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The worst part of the so-called conservative podcast wars is that the Right never had to let it reach this point. You can blame the “big tent” nature of a two-party system or policy differences, but the fact is that conservatives are simply bad at seeing through common grifts and discerning honest brokers from bad actors.

Take Candace Owens. She has peddled every ridiculous conspiracy theory imaginable, up to and including accusing the U.S. military, Israel, France, Egypt, Turning Point USA, and Erika Kirk of complicity in the assassination of her former “friend” conservative icon Charlie Kirk. Owens should never have been a respected figure in conservative politics to begin with. Yet here we are.

Owens first arrived on the scene in 2016 with her website, “Social Autopsy,” which existed in order to dox internet trolls. Owens was an open progressive with the explicit goal of canceling people for what they say on the internet. In 2017, her public persona evolved rapidly into an anti-identity politics right-winger, and by 2018, she was a frequent speaker at Turning Point USA events. Conservatives embraced her immediately despite her seemingly overnight about-face. Many on the Right were so desperate for black conservative voices that they failed to notice that Owens’s grift essentially boiled down to “I’m black and here’s why black people are wrong.” This directly mirrored progressive white commentators who insist that they are the good ones, despite all of the evils of white people generally.

Fresh off her........

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