democratic, this conservative brand of liberalism developed.[1][7]

In the United States, according to Peter Lawler, a professor at Berry College, neoconservatives might be classified as conservative liberals: "[...] in America today, responsible liberalswho are usually called neoconservativessee that liberalism depends on human beings who are somewhat child-centered, patriotic, and religious. These responsible liberals praise these non-individualistic human propensities in an effort to shore up liberalism. One of their slogans is 'conservative sociology with liberal politics.' The neoconservatives recognize that the politics of free and rational individuals depends upon a pre-political social world that is far from free and rational as a whole."[8] In the American context, conservative liberalism, as well as liberal conservatism, should not be confused with libertarian conservatism, influenced by right-libertarianism.

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Conservative liberalism - Wikipedia

Former prime minister Tony Abbott watches on as Malcolm Turnbull delivers an address at the Liberal party federal council meeting in Sydney on 24 June. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

The Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, a former one-time ally of Tony Abbotts, has joined the defence minister Marise Payne in publicly rebuking Abbott for his latest undermining of Coalition policy.

She joins the growing pushback from Liberal moderates, including the social services minister, Christian Porter, who this week rubbished claims the Coalition government had lurched to the left under Malcolm Turnbull.

The Liberal partys factional brawling has continued to spill into the open on Friday, sparked by a leaked recording of Christopher Pyne revealed on the weekend caught bragging to colleagues about the influence of the moderate faction in the government.

Conservatives have reacted furiously to Pynes claims, with calls for him to be dumped as leader of the government in the Senate.

Abbott told 2GB this week Pynes remarks were a very, very ill-advised speech and I can understand why some of my colleagues might be saying his position as leader of the House is now difficult to maintain.

But moderates are now increasingly rounding on Abbott, with Fierravanti-Wells and Payne publicly criticising him for attempting to rewrite history from his time as prime minister.

It comes after Abbott delivered two controversial speeches this week in which he criticised government policy.

Three days ago, he delivered a speech to the Institute of Public Affairs in which he dusted off his conservative manifesto for government, and said the only way to take pressure off power prices was to have a moratorium on new windfarms, stop any further subsidised renewable power and freeze the renewable energy target at 15%.

On Thursday, he delivered a second high-profile speech in which he called on his government to explore the option of nuclear submarines.

Not more robustly challenging the nuclear no-go mindset is probably the biggest regret I have from my time as PM, Abbott said in his speech on Thursday.

Fierravanti-Wells slammed Abbott on Friday, telling the ABC that he was trying to rewrite history.

As a prime minister, Tony had the opportunity to do a whole range of things ... if now he says that he was wrong when he was prime minister, well thats a matter for him, she said.

In relation to climate issues, the renewable energy target came in under Tony, [the Paris agreement] was signed under Tony.

The 26% [renewable energy target] was an iron-clad commitment. Yes, up to 28% there was some flexibility in relation to that, but to actually now say it was an aspiration, when clearly his words, the documentation and everything, clearly demonstrate that it was an iron-clad commitment, you cant rewrite history.

I would urge Tony not to try to rewrite history, because all its doing is damaging his credibility, Fierravanti-Wells said on Friday.

Payne told the ABC the Turnbull government was doing exactly what the Abbott government intended with submarines.

What we are in fact doing, which accords very much with the former prime ministers position, is delivering the plan to acquire our future submarines as was set out, and agreed, by then-prime minister Tony Abbott and his team in February 2015, she said.

They established a competitive evaluation process which was designed to assure that as a nation we acquired the most capable conventional submarines in the world, she said.

We dont have a civil nuclear industry, we dont have the personnel, or the experience or the infrastructure, we dont have the training facilities, or the regulatory systems, that you would need to design, to construct, to operate and maintain a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

So the decisions were made in that context. The process was started by the former prime minister and his defence ministers, and it was completed under prime minister Turnbull and myself and announced in April 2016.

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Liberal senators round on Abbott, criticising him for trying to 'rewrite history' - The Guardian

Hes the most hated performer in the Appalachian wrestling scene, and often goes on stage wearing a Hillary Clinton shirt and lecturing his audience on why theyre voting against their best interestwhile fendingoff boos and chants of Trump! Trump! Oh, and did we mention that he goes by the wrestling name The Progressive Liberal? In real life, his name is Daniel Harnsberger, and as the Washington Post reports, he has a day job as a real estate agent.

While the Progressive Liberal is a particularly polarizing example, the wrestling world has long been populated by these tropes of good and bad in wrestling lingo, heels, or villains, and faces, the good guys they want you to root for. Like soap operas, wrestling depends on their heels and faces to enthrall the crowd into following along with the elaborate, sometimesconvoluted storylines. And also like soap operas, the characters have to be politically and socially relevant to make sense to the crowd.

Indeed, the idea that a wrestler who espouses liberal viewpoints could so offend an audience as to be a villain is very funny but its also not unusual in the wrestling scene, which can be very regionally specific. Here in the Bay Area, our local indie wrestling event, known as Hoodslam, has its own set of specific heels and faces that might not make sense elsewhere.

Case in point: California-based wrestler Joey Ryan (real name Joseph Ryan Meehan)doesnt have an openly taunting moniker like Progressive Liberal, but his particular schtick often turns him into a heel, particularly in the politically-correct Bay Area. His main mantra is Im here to bring sleaze back to wrestling, and hes sometimes introduced as The King of Sleaze.

In an Oakland match at Hoodslam on October 7, 2016 the same day that Trumps grab em by the pussy tape surfaced Joey Ryan faced off against another local wrestler, Christina Von Eerie. By the end of the match, youre going to touch my dick, Ryan taunted Von Eerie, to jeers from the crowd. The news cycle meshed nicely with Joey Ryans sleaze-ball persona, and as he faux-groped Von Eerie, the crowdgnashed at him.

What a creep, the evenings emcee, Broseph Joe Brody, remarkedmid-match. Broseph Joe Brody is the wrestling persona of A.J. Kirsch, who serves as host and commentator for Hoodslam (as the Broseph character) and hosts other Northern California wrestling promotions (as himself). Kirsch is familiar with what it takes to make a villain. His Broseph persona exemplifies the stereotypes of a jock-y, ignorant bro. Brosephs character traits include casual sexism (he Tinder-swipes while emceeing), a love of Nickelback and a penchant for Axe body spray, which he sprays liberally on himself and the crowd before each match.

I concocted the character to be a heel, taking into consideration the Oakland crowd, Kirsch explains. The way I carry myself my entrance music starts with Nickelback, I spray a disgusting amount of Axe on myself . . . its easy to look at that character for five seconds and say, yeah, fuck that guy.

Kirsch told Salon that the Oakland crowd gets it. . . its a parody of a subculture. Kirsch says that the Broseph character was designed to be a combination of frat culture around Chico State [University], where Kirsch went to college, mixed with the douchebags that hung out at a nightclub in the Marina, a neighborhood inSan Francisco known for being preppy.

Kirsch mentioned another local heel, the Berkeley Brawler, as a good counterexample to the Progressive Liberal. The Berkeley Brawler isa tribute to the Brooklyn Brawler, Kirsch says, whos a stereotypical Brooklyn character whereas the Berkeley Brawler is a stereotypical hipster. He rides a razor scooter into the ring.

Kirsch says that being a heel is often less about politics and more about how the heel behaves, or if they condescend to the crowd. Even though Berkeley Brawler probably aligns with me politically, I see him as a dick, Kirsch added. Like the Progressive Liberal, the Berkeley Brawler probably wouldnt translate if you strayed too far from his home region the stereotypes of snobby Berkeley gentrifiers arent as widely known beyond Northern California.

Sometimes, characters that are intended to be heels can end up as heroes as happened with Stone Cold Steve Austin, a WWE wrestling star of the 1990s and 2000s. Austin played a prototypical anti-hero, but his class-conscious stunts such as his frequent staged kerfuffles with his boss, Vince McMahon resonated with a mostly working-class audience. People related to the idea of beating up your boss, Kirsch said of Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Wrestlings relationship to politics feels oddly relevant nowadays. As an art form that attracts a distinctly working-class audience, the heels and faces hint at our cultural moment. And our current commander-in-chief was featured in a long story arc on WWE in 2007, which, some have argued, may have helped ingratiate him and his brand to a wide swath of wrestling fans.

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A wrestler called The Progressive Liberal is riling Appalachian crowds, but the sport is a mirror for politics ... - Salon

Greta Van Susteren is out at MSNBC less than six months after she started at the cable channel.

Van Susteren broke the news of her own ouster Thursday, tweeting "I'm out at MSNBC" shortly before the network issued its own announcement. Van Susteren's husband, John Coale, told CNNMoney, "They let her go," and added that she and MSNBC were "working out contract issues now."

CNNMoney also reported that Van Susteren was given no prior notice of the decision and was told her on-air presence was not "confrontational enough."

MSNBC said that Van Susteren's nightly 6 p.m. show would be replaced with one hosted by Ari Melber, MSNBC's chief legal correspondent who also hosts his own weekend show, "The Point."

The reliably liberal Melber worked on John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign and also served as a legislative aide to Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., before attending law school and moving into media work.

Van Susteren's Washington-based show, "For the Record," debuted on Jan. 9. Her 14-year run at Fox News ended this past summer. Before that, she had her own show at CNN.

The program was the least-watched show on MSNBC between 5 p.m. and midnight both Monday and Tuesday of this week, according to the Nielsen company.

On Monday, for example, MSNBC's "Meet the Press Daily" at 5 p.m. had 970,000 viewers, and Van Susteren's show dipped to 797,000. When Chris Matthews' "Hardball" started at 7 p.m., the network's audience jumped to 1.45 million, Nielsen said.

The show is ending despite the public backing of Van Susteren's friend and MSNBC's most popular host, Rachel Maddow.

In a note to staff, MSNBC President Phil Griffin called Van Susteren "a well-regarded television veteran and one of only a few broadcasters who can say they've hosted shows at all three major cable news networks. We are grateful to her and wish her the best."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continued here:

MSNBC fires Greta Van Susteren, replaces her with liberal host - Fox News

The most influential center-left think tank in DC has a new plan to fix Obamacare and, perhaps surprisingly, it includes some of the same provisions as the Republican health bill in the Senate.

On Thursday, the Center for American Progress released new legislative text that proposes repairing Obamacares exchanges through a mixture of new subsidies to help insurance companies cover their most expensive patients, and lower taxes to encourage insurers to set up shop in under-served markets.

The plan is almost certainly dead on arrival with a Republican caucus that has been bent on dismantling Obamacare for years. But CAP is casting it as a bipartisan solution that could give Republicans a lifeline should Majority Leader Mitch McConnell fail to find the 51 votes to pass his bill and require Democratic support.

We are at an inflection point where theres an opportunity for senators to choose a different path, said Topher Spiro, one of the reports authors, in an interview. But its a very small window.

The CAP plan has three main components two of which are already included in Senate Republicans Better Care Reconciliation Act. (All three components have been floating around health policy circles for a number of years.)

The first involves guaranteeing Obamacares cost-sharing reductions, which help make copays and deductibles cheaper for lower-income people who get insurance through Obamacare. Trump threatened to stop making Obamacares CSR payments a move that destabilized the markets by making it unclear to insurers if they could count on the payments being there. Both Senate Republicans BCRA and the CAP plan would guarantee the CSRs.

The second component is a $15 billion reinsurance fund. It calls for giving states federal money to give insurers funding for their most expensive, high-cost enrollees which Spiro says would in turn reduce premium payments for everyone else on the exchanges. (Spiro also notes that Maine and Alaska two states with moderate Republican senators have already adopted similar approaches in their states that have shown signs of success.) Because the reinsurance fund would reduce premium costs, and thus the amount of tax credits the government would have to pay out, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association says the $15 billion fund would only cost the federal government $4 billion.

Its pretty well known that a very small percentage of patients drive the vast majority of health care costs. Thats the reasoning behind this solution: If you subsidize those high costs, it will bring premiums down for everyone, Spiro said.

And it's plucked straight from the Senate Republican bill."

These Republican ideas were put into BCRA in order to ease the blow created by the GOP plan to eliminate the individual mandate, which would cause instability in the Obamacare exchanges. CAP is proposing that Democrats and Republicans can agree on these proposals without the tax cuts for the rich and gutting of Medicaid also envisioned by McConnells team.

The third proposal in the CAP plan isnt in the GOP plan. It involves giving tax incentives to insurance companies who agree to cover patients in parts of the country where there is only one insurer (or fewer). One idea is to encourage insurers by eliminating the health insurance tax for plans that enter these markets, though Spiro said hes open to other suggestions and tweaks. The plan also says that CAP would support a public option to make sure that everyone is covered.

It goes without saying that the biggest difference between the CAP plan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's is that CAP would not call for, well, the rest of BCRA. It scraps BCRA's massive tax cuts for billionaires, the steep cuts to Medicaid, the deep wound to Obamacare's subsidies, and essentially only uses the ideas for guaranteeing Obamacare's Cost Sharing Reductions and the reinsurance fund.

But its also a marked break from what some on the progressive left want to see: unified Democratic calls for a public option, or Medicare-for-all single-payer bill. (CAP also supports a public option, and lists it as one possible way to bring down the number of uninsured Americans in the report.)

Earlier this week, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee released a statement preemptively attacking any move on the left to embrace a fix for Obamacare that didnt include these much more far-reaching fixes to Obamacare.

Any bipartisan health care solution must, at a minimum, include a robust public option for all or a Medicare buy in for all and if it doesn't, it is dead on arrival with the progressive base and most Americans, PCCCs Adam Green said.

There is robust support in the Democratic caucus for these ideas. More than half of House Democrats have agreed to cosign Rep. John Conyerss (D-MI) single-payer proposal the most support its gotten in the partys history.

Spiro says hes not bothered by concerns that the left should instead be focused on demanding a public option or Medicare-for-all. Like many in the Senate Democratic caucus, he said the priority has to be on improving Obamacare for patients in the short term and, above all, stopping Republicans dangerous bill.

Youve talked to some of these patients: They feel theyre at risk right now and that their care may be impacted next year or the year after. Our immediate focus has to be on stabilizing the markets and removing this threat and this uncertainty, Spiro told me. My number one priority, above all else, is to help and protect those people.

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A liberal think tank just released its own proposal to fix Obamacare ... - Vox

Almost two months after a provincial election, British Columbians will have a new government, following a tense evening in which the provinces Lieutenant-Governor spent hours in deliberation with the leaders of the governing Liberals and Opposition New Democrats.

Finally, NDP Leader John Horgan emerged from Government House to announce that he had been invited to serve as B.C.s next premier after offering assurances to Lieutenant-Governor Judith Guichon that he could provide continuity of government.

We discussed the configuration of the legislature, he told reporters waiting outside, while supporters cheered. I think this is an extraordinary opportunity for a new legislature to work co-operatively.

Premier Christy Clark ended 16 years of Liberal rule when she tendered her resignation on Thursday night after she lost a vote of confidence in the legislature. The vote was tied to her governments Throne Speech.

The NDP have not won an election in B.C. since 1996, but will seek to govern with a minority of seats, buttressed by the three Green MLAs who have pledged support on key legislative measures, including budgets.

The New Democrats and Greens voted together to defeat the Liberals. A hush fell over the packed House as the roll call was read. Afterward, Ms. Clark emerged from the chamber to applause from staff, MLAs and other supporters who lined the halls of the legislature.

Inside the legislature, Mr. Horgan embraced former NDP leader Carole James in a bear hug. In the floor seats behind his caucus were retired NDP cabinet ministers Moe Sihota and Sue Hammell.

Im excited now, seven weeks after the election, we can get going on a government that works for the people, he said in an interview.

Mr. Horgan said he will take the Liberals up on their promise, contained in their recent Throne Speech, to work with all parties to craft legislation.

Theres an enormous amount of work to do, he said outside Government House. Its been 16 years since theres been a transition of government, theres been 16 years of challenges that have been created for many, many people. These challenges wont be fixed overnight.

Mr. Horgan said he would turn his focus to putting together a cabinet and preparing for the transition.

As premier-designate, Mr. Horgan and his team will have access to government briefing documents and deputy ministers. Mr. Horgan is expected to be sworn in with his new cabinet in late July. After that, they would spend some weeks drafting a Throne Speech, a budget, and several pieces of legislation that they have promised to immediately introduce as part of their agreement with the Greens.

Ms. Clark told reporters she had asked the lieutenant governor to trigger a new election.

She has chosen another path... And I respect that, said Ms. Clark, who remains premier until Mr. Horgan is sworn in.

However Ms. Clark maintained that she believes the new government, with its narrow balance of power in the House, poses a risk to really bend the rules of democracy.

Ms. Clark also said the new premier will inherit an excellent fiscal situation. He is inheriting the best balanced books in the country... I hope he finds a way to preserve that.

The legislature is not expected to be recalled until after Labour Day in early September, and the legislation would include campaign finance reform and would launch a referendum on electoral reform.

The moment was weeks in the making; however, the outcome was anything but certain.

Voters in the May 9 election delivered an inconclusive verdict on B.C. politics: The governing Liberals were reduced to 43 seats, the NDP took 41 seats and the Greens won three.

Once the final ballots were counted, the Greens began negotiations with both the Liberals and NDP to determine which they would support, and eventually reached an accord with the NDP.

The Liberals argued that the NDP and Greens together do not have enough seats to provide stable government, as they will have to provide a Speaker of the House. That leaves the legislature in a perpetual deadlock of 43 votes on each side, and Liberals say the non-partisan role of the Speaker will be eroded by having to constantly vote to break ties.

The premier had said she would not ask Ms. Guichon to dissolve the current House and trigger another election. But she told reporters on Wednesday she would if asked offer the opinion that the legislature could not function, even with the NDP-Green agreement in place.

However, the Lieutenant-Governor chose to give the NDP a chance.

Mr. Horgan said issues that will require his governments immediate attention include the fentanyl crisis, the softwood lumber dispute, and the public education system.

As well, the New Democrats plan to launch a review of the $8.8-billion Site C dam, which could lead to the cancellation of the provinces most expensive public infrastructure project in history.

In the May election campaign, the New Democrats promised to raise taxes on the wealthy and real estate speculators to pay for promises that include $10-a-day daycare, building 114,000 housing units over a decade and annual $400 subsidies for renters, as well as the elimination of tolls on two bridges in the Lower Mainland.

The Liberals had attacked the NDP platform as unaffordable, but they have since introduced a Throne Speech that offered many of those commitments and more, including an ambitious $1-billion daycare program.

In a fiscal update earlier this week, Finance Minister Mike de Jong said the Liberals new promises are affordable, as the economy is performing better than expected. That will provide the NDP more flexibility in the budget they will table this fall.

However, the NDP and Green pact could face challenges.

The two parties will find points of discord. The Greens say they will vote for the NDP budgets but they oppose the lifting of tolls, because the policy would run counter to their climate action agenda. The Greens have also signalled that they will oppose the changes to the Labour Code that the NDP have promised to their labour supporters.

The success of any NDP government could hinge on the continual and unconventional support of the Speaker.

The Speaker, who must enjoy a level of respect from all parties to keep order in the House, has traditionally been detached from regular votes. But that position is challenged with a legislature evenly divided, because the Speaker is, by convention, elected from the government benches.

Under this NDP minority, barring a change in the numbers, the Speaker would regularly be voting to break ties, which some observers have warned would turn it into a highly partisan role.

This happened in New Brunswick in 2003, where a Progressive Conservative government survived on a one-vote margin for three years.

A government in perpetual survival mode put great stress on the Speaker and led the public to become deeply cynical of the politicians in power, according to Shawn Graham, who was Liberal leader at the time.

Mr. Graham, who formed government after beating the Progressive Conservatives in 2006, said the actions of the Conservative Speakers damaged democracy at the time, but had little lasting effect to the role of Speaker as later elections have been won by larger margins.

Philippe Lagass, an associate professor and constitutional scholar at Carleton University, said an NDP Speaker breaking ties is no more partisan than the Liberal Speaker resigning his post after his party loses government.

If impartiality was the pre-eminent concern, then that Speaker wouldnt resign, he said.

As well, the coming legislative sessions will be trying for all members of the House. The opposition Liberals will have 43 seats, and absent the Speaker, the governing NDP will have 40 votes. They will need the Greens, at the least, to support any legislative changes. There will be no margin for MLAs to be absent for travel or illness, unless they can find a degree of goodwill which has been markedly absent in recent weeks to agree on pairing up absences on both sides.

Follow us on Twitter: Mike Hager @MikePHager, Justine Hunter @justine_hunter

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BC NDP to form government, ending 16 years of Liberal rule - The Globe and Mail

Itwas a strange sight, even for the sport of professional wrestling.

A wrestler holding a microphone faced an Appalachian crowd before a match and began unleashing a torrent of insults, the nature of which seemed out of place at a pro wrestling tournament.

I understand now why you all identify with country music. Its slow and its simple and its boring, just like each and every one of you.

As the crowd grew increasing hostile, the wrestlers remarks became more politically tinged.

You know what, I think Bernie Sanders would make a great secretary of state.

I want to exchange your bullets for bullet points. Bullet points of knowledge.

He even called Donald Trump a con man. The crowd exploded in jeers. Shut up, someone yelled.

Strange, indeed. But then, the muscular mans shirt read, Not My President.

Meet the wrestler who goes by the nameProgressive Liberal Dan Richards,the most hated character inKentuckys Appalachian Mountain Wrestling (AMW) program, a small professional wrestling circuit.

Professional wrestling has long included villain characters called heels, someone for the audience to cheer against. Traditionally, though, these are burly, angry men who do evil things such as pledging allegianceto the devil or sneak-attacking other wrestlers with chairs and ladders. Hes burly enough, at 6 feet 5 inches tall. But he praises not the devil but Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

This might be the first case when a character became a villain by espousing liberal dogma. And it seems to be working hes caught the attention of Deadspin, Sports Illustrated, even the right-wing Breitbart.

The lattercalled him a wrestling heel for the Trump era, and wrote, His moves include smugness, condescension, and whining.

His shtick is simple. He plays a smug liberal elitist who lectures the audience on political matters. His enemies are Fox News maggots. His fictional character hails from D.C. His wrestling shorts bear a donkey. He insults his fans Appalachian accents, correcting them Do you live in a holler? No, you live in a hollow.

He even calls his finishing signature wrestling move the Liberal Agenda.

In one promo video, he wore a shirt patterned with dozens of photos of Hillary Clintons face, patched together in a strange collage, and he addressed AMWs fans: You people need to be reprogrammed. You continually vote against your own interests. You put people in Congress and the White House that arent going to help you. Theyre not going to bring your jobs back.

These may not sound like the most scathing of insults, but at a time when politics are a breeding ground for intense, burning emotion, it seems to work brilliantly.

As Deadspin reported:

Regardless of how much Richards plays up the left-wing politics to crowds in Kentucky and nearby states, it works. Look no further than the videos to see that those crowds despise him. Theres a kid in the crowd telling him to shut up, and relentless jeers, or Trump masks worn by attendees. And even the occasional death threat. , at a 2016 show in West Virginia, where Richards spoke about taking everyones guns, a patron displayed a pistol in a holster on his right hip and started rubbing it.

Another time, one fan threatened that if that f king liberal showed up at a different show, hed bring his gun.

The Progressive Liberal is really Daniel Harnsberger, a 36-year-old real estate agent from Richmond who had been on the indie wrestling circuit for years before conceiving of the character. Once he did, he simply waited for the prime moment to unveil it which he found in 2015 in Sabine, W. Va.

It was a small crowd and I had freedom to do whatever I wanted that night, so I just decided to get on the mic and this is maybe a couple months after Trump started running. Who knew the guy was gonna be president? Harnsberger told Sports Illustrated. So I did this interview on the house mic and I said, If hes elected president, I hope Trump doesnt build a wall around Mexico. Instead I hope he builds it around this town so none of you people can infiltrate the population.

The ire that statement got, I knew I was onto something, he added.Even then, those fans were chanting, Trump! Trump! Trump!

Part of the trick is that his characters politics are not much of a stretch from his own, as he toldDeadspin.

Its not like Im pretending to be something Im not, he told Sports Illustrated. Im just turning it up. I hear Trump chants everywhere I go now, as soon as I walk out.

The men he wrestles alongside tend to be staunch Republicans who so hate Democrats that Beau James, an administrator with AMW, pretends to feedHarnsberger his lines.

Hes protecting me, he said.

Despite the anger hes provoked or, more likely, because of it Harnsberger plans to continue wrestling as the Progressive Liberal Dan Richards. After all, it kills two birds with one stone, both fueling his wrestling career and allowing him to spread his beliefs.

I wish Democrats would be as unapologetic as Republicans are, he said. Just be unapologetic with your policies and who you are. Thats how the Progressive Liberal is. Im unapologetic.

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Wrestling's new villain named himself 'Progressive Liberal.' Hillary's ... - Washington Post