The Political Cesspool
Encyclopedia
The Political Cesspool is a weekly talk radio show founded by James Edwards, and syndicated by Liberty News Radio Network and Accent Radio Network
in the United States. First broadcast in October 2004 twice a week from radio station WMQM
, it has been broadcast on Stormfront Radio, a service of the neo-Nazi Stormfront
website, and as of 2011 is broadcast on Saturday nights on WLRM
, a Christian
radio station in Millington, Tennessee
. Its sponsors include the white separatist
Council of Conservative Citizens
and the Institute for Historical Review
, a Holocaust denial
group.
According to its statement of principles, the show stands for the "Dispossessed Majority" and represents "a philosophy that is pro-White." It has attracted criticism—including from The Nation, The New Republic
, the Stephen Roth Institute
, the Southern Poverty Law Center
(SPLC), and the Anti-Defamation League
—for its promotion of anti-semitic, white nationalist
and white supremacist
views. According to the SPLC, the show has featured a "Who's Who of the radical right", including members of the Ku Klux Klan
; they say Edwards has probably done more than anyone in America to promote neo-Nazis, Holocaust deniers and other extremists.
The show features Edwards and his co-hosts Bill Rolen, Winston Smith, Keith Alexander, and Eddie Miller, as well as producer Art Frith. Former staffers include Geoff Melton, Jess Bonds and co-founder Austin Farley. Its guests have included author Jerome Corsi
, Minuteman Project leader Jim Gilchrist
, former Constitution Party
presidential candidate Michael Peroutka
, actor Sonny Landham
, British National Party
leader Nick Griffin
, Vermont
secessionist Thomas Naylor
, and paleoconservative activist Pat Buchanan
. It is carried by at least three licensed terrestrial radio stations in the United States and on network feeds on the Galaxy 19
communications satellite.
, described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a rising star of the white-nationalist movement. They write that he is articulate, charming, and at ease in front of the public, as well as in television and radio studios. He attended Briarcrest Christian School
, a private school in Memphis, and in ninth grade transferred into a Christian-nationalist homeschooling program, a decision that he said led him into political activism. In 2000 he volunteered for Pat Buchanan's presidential campaign, and in 2002 ran unsuccessfully for the Tennessee House of Representatives
. It was during this campaign that he met fellow activist Austin Farley, who was on the ballot against him. In 2004 Edwards joined Stormfront, a white-supremacist website, using the screen name "ElectEdwards," and in October that year he and Farley established The Political Cesspool.
In 2007, Edwards was part of a panel that appeared on CNN
's Paula Zahn Now, along with Roland S. Martin
and Jesse Lee Peterson
. The purpose was to discuss racial segregation
in American cities. He told Zahn that white children should seek out those who share "the same values and traditions and heroes," and that "forced integration" was a "march toward totalitarianism
." He said: "Crime and violence follow African-Americans wherever they go, and if you think that is racist, then spend some time on the mean streets of south Memphis." Martin described his remarks as unfit for national television. Edwards made a second appearance on Paula Zahn Now in 2009, during which he said: "Whites are in for the fight of their lives. America is becoming balkanized
. We are being robbed of having a future in the very nation our ancestors carved from the wilderness."
In 2010 he became involved with a new party, the American Third Position Party
, which advocates white nationalism and a form of economic nationalism
known as the Third Position
. Also in 2010 he self-published a book, Racism, Schmacism: How Liberals use the "R" Word to Push the Obama Agenda, distributed by CreateSpace, a vanity press
.
soldiers. The show was initially broadcast on AM 1600 WMQM
, a Memphis-based radio station, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Edwards and Farley invited friends Bill Rolen, a board member of the Council of Conservative Citizens
, and Jess Bonds as guest hosts, as well as radio technician Art Frith. Frith had previously worked for a number of other radio stations including American Forces Radio and Television Service
(AFRTS) (in Keflavik, Iceland; Anchorage, Alaska
; and Nea Makri, Greece), KFQD
(in Anchorage), and WBCK (in Battle Creek, Michigan
).
In 2005 the group moved to WMQM's Millington-based sister station, AM 1380 WLRM
, and switched to a nightly schedule, Monday through Friday. Farley left the program in November of that year. Two years later, Geoff Melton, a former co-host, joined to help set up the show's website and the show entered syndication with Dixie Broadcasting Radio Network. The program went on hiatus on February 15, 2008, because staff members said they needed a break, but returned to the airwaves in June 2008 on WLRM on Saturday nights. One year later, it switched from Republic Broadcasting Network
to Liberty News Radio Network. As of August 2009, Bonds and Melton are no longer affiliated with the program. Frith now lives in Nashville, Michigan
, but remains a part of the show's staff. Since WLRM is not audited by Arbitron
, the show's ratings are unknown. The show is listener-supported and, according to Edwards, receives more donations from Florida
than from any other state.
The Political Cesspool has over the years featured many guest appearances, including political activists, Holocaust deniers
, economists, and musicians. Former Tennessee gubernatorial candidate Carl "Twofeathers" Whitaker, who claims partial Native-American
ancestry and is known for his strong support of the Minuteman movement, has appeared on the show, as has conservative Native-American activist David Yeagley. Filmmakers Merlin Miller
(A Place to Grow
, Jericho
) and Craig Bodeker (A Conversation about Race) have featured.
Author Jerome Corsi
was interviewed in July 2008. During the discussion he spoke about his financial newsletter, and promoted his book The Obama Nation, which includes several statements that have been widely described as racist; for example, he opined that US President
Barack Obama
identifies more with his "African blood" than his American roots and that the President "rejects everyone white, including his mother and his grandparents". Corsi scheduled another promotional appearance on The Political Cesspool, but one month later he canceled this appearance, citing "travel plans that changed". Edwards said that he believed the incident "just goes to show what incredible pressure everyone in public life is under to never have anything to do with anyone who speaks up for the interests of white people." Fellow authors John Derbyshire
and Steve Sailer
have also been guests. In July 2011, WorldNetDaily
columnist Ilana Mercer
appeared on the show.
Constitution Party
nominee Michael Peroutka
used his appearance in 2004 to promote his presidential campaign. Party member Michael Goza described the show as "Christian/Constitutionalist", and "a great blessing to our cause". Thomas Naylor
, of the Vermont secessionist organization Second Vermont Republic
, appeared on the show to celebrate Confederate History Month
in April 2007, while American Third Position Party Chairman Bill Johnson appeared to promote his party.
On May 8, 2006, Minuteman Project leader Jim Gilchrist
spoke on the program. Co-host Bill Rolen agreed with Gilchrist's view that illegal immigrants' intentions are to "just squat here and plunder whatever social benefits our programs provide them". However, Rolen disagreed with Gilchrist's claim that illegal immigration was "the 21st century slave trade". Gilchrist's colleague in the Minuteman movement, Chris Simcox
, has also been a guest of the show.
Paul Babeu, the sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona
, appeared on The Political Cesspool on July 10, 2010 to discuss illegal immigration; during the interview, he referred to James Edwards as a "great American". Less than two weeks later, Babeu's spokesman issued an apology, saying that he had not researched the show thoroughly enough before scheduling the interview and that Babeu has a policy of not conducting interviews with hate groups. Babeu himself said that he was "hoodwinked" into appearing on the show and that he rejects "any hate or bigotry". Prior to the interview, cohost Eddie Miller said that "Of all the people we’ve interviewed on this radio show, I would say the only people that came close to getting me this excited was Dr. David Duke." Following Babeu's spokesman's apology, Edwards alleged that Babeu was aware of the show's true ideology prior to appearing on the show, saying: "For Sheriff Babeu to change his mind and now regret coming on our show, for whatever reason, is his right. For him to act as though he had no idea of our ideology is a lie." As a result of the controversy surrounding Babeu's appearance on the show, Arizona U. S. Senate candidate J. D. Hayworth
asked his primary opponent, John McCain
, to drop several campaign ads featuring McCain and Babeu. In 2011, another sheriff, Dennis Spruell of Montezuma County, Colorado
, also apologized after appearing on the show without knowing its actual agenda.
Paleoconservative activist and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan has appeared twice as of 2011. In a June 2008 interview initiated and arranged by his publicist, he promoted his book Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War
. During the broadcast, Buchanan defended Charles Lindbergh
against charges of antisemitism, stating that his reputation "has been blackened because of a single speech he gave and a couple of paragraphs in it where he said that ... the Jewish community is beating the drums for war but frankly, no one has said what he said was palpably untrue." At the end of the interview, James Edwards said, "Mr. Buchanan, thank you so much for coming back on our program, for fighting for our people." Previously, in September 2006, Buchanan had made an appearance to promote his book State of Emergency
; during this interview, he said that "we are being invaded by people of different cultures" and argued that Americans "cannot survive a bifurcated culture or a heavily Hispanicized culture, tilted towards Mexico
... I think that's the beginning of the end of the United States."
Self proclaimed "racial realist
" Jared Taylor
, whom James Edwards considers to be a close friend, has appeared on at least ten occasions. In an article he wrote for VDARE
, Taylor described the program as "racially oriented". Although describing itself as "America First", the show has also hosted foreign guests, including Croatian white nationalist Tomislav Sunić
, Australian
white nationalist Drew Fraser
, Russian Austrian School
economist Yuri Maltsev
, British
lawyer Adrian Davies
, Canadian white supremacist Paul Fromm, Canadian conservative blogger Kathy Shaidle
, and British National Party
(BNP) leaders Simon Darby
and Nick Griffin
; Griffin appeared as a guest before and after his election to the European Parliament
. During his post-election appearance, Griffin attributed the BNP's electoral successes to a fear of "creeping process of Islamification".
Actor Mel Gibson
's father, Hutton Gibson
, has also appeared on the show. During his appearance, he referred to Pope Benedict XVI
as a "homosexual" and claimed that "half the people in the Vatican
are queer
."
(SPLC), Anti-Defamation League
(ADL), Stephen Roth Institute
, and journalist Max Blumenthal
) over its stated ideology. The Political Cesspool was added to the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate group
watch list in 2006. James Edwards was "ecstatic", saying "I don't think you've arrived in the conservative movement until you've made it to the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hate Watch". Edwards describes the SPLC as a group composed of "communists and civil rights hustlers". The SPLC's Hatewatch has referred to The Political Cesspool as "an overtly racist, anti-Semitic radio show hosted by [a] self-avowed white nationalist" and as "the nexus of hate in America". The Anti-Defamation League has also criticized the show; Edwards has attacked the ADL as "America's most powerful hate group" and has claimed that its definition of a "neo-Nazi [is] any white person who disagrees with a Jew".
Author John Avlon
, a former speechwriter for Rudy Giuliani
, has described The Political Cesspool as "avowedly white supremacist".
Investigative journalist Max Blumenthal, who reported on an attempt by one of the show's staff to advertise at a rally for Republican
vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin
, described The Political Cesspool as having a "racist ideology", and highlighted anti-Semitic, racist, and homophobic
comments that Edwards had made on his blog. The Stephen Roth Institute has also commented on the show, noting that "[James] Edwards openly espoused many of his guests' views and during speeches to extremist audiences, including members of the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens and the racist League of the South
, he gained the support of a wide array of extremists." In an article about antisemitism in Belgium
, the Institute commented on the show's interview with Filip Dewinter
, a member of the Belgian Parliament and a leader of the extremist Vlaams Belang
movement. Newsweek
used one of Winston Smith's statements to argue that the rise in popularity of white nationalism and supremacy is due to the combination of the late-2000s recession and the election of a black president
. Many such groups have been attempting to gain new recruits and increase their political influence by rebranding themselves as defenders of "white heritage" while de-emphasizing their dislike of minorities and Jews. Smith states, "[t]he emphasis is different now. We don't talk as much about what blacks have done to us; we're more focused on ourselves and our own culture."
soldiers and ideals. The park had been criticized earlier by a black Shelby County
official, which attracted the notice of New York-based activist Al Sharpton
, who was invited by the Reverend LaSimba Gray to hold a demonstration in Memphis. Sharpton planned a march called the Rally for Dignity from downtown Memphis to another park honoring Confederate Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest
who was involved early in the organization of the Ku Klux Klan
. Sharpton canceled the march after Edwards and The Political Cesspool staff obtained a permit to demonstrate in Confederate Park, located along Sharpton's planned march route.
Sharpton settled for a protest at Forrest Park. At the demonstration, he argued that "We need to show the rest of the world that the day for honoring people like this is over", and said in an interview that his objections were not related to race but to Forrest's Civil War-era (1861–1865) actions against the United States. Estimates of attendance at the rallies vary; according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, James Edwards attracted about 200 white counter-demonstrators to the Confederate Park vigil, while Sharpton's protest at Forrest Park attracted a few dozen black demonstrators, whom Edwards referred to as "rabble". The Memphis Flyer estimated that Sharpton attracted about 250 supporters. In the aftermath of the city park controversy, show affiliates Edwards, Farley, Bonds, and Rolen received the "Dixie Defender Award" from the Sons of Confederate Veterans
.
Later that year, Memphis city councilman E. C. Jones awarded Edwards and Farley with a certificate "in appreciation of outstanding contributions to the community". Edwards and Farley also received an honorary city council membership from Jones, who had previously appeared on The Political Cesspool. According to The Commercial Appeal
, Jones had not listened to the show before the incident, and was unaware of its ideology. After a reporter informed him of the program's agenda, Jones initially refused to apologize. However, after another reporter confronted him with more details about the show's ideology, he changed his view, saying that he probably would not appear again. Carol Chumney
, another member of the Memphis City Council
, was also invited to appear on The Political Cesspool, but ultimately declined the invitation after listening to an episode of the show; Chumney said, "what I heard was about advocating for prostitution ... So I told them I had other commitments."
newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche
, cohost Eddie "Bombardier" Miller described the United Nations
as "Satan
on Earth".
in Spanish Fork, Utah
;
and KYAH in Delta, Utah
.
The Accent Radio Network
-affiliated stations KHQN and KYAH currently air a shortened version of the show (two hours), in contrast to the three-hour Liberty News Radio Network (WLRM) version.
ARN and Liberty News Radio Network broadcasts their feeds on separate channels on the Galaxy 19
communications satellite.
Accent Radio Network
The Accent Radio Network is a Florida-based radio network with a Christian-conservative political point of view. Accent Radio Network was built in the summer of 2000 and went on air December 4th 2000. The satellite radio network has a wide range of programs from discussions of current events and...
in the United States. First broadcast in October 2004 twice a week from radio station WMQM
WMQM
WMQM is an American radio station in Memphis, Tennessee, broadcasting with 50,000 watts at 1600 AM. WMQM is the sister station to shortwave radio station WWCR World Wide Christian Radio. WMQM is owned and operated by F.W. Robbert Broadcasting, Inc...
, it has been broadcast on Stormfront Radio, a service of the neo-Nazi Stormfront
Stormfront (website)
Stormfront is a white nationalist and supremacist neo-Nazi Internet forum that has been described as the Internet's first major hate site.Stormfront began as an online bulletin board system in the early 1990s before being established as a website in 1995 by former Ku Klux Klan leader and white...
website, and as of 2011 is broadcast on Saturday nights on WLRM
WLRM
WLRM is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Millington, Tennessee, USA. The station was established in 1962 as "WGMM", originally licensed only for limited daytime-only operation. Upgraded to 24-hours operation in 1984, the station has broadcast a variety of formats over...
, a Christian
Christian radio
Christian radio is a category of radio formats that focus on transmitting programming with a Christian message. In the United States, where it is more established, many such broadcasters play popular music of Christian influence, though many programs have talk or news programming covering...
radio station in Millington, Tennessee
Millington, Tennessee
Millington is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 10,176. Millington was the home of the recently closed Memphis Motorsports Park. It was granted the title "Flag City Tennessee" by the Tennessee State Legislature. The Naval Support Activity Mid-South is...
. Its sponsors include the white separatist
White separatism
White separatism is a separatist political movement that seeks separate economic and cultural development for white people. White separatists generally claim genetic affiliation with Anglo-Saxon cultures, Nordic cultures, or other white European cultures...
Council of Conservative Citizens
Council of Conservative Citizens
The Council of Conservative Citizens is an American political organization that supports a large variety of conservative and paleoconservative causes in addition to white nationalism, and white separatism...
and the Institute for Historical Review
Institute for Historical Review
The Institute for Historical Review , founded in 1978, is an American organization that describes itself as a "public-interest educational, research and publishing center dedicated to promoting greater public awareness of history." Critics have accused it of being an antisemitic "pseudo-scholarly...
, a Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
group.
According to its statement of principles, the show stands for the "Dispossessed Majority" and represents "a philosophy that is pro-White." It has attracted criticism—including from The Nation, The New Republic
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
, the Stephen Roth Institute
Stephen Roth Institute
The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism is a research institute at Tel Aviv University in Israel. It is a resource for information, provides a forum for academic discussion, and fosters research on issues concerning antisemitic and racist theories and...
, the Southern Poverty Law Center
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
(SPLC), and the Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
—for its promotion of anti-semitic, white nationalist
White nationalism
White nationalism is a political ideology which advocates a racial definition of national identity for white people. White separatism and white supremacism are subgroups within white nationalism. The former seek a separate white nation state, while the latter add ideas from social Darwinism and...
and white supremacist
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
views. According to the SPLC, the show has featured a "Who's Who of the radical right", including members of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
; they say Edwards has probably done more than anyone in America to promote neo-Nazis, Holocaust deniers and other extremists.
The show features Edwards and his co-hosts Bill Rolen, Winston Smith, Keith Alexander, and Eddie Miller, as well as producer Art Frith. Former staffers include Geoff Melton, Jess Bonds and co-founder Austin Farley. Its guests have included author Jerome Corsi
Jerome Corsi
Jerome Robert Corsi is an American author, political commentator and conspiracy theorist best known for his two New York Times bestselling books: The Obama Nation and Unfit for Command...
, Minuteman Project leader Jim Gilchrist
Jim Gilchrist
James "Jim" Walter Gilchrist, Jr. is the American co-founder and president of the Minuteman Project, an activist group whose aim is to prevent illegal immigration across the United States's southern border.-Early life:...
, former Constitution Party
Constitution Party (United States)
The Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...
presidential candidate Michael Peroutka
Michael Peroutka
Michael Anthony Peroutka is a Maryland lawyer, the founder of the Institute on the Constitution. He once held a position in the United States Department of Health and Human Services and was the Constitution Party candidate for president in 2004. He is co-host of The American View radio...
, actor Sonny Landham
Sonny Landham
William M. "Sonny" Landham is an American movie actor and political candidate.-Acting career:At the beginning of his acting career, Landham was an actor in pornographic films...
, British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
leader Nick Griffin
Nick Griffin
Nicholas John "Nick" Griffin is a British politician, chairman of the British National Party and Member of the European Parliament for North West England....
, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
secessionist Thomas Naylor
Thomas Naylor
Thomas Naylor, born May 30, 1936, in Jackson, Mississippi, is a Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University, the author of thirty books, and a founder of the Second Vermont Republic...
, and paleoconservative activist Pat Buchanan
Pat Buchanan
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...
. It is carried by at least three licensed terrestrial radio stations in the United States and on network feeds on the Galaxy 19
Galaxy 19
Galaxy 19 is a communications satellite owned by Intelsat located at 97° West longitude, serving the North American market. Galaxy 19 replaced Galaxy 25 which is nearing the end of its design life and has been moved to 93.1°W longitude. It was built by Space Systems/Loral, as part of its FS-1300...
communications satellite.
James Edwards
Edwards is a far-right political activist from Memphis, TennesseeMemphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a rising star of the white-nationalist movement. They write that he is articulate, charming, and at ease in front of the public, as well as in television and radio studios. He attended Briarcrest Christian School
Briarcrest Christian School
Briarcrest Christian School is an independent coeducational college preparatory school with two campuses in Shelby County, Tennessee, in Memphis and Eads ....
, a private school in Memphis, and in ninth grade transferred into a Christian-nationalist homeschooling program, a decision that he said led him into political activism. In 2000 he volunteered for Pat Buchanan's presidential campaign, and in 2002 ran unsuccessfully for the Tennessee House of Representatives
Tennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional requirements:...
. It was during this campaign that he met fellow activist Austin Farley, who was on the ballot against him. In 2004 Edwards joined Stormfront, a white-supremacist website, using the screen name "ElectEdwards," and in October that year he and Farley established The Political Cesspool.
In 2007, Edwards was part of a panel that appeared on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Paula Zahn Now, along with Roland S. Martin
Roland S. Martin
Roland Sebastian Martin is an American journalist and syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate and author of Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America, Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith and The First: President Barack Obama's Road to the White House as originally...
and Jesse Lee Peterson
Jesse Lee Peterson
Jesse Lee Peterson is president and founder of The Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny , an American group dedicated to a conservative agenda among African Americans. Rev. Peterson is also the Founder and President of BOND Action, Inc., a nonprofit, 501 organization. He has hosted a cable...
. The purpose was to discuss racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
in American cities. He told Zahn that white children should seek out those who share "the same values and traditions and heroes," and that "forced integration" was a "march toward totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
." He said: "Crime and violence follow African-Americans wherever they go, and if you think that is racist, then spend some time on the mean streets of south Memphis." Martin described his remarks as unfit for national television. Edwards made a second appearance on Paula Zahn Now in 2009, during which he said: "Whites are in for the fight of their lives. America is becoming balkanized
Balkanization
Balkanization, or Balkanisation, is a geopolitical term, originally used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with each other, and it is considered pejorative.The term refers to the...
. We are being robbed of having a future in the very nation our ancestors carved from the wilderness."
In 2010 he became involved with a new party, the American Third Position Party
American Third Position Party
The American Third Position Party is an American political party of the far-right, which promotes white nationalism. It was founded in 2010, and defines its principal mission as representing the political interests of white Americans. The party takes a strong stand against immigration and...
, which advocates white nationalism and a form of economic nationalism
Economic nationalism
Economic nationalism is a term used to describe policies which emphasize domestic control of the economy, labor and capital formation, even if this requires the imposition of tariffs and other restrictions on the movement of labor, goods and capital. It opposes globalization in many cases, or at...
known as the Third Position
Third Position
Third Position is a revolutionary nationalist political ideology that emphasizes its opposition to both communism and capitalism. Advocates of Third Position politics typically present themselves as "beyond left and right", instead claiming to syncretize radical ideas from both ends of the...
. Also in 2010 he self-published a book, Racism, Schmacism: How Liberals use the "R" Word to Push the Obama Agenda, distributed by CreateSpace, a vanity press
Vanity press
A vanity press or vanity publisher is a term describing a publishing house that publishes books at the author's expense. Publisher Johnathon Clifford claims to have coined the term in 1959. However, the term appears in mainstream U.S...
.
Staff and show history
Other staff at The Political Cesspool include Bill Rolen, Eddie "The Bombardier" Miller, Keith Alexander, and Winston Smith. According to the show's website, most of the staff claim descent from ConfederateConfederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
soldiers. The show was initially broadcast on AM 1600 WMQM
WMQM
WMQM is an American radio station in Memphis, Tennessee, broadcasting with 50,000 watts at 1600 AM. WMQM is the sister station to shortwave radio station WWCR World Wide Christian Radio. WMQM is owned and operated by F.W. Robbert Broadcasting, Inc...
, a Memphis-based radio station, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Edwards and Farley invited friends Bill Rolen, a board member of the Council of Conservative Citizens
Council of Conservative Citizens
The Council of Conservative Citizens is an American political organization that supports a large variety of conservative and paleoconservative causes in addition to white nationalism, and white separatism...
, and Jess Bonds as guest hosts, as well as radio technician Art Frith. Frith had previously worked for a number of other radio stations including American Forces Radio and Television Service
American Forces Network
The American Forces Network is the brand name used by the United States Armed Forces American Forces Radio and Television Service for its entertainment and command internal information networks worldwide...
(AFRTS) (in Keflavik, Iceland; Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
; and Nea Makri, Greece), KFQD
KFQD
KFQD is a class A , AM radio station in Anchorage, Alaska, operating on 750 kHz. It is owned by Morris Communications and broadcasts in a news/talk format. KFQD was the first radio station in Alaska, signing on on May 17, 1924....
(in Anchorage), and WBCK (in Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek Rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Calhoun county...
).
In 2005 the group moved to WMQM's Millington-based sister station, AM 1380 WLRM
WLRM
WLRM is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Millington, Tennessee, USA. The station was established in 1962 as "WGMM", originally licensed only for limited daytime-only operation. Upgraded to 24-hours operation in 1984, the station has broadcast a variety of formats over...
, and switched to a nightly schedule, Monday through Friday. Farley left the program in November of that year. Two years later, Geoff Melton, a former co-host, joined to help set up the show's website and the show entered syndication with Dixie Broadcasting Radio Network. The program went on hiatus on February 15, 2008, because staff members said they needed a break, but returned to the airwaves in June 2008 on WLRM on Saturday nights. One year later, it switched from Republic Broadcasting Network
Republic Broadcasting Network
Republic Broadcasting Network is a satellite, shortwave, and Internet radio operation based in the state of Texas. It is run by John Stadtmiller, who advertises it as a "truth radio station"...
to Liberty News Radio Network. As of August 2009, Bonds and Melton are no longer affiliated with the program. Frith now lives in Nashville, Michigan
Nashville, Michigan
Nashville is a village in Barry County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,684 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
, but remains a part of the show's staff. Since WLRM is not audited by Arbitron
Arbitron
Arbitron is a consumer research company in the United States that collects listener data on radio audiences. It was founded as American Research Bureau by Jim Seiler in 1949 and became national by merging with L.A. based Coffin, Cooper and Clay in the early 1950s...
, the show's ratings are unknown. The show is listener-supported and, according to Edwards, receives more donations from Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
than from any other state.
Statement of principles
The Political Cesspool describes its philosophy as "pro-White" and "against political centralization". Its statement of principles, borrowed from the Council of Conservative Citizens, reads:Guests
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
, economists, and musicians. Former Tennessee gubernatorial candidate Carl "Twofeathers" Whitaker, who claims partial Native-American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
ancestry and is known for his strong support of the Minuteman movement, has appeared on the show, as has conservative Native-American activist David Yeagley. Filmmakers Merlin Miller
Merlin Miller
Merlin L. Miller is an American independent film director, writer, and producer. His works include the 1998 television film A Place to Grow, starring Gary Morris, and the 2000 film Jericho, starring Mark Valley...
(A Place to Grow
A Place to Grow
A Place to Grow is a 1998 television drama film written and directed by Merlin Miller.-Plot:Upon his brother's death, a recording artist returns to his hometown to sell the family farm....
, Jericho
Jericho (2001 film)
Jericho is a 2001 western film starring Mark Valley and directed by Merlin Miller.-Cast:*Mark Valley as Jericho*Leon Coffee as Joshua*R. Lee Ermey as Marshall*Lisa Stewart as Mary*Mark Collie as Johnny 'O*Morgana Shaw as Mildred Flynn...
) and Craig Bodeker (A Conversation about Race) have featured.
Author Jerome Corsi
Jerome Corsi
Jerome Robert Corsi is an American author, political commentator and conspiracy theorist best known for his two New York Times bestselling books: The Obama Nation and Unfit for Command...
was interviewed in July 2008. During the discussion he spoke about his financial newsletter, and promoted his book The Obama Nation, which includes several statements that have been widely described as racist; for example, he opined that US President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
identifies more with his "African blood" than his American roots and that the President "rejects everyone white, including his mother and his grandparents". Corsi scheduled another promotional appearance on The Political Cesspool, but one month later he canceled this appearance, citing "travel plans that changed". Edwards said that he believed the incident "just goes to show what incredible pressure everyone in public life is under to never have anything to do with anyone who speaks up for the interests of white people." Fellow authors John Derbyshire
John Derbyshire
John Derbyshire is a British-American writer. His columns in National Review and cover a broad range of political-cultural topics, including immigration, China, history, mathematics, and race. Derbyshire's 1996 novel, Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream, was a New York Times "Notable Book of the...
and Steve Sailer
Steve Sailer
Steven Ernest Sailer is an American journalist and movie critic for The American Conservative, a blogger, a VDARE.com columnist, and a former correspondent for UPI. He writes about race relations, gender issues, politics, immigration, IQ, genetics, movies, and sports.-Personal life:Sailer grew up...
have also been guests. In July 2011, WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily is an American web site that publishes news and associated content from a U.S. conservative perspective. It was founded in May 1997 by Joseph Farah with the stated intent of "exposing wrongdoing, corruption and abuse of power" and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.-History:In...
columnist Ilana Mercer
Ilana Mercer
Ilana Mercer is a writer, born in South Africa to Rabbi Ben Isaacson and raised in Israel, where the family decided to move after Rabbi Ben Isaacson's anti-apartheid preaching and activism led to their harassment by South African security forces...
appeared on the show.
Constitution Party
Constitution Party (United States)
The Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...
nominee Michael Peroutka
Michael Peroutka
Michael Anthony Peroutka is a Maryland lawyer, the founder of the Institute on the Constitution. He once held a position in the United States Department of Health and Human Services and was the Constitution Party candidate for president in 2004. He is co-host of The American View radio...
used his appearance in 2004 to promote his presidential campaign. Party member Michael Goza described the show as "Christian/Constitutionalist", and "a great blessing to our cause". Thomas Naylor
Thomas Naylor
Thomas Naylor, born May 30, 1936, in Jackson, Mississippi, is a Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University, the author of thirty books, and a founder of the Second Vermont Republic...
, of the Vermont secessionist organization Second Vermont Republic
Second Vermont Republic
Second Vermont Republic is a secessionist group within the U.S. state of Vermont which seeks to return to the formerly independent status of the Vermont Republic . It describes itself as "a nonviolent citizens' network and think tank opposed to the tyranny of Corporate America and the U.S...
, appeared on the show to celebrate Confederate History Month
Confederate History Month
Confederate History Month is a month annually designated by six state governments in the Southern United States for the purpose of recognizing and honoring the history of the Confederate States of America...
in April 2007, while American Third Position Party Chairman Bill Johnson appeared to promote his party.
On May 8, 2006, Minuteman Project leader Jim Gilchrist
Jim Gilchrist
James "Jim" Walter Gilchrist, Jr. is the American co-founder and president of the Minuteman Project, an activist group whose aim is to prevent illegal immigration across the United States's southern border.-Early life:...
spoke on the program. Co-host Bill Rolen agreed with Gilchrist's view that illegal immigrants' intentions are to "just squat here and plunder whatever social benefits our programs provide them". However, Rolen disagreed with Gilchrist's claim that illegal immigration was "the 21st century slave trade". Gilchrist's colleague in the Minuteman movement, Chris Simcox
Chris Simcox
Chris Simcox is the American co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and the project's main spokesperson. He was formerly a kindergarten teacher at the Wildwood School in Los Angeles, California, where he taught for thirteen years....
, has also been a guest of the show.
Paul Babeu, the sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona
Pinal County, Arizona
-2010:Whereas according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau:*72.4% White*4.6% Black*5.6% Native American*1.7% Asian*0.4% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander*3.8% Two or more races*11.5% Other races*28.5% Hispanic or Latino -2000:...
, appeared on The Political Cesspool on July 10, 2010 to discuss illegal immigration; during the interview, he referred to James Edwards as a "great American". Less than two weeks later, Babeu's spokesman issued an apology, saying that he had not researched the show thoroughly enough before scheduling the interview and that Babeu has a policy of not conducting interviews with hate groups. Babeu himself said that he was "hoodwinked" into appearing on the show and that he rejects "any hate or bigotry". Prior to the interview, cohost Eddie Miller said that "Of all the people we’ve interviewed on this radio show, I would say the only people that came close to getting me this excited was Dr. David Duke." Following Babeu's spokesman's apology, Edwards alleged that Babeu was aware of the show's true ideology prior to appearing on the show, saying: "For Sheriff Babeu to change his mind and now regret coming on our show, for whatever reason, is his right. For him to act as though he had no idea of our ideology is a lie." As a result of the controversy surrounding Babeu's appearance on the show, Arizona U. S. Senate candidate J. D. Hayworth
J. D. Hayworth
John David Hayworth, Jr. , usually known as J. D. Hayworth, is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2007 from Arizona's 5th congressional district...
asked his primary opponent, John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, to drop several campaign ads featuring McCain and Babeu. In 2011, another sheriff, Dennis Spruell of Montezuma County, Colorado
Montezuma County, Colorado
Montezuma County is the southwesternmost of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado of the United States. The county population was 23,830 at U.S. Census 2000...
, also apologized after appearing on the show without knowing its actual agenda.
Paleoconservative activist and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan has appeared twice as of 2011. In a June 2008 interview initiated and arranged by his publicist, he promoted his book Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War
Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War
Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World, is a book by Pat Buchanan. The book was released in May 2008.- Synopsis :...
. During the broadcast, Buchanan defended Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
against charges of antisemitism, stating that his reputation "has been blackened because of a single speech he gave and a couple of paragraphs in it where he said that ... the Jewish community is beating the drums for war but frankly, no one has said what he said was palpably untrue." At the end of the interview, James Edwards said, "Mr. Buchanan, thank you so much for coming back on our program, for fighting for our people." Previously, in September 2006, Buchanan had made an appearance to promote his book State of Emergency
State of Emergency (Book)
State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America is a 2006 book by American conservative Patrick Buchanan. The book criticizes the large number of illegal immigrants entering the United States, alleging that the influx constitutes a crisis with profound cultural, political, and...
; during this interview, he said that "we are being invaded by people of different cultures" and argued that Americans "cannot survive a bifurcated culture or a heavily Hispanicized culture, tilted towards Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
... I think that's the beginning of the end of the United States."
Self proclaimed "racial realist
Scientific racism
Scientific racism is the use of scientific techniques and hypotheses to sanction the belief in racial superiority or racism.This is not the same as using scientific findings and the scientific method to investigate differences among the humans and argue that there are races...
" Jared Taylor
Jared Taylor
Samuel Jared Taylor of Oakton, Virginia, is an American journalist and an advocate of what he describes as "racial realism", a philosophy that views race as a biological reality and advocates the separateness of racial groups as the key of a well functioning society...
, whom James Edwards considers to be a close friend, has appeared on at least ten occasions. In an article he wrote for VDARE
VDARE
VDARE.com, or VDARE, is a website that advocates reduced immigration, especially illegal immigration, into the United States. Former Forbes editor Peter Brimelow supports the site through his VDARE Foundation, also known as Lexington Research Institute Limited...
, Taylor described the program as "racially oriented". Although describing itself as "America First", the show has also hosted foreign guests, including Croatian white nationalist Tomislav Sunić
Tomislav Sunic
Tomislav Sunić is a Croatian-American writer, translator, professor and a former diplomat. He is best known for his books and writings critical of egalitarianism, biblical monotheism, and liberal political discourse. He serves as one of the , a political party considered to be favorable to...
, Australian
Australian people
Australian people, or simply Australians, are the citizens of Australia. Australia is a multi-ethnic nation, and therefore the term "Australian" is not a racial identifier. Aside from the Indigenous Australian population, nearly all Australians or their ancestors immigrated within the past 230 years...
white nationalist Drew Fraser
Drew Fraser
Andrew William Fraser is a Canadian-born academic and was latterly an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Law at Macquarie University in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, Russian Austrian School
Austrian School
The Austrian School of economics is a heterodox school of economic thought. It advocates methodological individualism in interpreting economic developments , the theory that money is non-neutral, the theory that the capital structure of economies consists of heterogeneous goods that have...
economist Yuri Maltsev
Yuri Maltsev
Yuri Nicholas Maltsev born in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia, is an Austrian school economist and economic historian. He is a Professor of Economics at the Carthage College in Wisconsin and is a Senior Fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama....
, British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
lawyer Adrian Davies
Adrian Davies
Adrian Davies is a barrister and a member of Lincoln's Inn, London. He was formerly a solicitor with the magic circle firm, Slaughter and May...
, Canadian white supremacist Paul Fromm, Canadian conservative blogger Kathy Shaidle
Kathy Shaidle
Kathy Shaidle is a Canadian author, columnist, poet and blogger. A self-described "anarcho-peacenik" in the early years of her writing career, she moved to a conservative, Roman Catholic position following the attacks of September 11, 2001, and entered the public eye as the author of the popular...
, and British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
(BNP) leaders Simon Darby
Simon Darby
Simon Darby is a British politician and former Deputy Chairman of the British National Party.-Background:By occupation a computer communications consultant, Darby began his political career in the National Democrats, most of whose activity was centred around his West Midlands base...
and Nick Griffin
Nick Griffin
Nicholas John "Nick" Griffin is a British politician, chairman of the British National Party and Member of the European Parliament for North West England....
; Griffin appeared as a guest before and after his election to the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
. During his post-election appearance, Griffin attributed the BNP's electoral successes to a fear of "creeping process of Islamification".
Actor Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
's father, Hutton Gibson
Hutton Gibson
Hutton Peter Gibson is an American writer on Sedevacantism, World War II veteran, the 1968 Jeopardy! grand champion and the father of 11 children, one of whom is the actor and director Mel Gibson....
, has also appeared on the show. During his appearance, he referred to Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
as a "homosexual" and claimed that "half the people in the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
are queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
."
Controversy and criticism
The show has frequently been criticised by anti-racist groups and individuals (such as the Southern Poverty Law CenterSouthern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
(SPLC), Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
(ADL), Stephen Roth Institute
Stephen Roth Institute
The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism is a research institute at Tel Aviv University in Israel. It is a resource for information, provides a forum for academic discussion, and fosters research on issues concerning antisemitic and racist theories and...
, and journalist Max Blumenthal
Max Blumenthal
Max Blumenthal is an American author, journalist, and blogger. A senior writer for The Daily Beast, he is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party....
) over its stated ideology. The Political Cesspool was added to the Southern Poverty Law Center's hate group
Hate group
A hate group is an organized group or movement that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation or other designated sector of society...
watch list in 2006. James Edwards was "ecstatic", saying "I don't think you've arrived in the conservative movement until you've made it to the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hate Watch". Edwards describes the SPLC as a group composed of "communists and civil rights hustlers". The SPLC's Hatewatch has referred to The Political Cesspool as "an overtly racist, anti-Semitic radio show hosted by [a] self-avowed white nationalist" and as "the nexus of hate in America". The Anti-Defamation League has also criticized the show; Edwards has attacked the ADL as "America's most powerful hate group" and has claimed that its definition of a "neo-Nazi [is] any white person who disagrees with a Jew".
Author John Avlon
John Avlon
John Phillips Avlon is senior columnist for Newsweek and the Daily Beast as well as a CNN contributor. He is also the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics and Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America...
, a former speechwriter for Rudy Giuliani
Rudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
, has described The Political Cesspool as "avowedly white supremacist".
Investigative journalist Max Blumenthal, who reported on an attempt by one of the show's staff to advertise at a rally for Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
, described The Political Cesspool as having a "racist ideology", and highlighted anti-Semitic, racist, and homophobic
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
comments that Edwards had made on his blog. The Stephen Roth Institute has also commented on the show, noting that "[James] Edwards openly espoused many of his guests' views and during speeches to extremist audiences, including members of the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens and the racist League of the South
League of the South
The League of the South is a Southern nationalist organization, headquartered in Killen, Alabama, which states that its ultimate goal is "a free and independent Southern republic." The group defines the Southern United States as the states that made up the former Confederacy...
, he gained the support of a wide array of extremists." In an article about antisemitism in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, the Institute commented on the show's interview with Filip Dewinter
Filip Dewinter
Philip Michel Frans "Filip" Dewinter is a Flemish politician in Belgium. He is one of the leading members of Vlaams Belang, a right-wing Flemish nationalist and secessionist political party...
, a member of the Belgian Parliament and a leader of the extremist Vlaams Belang
Vlaams Belang
Vlaams Belang is a Belgian far-right political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels that advocates the independence of Flanders and strict limits on immigration, whereby immigrants would be obliged to adopt Flemish culture and language...
movement. Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
used one of Winston Smith's statements to argue that the rise in popularity of white nationalism and supremacy is due to the combination of the late-2000s recession and the election of a black president
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
. Many such groups have been attempting to gain new recruits and increase their political influence by rebranding themselves as defenders of "white heritage" while de-emphasizing their dislike of minorities and Jews. Smith states, "[t]he emphasis is different now. We don't talk as much about what blacks have done to us; we're more focused on ourselves and our own culture."
City Park demonstration
In 2005, the staff of The Political Cesspool organized a rally at Confederate Park, which, along with two other Confederacy-themed parks in downtown Memphis, has been the subject of a longtime controversy for honoring ConfederateConfederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
soldiers and ideals. The park had been criticized earlier by a black Shelby County
Shelby County, Tennessee
Shelby County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the state's largest both in terms of population and geographic area, with a population of 927,644 at the 2010 census...
official, which attracted the notice of New York-based activist Al Sharpton
Al Sharpton
Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election...
, who was invited by the Reverend LaSimba Gray to hold a demonstration in Memphis. Sharpton planned a march called the Rally for Dignity from downtown Memphis to another park honoring Confederate Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self-educated, innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years...
who was involved early in the organization of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
. Sharpton canceled the march after Edwards and The Political Cesspool staff obtained a permit to demonstrate in Confederate Park, located along Sharpton's planned march route.
Sharpton settled for a protest at Forrest Park. At the demonstration, he argued that "We need to show the rest of the world that the day for honoring people like this is over", and said in an interview that his objections were not related to race but to Forrest's Civil War-era (1861–1865) actions against the United States. Estimates of attendance at the rallies vary; according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, James Edwards attracted about 200 white counter-demonstrators to the Confederate Park vigil, while Sharpton's protest at Forrest Park attracted a few dozen black demonstrators, whom Edwards referred to as "rabble". The Memphis Flyer estimated that Sharpton attracted about 250 supporters. In the aftermath of the city park controversy, show affiliates Edwards, Farley, Bonds, and Rolen received the "Dixie Defender Award" from the Sons of Confederate Veterans
Sons of Confederate Veterans
Sons of Confederate Veterans is an American national heritage organization with members in all fifty states and in almost a dozen countries in Europe, Australia and South America...
.
Later that year, Memphis city councilman E. C. Jones awarded Edwards and Farley with a certificate "in appreciation of outstanding contributions to the community". Edwards and Farley also received an honorary city council membership from Jones, who had previously appeared on The Political Cesspool. According to The Commercial Appeal
The Commercial Appeal
The Commercial Appeal is the predominant daily newspaper of Memphis, Tennessee, and its surrounding metropolitan area. It is owned by The E. W. Scripps Company, a major North American media company. Scripps also owned the former afternoon paper, the Memphis Press-Scimitar, which it folded in...
, Jones had not listened to the show before the incident, and was unaware of its ideology. After a reporter informed him of the program's agenda, Jones initially refused to apologize. However, after another reporter confronted him with more details about the show's ideology, he changed his view, saying that he probably would not appear again. Carol Chumney
Carol Chumney
Carol J. Chumney is a Tennessee politician, legislator, and was an unsuccessful candidate to become mayor of Memphis, Tennessee. She also held the fifth seat on the Memphis City Council.- Biography :...
, another member of the Memphis City Council
Memphis City Council
The Memphis City Council is a legislative body of Memphis, Tennessee. The city is governed by Mayor A C Wharton and thirteen city council members....
, was also invited to appear on The Political Cesspool, but ultimately declined the invitation after listening to an episode of the show; Chumney said, "what I heard was about advocating for prostitution ... So I told them I had other commitments."
Journal du Dimanche interview
In an interview with the FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche
Le Journal du Dimanche
Le Journal du Dimanche is a French weekly newspaper. It is only published on Sundays.-History:The newspaper was created by Pierre_Lazareffin 1948. It now belongs to the Lagardère Group, through Hachette Filipacchi Médias...
, cohost Eddie "Bombardier" Miller described the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
as "Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
on Earth".
Radio stations that air the show
The Political Cesspool airs on four terrestrial stations as of 2011: WLRM in Millington, Tennessee, KHQNKHQN
KHQN is a radio station broadcasting a News/Talk format. Licensed to Spanish Fork, Utah, USA, the station is currently owned by Robyn Howell.-History:...
in Spanish Fork, Utah
Spanish Fork, Utah
Spanish Fork is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 31,497 as of the 2008 census estimate.-History:Spanish Fork was settled by LDS pioneers in 1851...
;
and KYAH in Delta, Utah
Delta, Utah
Delta is a city in Millard County, Utah, United States. The population was 3,209 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Delta is located at ....
.
The Accent Radio Network
Accent Radio Network
The Accent Radio Network is a Florida-based radio network with a Christian-conservative political point of view. Accent Radio Network was built in the summer of 2000 and went on air December 4th 2000. The satellite radio network has a wide range of programs from discussions of current events and...
-affiliated stations KHQN and KYAH currently air a shortened version of the show (two hours), in contrast to the three-hour Liberty News Radio Network (WLRM) version.
ARN and Liberty News Radio Network broadcasts their feeds on separate channels on the Galaxy 19
Galaxy 19
Galaxy 19 is a communications satellite owned by Intelsat located at 97° West longitude, serving the North American market. Galaxy 19 replaced Galaxy 25 which is nearing the end of its design life and has been moved to 93.1°W longitude. It was built by Space Systems/Loral, as part of its FS-1300...
communications satellite.