Michael J. Knowles

**Michael John Knowles** (/noʊlz/; born March 18, 1990) is an American conservative political commentator, podcaster, actor, and author.

## Contents

* 1Early life and education
* 2Career
	+ 2.1Acting
	+ 2.2Political commentary
		- 2.2.1Controversies
* 3References
* 4External links

## Early life and education[edit]

Born in Bedford Hills, New York, Knowles began training as an actor with the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, as part of its Advanced Teen Conservatory. He graduated with a B.A. in History and Italian from Yale University, where he produced the first English rendering of Niccolò Machiavelli's play *Andria* in 2012. Knowles is of Italian descent. Knowles was raised in the Catholic faith by his family, but had fallen away during his adolescence; while at Yale he experienced a reconversion to the Church, spurred at first by ontological arguments.

## Career[edit]

### Acting[edit]

Before graduating from Yale, Knowles participated in two web series: *Never Do Business with Friends* and *Survive*. Upon graduation, Knowles trained with Wynn Handman at his acting studio in New York City and appeared in various web series, films, and television shows.

After moving to Los Angeles, he acted in the TV pilot *Blend In*, the TV movie *I'm Back!*, and the comedy *HollyWeird*.[*citation needed*]

Knowles also is the voice actor in the fictional podcast and audiobook "Another Kingdom", directed and produced by colleague Andrew Klavan.

### Political commentary[edit]

In 2016, Knowles was invited to join *The Daily Wire*, beginning as regular guest and cultural correspondent for *The Andrew Klavan Show* podcast. Knowles previously worked with Andrew Klavan's son, Spencer Klavan, on theater productions while they were undergraduates at Yale. In 2017, Knowles released an empty book called *Reasons to Vote for Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide*. The book, which contained 266 empty pages and an extensive bibliography, became the number 1 best-selling book on Amazon. Shortly after Knowles lauded President Donald Trump on *Fox & Friends*, Trump in return praised Knowles' book as "a great book for your reading enjoyment." That year, Knowles began his role as host of *The Daily Wire*'s third podcast, *The Michael Knowles Show*.

In January 2020, while the impeachment proceedings of President Donald Trump were underway, Knowles and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, launched a podcast titled *Verdict with Ted Cruz.* On January 27, Cruz announced via Twitter that *Verdict* had secured the number one spot on the podcast charts for that week. After the impeachment trial ended with President Trump's acquittal, Cruz and Knowles began to interview Washington politicians such as U.S. Senators Tim Scott and Mike Lee, Trump administration officials including then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The two also interviewed actors Jon Voight and Isaiah Washington.

On November 13, 2020, Knowles was scheduled as the guest-host on the Rush Limbaugh radio show. After this opportunity, The Daily Wire in collaboration with Westwood One announced that Knowles would be hosting his own daily radio show. The show started airing on January 4, 2021, and broadcasts daily at 5 p.m. EST.

#### Controversies[edit]

In April 2019, Knowles gave a speech at the University of Missouri–Kansas City entitled "Men Are Not Women" on gender identity during his YAF national college speaking tour. Student protesters disrupted his talk, deeming it transphobic. One protester was charged with assault and other violations.

In September 2019, Knowles called teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg "a mentally ill Swedish child" on the Fox News program *The Story*. Fellow segment guest and Democratic Party activist Christopher Hahn replied, "You're a grown man and you're attacking a child. Shame on you." Knowles responded, saying, "I'm not. I'm attacking the Left for exploiting a mentally ill child." Hahn returned, "Relax skinny boy, I got this." Knowles promptly added, "She is mentally ill. She has autism. She has obsessive–compulsive disorder. She has selective mutism. She had depression." The network apologized for Knowles' statement by saying his comment "was disgraceful — we apologize to Greta Thunberg and to our viewers." Knowles did not apologize and Fox said they have "no plans"