Glenn Beck: We should all get along but progressives should be hunted down like Nazis

Erstwhile Fox News personality Glenn Beck gave a head-scratcher of an interview to the New York Times that appeared on Friday. In it, the former far-right radio host turned Internet entrepreneur claimed that he wants Americans to stop dividing themselves and get along, then went on to say that he wants to hunt down progressives like an Israeli Nazi hunter because they are "the biggest danger to the world" who inevitably leave "millions dead."

Beck has been trying to soften his strident image of late as he attempts to take his Internet production company back on to the television airwaves as a cable network. In recent months he has made a series of statements indicating that he regrets his role in dividing society into warring ideological camps, including a strange, teary-eyed silent monologue performed entirely on index cards when he lost his voice in June.

He echoed those sentiments when talking to the Times' Amy Chozick.

"Can we stop dividing ourselves?" he asked. "Do racists exist? Yes. Do bigots exist? Yes. But most of us are not. Most Americans just want to get along. Why can’t we do that? What has happened to us?"

Two paragraphs later, however, when Chozick pointed out, "But you said you were going to hunt down progressives like an Israeli Nazi hunter," Beck immediately railed against his perceived enemies on the left.

"Oh, I will," he assured her. "I think these guys are the biggest danger in the world. It’s the people like Mao, people that believe that big government is the answer, it always leads to millions dead -- always."

The Times said that people have a misconception about Beck's show being more political than it actually is. Beck seized the opportunity to complain that establishment right-wingers don't like him any more than liberals.

"Unfortunately, because of the news of the day, we have spent most of our time on politics," he said of his program. "What people don’t ever understand is this: I’m the guy who lives in Dallas who did not get an invitation to the George Bush Presidential Library opening. He didn’t like me. I had called for his impeachment. I didn’t call for Obama’s impeachment. People think I just hate this president. No, I hate power and those who do everything they can to hold onto it."

[image of Glenn Beck via s_bukley / Shutterstock.com]