(American Thinker) — Dan Bongino walks the walk, in addition to talking the talk. He may be professionally classified as a talker now that he has a podcast, a three-hour syndicated talk show, a weekly Fox News Channel show, and a simulcast presence on Fox Nation, but the former NYPD cop and Secret Service agent is a man of action.
I tip my hat to Dan for standing on principle — even at potentially great financial cost — in dealing with bullying by Antifa and by the vaccine mandate fanatics.
Last Friday, after learning that Simpli Safe, the home alarm company, was blocking its ads from The Post Millennial, where Andy Ngo has been fearlessly reporting on Antifa, Dan announced that he was parting ways with the company as a sponsor of his show. Via Twitter, he learned that two “activists” named Chad Loder and Nardini Jemima had gotten SimpliSafe to block its ads on the P.M.:
Via Rumble screen grab (cropped) of The Dan Bongino Show.
He decided that he wanted nothing to do with them, even though they were a fairly major sponsor of his show. In this online ad for the company, they tout his on-air endorsement, while they were still his sponsor.
Both the Post Millennial and the Gateway Pundit extensively quote from Friday’s show and offer video clips. What Dan emphasized, apart from mocking the two “activists” who he claims are paid by somebody, maybe Media Matters, is that he has the resources to stand up, while others may not:
Post Millennial may not have the assets I do — or the resources, or the time or the “go f— yourself attitude” I have. I’m sure they do — but they don’t have the assets to fight back that I do, which are substantial thanks to people like Nandini.
Now, to be candid, if you don’t have a lot of money and you’re not financially secure, I guess, it can be pretty painful right? They could probably take a few of your sponsors away.
But what they don’t realize is they’ve actually created a parallel economy. These are “short term victories” for leftist extremists, because as they fire little shots at conservative media, they are pushing that media, along with cultural content creators, into a parallel economy where they can’t be cancelled by activist shaming.
Throwing out a major sponsor over a matter of principle is almost unheard of in the media. His syndicator, Cumulus Media, can’t have been happy.
Monday, on Dan’s show, he showed that he is not happy with Cumulus, either, over its vaccine mandate. Dan states that he is fully vaccinated, but that on principle he objects to forcing others to get the jab. He is quoted in a hostile[i]account in The Wrap:
“I’m not really happy with the company I work with right here. I believe these vaccine mandates are unethical. I believe they’re immoral. I believe they don’t take into account the science of natural immunity due to a prior infection. I believe they’re broad-based and don’t take into account an individual circumstances of why they may or may not want to take a vaccine. And they’re antithetical to everything I believe in,” Bongino said
“So, I’ll say again, I’m not going to let this go. Cumulus is going to have to make a decision with me — if they want to continue this partnership or they don’t. But I’m talking to you on their airwaves. They don’t have to let that happen. And I wouldn’t mind if they didn’t. Because it’s really unfortunate that people with a lower profile than me, who don’t have 300-plus stations, have been summarily either shown the door or been put in really untenable circumstances because they simply want to make a medical decision by themselves,” he continued.
Insider provides more of what Dan had to say:
“There is a very real thing called natural immunity. There’s an even realer thing called freedom and liberty. This is a constitutional republic. People have the right to make their own medical decisions and the company has the right to do what it wants as well,” Bongino said.
“But if a company is going to make political decisions – and I believe this was a political decision, I don’t believe this is based in any science – I could argue it all day. They should at least recognize that the company is earning a lot of money off people who have the opposite political persuasion,” he added.
Here is a clip from Monday’s show when he speaks of the people thrown out of work by the vax mandate:
Dan Bongino gives ultimatum to Cumulus Radio over vaccine mandate:
“You can have me or you can have the mandate. But you can’t have both of us.” pic.twitter.com/wM7dCxKBK6
— The First (@TheFirstonTV) October 18, 2021
Inside Radio lists some of the “lower profile” on-air staff that already have been fired by Cumulus over the vax mandate:
Tron Simpson, a weekend host at “NewsRadio 740” KVOR, who also did weekends for co-owned classic rock KKFM (98.1), is no longer with the company. (snip)
Also exiting Cumulus Media in the past week were WDRQ Detroit morning co-host Roxanne Steele and Tim Hill, PD/morning show co-host at WNKT Columbia.
Last month, company insiders said that most requests for exemptions for the vaccine mandate were denied by Cumulus Media corporate, including those who applied based on religious beliefs and for medical conditions.
The mandate is also affecting employees who are not on air. A source within the company tells Inside Radio that several board-ops and street team members at various stations across the country are among staffers no longer with the company.
I have no idea what else, if anything, figures in the mix of issues between Dan and his syndicator. It may be that the SimpliSafe issue is affecting that relationship.
I’ll be listening in today to hear more.
[i] They add: “It should of course be noted that Bongino is an opponent of reproductive freedom for women.”
Reprinted with permission from The American Thinker.