Twenty-five glorious years. Twenty-five legendary names.
And then there were five!
More than anything else, the single greatest common denominator of all these names is their real-world impact. Political theories are important; philosophical arguments still matter; but in the “real world,” you either achieved your desired outcome, or you didn’t.
That’s because, in the real world, outcomes matter more than ideas.
And of the five remaining names, their real-world impact was extraordinary. Through the sheer power of their personalities, the strength of their character, and their God-given talents, these are the men who changed the world.
Not all of ‘em were pillars of morality. (One in particular was probably pretty scummy.) But this isn’t a list of the nicest conservatives of the last 25 years, is it? Again, the emphasis is on real-world impact.
And we’re about to introduce the elite of the elite!
Sadly, of the Final Five names, four are no longer with us.
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. Samuel Alito
15. Ted Cruz
14. Victor Davis Hanson
13. The Koch Family
12. Ben Shapiro
11. Sean Hannity
10. Rupert Murdoch
9. Franklin Graham
8. Clarence Thomas
7. Charles Krauthammer
6. Thomas Sowell
And now, without any further ado, the crème de la crème of conservatism:
5. Andrew Breitbart
Why He Is on the List: The Godfather of “alternative” conservative media, he is the man who built the runway that launched the “America First” movement. He also delivered the wisest, most prescient quote about the (rapidly evolving) media landscape, understanding what was happening before the rest of us caught on: “Politics is downstream from culture.”
For conservatives, Breitbart’s observation was a game-changer.
Previously, conservatives tended to ignore popular culture. In our minds, we sort of separated Hollywood’s silliness from the “serious work” of public policy. (After all, we conservatives read The Wall Street Journal — not People Magazine.) Andrew Breitbart was different: He instinctively understood how politics and culture were intertwined, interlinked, and interconnected — and you can’t fight one without fighting the other.
So he fought both. And he did so with a smile on his face.
His instincts were uncanny. At times, they were almost prophetic. As he noted in 2011:
…celebrity is everything in this country. And if [conservatives] don't learn how to play the media the way that Barack Obama played the media last election cycle and the way that Donald Trump is playing the election cycle, we're going to probably get a celebrity candidate.
It was as if Andrew Breitbart had a crystal ball. He didn’t just identify emerging cultural/media trends before anyone else; he had the foresight, creativity, and business acumen to build an infrastructure so we conservatives could commandeer it for our own purposes.
Which led to him partnering with Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report in 1995. (Three years before all those cigars, interns, and Clinton-related sordidness.) He also cofounded The Huffington Post in 2005 (he befriended Arianna Huffington when she was still a Republican), the first online media company to win a Pulitzer Prize. In Breitbart’s mind, The Huffington Post was supposed to be a bipartisan website; when it became a left-wing propaganda trumpet, Breitbart launched a website of his own.
That website was Breitbart.com. And the ripple effects of his decision are still reverberating today.
It was a Breitbart alumnus, Ben Shapiro, who helped create The Daily Wire. It was a Breitbart alumnus, Steve Bannon, who became Trump’s top advisor (at various times, at least). Other ex-writers included Sebastian Gorka, James O’Keefe, and Dana Loesch. According to some studies, Breitbart content was the most shared news source for Trump supporters during the 2016 election.
He was funny, too. Breitbart’s book, “Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World!” was a hoot. And who could forget his hostile takeover of Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner’s ill-advised press conference:
Sadly, Andrew Breitbart died of heart failure in 2012. He was only 43.
4. Roger Ailes
Why He Is on the List: He’s the greatest media genius in conservative history. Rupert Murdoch supplied the money, but let’s be honest, billionaires are a dime a dozen: There are over 3,000 of them on the planet. But whereas there are thousands of billionaires, there’s only one Roger Ailes. No one else could’ve done what he did.
He’s the man who FINALLY broke the liberal monopoly of the mainstream media.
Before Fox News, the idea that a right-leaning TV news network could crush CNN and become the top-rated channel on all of cable was preposterous. The mainstream media was liberal; that was just how things always were.
Roger Ailes didn’t only upend the status quo — he did it in record time. Just five years after launching Fox News, Ailes beat CNN in the ratings.
Thus began one of the most amazing streaks in TV history: Fox News has been America’s most-watched TV news channel for 23 consecutive years! And over the last eight years, FNC wasn’t just the most-watched TV news channel; it was the most-watched network on cable TV, period.
According to Nielsen Media Research, about 70% of ALL the cable TV news audience is watching Fox News. That’s not just winning the ratings war — this is absolute, total dominance.
At this point, CNN’s “rivalry” with Fox News is similar to a nail’s “rivalry” with a hammer.
In the process, Ailes groomed, trained, and developed an entire galaxy of brand-new conservative media stars. (Indeed, if we were to expand this list into the top 250 conservatives of the last 25 years, there’d probably be 50+ names that cut their teeth under Roger Ailes.) There was Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Tucker Carlson, of course, but Ailes was also remarkably egalitarian, elevating the profiles of numerous conservative women and countless up-and-coming female journalists — including Megyn Kelly, Laura Ingraham, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Jeanine Pirro, Ainsley Earhardt, Dana Perino, Harris Faulkner, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Greta Van Susteren, and Martha MacCallum. Despite the ugly allegations that led to Ailes’ FNC exit in 2016, the fact remains that he was just as good at turning women into superstars as he was with men.
Under his watch, FNC was TV’s most reliable star-making factory. Male, female — it didn’t matter: If Ailes believed in you, you were gonna go as far as your talent and work ethic would take you. He was the ultimate equal opportunity talent scout; this was his TV legacy.
But alas, the sexual harassment allegations are part of his legacy, too.
Today, Fox News isn’t the juggernaut of its glory years. Without Ailes, it’s lost its swagger and vision. Instead of being Ground Zero for American conservatism, it’s been reduced to a leading voice: Fox News still has a massive microphone, but it’s no longer a giant surrounded by pygmies. Many of the superstars who learned under Ailes have since left Fox News (not always by choice, either). Little by little, Ailes’ influence has faded away.
Still, for most of the last 25 years, he defined American conservatism. During its heyday, Fox News was truly something special. And even today, with its luster dulled, it remains the #1 cable news channel. Roger Ailes didn’t just revolutionize politics, culture, and media — he revolutionized how we think about it.
Arguably, #4 is too low.
Roger Ailes died on May 18, 2017. He was 77.
3. Donald Trump
Why He Is on the List: He’s a two-term president, a three-time GOP presidential nominee, the leader of the MAGA movement, and the most historically significant president of the last 25 years. Is Donald Trump even a conservative?
Maybe. (It kind of depends on your definition.)
At heart, President Trump is a pragmatist who makes conservative decisions because conservative decisions are… pragmatic? He’s less guided by conservative philosophy than “real world” cause and effect. More than anything else, Trump is a realist.
This means that he’s laser-focused on outcomes. And that’s precisely why he’s #3 on my list!
Other politicians have made similar promises. If you’re a conservative, how many times have you heard a Republican presidential candidate pinky-promise to close the border? Or deport illegals? Or end Roe v. Wade? Or appoint conservative judges? Or close the Department of Education? Or move the American embassy to Jerusalem? Or stop the Iranian nuclear program?
Trump was the only one who actually did it.
Ten years and 25 days ago, Donald Trump descended the golden escalator at Trump Tower and announced his longshot bid for the presidency. In the decade that followed, Trump has absorbed an unbelievable barrage of brutal, disgusting allegations. No politician in American history had ever been personally attacked like this! They’ve targeted him with lawfare, the Steele Dossier, bogus charges, and ridiculous lies, including calling him “literally Hitler.”
(Here’s a fun fact: Adolf Hitler was in power for 12 years and three months. Which means, in just two years, two months, and one week, Donald Trump will have been “literally Hitler” longer than Adolf Hitler was “literally Hitler!” That’s gotta be a record, right?)
Trump stood up to the liberal bullies, lowered his head, and charged forward. He never once backed down. It culminated with the Republican Party winning control of the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court, and a majority of the governors.
What’s so remarkable is that Trump predicted his victories. Like Babe Ruth, he called his shot:
"We're gonna win so much, you may even get tired of winning. And you'll say, 'Please, please. It's too much winning. We can't take it anymore. Mr. President, it's too much.'
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) March 18, 2020
- Donald Trump, April 12, 2016pic.twitter.com/IYPk0SD6tE
We still have three years left in Trump’s term. Hopefully, all this “winning” will continue… which means, when all is said and done, Trump might end up atop this list.
2. Antonin Scalia
Why He Is on the List: The greatest conservative legal mind of his generation. For 30 years, Antonin Scalia was the conservative Lion of the Supreme Court. Even outside of right-versus-left partisan politics, he was probably the most influential Supreme Court Justice of the last century.
A true titan of the court.
As liberals championed the idea of a “living Constitution” (which they could reinterpret however they see fit), Scalia was an unapologetic originalist. As he wrote in Thompson v. Oklahoma:
Of course, the risk of assessing evolving standards is that it is all too easy to believe that evolution has culminated in one's own views.
Which was, quite naturally, exactly what liberals wanted: The “living Constitution” theory would allow liberals to enact — via court order — all kinds of legislation that they could never pass through Congress.
More than anyone else in America, Scalia drove a stake through the heart of the monstrously misguided “living Constitution” theory. Most people don’t realize how close we came to living under a judicial tyranny, where nine unelected men and women — with lifetime appointments — could rewrite the U.S. Constitution however they saw fit.
Were that to happen, the U.S. Constitution would, essentially, cease to exist.
Now, look at the Supreme Court today: Scalia’s side won! With Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett (who clerked for Scalia), and others continuing his legacy, the Scalia wing of the court is ascendant.
His acolytes are now writing the majority opinions!
Perhaps the most revealing indicator of Scalia’s genius is the high regard his ideological opponents had for him. The far-left Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a close friend of his; the two opera-lovers even performed on-stage at the Washington National Opera’s production of Ariadne auf Naxos. Scalia was also close friends with the leftwing Justice Elena Kagan, taking her on hunting trips and teaching her gun safety.
Scalia was the intellectual powerhouse of conservatism. In the Politico article, “How Antonin Scalia Changed America,” the magnitude of Scalia’s life is undeniable:
Scalia was above all a giant in the conservative legal movement, one whose intellectual influence has extended downward through law schools and outward to a newly energized American conservative politics. He stood in defense of gun rights and capital punishment, while resisting gay rights, abortion and affirmative action. And his rigorous attention to the text of the Constitution and of laws has changed the way liberals as well as conservatives conceive of the role of the highest court.
Every year when I teach constitutional law, liberal law students will put their hand up in class and, sheepishly, say something like, “I never thought I’d say this, but I agree with Scalia.” On separation of powers. On freedom of speech. On how to read the Constitution. His was not just a vote among nine on the Supreme Court. His was a mighty pen guided by a sharp analytical mind who cared deeply about our Nation’s fundamental charter. He will be missed.
To say that Scalia will be missed is an understatement. With his brilliance and wit, he single-handedly transformed the terms of debate about the Constitution and the rule of law.
Perhaps the greatest sign of Scalia’s influence is that liberal justices and scholars now make arguments of constitutional text and history, insisting that the conservative justices are ignoring the text and original understanding of the Constitution that Scalia said insisted should be their guide. Whether you believe that Scalia upheld or betrayed his constitutional philosophy in particular cases, he deserves great respect as the justice whose philosophy compelled other justices to challenge him on his own terms. In this sense, he transformed the court, as well as the national conversation about the Constitution, and influence will continue for generations.
Scalia was one of the most important and influential Supreme Court justices of the last several decades. His passing is a great loss to the nation.
His most significant contribution was his powerful defense of originalism in constitutional theory and textualism in statutory interpretation. When he was first appointed to the court, most judges and legal scholars tended to ignore the original meaning of the Constitution, and often assumed that legislative history was a more important guide to the meaning of a law than actual wording of the law itself. Scalia helped change that.
Antonin Scalia died on February 13, 2016, at the age of 79.
1. Rush Limbaugh
Why He Is on the List: Because he’s Rush freaking Limbaugh.
Look, one of my pet peeves is when someone begins an introduction with “This man needs no introduction!” — and then delivers a long, boring introduction.
So I’ll just say this about Limbaugh: He’s the only one I could’ve listed at #1, written absolutely nothing, and 99% readers would go, “Yeah, I agree.”
Over the last 25 years, no man has mattered more to conservatives than Rush Limbaugh. No man did more to teach us, touch us, entertain us, and comfort us.
And no man is more beloved — or more missed.
Rush Limbaugh didn’t invent talk radio. Loud, boisterous talk-show hosts were an American staple almost from the beginning. Father Charles Coughlin commanded a radio audience in the tens of millions back in the 1930s (and was a constant thorn in FDR’s side). Paul Harvey left an enormous footprint (voice print?) on the talk-radio industry, originating his “The Rest of the Story” tagline way back in 1946. Harvey continued broadcasting until 2008, one of the longest and most successful tenures ever.
But in terms of overall cultural impact? There was only one Rush Limbaugh.
If he hadn’t actually existed, nobody would ever believe it, because his accomplishments are just so ludicrous that they defy common sense. Imagine one man, all on his own, speaking extemporaneously about the issues and events of the day! He rarely took phone calls and seldom had guests — it was just one man, talking into his golden EIB microphone, riffing about life, country, family, and politics! And for DECADES, three hours every weekday, more people would listen to this man than anyone else! [emphasis added]
He was the top conservative personality for an entire generation. He changed the language we use. (He transformed the word “liberal” into such an epithet that liberals began rebranding themselves as “progressives.”) And he did it with humor, charm, love, and hope.
Always, always with hope.
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III passed away on Feb. 17, 2021. He was 70.
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