James Downie writes about Glenn Beck's descent into ever more elaborate conspiracy theories and lower ratings:
Just six months later, however, Beck seems to have traveled somewhere else entirely. His ratings and reputation are in steep decline: His show has lost more than one million viewers over the course of the past year, falling from an average of 2.9 million in January 2010 to 1.8 million in January 2011. He now ranks fifth among Fox's six weekday talk hosts, trailing lesser-known personalities like Shepard Smith and Bret Baier. Beck’s three-hour radio show has been dropped in several major cities, including New York and Philadelphia, and has seen a ratings decline in most other markets. “It’s hard to gain a million viewers,” says Eric Boehlert, who follows Beck’s shows for the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters, “but it’s really hard to lose a million viewers.” And Beck’s fall contrasts with the fortunes of other Fox News hosts, like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, whose TV ratings stayed solid throughout 2010.
Downie suggests that this is because Beck's conspiracies have gotten more baroque and apocalyptic. I'm not so sure -- but I think the answer may be in this Pew poll Ben Smith flagged yesterday showing that the number of people "angry at the federal government" has declined by 9 percent. According to Pew, "much of the decline" comes from "Republicans and Tea Party supporters." Republicans have calmed down, and Beck has stayed high-strung.
The whole Republican narrative is based on the idea that conservatives are the "real Americans" and that liberals and Democrats are illegitimate democratic actors who only gain power through illicit means. Beck and his chalkboard met the need conservatives had to persuade themselves of this in the aftermath of political losses in 2006 and particularly 2008. Republicans, having regained control of the House and excised the existential crisis caused by losing the presidential election, feel like things are "getting back to normal." So they simply don't have the same appetite for the kind of cathartic insanity Beck provides. It's not really that Beck has really changed; it's that Republicans don't really need him anymore.
