Like Donald Trump, conservative radio host Dana Loesch is a germaphobe, according to an extensive new Washington Post profile. The two bonded over their disdain for microbes before he became president when they both spoke at CPAC.
Back then, the Washington Post’s Manuel Roig-Franzia reports, Loesch went as far as to wear a face mask on airplanes to fend off illness. But amid the Covid-19 pandemic, when Americans are being urged by public health officials to wear masks, Loesch is reluctant.
Per the Post:
Before the pandemic, Loesch was so worried about catching colds that would sap her voice that she would wear masks on airplanes. Now the government is telling her she should mask up to stop the spread of the virus.She doesn’t want to do it.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Loesch now forgoes a mask on airplanes, where face coverings are mandated.
In a statement to Mediaite, she said: “Smart people know the difference between supporting masks but opposing mask mandates; supporting vaccines and opposing vaccine mandates. Apparently, some of the duller ones
Loesch, a former NRA spokeswoman, railed against masks on her radio show as recently as last week. In response to Dr. Anthony Fauci encouraging mask-wearing in the United States to combat the coronavirus, Loesch argued masks do not work. “This isn’t about following science anymore, this is about control,” she said.
The profile of Loesch, which covers her ascent from a childhood in the Missouri Ozarks to her current position as one of the most popular pundits in right wing media, lays out how she is positioned among a group of hosts vying to replace the late Rush Limbaugh as the king of talk radio.
According to one estimate cited by Roig-Franzia, Loesch draws an audience of around 6.5 million listeners per day. That number is hard to calculate or verify, but if close to accurate, it would mean more people listen to her than any other cable news host. The Fox News prime time titans — Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham — typically average two to three million total viewers per night.
Radio is a different medium than cable, however, reaching a much broader audience. Hannity’s radio show, according to the same estimate, pulls in a whopping 12.5 million daily listeners.
Other details from the profile include the revelation that Loesch is estranged from her father, Paul Eaton, who trashed her in an interview with the Post. “Dana’s a mean person,” he
And Loesch, who lives “somewhere outside of Dallas” (her location was not disclosed because of safety precautions she adopted during her years as a notorious spokeswoman for the NRA), picked up a few noteworthy hobbies during quarantine: crocheting, Japanese anime, and smoking tobacco out of a pipe.
Read the full profile, which includes a photo of Loesch smoking said tobacco pipe, here.