Here we are, folks: The top 10 conservatives of the last 25 years! There’s already been quite a bit of controversy and/or teeth-gnashing, and we expect it to continue. The subjective nature of these lists makes ‘em fodder for heated, passionate debate, and to that we say… GOOD!
These men — and these issues — deserve to be debated.
25. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson
24. Walter Williams
23. JD Vance
22. Matt Walsh
21. Bill O’Reilly
20. Ron DeSantis
19. Elon Musk
18. Glenn Beck
17. Pat Buchanan
16. Sameul Alito
15. Ted Cruz
14. Victor Davis Hanson
13. The Koch Family
12. Ben Shapiro
11. Sean Hannity
And so, with no further ado…
10. Rupert Murdoch
Why He Is on the List: For most of the last 25 years, he has owned and controlled the most important, most influential right-leaning media outlet in America, the Fox News Channel. (And not to mention Murdoch’s ownership and control of a slew of other media right-leaning properties, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post.)
No other businessman has fused politics with mass media better than Murdoch. Nor has anyone else done it longer — or at a higher level. In 2024, Fox News became the first cable news channel to mark 22 consecutive years in first place.
And in the process, he transformed a galaxy of “unknowns” into household names: Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, Brian Kilmeade, Tony Snow (RIP), and many more — including the current Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. Not unlike a Hollywood studio during its Golden Age, Fox News was an honest-to-God star-making factory. He so thoroughly transformed the conservative media marketplace that it’s impossible to imagine it without Murdoch’s involvement.
He literally changed… everything.
Now in his mid-90s, it’s unclear how much longer Murdoch will continue at the de facto helm of News Corp. (Rumors abound of the “succession.”) And over the past few years, Fox News has lost some of its mojo: It’s no longer must-see TV for conservatives. The migration to alternative media has dulled FNC’s luster.
But irrespective of what happens next, the fact remains that few conservatives in history can match Rupert Murdoch’s 25-year impact in media, culture, entertainment, and politics.
He’s truly in a category of one.
9. Franklin Graham
Why He Is on the List: He’s America’s preeminent moral leader and spiritual advisor. His father, the incomparable Billy Graham, delivered his final public address in 2005. Since then, it’s been the responsibility of Franklin Graham to save souls, correct the crooked, and build upon his father’s work.
No small task: Rev. Billy Graham was a living legend who had personally counseled every single U.S. president since FDR — Truman through Obama. Those weren’t small shoes to fill.
Franklin Graham filled them admirably. (And, just so you know, he’s now up to six U.S. presidents.)
Since 1979, he’s served as president of the Samaritan’s Purse charity, an enormous organization with an annual budget of $1.11 billion. It’s the 13th biggest charity in America with a fleet of 24 aircraft. From rescuing children in the Sudan to helping the flooding victims in Hill County, Texas, Graham oversees a rapid-response, worldwide force for good. (If you’d like to donate, please click here.)
But his real power rests in what Graham represents.
There’s no single person who speaks for all “Christian America,” but on matters of faith and morality, Graham comes the closest. His father cultivated vast reservoirs of global goodwill; today, Franklin Graham is the natural beneficiary. He’s his father’s son — and quickly becoming an icon in his own right.
Quantifying his impact is tricky, for Graham wields the softest of soft power. Sometimes, the words that say the most are the ones you don’t say. And countless times over the last decade, Graham could’ve thrown Trump under the bus. Some very persuasive voices were urging him to do so.
He never did.
From the “Access Hollywood” tape (“Grab ‘em by the [censored]”) to Trump’s sexual assault lawsuit, Graham has used his prestige, credibility, and moral standing to help shield President Trump from faith-based attacks. Part of the reason why the “Where’s the outrage?!” card didn’t work against Trump is that Graham didn’t give it any oxygen to breathe.
America isn’t as religious as it once was, but there’s still a segment of the population that takes its faith very, very seriously. The Economist estimated that 100 million Americans are evangelical; other estimates vary wildly. For this audience, the Graham name is still huge; clearly, they still revere the reverend.
If and/or when Franklin Graham chooses to roar, the whole country will hear it.
8. Clarence Thomas
Why He Is on the List: The conservative Lion of the Supreme Court and one of the most historically significant Supreme Court Justices in American history. Currently the Supreme Court’s longest-serving Justice (by a wide margin, too), nominating Clarence Thomas was President George H. W. Bush’s most consequential conservative decision.
And Lord, what a nomination that was! The liberals tried to destroy his reputation.
The year was 1990. Rife with ugly allegations of sexual harassment and free-floating “hairs” on cola cans, the Thomas confirmation hearings were a national embarrassment. (Fun fact: The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Thomas hearings was none other than… Sen. Joe Biden.)
A lesser man might’ve wilted in the chaos, unwilling to lock horns with the liberal mob again.
Not Thomas: He went eyeball-to-eyeball with the senators and declared the following:
This is a circus. It is a national disgrace. And from my standpoint, as a black American, as far as I am concerned, it is a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deign to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas, and it is a message that, unless you kowtow to an old order, this is what will happen to you, you will be lynched, destroyed, caricatured by a committee of the U.S. Senate, rather than hung from a tree.
Boom.
And in the 35 years that followed, Justice Thomas has never once backed down, forming the ultimate judicial partnership with his Supreme Court mentor, the late, great Antonin Scalia. Together, they made conservative history… but not how liberal legal commentators and/or pundits have alleged. Whereas TV personalities like Jon Stewart have continually accused Thomas of being Scalia’s puppet, the truth is that both men were independent thinkers — much more so than the liberal wing, at least. In 2015, Scalia’s final full year on the Court, Scalia and Thomas agreed 78% of the time. Meanwhile, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer agreed 94% of the time.
(Question: When was the last time a liberal commentator accused Justice Ginsburg and/or Breyer of being “clones” or a “puppet,” hmm? Right, that’s never happened.)
February will mark the tenth anniversary of Scalia’s passing. In the ten years that followed, Thomas has led the conservative wing of the Supreme Court, participating in history-making, life-saving decisions — including the termination of Roe v. Wade.
Let’s be clear: Thomas is no one’s puppet, but his 15-year partnership with Antonin Scalia will be studied for centuries. As Thomas himself noted:
“My closest ally and friend when I got there was Justice Scalia,” Thomas told the audience.
“At the expense of embarrassing him,” he said, “I can honestly say that as beat up as I was when I got there with the workload, I don’t know how I would have gotten through it, if he hadn’t been there,” Thomas said.
Forget about that trial in Los Angeles with an ex-Bills running back: The real legal “dream team” was Scalia and Thomas. They changed America.
Today, Scalia is gone. But Thomas remains on the court, continuing to fight for the U.S. Constitution and conservative principles. We’re damn lucky to have him.
7. Charles Krauthammer
Why He Is on the List: The preeminent conservative columnist and political pundit of his generation. And, for a guy who began his career as a speechwriter to Vice President Walter Mondale, it was a helluva journey.
The Financial Times dubbed him the most influential commentator in America. During the Obama years, The New York Times’ David Brooks claimed he was “the most important conservative columnist right now.” (When President Bill Clinton called Krauthammer “a brilliant man,” the columnist wryly responded: “…my career is done. I mean, I’m toast. Maybe NPR will take me…”)
And when he died in 2018, even the mainstream liberal media paid tribute. Krauthammer was just too good to ignore.
He was a grown-up man writing about grown-up issues. Today, with our media landscape littered with attention-seekers, snark, and schtick, the absence of Krauthammer’s substantive, mature, grown-up analysis is glaring. Somehow, in the years since his passing, his stature has only grown larger.
Part of his appeal was the juxtaposition of a mighty mind in a broken body. Like Stephen Hawking, he was a wheelchair-bound contradiction: His intellect made him a powerful juggernaut, but his body remained frail and vulnerable. (While studying medicine at Harvard, Krauthammer severed his spinal cord in a diving board accident.) But Krauthammer wasn’t looking for pity and rarely focused on his frailties.
Indeed, I’ve met many people who had watched Krauthammer for years on Fox News — or on the PBS show “Inside Washington” — or knew him via his columns — who had no idea he was paralyzed. Self-pity wasn’t his style.
Neither was fealty. Krauthammer didn’t hesitate to criticize Trump, and Trump, naturally, didn’t hesitate to return fire. For example:
"@krauthammer: On sale today. Things That Matter in paperback. With a new section on the Obama years. Book sucks!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2015
Krauthammer was also pro-choice.
But on the whole, the late, great scribe was an uncompromising warrior for conservative values. He made sense of the senseless for generations of Americans, writing a must-see column that was syndicated in 400(!) newspapers.
He’s sorely missed.
6. Thomas Sowell
Why He Is on the List: The most influential — and universally respected — conservative economist, historian, academic, philosopher, and lecturer of this era. Now in his mid-90s, Sowell was once a student of Milton Friedman. Today, we’re all his students… and we couldn’t have asked for a better teacher.
Here’s a good rule of thumb: If you think one way and Sowell thinks another, in all probability, it’s not Sowell who’s wrong. His track record for intellectual achievement is unequaled.
But just as impressive is his longevity: At age 93, he published his 37th book, 2023’s “Social Justice Fallacies.” From race to culture to human nature, Sowell boldly goes where others fear to tread, damning the consequences — presenting his points in simple, direct language. He’s not an intellectual writing for other intellectuals; for a man like Sowell, the validations of Ivy League eggheads are irrelevant.
Instead, he’s a man of the people, writing for the people.
And the people, in turn, embraced him: On a grassroots level, other than President Trump himself, precious few conservatives are more universally beloved. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with a negative thing to say about Sowell.
He was born in 1930 in the Jim Crow South. When both his parents died, he was an orphan. According to liberals, there’s no way a poor black orphan from the Carolinas could’ve possibly succeeded in racist, evil America — yet somehow, Sowell led a life that made a mockery of “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
Sowell was a man of accomplishment.
Yes, he was born into extreme poverty and despicable racism. Yes, he didn’t have electricity or running water. (According to his autobiography, he had met so few white people as a child that he was unaware that blonde hair color existed.) Yes, he was drafted into the Korean War. Yes, he never finished high school. Yes, he didn’t graduate from college until he was 28, and yes, he didn’t write his first book until he was in his 40s.
So what? This is the United States of America — and Sowell understood that in America, all that matters is how hard you work, how much you pray, and how big you dream.
…Sowell is a rare species. He’s an honest intellectual. He’s someone who has consistently sought out the truth, regardless of whether it made him popular. He has been willing to follow the facts and evidence wherever they lead, even when they lead to politically incorrect results. It’s not something that ought to distinguish you as a scholar, but these days it does.
Remarkably, Sowell’s influence continues to grow: All over YouTube, the Internet, and social media are HUNDREDS of videos with his commentary and theories. (His one-hour video, “Common Sense in a Senseless World,” has over 5 million views.) Each and every day, thousands of young Americans watch his clips and listen to his advice.
He’s already a towering giant. And his legend is still growing.
Tomorrow: The rest of the list!
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