CLUB RECAP: Matt Walsh on Guns, God, and Gender
UNASBers unpack how Matt Walsh uses individualism and fear to build the fallacy of a “trans terrorism epidemic”
Welcome back to Unfortunately Not a Sound Bath (UNASB)! For those who are new to us, we’re a group of people across the country who regularly come together to listen to conservative-leaning podcasts, analyze their messaging and themes, and brainstorm actionable ideas for how the Democratic coalition can strengthen its own approach. This newsletter serves as a recap of our meetings.
This episode was a return to form for the club — our last few meetings have covered less obvious right-wingers and focused on the themes and tactics used by the “I’m not really a political person but…” brand of right-wing podcaster. For this one we brought together newbie and OG club members in mixed groups to listen to The Matt Walsh Show's August 28th episode, in an effort to better understand who and what the right is discussing right now outside of Trump and Epstein. Trigger warning: The answer is dark, and this episode gets into heavy themes surrounding anti-trans and LGBTQ+ rhetoric and gun violence.
Before we dive in, some context to ground this analysis: We listened to and discussed this episode after the Annunciation shooting in Minnesota, and before the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk in Utah and the school shooting at Evergreen High School in Colorado. Our discussion was centered heavily on right-wing talking points and perspectives on gun violence and gender identity, but did not reflect the complex aftermath of both September 10 events. (And yes, all three of these things happened in a 2-week timeframe; this makes the conversations we’re having in this club more crucial than ever). You can read more on how UNASB is processing Charlie Kirk’s shooting here.
As the episode title suggests (“Trans Shooter Murders Catholic Kids As The Trans Terrorism Epidemic Continues”), this one was an incredibly challenging listen. Unlike in other recent episodes we listened to, UNASB members didn’t set out with the mission of finding common ground with Matt Walsh and his audience; instead, we centered ourselves in the club’s mission:
Know what “the other side” is saying/what’s happening
Discover the patterns of what they’re saying
What do you do with this information?
With that in mind, let’s get into it.
EVERY MATT FOR HIMSELF
In his hour-plus monologue, far-d podcaster, Daily Wire contributor, and prominent anti-trans commentator Matt Walsh leads followers down an alarming path. He sets up false norms (being transgender is a mental illness, the US is a Christian nation, the media is conspiring against you), and uses them to guide his audience to an incredibly dangerous conclusion (there’s a trans terrorism epidemic, your family is not safe, “trans ideology” must be “eradicated”). A few themes UNASB clocked in his wide-ranging narrative:
Otherize, otherize, otherize: Walsh equates being trans with being mentally ill, hammering home that anything other than hetero, white, cis, Christian is different and therefore to be feared. As UNASBers pointed out, this is the same text, different font that’s been used against the LGBTQ+ community for years — otherize, and use that fear of difference to strip away rights.
Matt’s a dad, so weed is bad: Walsh credits his family doubling in size with pushing him even farther to the right in recent years, and repeatedly uses his role as a father as a shield and justification for his far-right political views — a strategy and talking point we see a lot in the conservative Christian community in particular. UNASB consensus was that this is meant to make him feel more relatable and empathetic to his audience. It’s also a dangerous tactic:.
A) It greatly diminishes the concept of community outside of the nuclear family.
B) Shaping policy around personal preferences (i.e. not wanting your children to smell weed or see people with green hair) is not a logical or sustainable way to run a society.
Protect the children, give more people guns: Walsh (and likely every person listening) agrees that something must be done to protect kids from gun violence. And that’s where the common ground for UNASB and Matt Walsh ends. Casting children as perpetual targets, Walsh echoes a common right-wing talking point that the solution is to arm more adults and strip rights from already vulnerable communities. This weaponizes both parental fear and the language of “community” — defined narrowly here as the hetero, nuclear, Christian household.
IN THIS HOUSE WE MIND OUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS
We all agreed this type of rhetoric — highly emotional, irrational, and rooted in fear vs. facts — is hard to combat. But we landed on a few messaging tactics we’d all like to leverage within our own networks and communities, and that we’d like to see used within the Democratic coalition at large:
Lead with “yes and”
UNASBers agree that creating ultimatums or forcing a black-and-white view of a complex situation won’t win over hearts and minds. Lean into that improv class you took in college, and lead with “yes, and…” —
Yes, pray for these families. AND demand action and policy change.
Yes, love and protect your family. AND take care of your community at large.
Yes, be a manly man if that’s important to you. AND take care of your trans and LGBTQ+ friends.
Yes, have your facts and stats at the ready for these conversations. AND be prepared for them to fall on deaf ears if someone has already made up their minds. As one UNASBer called out, “Some people use statistics the way a drunk person uses a lamp post — for support rather than illumination.” Be ready to appeal to emotion and humanity to get your point across.
Reclaim faith, family, and individual choice
The left has largely ceded Christianity and parenthood as rhetorical ground to the right. Meanwhile, the right is painting Christians as martyrs under attack, and weaponizing parenthood to push for restrictive and intolerant policies. All Dems can take a page from Texas Rep. James Talarico and re-center Christian ideals where they make sense — reminding the right, for example, of the contradictions and hypocrisy embedded in claiming to be a Christian, while advocating for the eradication of a population. Also embedded in these right-wing ideals and values: the freedom of individual choice. Press right-wingers in your lives for insight into why they’re fixated on how someone else is choosing to live their lives and echo Gov. Tim Walz’s stance on IVF when it serves the conversation: “Mind your own damn business.”
Humanize, don’t just quantify
Walsh leans on emotional stories for his rhetoric; we can too, instead of only relying on statistics and data. Stats can fall flat with audiences already primed to distrust them, but human stories and lived experiences can cut through the noise. UNASBers agree Dems should uplift representatives of the trans and LGBTQ+ community at large, parents of trans and nonbinary kids, and other groups being demonized by the right. As one clubber pointed out: Just because this isn’t the left’s top winning issue doesn’t mean we should stop standing up for trans people. Humanize and hold that line in the sand.
Hold our leaders accountable to do their jobs
Walsh spent considerable airtime ripping apart progressive media for the talktrack “thoughts and prayers are not enough” to stop another school shooting. This messaging was easy to take out of context and clearly didn’t land. One UNASBer elegantly pointed out that while we should advocate for both prayers AND policy, we expect our elected officials to do the jobs we hired them for. We rely on faith leaders for prayers and words of comfort; we expect our elected officials to prioritize legislative solutions.
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