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August 18, 2025 • 12 mins
GUY BENSON IS A SMARTY PANTS And he's one of the many fantastic speakers at this year's Freedom Conference put together by the Steamboat Institute. This event is SPECTACULAR and if you can swing it you should go. Find the complete list of speakers here. Buy your tickets for the event in Beaver Creek here.
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining me now is the man that the show is
named after, a guy. That's such a coincidence that they
found a guy named Guy Benson to host the Guy
Benson Show.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
That's almost like a miracle. Really.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Yea, it was the one requirement actually for the job,
which is how I got it.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
There you go, how long have you been doing your
radio show?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Now?

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Where did you come from?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Guy?

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Give me your backstory? Give me your elevator's speech of success?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Wow? Well, I where do you want me to start? Birth?

Speaker 3 (00:30):
I mean, I studied broadcast journalism in political science in
college at Northwestern in Chicago. Started my career in Chicago
doing a weekend radio show and doing some writing for
National Review and write Bart back when Andrew was alive,
and then got hired by Townhall dot Com to move
to DC in twenty ten, So fifteen years ago, moved

(00:52):
to the DC area working at town Hall.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
I've been there ever since. I'm still there.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Started appearing probably around two thousand and nine on Fox
and some other networks as well. They hired me on
air here at Fox on the TV side as a
contributor in twenty thirteen, so I've been here about twelve
years now. As a as an on air contributor, and
the radio show started with a co host, sort of

(01:17):
a right left type thing for a year back in
twenty eighteen. My co host then left the network for
a while, so it became the Guy Benson Show in
twenty nineteen. And here we are chugging along and growing,
and we're grateful to have the platform and always grateful
to chat with folks like you.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
A great station in Denver, so.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
You have Denver roots as well, so you're no stranger
to Colorado. Even though you're coming out this weekend, you
already know what to expect. I can't even sell you
on how fabulous it is.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Oh yeah, I mean so, my in laws are in Denver,
and so I've spent a lot of time in Colorado
through the years. Even before I got into that relationship
years ago, I'd been to Colorado multiple times, but now have,
of course as a very special place in my heart.
And as you alluded to, I'll be going back out

(02:08):
there later this week to a truly beautiful part of
the state where I've actually never been. I've been to
so many of these incredible resort towns right years, but
I've not been to Beaver Creek. So I'm over the
moon for that, and I know, setting aside some of
the issues that I certainly have with Colorado's politics, it's
hard to argue with its topography and so many of

(02:31):
its people. And to be invited by a great group
like the Steamboat Institute to a beautiful, gorgeous, jaw dropping
place like Beaver Creek, that's an easy yes.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Well, you made a good choice because not only is
Beaver Creek gorgeous where this event is held, the Steamboat
Institute's Freedom Conference. I usually go. I had a little
surgery and I wasn't sure if I was going to
be as recovered as I am right now, so I
am not going this year. It is the best nerd
event west of the missis, hands down, no better event

(03:02):
for nerds ever. But they just do a spectacular job
bringing people like you in and bringing people Michelle Tavoy
is going to be there, Chris Wright's going to be there,
the Energy Secretary. They just line up this this all
star lineup, and people sit around and talk about nerdy
stuff like freedom and free markets and things of that nature.

(03:23):
What is your nerdy topic? Which panel are you on?

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (03:27):
And by the way, I think one of the keynotes
is being delivered this year by one of my colleagues,
Rtt Bayer here at Fast News, who has Zelensky on
the show today on a special report. I'll be on
a special report tonight reacting on the panel, So looking
forward to seeing Brett out there in the Rocky Mountains.
My particular topic is I'll be on a panel with

(03:48):
a really great media panel talking about the crisis I
think of American media and gotten to this point, and
a question of like.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Can it be improved, can it be fixed? Is it dead?

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Where do we go from here about the so called
news media. So there will be a lot to unpack,
as you might imagine, we'll have an hour to do,
so that won't be nearly enough time, but we're going
to take a good bite at that topic in that conversation,
and as you pointed out, such a great room. I've
actually been to this conference with Steamboat before, but it's

(04:24):
been I think about a decade. Yeah, they had us
out I wrote a book ten years ago with Mary
Catherine Ham, my best friend, and they had us out
there very generously at the time, and we did an
event or two with them.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
But since then it's just been either you know.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
Cross wires or schedules didn't work out, and they always
are inviting so many great people. I was just so
delighted to be back on the radar this year and
heading back out there this week.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
It's a Friday panel. I know that you are going.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
I got to tell you, I talked to my listeners
about this. If it's you know, for the whole weekend.
The tickets are four hundred and ninety five bucks. You
got to also get your lodging stuff like that, but
for that money, for four hundred and ninety five bucks,
to get access to the people that you have access
to for guys, panel, I want to touch on that
for just a second. Guy, because I talk about this
all the time, you would think that in a competing

(05:14):
media format like talk radio or in your case, like radio,
or like television, we would want to see the demise
of newspapers and you know, news organizations that have just
been really destructive over the last few years. But I
am in the exact opposite camp. I think we've got
to fix this. I don't think you can just let

(05:34):
it go down to citizen journalists who who you know,
may do a great job about some stuff, but they
now to have the same kind of access. What are
your thoughts on the state of media overall and do
you think it needs to be fixed?

Speaker 3 (05:48):
Well, I mean, it certainly needs fixing, because it's deeply,
possibly irreparably broken. But part of the question is do
they want to be fixed? Do they want fixing? And
I'm not sure if they do. I think a healthy
country and an informed public relies on good, credible, truth

(06:12):
seeking journalism without fear or favor. The problem is there's
a lot of fear and a lot of favor from
the people who purport to.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
Have neither of those things going on. Right. They purport
to be these middle of the road, we're just.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
Here to tell you the truth, and they say all
these wonderful things, and they've got all the slogans and
they're very self congratulatory, and then they very often are
just a bunch of biased hacks.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
And that's almost putting it kindly.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
And when they do it over and over again and
it gets to a point of like institutional corruption and
raw and the public doesn't trust them.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
It's not just conservatives.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
I mean, you look at media credibilities absolutely deservedly in
the toilet. But at some point, of course, there's going
to be a whole ecosystem of other options that crop
up as a replacement or at least another alternative, because
people don't trust the legacy media. And yeah, I think
it's actually important to have these vibrant newsrooms and news
organizations with resources and training and ethics.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
To go and do the job.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
It just seems like a lot of the people doing
the job, especially at a national level, on the political
side of things, they are much more interested, it seems,
in narratives and agenda fulfillment than doing.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
The actual job. So they've kind of forfeited trust.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
Yeah, and they don't seem to want to fix things,
you know, even as there's you know, the collapse in
trusts and a collapse in business models and a lot
of people getting laid off and all that stuff, they
don't or they can't course correct because they're so invested
in their partisanship, in their ideology, and because I think

(07:55):
in a lot of cases, you know, if they as
rush limbo us to say commit of journalism that go
against what their audience wants to hear, you know, they
risk running a foul of their audience or their bosses,
and so it's just kind of a bunch of competing narratives. Look,
I'm all for opinion journalism and a whole multiplicity of options.

(08:15):
I think that is good, but you need some referees
to try to keep, you know, keep the truth front
and center. And I think the refs mostly play for
one team, and they can deny it, but it's obvious,
and so they have a real problem on their heads.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
I got to tell you when they started writing books
about Joe Biden's decline, and in my mind when I'm watching,
I refuse to buy the books. I'm not gonna line
in the pockets of people that I feel we're complicit
with the entire cover up. There has been no apology
like I would love to see major media figures saying,
you know what, not only did we do this badly,

(08:55):
we realize now why we did it badly and it
was our own bias. Can you that kind of announcement,
apology whatever, in terms of restoring some sense of some
semblance of trust, at least in the baby steps, because
they would show some seriousness about the issue. That lack
of seriousness where Jake Tapper sitting around going my god,

(09:18):
they fooled us all And I'm like, no, they didn't
fool any of us over here. They just fooled you guys,
because you wanted to be fooled, all.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Right, And they probably weren't even fooled.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
No, they were just going with because the goal was
to win the election, and they failed at that. And
now the truth can suddenly be told. Now it can
be told. Some of them have apologized to some extent.
There's been some soul searching, at least sort of a
facsimile of soul searching, and some degree of apology. That's fine,

(09:53):
I think, you know, some admission of this is fine
to me. It's pretty meaningless and empty if they do
the same thing again, correct, And of course it won't
be about Joe Biden's sanility because Joe Biden is no
longer relevant and so you know, he doesn't really matter
to them and he's disposable, right, so once he was gone,

(10:15):
then they could tell the truth. It's more of high
stakes political fights. Are they willing next time to tell
truths that are very unpleasant and detrimental to their own side,
whether it's the Democratic Party or the left or whatever
it is, And are they willing to do that consistently,
or are they going to go right back to their

(10:37):
battle stations and all their bad impulses and just do
the version of the thing all over again, in which
case sort of being like, golly gee, we got it
wrong and we're so sorry. That will amount to nothing.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Well, guy, I mean, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
If you watched Marco Ruby on the Sunday Shows yesterday,
that's exactly what they did, right. They came in knives
of blazing, ready to do anything to make this process
seem like something it clearly wasn't. And I thought to myself, well,
they really haven't learned anything. I would love that kind
of dogged determined this if it was on both sides
of the aisle. Unfortunately it's just on one side of

(11:12):
the aisle. Guy, I'm excited for you to be able
to go to the Freedom Conference this weekend. It is
going to be another just incredible, incredible event. I'm jealous
always when I can't make it, and this year, as
I said, I just was unable to make. I'm trying
to pull up the list of speakers very very quickly.
To your point, Brett, there, your colleague is going to

(11:32):
be there, Michelle Tafoya is going to be there. Look,
Guy Benson right there at the top. You got top
billing there and so many other people that are just
going to be super smart and you will leave there
if you guys go to this. And I think they
still have tickets available. I know that the Hyatt is
sold out, so you're gonna have to find other accommodations.
But this makes me smarter. Every single time I go,

(11:55):
except for the panel, they always give me the goofy panel,
like they're like, hey, do you want to work with
the guy with the puppet this?

Speaker 2 (12:00):
Of course I do.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
Of course I don't want any heavy lifting at this thing.
But now you're gonna have a blast. And I want
everybody to go check it out at some point, And
why not this year when Guy Benson is going to
be there.

Speaker 3 (12:12):
Well, that's very kind of you to say, and I agree.
I mean, if there's if there are any tickets left,
there's not many. Yeah, I know they're expecting a really
good crowd. I know it's a significant investment, but it's worthwhile.
A great lineup. I'm honored to be a part of it.
Always a great group of people, smart, thoughtful, fun, beautiful, place, What's.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
Not to love exactly, and then it ends with a
Coyote gold margarita party. So really, there's nothing, nothing wrong
with the entire weekend. Guy, I really appreciate you making
time for me today.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Oh you bet, thanks many thanks for having me on.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
All right, that is Guy Benson.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
You can hear his radio show.

Speaker 1 (12:45):
You can see his townhall work at townhall dot com.

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