Matt Walsh defended the white nationalist organization VDare on his Daily Wire podcast, arguing that they were being targeted by a government investigation due to their “inconvenient” and “unpopular” beliefs. He criticized New York Attorney General Letitia James for investigating VDare’s purchase of a castle in West Virginia and compared it to her campaign against Donald Trump. Walsh claimed that VDare was being targeted because of their coverage of topics like crime statistics, which he implied was similar to Trump’s experiences.
Despite Walsh characterizing VDare’s views as merely “unfashionable” and “inconvenient,” the organization has been linked to extreme racist rhetoric. VDare has defended the manifesto of the El Paso shooter and published a video advocating for a white ethnostate. Founder Peter Brimelow has made racist comments about Hispanics and associated with white supremacist figures like Richard Spencer. VDare was recently found in contempt of court for failing to comply with a subpoena regarding the purchase of the castle.
Walsh claimed that James openly stated she would ignore the First Amendment and go after people expressing views she doesn’t like online. This was likely in reference to her efforts to combat antisemitism in New York, although no mention of VDare specifically was found in reports. The Daily Wire did not comment on Walsh’s defense of VDare. It was also reported that the Daily Wire’s CEO Jeremy Boreing appeared on a livestream with white supremacist Nick Fuentes, praising his talent and humor despite having some concerns about his views. The Daily Wire has been successful financially, with over 1 million subscribers last year.
The Daily Wire hosts, including Walsh, have been criticized for promoting bigoted views similar to those found on VDare’s website. Walsh has endorsed the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which alleges a covert effort to replace white populations with nonwhite immigrants. This theory has inspired white supremacist mass shootings in the U.S. Walsh reiterated versions of this conspiracy theory on his podcast, lamenting Scotland’s acceptance of “poor foreigners” and refugees to address population decline. Despite criticism, “The Matt Walsh Show” remains popular on Apple Podcasts in the news category.
