Matt Walsh

[[File:Matt Walsh by Gage Skidmore.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Walsh in 2022.]]
{{mrm}}
{{pundits}}{{Bronze}}
{{hatnote|Not to be confused with the former [[The Daily Show]] correspondent, {{wpl|Matt Walsh (comedian)|Matt Walsh|.}}}}
{{cquote|If sex and gender are the same thing, Matt Walsh fans have never had gender.|||{{wpl|Anthony Fantano}}<ref>@theneedledrop (20 Jan 2022) https://web.archive.org/web/20220821073100/https://twitter.com/theneedledrop/status/1484200838079864835</ref>}}
{{cquote|The pedophile scandal in the Catholic Church is not a pedophile scandal. The vast majority of victims are post-pubescent teens and young men. The real problem in the Church that everyone sees and few will say out loud: gay priests.|||Matt Walsh<ref name=gaypriest>Matt Walsh (19 July 2018) [https://web.archive.org/web/20180719232210/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1020083096459374593 "The pedophile scandal in the Catholic Church is not a pedophile scandal. ..."]. ''Twitter'', via the Wayback Machine. [[Nick Fuentes|Somebody else]] can be spotted in the Tweet's "likes".</ref>}}

'''Matthew "What is a Woman?" "Am I Racist?" Walsh''' {{lived|1986}} is an [[American]] [[conservative]] blogger, ''[[The Daily Wire|Daily Wire]]'' [[Pundit|talking-head]], former radio host, and career [[culture war]]rior who runs the eponymous ''Matt Walsh Blog''. Most of his blog posts involve him [[Strawman fallacy|mischaracterizing and insulting things that he doesn't agree with or like]], especially trans rights and non-binary rights, [[Transgender|trans people]] and [[non-binary|non-binary people]], as well as [[abortion]], immigration, gender equality and [[Feminism|feminist]]-oriented causes, such as the [[pro-choice]] movement.<ref>[http://themattwalshblog.com/2014/06/24/5-reasons-why-abortion-never-empowers-women/ 5 Reasons Why Abortion Never Empowers Women]</ref>

On top of all this, he used to write for the [[far-right]] [[webshite]] ''[[The Blaze]]'', although he left in 2017.<ref>https://www.facebook.com/GlennBeck/posts/matt-walsh-it-has-been-an-honor-for-theblaze-to-be-the-primary-destination-for-y/10155763605173188/</ref> He runs a podcast, and is active on social media, mostly reposting articles from right-wing media on his favorite topics with short (often one-word) comments. He calls himself a "theocratic fascist" on his [[Twitter]] bio and has done so since 2019, although he started doing such in response to being called that by protesters when he was going to give a speech at Baylor University,<ref>[https://www.dailywire.com/news/theocratic-fascist-matt-walsh WALSH: Yes, I Am A Theocratic Fascist]</ref> along with calling himself a biologist and a scholar of women's studies, despite having never attended college and openly hating women and biology.<ref>"[https://themattwalshblog.com/thank-god-i-wasnt-college-material/ Thank God I wasn't college material]" - Matt Walsh's 
clog
 blog</ref>

Walsh currently hosts ''The Matt Walsh Show'' at ''The Daily Wire''. The show was completely demonetized on [[YouTube]] from April–August 2023 due to transphobic rhetoric. According to the world's smallest violin, this was very bad for Walsh's wallet.<ref>Ari Drennen and Alyssa Tirrell (April 20, 2023). [https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/youtube-strips-ad-revenue-matt-walsh-show-after-repeated-vitriol-against-dylan-mulvaney "YouTube strips ad revenue from The Matt Walsh Show after repeated vitriol against Dylan Mulvaney"]. ''[[Media Matters for America]]''.</ref><ref>(April 20, 2023). [https://www.losangelesblade.com/2023/04/20/youtube-demonetizes-matt-walsh-after-repeated-transphobic-vitriol/ "YouTube demonetizes Matt Walsh after repeated transphobic vitriol"]. ''The Los Angeles Blade''.</ref><ref>Ari Drennen and Mia Gingerich (September 8, 2023). [https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/matt-walsh-flouted-youtube-guidelines-anti-lgbtq-hate-after-being-stripped-advertiser "Matt Walsh flouted YouTube guidelines with anti-LGBTQ hate after being stripped of advertiser revenue. The platform responded by restoring the revenue"]. ''[[Media Matters for America]]''.</ref>

He's also a diaper enthusiast,<ref name="DrennenSweet">Ari Drennen (July 27, 2023). [https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/sweet-daddy-walsh-and-sweet-baby-gang-matt-walshs-dirty-deal-diapers "Sweet Daddy Walsh and the Sweet Baby Gang: Matt Walsh's dirty deal with diapers"]. ''Media Matters for America''.</ref><ref>Prem Thakker (May 26, 2023). [https://newrepublic.com/post/173056/matt-walsh-selling-plush-toys-diaper-for-kids-play-with "Matt Walsh Is Selling Plush Toys of Himself in a Diaper 'for Your Kids to Play With'"]. ''The New Republic''.</ref> though "less enthusiastic about diapers when used for their intended purpose".<ref name="DrennenSweet"/> (Women's work only.) One might not normally care that he leads a "Sweet Baby Gang" (his actual phrasing) of adult men who wear diapers for some kind of pleasure or other,<ref name="DrennenSweet"/> except he's now boosted his career in large part by vigorously misconstruing LGBT people as [[pervert]]ed in any way he possibly can. There's something emblematic about it.

Walsh also thinks that [[public schools]] should be eliminated entirely.<ref>[https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/matt-walsh-public-school-system-should-be-totally-abandoned Matt Walsh: “The public school system should be totally abandoned”] (07/17/24 3:01 PM EDT) ''Media Matters for America''.</ref>

==Wingnuttery==
===Misogyny===
{{cquote|Buying a Valentine's Day gift for your wife a month early is the gayest thing you could do. |||Matt Walsh, marriage expert<ref>[https://x.com/JasonSCampbell/status/1745526877156974767?s=20 Daily Wire clip]</ref>}}
Despite claiming to be a scholar of women's studies, he perceives the only way to support women is to bash trans women, while still being completely misogynistic against cis women. Walsh presents a very cliched view of gender roles,<ref>[https://www.thecut.com/2017/08/gender-studies-matt-walsh-harvey-tweet.html An Actual Gender Studies Professor Debunked That Viral Hurricane Harvey Tweet]</ref> often attacking men who he disagrees with as unmanly. On the flip side, he often expresses disdain for women in positions of authority<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220722101919/https://twitter.com/mattwalshblog/status/1269270391345819654 Matt Walsh: "Yesterday I said we shouldn’t have female cops out on patrol because they can be so easily overpowered by any male suspect. Lots of people were very upset and offended by this. After careful reflection I want to say that I don’t apologize, I’m right, and I don’t care how you feel"]</ref> or making public statements.<ref>[https://www.opindia.com/2021/08/governor-kristi-noem-accuses-conservative-podcast-host-matt-walsh-of-misogyny-daily-wire/amp/ South Dakota’s Gov Kristi Noem accuses Conservative podcast host of misogyny]</ref> Women becoming involved in many elements of pop culture such as music,<ref>[https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-ariana-grande-matt-walsh Our Daughters Are Not ‘Empowered’ By Vulgar, Idiotic Pop Music]</ref> entertainment, and sports,<ref>[https://www.mediaite.com/podcasts/the-daily-wires-matt-walsh-claims-women-sportscasters-want-to-feminize-sports-and-destroy-the-primary-reason-for-their-existence/amp/ The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh Claims Women Sportscasters Want To ‘Feminize’ Sports and ‘Destroy the Primary Reason for Their Existence’]</ref> especially women's sports,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210802211510/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1422304854815485957 Twitter post]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20211210171435/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1417829827923562498 Twitter post]</ref> he views as emasculating and threatening to the traditional place of men. He also supports cutting women's pay if they ask for a raise.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220716181034/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1483867432485896198 Twitter post]</ref>

On his blog, Walsh has said that married women owe their husbands respect whether they've done anything to deserve it or not. In the post, he explicitly states that "a wife ought to respect her husband because he is her husband" and that women should "respect [their] husbands whether he deserves it or not".<ref>https://themattwalshblog.com/your-husband-doesnt-have-to-earn-your-respect/2/</ref>

Walsh also believes that men and women cannot be friends,<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1sSWCGzimg</ref> and has called [[arranged marriage]]s better than our current dating system.<ref>[https://www.mediamatters.org/daily-wire/daily-wire-host-endorses-arranged-marriages-it-without-doubt-superior-our-system Daily Wire host endorses arranged marriages: “It is, without a doubt, superior to our system”] ''Media Matters'' 25 January 2022</ref>

====Abortion====
{{cquote|If I could trade in [[women's suffrage]] to get back the 60 million humans that feminism killed, I would do it in a heartbeat.{{efn|It should be noted that, given Matt is not a woman, he isn't actually threatening to give up any rights here, making this sentiment utterly worthless.}}|||<ref>(July 27, 2023). [https://thebigeasyconservative.substack.com/p/matt-walsh-offers-a-most-concise "Matt Walsh Offers A Most Concise and Complete Description of Conservatism"]. ''The Big Easy Conservative''. Mirrored from Matt Walsh's [https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-feminism-is-one-of-the-deadliest-and-most-destructive-forces-in-human-history "Why Feminism Is One Of The Deadliest And Most Destructive Forces In Human History"], ''Daily Wire''.</ref>}}
He is [[anti-abortion]], [[argument by assertion|saying that "life is precious"]] [[Capital punishment|(not quite).]]<ref>https://youtu.be/4RpV_LylisE</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20211024020556/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1337413109603037185</ref> He has supported [[Alabama]]'s 2019 bill that outlaws abortion in all cases, including [[rape]] and [[incest]], as he believes forcing 12-year-old rape victims to carry to term would help them get their crime discovered and increase the rapist's accountability, and abortion would otherwise destroy the evidence and encourage the rapist to continue molesting without consequence.<ref>Matt Walsh (May 15, 2019). ''Twitter''. https://web.archive.org/web/20230408170940/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1128735398157594626. {{quotebox|If a 12 year old is raped by her father and the father takes her to get an abortion, the evidence of the crime will be destroyed and he will go on molesting his victim for years. If however the child is born, his crime will be discovered and she will be rescued from the abuse.}}</ref> This fails to make sense once one remembers cases like Josef Fritzl, who was not caught for his crimes for years despite fathering seven children from the incestuous rape of his daughter.<ref>[https://allthatsinteresting.com/elisabeth-fritzl-children The Horrific Story Of Elisabeth Fritzl’s Children, Who Were Fathered By Their Own Grandpa]</ref>

He bolsters such a terrible take with [[Planned Parenthood]] conspiracy theories such as linking to an article from a pro-life [[propaganda]] site that accuses Planned Parenthood of a sex abuse cover-up,<ref>Matt Walsh (May 15, 2019) https://web.archive.org/web/20230126132447/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1128737421368143873. ''Twitter''. Retrieved May 16, 2019.</ref> and again using the same website to claim that "[r]apists use abortion to cover their tracks and Planned Parenthood helps them."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220615170623/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1128801474446807042 Twitter post] ''15 May 2019''.</ref> He also claims that "[t]he deadliest southern border in the world is the birth canal".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220615170348/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1091040638886391813 Twitter post] ''31 Jan 2019''.</ref> Walsh wrote an article expanding on this idea and arguing people should call fetuses "undocumented infants."<ref>[https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-please-stop-killing-undocumented-infants-who-matt-walsh WALSH: Please Stop Killing Undocumented Infants Who Are Just Trying To Cross The Border Of The Birth Canal]</ref> Of course, given Matt has mocked the struggle of undocumented immigrants, him attempting to co-op the language of a movement he does not agree with in order to make his point just comes off as bizarre.

===Anti-LGBT===
====Transphobia====
{{cquote|The number of supposedly "trans" children and young adults is TEN TIMES HIGHER than the number among older generations. Do you think that's because a lot more people are born in the wrong body these days (whatever the hell that even means)? No, this is social engineering.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20230227072306/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1364640029490954243</ref>}}
Walsh is also very well known for his fervent [[transphobia]], believing that being [[transgender|trans]] is a mental illness<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220516005035/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1128711770980401152 Twitter post] 15 May 2019.</ref> comparable to [[schizophrenia]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220615174858/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/717209396527439874 Twitter post] 4 Apr 2016.</ref> stating that "[t]ransgenderism is a myth [[slippery slope|invented to legitimize]] sexual deviancy"<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20231023072724/https://twitter.com/mattwalshblog/status/707653373718372352 Twitter post] 9 Mar 2016.</ref> and advocacy of [[pedophilia]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220615174811/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1067825622318112768 Twitter post] 28 Nov 2018.</ref> claiming all trans people are narcissists,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220615170400/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/717358536473219072 Twitter post] 5 Apr 2016.</ref> blaming acceptance of trans people for suicide rates of trans people,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220615170418/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/834563998330798080 Twitter post] 22 Feb 2017.</ref> and considering trans allies to be "biology deniers".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220615174744/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/809848558853754880 Twitter post] 16 Dec 2016.</ref> He would "rather be dead" than have a transgender child.<ref>[https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/daily-wire-host-i-would-rather-be-dead-have-trans-child Daily Wire host: “I would rather be dead” than have a trans child], ''Media Matters for America''</ref> Despite claiming that trans people are caused by "social engineering", he also suggests (in response to an audience question) that people being trans could in fact be caused in part by "biological and chemical changes" from [[Big Pharma|modern medical drugs]] and [[genetically modified food]].<ref>(November 18, 2022). [https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/matt-walsh-claims-genetically-modified-food-partly-blame-existence-trans-people "Matt Walsh claims genetically modified food is partly to blame for the existence of trans people"]. ''Media Matters for America''.</ref><ref>Alex Bollinger (November 26, 2022). [https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/11/matt-walsh-says-gmos-turning-people-transgender-certain-extent/ "Matt Walsh says that GMOs are turning people transgender 'to a certain extent'"]. ''LGBTQ Nation''.</ref> For those keeping track: it ''makes zero fucking sense'' to suggest that transness or gender dysphoria are both purely social phenomena and also that there could be biological mechanisms for inducing them.

Walsh supported a bill banning the transitioning of teenagers, greatly simplifying it as [[Iron man|"a bill banning the genital mutilation of children"]].<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMm8UgnE3Hc Woke Leftists Defend The Genital Mutilation Of Children]</ref> He has also referred to gender-affirmation surgery as "surgical mutilation", accused the parents of transgender children of exploiting their children for attention and said that older children wanting to transition is difficult because it'll be "painful" to have to put your child into therapy.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2-nB2uZ9G4 WATCH: Mother DEFENDS Transgender Transition of Minors]</ref> He has also gone on record as stating that transition surgery should be illegal for everyone, also praising [[Russia]] for implementing that policy (along with a trans adoption ban) in 2023.<ref>https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/daily-wires-matt-walsh-says-he-supports-universal-ban-all-gender-affirming-medical-care</ref><ref>(July 26, 2023). [https://www.facebook.com/MattWalshBlog/posts/876926750456374?comment_id=1060685808245904 "Russia gets it right"]. Matt Walsh on Facebook. [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/BC8mG (Archived version)].</ref> If you were wondering whether he might also be against [[circumcision]] of newborn infants, he isn't.<ref>(November 4, 2013). [https://www.facebook.com/MattWalshBlog/posts/662273440472436 "I've written a few blogs about parenting..."]. Matt Walsh on Facebook. Note his responses in the comments as well. [https://archive.ph/VDX5I (Archived version)].</ref>

In one video for ''The Daily Wire'', Walsh likened gender-affirming care to sexual abuse, saying that "a child who is put on hormones and who has their body being mutilated is being sexually violated in a way that is just as depraved or damaging as molestation or rape", and [[Godwin's Law|compared doctors who care for trans children to Nazi scientists]].<ref>[https://www.losangelesblade.com/2021/05/26/the-daily-wires-matt-walsh-makes-extreme-attacks-on-trans-kids/ The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh makes extreme attack on trans kids]</ref> Such doctors, Walsh believes, should be executed or imprisoned for life.<ref>(February 2, 2023). [https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/daily-wire-host-doctors-who-provide-gender-affirming-care-should-be-executed "Daily Wire host: Doctors who provide gender-affirming care should be executed"]. ''Media Matters for America''.</ref><ref>[https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7z8eg/anti-trans-rights-matt-walsh-execution-teachers-doctors "The Far Right Is Calling for the Execution of Teachers and Doctors"] by Anya Zoledziowski and David Gilbert, Vice, 2023 February 22</ref>

In an act of staggering pettiness and audacity, Walsh rented a home in Loudoun County, [[Virginia]] because the school board meeting wouldn't allow non-residents of the county a place in discussing issues related to the school's residents and students. Despite having never lived in Loudoun County and having no family there who would ever attend that school's area.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20220106084801/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1441503734572277760</ref> The issue being addressed? Transgender people being able to refer to themselves as their gender, and requiring staff to use their consistently asserted gender when requests of the parents are given.<ref>https://wjla.com/news/local/conservative-matt-walsh-rents-loudoun-county-home-school-board-meeting-tanner-cross-transgender-pronouns</ref> In part of his speech, he shows some self-awareness saying that the school board are poison, and undermining his own ignorance as a science denier on transgender people by saying; “If education is not grounded in truth, [[Irony|then it is worthless]]. [[Psychological_projection|Worse, it is poison. You are poison!]]”<ref>https://youtu.be/vGx7QJ17IHg</ref>

In late 2021, Walsh wrote a children's "book", titled "''Johnny the Walrus''".<ref>[https://www.amazon.com/Johnny-Walrus-Matt-Walsh/dp/1956007059 Here is Amazon's listing of the book.]</ref> If you can guess what this book is about, given the section you are reading, congratulations, you have a brain. It's a story about a boy who imagines he is a 
girl
 walrus, and when the intertubes find out about it, they force him to go to the doctor to be surgically altered into a 
girl
 walrus. The most concerning thing about this book is that it implies men and women are as different from each other as humans and walruses, which is batshit insane. As part of a massive troll campaign, it ended up as the #1 LGBTQ+ book on Amazon, which would admittedly be kind of funny if it wasn't dedicated to spreading hate speech.

In early 2022, Walsh attempted to recruit transgender people into being part of an anti-transgender schlockumentary. It would've been successful if it weren't for PhD candidate Eli Elrick exposing the front on her Twitter account.<ref>https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1490799028401020932.html, [https://archive.ph/NDCUa archive.ph snapshot]</ref> Later, on June 1, 2022, Walsh released this [[schlockumentary]], titled "''What is a Woman?''", on The Daily Wire's subscription service. Like [[Vaxxed|other pseudo-documentaries]] [[Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed|proclaiming to speak the "truth,"]] "What is a Woman?" is practically a 1-and-a-half hour [[gish gallop]] full of utter [[bullshit]], [[pseudoscience]], and [[logical fallacies]].<ref>https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/06/what-is-a-woman-is-a-feature-length-exploration-of-conservative-ignorance-and-prejudice , [https://web.archive.org/web/20220716052644/https://www.currentaffairs.org/2022/06/what-is-a-woman-is-a-feature-length-exploration-of-conservative-ignorance-and-prejudice/ archived]</ref><ref>https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/in-what-is-a-woman-matt-walsh-asks-a-question/ [https://web.archive.org/web/20220715134615/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/in-what-is-a-woman-matt-walsh-asks-a-question/ archived]</ref> Like his usual delusional self, Walsh has proclaimed that the film [[Dunning-Kruger effect|cannot be debunked]] and that [[Delusions of grandeur|"The Left is terrified of the film"]].

In early 2023, Walsh testified at a committee hearing in support of a bill banning "child mutilation" (gender-affirming care). When asked for his qualifications, Walsh ignored the question to waffle about "chemical castration" [[Straw man|(a common and deliberate misrepresentation of hormone/puberty blockers)]]. He stated that trans people should not receive treatment until they're 25 when they are mature enough, but when asked if the age of consent and the age to buy firearms should be raised he said no, like that doesn't require maturity. He is noted to take much pride in the fact that he is totally unqualified to talk about these issues.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20230512230722/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1623462154820104193 Twitter post] 8 Feb 2023.</ref>

====="Inventing" transgender people=====
{{See also|Mistaking the map for the territory}}
On 23 June 2023, Walsh posted on Twitter:

{{quotebox|The trans agenda was invented by [[Poisoning the well|pedophilic psychologists, degenerate quacks, lunatic sexologists, literal Nazi scientists]], and other assorted deviants. A collection of the most despicable monsters imaginable came up with all of this stuff.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20230623025106/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1672035605369487362</ref>}}

In the thread, the people he lists who supposedly "invented the trans agenda" are: [[John Money]], [[Alfred Kinsey]], {{wpl|Volkmar Sigusch||,}} {{wpl|Magnus Hirschfeld||,}} and {{wpl|Erwin Gohrbandt||.}} The only one among these who was highly foundational to transgender medicine or activism was Hirschfeld. He still did not "invent" transgender people, but rather described their existence and treated them decently, something that was not very common yet. Hirschfeld was far from the first to do so however, as scattered case reports from throughout the 1800s of transgender experience survive today,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Crocq |first=Marc-Antoine |date=2021 |title=How gender dysphoria and incongruence became medical diagnoses – a historical review |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19585969.2022.2042166 |journal=Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience |language=en |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=44–51 |doi=10.1080/19585969.2022.2042166 |issn=1958-5969 |pmid=35860172 |quote=The person referred to as Case 99 (von Krafft-Ebing 1894; or Case 129 in the textbook’s 12th edition), a physician born as a male in Hungary in 1844, writes autobiographically: 'at the age of twelve or thirteen, I had a definite feeling of preferring to be a young lady ... I remember, when fifteen, to have first expressed to a friend the wish to be a girl. ... even on my marriage-night, I felt that I was only a woman in man's form.'}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|author=Parhi, Katariina |title=Boyish Mannerisms and Womanly Coquetry: Patients with the Diagnosis of Transvestitismus in the Helsinki Psychiatric Clinic in Finland, 1954–68 |journal=Medical History |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/medical-history/article/boyish-mannerisms-and-womanly-coquetry-patients-with-the-diagnosis-of-transvestitismus-in-the-helsinki-psychiatric-clinic-in-finland-195468/4AAF348710B3399F426B89FB6FF931F2 |volume=62 |issue=1 |date=4 December 2017 |doi=10.1017/mdh.2017.73 |quote=Early references to individuals who felt that their identity differed from their assigned sex can also be found in the Finnish medical discourse. In 1882, an article on 'contrary sexual feeling' was published in ''Finska Läkaresällskapets Handlingar'' [Proceedings of the Finnish Medical Society], the leading medical periodical. This was the case study of X.Y.Z., who suffered from hysterical fits and hallucinations and self-identified as male. The article referred to the studies of the German psychiatrists Wilhelm Griesinger and Karl Westphal and to the case of the pseudonym Numa Numentius, who also displayed ‘contrary sexual feelings’. According to the Finnish article, X.Y.Z.’s sexual feelings had been perverted since childhood, and this perversion had intensified during puberty.}}</ref> including some with an affirming approach.<ref>{{wpa|Lucy Hicks Anderson}}</ref><ref>(September 26, 1885). [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015485/1885-09-26/ed-1/seq-6/ "A Virginia Family With a Remarkable Characteristic."] ''Western Kansas World'', page 6 (via the Library of Congress). Provided by the Kansas State Historical Society.</ref> Hirschfeld and his staff more-so advanced the methods of an affirming approach (which could have been independently arrived at by anyone with a charitable view) than invented them; prior methods included simple [[castration]]. In 1921, a decade prior to the first known attempt at a full-on sex reassignment surgery, French scientist {{w|Edmond Perrier}} speculated whether surgeons might be able to switch someone's sex.<ref>(May 19, 1921). [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1921-05-19/ed-1/seq-24/ "Prof. Einstein's Clock"]. ''The Washington Times'' (1894–1939). Page 24.</ref><ref>(May 10, 1921). [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92051227/1921-05-11/ed-1/seq-7/ "Changed Sex of Lower Animal"]. ''The Bridgeport Evening Farmer'' (or ''The Bridgeport Times''). Page 7.</ref>

John Money was a [[conversion therapy|conversion therapist]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Green |first=Richard |last2=Money |first2=John |date=August 1960 |title=Incongruous gender role: nongenital manifestations in prepubertal boys |url=https://journals.lww.com/jonmd/citation/1960/08000/incongruous_gender_role__nongenital_manifestations.9.aspx |journal=The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease |language=en-US |volume=131 |issue=2 |pages=160 |doi=10.1097/00005053-196008000-00009 |issn=0022-3018|quote=Second, part of the successful rearing of a child is orienting him, from birth, to his biologically and culturally acceptable gender role. This, as far as we know, is best achieved by providing a relationship between husband and wife exemplifying these respective roles. It is too early to make any definitive general statements about the outcome of effeminacy in early boyhood. It appears, however, that there are some cases in which the condition is so firmly entrenched by middle childhood that it cannot reasonably be expected to disappear. Possibly there is a critical period in the earlier years in which effective intervention is possible. Otherwise, the therapeutic aim must be to ameliorate the condition as much as possible... and to do what is essentially a job of rehabilitating a chronically handicapped juvenile.}}</ref><ref>TransEssays (April 7, 2022). [https://medium.com/@TransEssays/conversion-therapy-on-transgender-children-fdf23e4a4340 "Conversion Therapy on Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children"]. ''Medium''.</ref><ref>David Allsopp (May 2, 2022). [https://medium.com/@davidallsopp/no-dr-money-did-not-invent-gender-55d245fc9757 "No, Dr Money did not invent gender"]. ''Medium''.</ref> whose brutally-failed<ref name="Swaab07">{{Cite journal |last=Swaab |first=Dick F. |date=2007 |title=Sexual differentiation of the brain and behavior |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1521690X07000334 |journal=Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism |language=en |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=431–444 |doi=10.1016/j.beem.2007.04.003}}</ref> experiment on David Reimer was intended to prove that gender identity was not innate<ref name="Swaab07"/> (a premise necessary for conversion therapy on transgender people to ever be successful). Money's abuse was exposed in large part by {{wpl|Milton Diamond||,}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Angier |first=Natalie |date=1997-03-14 |title=Sexual Identity Not Pliable After All, Report Says |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021094931/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/14/us/sexual-identity-not-pliable-after-all-report-says.html |access-date=2024-01-05 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Diamond |first=Milton |date=1982-04-01 |title=Sexual identity, monozygotic twins reared in discordant sex roles and a BBC follow-up |url=http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/biblio/articles/1961to1999/1982-sexual-identity.html |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |language=en |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=181–186 |doi=10.1007/BF01541983 |issn=1573-2800}}</ref><ref>John Colapinto (2013 edition; originally published 2000). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/As_Nature_Made_Him/wd633hMM2AAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=diamond "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl"]. HarperCollins. ISBN: 9780062278319</ref> a much more pro-trans<ref>Cristan Williams (March 4, 2012). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqU1IxEDxk "Interview with Dr. Milton Diamond"]. ''YouTube''.</ref><ref>Truth Wins Out (May 2, 2013). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmXZ65992Ik "Dr. Milton Diamond Discusses Transgender Research With Truth Wins Out"]. ''YouTube''.</ref> researcher who viewed [[Transgender#Biological contributors to gender identity|gender identity as innate]], and especially influenced by hormones in the womb.<ref>(December 7, 2000). [https://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/boyturnedgirl_transcript.shtml "The Boy who was Turned into a Girl"]. ''Horizon'' (''BBC Two'').</ref><ref>Jennifer Crites (January-June 2002). [http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/biblio/articles/2000to2004/2002-medical-change.html "Medical Change: Milton Diamond challenges gender reassignment"]. ''Mālamalama'', Vol 27, issue 1 (via The Pacific Center for Sex and Society).</ref><ref>Gerhard Schreiber (editor); Milton Diamond (2016). [https://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/biblio/articles/2015to2019/2016-transsexualism.html "Transsexualism as an Intersex Condition"], from "Transsexuality in Theology and Neuroscience: Findings, Controversies and Perspectives". De Gruyter. (via ''The Pacific Center for Sex and Society'').</ref> In contrast to Diamond's more affirming messaging, Money called transgender people "devious, demanding and manipulative" and "possibly also incapable of love".<ref>Matthew Wills (October 1, 2020). [https://daily.jstor.org/a-history-of-transphobia-in-the-medical-establishment/ "A History of Transphobia in the Medical Establishment"]. ''JSTOR Daily''.</ref>

Walsh cites the German sexologist Sigusch's coining of the term ''cissexual'' in the 1990s as a purported origin point for the term ''[[cisgender]]'', even though the term ''cisvestitismus'' had been used in German since the 1910s (see [[Cisgender#Etymology|Cisgender § Etymology]] for more information) and the term ''cisgender'' was independently coined in English in 1994.<ref>Avery Dame (May 22, 2017). [https://www.historians.org/research-and-publications/perspectives-on-history/may-2017/tracing-terminology-researching-early-uses-of-cisgender "Tracing Terminology: Researching Early Uses of 'Cisgender'"]. ''AHA Today'' (''Perspectives on History''). The American Historical Association.</ref><ref>Dana Defosse (February 18, 2023). [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-cisgender-means-transgender_n_63e13ee0e4b01e9288730415 "I Coined The Term 'Cisgender' 29 Years Ago. Here's What This Controversial Word Really Means."] ''HuffPost''.</ref> Gohrbandt (the 'literal Nazi scientist' referenced by Walsh) made little substantial contribution to transgender medicine, performing part of a small handful of surgeries on commission from Hirschfeld's Institute of Sex Research,<ref name="McCall"/> alongside one of the institute's in-house surgeons. Walsh does not even truly attempt to support his claim that Alfred Kinsey was foundational to transgender medicine or activism. Kinsey is known for his [[sexual orientation]] research, and Walsh cites his influence in [[sex education]], making his inclusion in the list strange.

Despite Walsh implying Hirschfeld was a Nazi, he died in exile because of the Nazis targeting him.{{efn|For a few reasons. He was Jewish, he was generally anti-racist, he advocated for gay and transgender people, and he advocated birth control access. All this meant he was beaten by far-right activists,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dynes |first=Wayne R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g7TOCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT418 |title=Encyclopedia of Homosexuality: Volume II |date=2016-03-22 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-36812-0 |pages=1168–1170 |language=en}}</ref> and even appeared as a caricature in ''Der Stürmer'' at least once. His institute was ultimately ransacked by Nazi stormtroopers.}}<ref name="HirschfeldOrigins"/>{{rp|8,14}} It is true that Hirschfeld advocated a form of [[eugenics]] (including, as Walsh says, against severely mentally disabled people),<ref name="McCall">Vivian McCall (March 20, 2024). [https://www.thestranger.com/queer/2024/03/20/79436234/yes-jk-rowling-the-nazis-did-persecute-trans-people "Yes, JK Rowling, the Nazis Did Persecute Trans People"]. ''The Stranger''.</ref> although he opposed the way it was applied by the Nazis. According to Ralf Dose: "The belief that public health could be improved through eugenic measures was at that time especially widespread among left-of-center physicians." Perhaps the most ironic thing here is that one of the groups who Hirschfeld advocated practicing eugenics against were in fact pedophiles,{{efn|Via the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, Hirschfeld also advocated for the age of consent to be sixteen, which was actually higher than what it was in Germany at the time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Janssen |first=Diederik F. |date=2018 |title=Uranismus complicatus: Scientific-Humanitarian Disentanglements of Gender and Age Attractions |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44862431 |journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=115–117 |doi=10.7560/JHS27104 |issn=1043-4070}}</ref>}}<ref name="HirschfeldOrigins">{{Cite book |last=Dose |first=Ralf |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Magnus_Hirschfeld.html?id=9eHOAgAAQBAJ |title=Magnus Hirschfeld: The Origins of the Gay Liberation Movement |date=2014 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-1-58367-439-0|language=en}}</ref>{{rp|77-78}} the people Walsh attempts to conflate with transgender people and their historical advocates in the medical profession. Many scientific fields began with glaring problems or imperfect advocates: or as [[H.P. Lovecraft]] put it, "no great discovery comes forth without attendant clouds of error & half truth."<ref>[https://github.com/punchmonster/Lovecraft-Letters/blob/master/19360916-Kenneth-Sterling.md Lovecraft's September 1936 Letter to Kenneth Sterling].</ref> [[Einstein]], [[Darwin]], [[Newton]], [[Aristotle]] — many fundamental contributors to science held some abhorrent or nutty views, or otherwise made factual errors. The founding father of modern [[dentistry]] advocated swishing your teeth with your own piss.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gardner |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4GJcAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA94#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?: Debunking Pseudoscience |date=2001-10-17 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-24503-5 |pages=94 |language=en}}</ref> Does that discredit tooth-brushing?

It should also be noted that actual Nazis, who blame transgender people on Jewish influence (a narrative which Walsh in fact partially feeds into by claiming trans people are "invented" rather than observed and described), also think Matt's statement makes no sense.<ref>[https://www.mediamatters.org/rumble/right-wing-dating-podcast-fresh-fit-embraces-holocaust-denial Right-wing dating podcast Fresh & Fit embraces Holocaust denial]</ref> Neither of the two groups Matt tried to connect think he has a valid point.

====Homophobia====
Walsh is anti-gay marriage, claiming that the legalization of gay marriage is part of a left-wing plot to destroy America by eroding and corrupting marriage via the legalization of sexual deviancy.
{{cquote|If gay marriage can be justified on the grounds that homosexuals love each other and wish to be together, then any other group may take that reasoning and, if it can be applied consistently to their situation, use it to gain the same rights. This is how logic works. [[Same-sex_marriage#Slippery_slope_arguments|An incestuous couple can use this reasoning same as gays, so can polygamists, so can bigamists]]. [[denial|This isn't a slippery slope argument. We've already slid down the slope, and now here we are]], in a place where legal marital rights can be granted to people based solely on their affections.<ref>[https://www.theblaze.com/contributions/yes-gay-marriage-hurts-me-personally Yes, Gay Marriage Hurts Me Personally]</ref>}}

He has also claimed that same-sex marriage is invalid [[Same-sex_marriage#Arguments_about_children_and_reproduction|because gay people can't produce children]] ([[Hypocrisy|despite having no problem with infertile straight people getting married]]).<ref name=YAF>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8SeSiNdiTo FACTS, LOGIC & MATT WALSH: Gay "Marriage" By Definition Cannot Be The Same As Real Marriage]</ref> In one article of his discussing how certain media outlets have reported positively on an incestuous relationship, Walsh argued that same-sex marriage and transgender people were worse than incest, polygamy, and pedophilia, writing:

{{quotebox|The campaign to normalize incest{{efn|Said campaign consisting of, according to Walsh, three articles.}} (sorry, “genetic sexual attraction”) is fully underway. But please don’t call it a slippery slope. There is no slope. Not anymore. We’ve slid down it. The invention of gay “marriage” and the mainstreaming of “transgenderism” were not stops along the slope, preceding things like incest, pedophilia, and polygamy. On the contrary, they were what happened when we got to the bottom. These are not the next frontiers. These frontiers have been traversed; we just didn’t notice it when it happened.<ref name=sliding>[https://www.dailywire.com/news/were-not-slippery-slope-were-already-bottom-matt-walsh WALSH: We Aren’t Sliding Down A ‘Slippery Slope.’ Our Culture Is Already At The Bottom.]</ref>}}

Walsh specifically calls out conservatives who are drawing the line at polygamy, writing that "At least a polygamous marriage can still be procreative, and at least there’s some historical precedent for it."<ref name=sliding/> Of course, we also have evidence of unions between same-sex couples in the ancient world.<ref>[https://lesbemums.com/lgbt/the-history-of-gay-marriage-from-the-ancients-to-gen-z/ The History of Gay Marriage: from the Ancients to Gen Z! [AD]]</ref>

Likewise, he opposes granting gay people the ability to adopt children, believing that homosexuality is a "sign from nature" that a person is unfit to raise a child.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U8Nx5S0QTk MATT WALSH IS INSANE | The Kyle Kulinski Show], YouTube, 07 December 2023</ref>

Walsh believes in the [[gay agenda]] conspiracy theory that states children are being brainwashed into becoming LGBT:
{{cquote|The number of kids who identify as LGBT, especially trans and bisexual, has absolutely skyrocketed. If you think this is a natural or organic development, [[irony|you're deluded]]. [[Conspiracy_theory|The media, Hollywood, and the school system]] [[Homosexual_agenda#Homosexual_recruitment|actively recruit children]] into the LGBT ranks.|||Walsh displaying his extremely 
logical
 bigoted and conspiratorial thought process<ref name="GayAgendaTheory">Maggie Baska (February 25, 2021). [https://www.thepinknews.com/2021/02/25/matt-walsh-lgbt-gallup-poll-ranks-media-americans-lgbt-twitter/ "Right-wing YouTuber Matt Walsh thinks kids are being ‘recruited into the LGBT+ ranks’. The backlash was swift and precise"]. ''PinkNews''.</ref>}}

He claims [[Homophobia#"Homosexuals choose to be that way"|you can change your sexuality]] and that the idea of gay rights is "preposterous and insane".<ref>[https://www.theblaze.com/contributions/gay-marriage-still-doesnt-exist-no-matter-what-the-supreme-court-says Gay Marriage Still Doesn't Exist, No Matter What The Supreme Court Says]</ref> He endorses [[conversion therapy]] as a method to achieve this, stating that it's a feasible method of changing one's sexual orientation since "no sane person thinks" there is any such thing as "homosexual infants".<ref>(October 10, 2023). [https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/matt-walsh-discusses-sexuality-babies "Matt Walsh discusses the sexuality of babies"]. ''Media Matters for America''.</ref><ref>Amelia Hansford (October 11, 2023). [https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/10/11/matt-walsh-daily-wire-conversion-therapy/ "Matt Walsh argues in favour of gay conversion therapy as he claims sexuality is a 'choice'"]. ''PinkNews''.</ref>

Walsh has also blamed the infamous Catholic Church scandal on "gay priests," a defense which could be viewed as homophobia, pedophilia apologia, or even both.<ref name=gaypriest/> (Even though the Catholic Church bars homosexual men from becoming priests,<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10248368 Vatican affirms ban on gay priests]</ref> but that is neither here nor there.)

Regarding gay couples' adoption of children or utilization of surrogacy, Walsh compared it to cutting children's arms off, going as far as to say that it's actually worse than that:

{{cquote|"It's far better for a child to be raised lacking one of his arms than to be raised lacking one of his parents. ... homosexual unions are sterile by their nature ... That is a sign from nature, about as glaring and obvious as signs as you can ever see, that gay couples are not meant to have kids.<ref>Donald Padgett (December 5, 2023). [https://www.advocate.com/news/matt-walsh-gay-parents "Matt Walsh Said Having Gay Parents Is Worse Than a Child Having a Limb Cut Off"]. ''The Advocate''.</ref><ref>Alex Bollinger (December 5, 2023). [https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/12/conservative-pundit-matt-walsh-compares-gay-people-raising-kids-to-cutting-a-kids-arm-off/ "Conservative pundit Matt Walsh compares gay people raising kids to cutting a kid’s arm off"]. ''LGBTQ Nation''.</ref><ref>(December 4, 2023). [https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/matt-walsh-its-far-better-child-be-raised-lacking-one-his-arms-have-gay-parents "Matt Walsh: 'It's far better for a child to be raised lacking one of his arms' than have gay parents"]. ''Media Matters for America''.</ref>}}

Soon after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Walsh went on his podcast and whined about how it was a result of the White House recruiting [[lesbian]]s into the military and therefore making it more feminine.<ref>[https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/02/26/ukraine-us-trans-rights-pride-tucker-carlson-matt-walsh/ No, really]</ref>

After a mass shooting at a gay bar in Colorado in November 2022, Walsh blamed the LGBTQ+ community for the shooting, going on a hateful rant about drag queens in which he claimed that drag shows were inherently sexual, and that drag queens who performed in front of children were pedophiles who are trying to [[Homosexual recruitment|make children queer]]. He stated that in order to end violence against LGBTQ+ people, drag queens should simply stop performing. <ref>https://www.thepinknews.com/2022/11/23/matt-walsh-colorado-springs-shooting-club-q-drag/</ref>

After CNN criticised the Kenyan president for his country's ban on homosexuality, Walsh accused them of [[molehill mountaineering]] and asked "What happened to respecting other people's cultures?".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220908125333/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1567855508844908546 Twitter post]</ref> One wonders if he would have the same attitude if it was Christianity that was illegal in Kenya.

====Miscellaneous====
Walsh's opinion on [[pansexual]]ity is about what you would expect, and then some. Here he explains that pansexuality doesn't exist, yet [[Cognitive dissonance|this thing that doesn't exist is also "scary"]]:

{{quotebox|Pansexual is not a thing. It's not real. It's also creepy... Pick a side. Okay? Pick a team. stopping indecisive. That's what pansexual really is... Other people have a right to know if they are potential objects of your sexual fantasies. And so that's why it's not fair to walk around and say, I'm attracted to anyone, anyone at all. No one's safe... Everyone's sitting around and they're all thinking he could be attracted to any one of us right now. Any one of us. It could be any of us. It's scary.<ref>[https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/matt-walsh-says-hes-frightened-idea-someone-being-attracted-anyone "Matt Walsh says he’s frightened by the idea of someone being “attracted to anyone”"]. ''Media Matters for America'', 8 August 8.</ref>}}

Regarding [[asexuality]], he calls it a "dysfunction of the brain" caused by "[[Spirituality|spiritual]] despair".<ref name="MarySueAce">Ana Valens (October 26, 2022). [https://www.themarysue.com/yes-christian-fascisms-anti-lgbtq-hate-extends-to-asexual-people-too/ "Yes, Christian Fascism’s Anti-LGBTQ Hate Extends to Asexual People, Too"]. ''The Mary Sue''.</ref> Coming from a mental illness denier, this argument is somewhat peculiar; it certainly demonstrates that Walsh is willing to weaponize the social stigma of mental illness against people he dislikes when it suits him. His statements, which were largely overlooked elsewhere, prompted extended responses from Annamarie Forcino and ''The Ace Couple''.<ref>Annamarie Forcino (March 27, 2023). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAkvWrB9tZ8 "Matt Walsh is Clueless About Asexuality"]. ''YouTube''.</ref><ref>(May 10, 2023). [https://theacecouple.com/episode085/ "Matt Walsh ALSO Hates Asexual & Aromantic People..."]. ''The Ace Couple''.</ref> ''The Mary Sue'' points out that his position could be interpreted as an extension of his Christian fertility fetish:

{{quotebox|Rhetoric of family and procreation appear in religious right criticism of platonic marriage and other ace relationship structures because, perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, sexless marriages challenge the [[nuclear family]] structure. In a society increasingly [[White genocide|obsessed with white birth rates]], there are plenty of reasons why a fascist Christian movement would want people to have as much procreative sex as possible. As long as the context is specifically controlled and religiously approved, that is. Otherwise, the more opportunities for those babies, the better, even if that baby’s existence has to be coerced out of others.<ref name="MarySueAce"/>}}

====Creepy Uncle Matt's hypocrisy====
[[Irony|Despite]] his constant fearmongering about the [[LGBTQ+]] community being filled with sexual predators, Walsh has [[Psychological projection|espoused a number of very creepy opinions regarding human sexuality]]. 

In response to the allegations of [[incest]] and child molestation leveled against reality star Josh Duggar and the eventual cancelation of his family's TLC show ''[[19 Kids and Counting]]'', Walsh all but defended Duggar in his May 2015 Blaze article "The Duggars aren't Hypocrites. Progressives are.", where he downplayed the accusations made against Duggar and claimed that because Duggar supposedly "repented long ago" for his "sins", what he allegedly did doesn't matter anymore while the Left and other "anti-Christian folks" (ignoring Christian leftists) are somehow "hypocritical" for criticizing the Duggars for how they covered-up their son's crimes and conservative Christianity as a whole for acting as the moral fiber of society when cases like this occur.<ref>https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/28/2125650/-Before-Matt-Walsh-led-anti-trans-campaigns-he-claimed-Josh-Duggar-only-committed-sins-not-crimes</ref> Two months after the article's publication in August of that year, Walsh seemingly reversed his stance in a [[Facebook]] post where he admitted he was wrong about "the Duggar situation" (his words) and realizing Josh Duggar was in no way sincere in his so-called "apology" to his family. Even here, Walsh still tries to handwave the seriousness of the issue, as he continues to refer to Duggar's crimes as "sins" and "mistakes" (as though raping children is an easily forgivable mishap that can be resolved merely through prayers and confessions) and stands by several portions of his essay, including part of it where Walsh justified Michele and Jim Bob's decision to hide their son's abuses from the authorities when they became aware of them.

In June 2021, Walsh reviewed a children's book intended to teach children about consent, with the message being not to show physical affection (such as hugging or kissing) without permission. Walsh dismissed the book as "woke" and called it "the worst one yet", and stated "I violate my kids' consent all the time".<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icPDEmizDAA Matt Walsh Reviews A Woke Children's Book (C is for Consent)</ref> (To be fair to Matt, he likely meant doing things like telling his kids to clean up after themselves and not the worst things possible, but that begs the question as to why he specifically called the idea of consent sexual earlier in the video. Even if you deny this means the worst thing possible, it still shows his own ideological incoherence.)

In a clip unearthed in October 2022 by [[Media_Matters_for_America|Media Matters for America]], Walsh stated that teenage pregnancy is not only acceptable, but ideal, as long as the girl is married. He stated that “girls between 16 to 24” are when they're "technically most fertile" (his words, not ours). In response to people being disgusted by these unearthed comments, ''The Daily Wire'' spent roughly $100,000 running ads defending him and claiming he was a victim of "[[cancel culture]]" due to the incident.<ref>Catherine Caruso (May 3, 2023). [https://www.dailydot.com/debug/daily-wire-matt-walsh-facebook-ads-teen-pregnancy/ "The Daily Wire is on a six-figure Facebook ad blitz to downplay Matt Walsh’s old teen pregnancy comments"]. ''The Daily Dot''.</ref><ref>John Russell (May 4, 2023). [https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/05/the-daily-wire-spent-100k-on-ads-defending-matt-walshs-vile-teen-pregnancy-comments/ "The Daily Wire spent $100K on ads defending Matt Walsh’s vile teen pregnancy comments"]. ''LGBTQ Nation''.</ref><ref>Kylie Cheung (May 3, 2023). [https://www.jezebel.com/daily-wire-blew-six-figures-on-ads-to-brush-off-matt-wa-1850400422 "'Daily Wire' Blew Six Figures on Ads to Brush Off Matt Walsh’s Comments on Child Rape"]. ''Jezebel''.</ref> He has also gone on record as stating that 13-year-olds are pretty much adults and called the concept of adolescence a "modern plague", [[Hypocrisy|despite also claiming that under-25's are pretty much children when talking about trans issues]]. He further stated that 17- and 18-year-old girls who are "still in high school … want, biologically and metaphysically and with everything in their body, they want to settle down, they want to start a family."<ref>https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/deleted-matt-walsh-blog-post-calls-concept-adolescence-modern-plague</ref>

In November of 2022, a clip of Walsh espousing some quite messed up views on rape and consent in general was unearthed by The Serf Times,<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm7Dm_26h4qkhlNCRJSctBw The Serf Times], YouTube.</ref> including of Walsh defending convicted or alleged child sex abusers such as defrocked Cardinal, Theodore McCarrick.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9PfeI3XIQ8</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9NApuQ8ekE Rant starts at 1:30 and is continued in the video, although interrupted by reactions from Seder and his co-host Emma Vigeland]</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20230901195332/https://twitter.com/theserfstv/status/1577500016494903298</ref> Walsh has defended American actor and convicted rapist Danny Masterson, arguing based on a highly inaccurate retelling of events that he was wrongly convicted. This was for seemingly no reason other than to make a point about false rape accusations which would then allow him to defend anti-establishment podcaster and disgraced former comedian [[Russell Brand]], who has also been accused of rape<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmTLftg78lU Matt Walsh DEFENDS Masterson Even After Conviction!!!]</ref> (Brand would also later be criminally charged over the accusations).<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/04/russell-brand-charged Russell Brand charged with rape and sexual assault], ''The Guardian''</ref>

===Racism and colonialism===
{{cquote|Should white men just build, maintain, and run their own airport? I'd be quite happy to use that airport, personally. I think most people would actually.|||Walsh in 2024<ref>[https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/matt-walsh-should-white-men-just-build-maintain-and-run-their-own-airport-id-be-quite Should white men just build, maintain, and run their own airport? I'd be quite happy to use that airport, personally. I think most people would actually.] (05/08/24 2:39 PM EDT) ''Media Matters for America''.</ref>}}

====Great Replacement conspiracy theory====
Following the {{wpl|2022 Buffalo shooting}} committed by a [[white supremacist]] against black people in a supermarket, there was public discussion about the shooter's belief in the [[Great Replacement]] conspiracy theory (a key motivation for the shooting); the conspiracy theory proposes not only that racial demographics are changing and that this constitutes "replacement" of white people (see also: "[[white genocide]]" theory), but that there is a plot to cause this to happen. Walsh responded to this by claiming that the "so-called great replacement theory … isn't a conspiracy theory. There's nothing wild or speculative about it. It's just a fact. And one of the ways you know that it's a fact is the left and the media — ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[CNN]] — they've been very open about it, many times. So if it is a theory — if the great replacement theory is a theory, then it's a theory propagated by the left."<ref>[https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/matt-walsh "Matt Walsh"]. ''Southern Poverty Law Center''. Quote: "Walsh hosts 'The Matt Walsh Show' on the Daily Wire and has written several books that promote anti-transgender pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. ... Walsh further cemented his rhetorical embrace of white supremacy when he espoused the '[[great replacement]]' conspiracy theory[.]"</ref><ref>(May 16, 2022). [https://www.mediamatters.org/daily-wire/daily-wire-host-says-white-supremacist-great-replacement-conspiracy-just-fact "Daily Wire host says the white supremacist great replacement conspiracy is 'just a fact'"] ''Media Matters for America''.</ref>

====Colonialism====
In 2023 Walsh released a video in which he stated that the people who colonised the United States were "heroes" who should be celebrated, and that the colonisation was an unambiguously noble action. In fact, the only kind of colonisation that he considers wrong is what he describes as "cultural colonisation...when Western governments fly the pride flag on their embassies and export the LGBT agenda and gender ideology into Africa and other regions that don't want it."<ref>[https://twitter.com/JasonSCampbell/status/1640429226724655105 Jason Campbell on Twitter: "Matt Walsh says, 'The conquest and colonization and settling of this land was, overall, a good and noble and courageous thing'"]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240113050645/https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1640429112941506560/pu/vid/790x436/LVk7wkfYdUMIg7aj.mp4?tag=12 (Archived video-only version)].</ref><ref group=note>Never mind that there is a long history of LGBTQ+ people existing, and in many cases being widely accepted, in various African societies. Ironically, it was Western colonialism that exported modern homophobia to Africa and led to decreased acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community.</ref> In other words, "Native genocide good, promoting LGBT rights bad".

====Genocide denial====
{{main|Genocide denial}}
Unsurprisingly, Walsh is a frequent denier of the [[American Indian genocides|multiple historical cases of ethnic cleansing of Natives in North America]]. He believes [[Andrew Jackson]] was a great man who deserves to be honoured,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220718103253/https://twitter.com/mattwalshblog/status/1354196383406968834 Matt Walsh on Twitter: "The question isn’t whether Harriet Tubman should be honored but whether Andrew Jackson should be dishonored. To that I say no."]</ref> in spite of his many crimes such as the {{wpl|Indian Removal Act}} and the destruction of {{wpl|Negro Fort}}.<ref>[https://arthurashe.ucla.edu/2016/07/27/massacre-unveiled-remembering-the-negro-fort/ Massacre Unveiled: Remembering the Negro Fort]</ref>

More recently, Walsh became an ardent defender of the Canadian [[residential school|residential schools]] in which hundreds of indigenous children were murdered,<ref>[https://www.livescience.com/amp/childrens-graves-residential-schools-canada.html Remains of more than 1,000 Indigenous children found at former residential schools in Canada]</ref> claiming that a mass grave is a completely normal thing for a school to have.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210714182219/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1415376094417588230 Matt Walsh on Twitter: "Yes, death among children was extremely common prior to the advent of modern medicine. That's probably why the schools had cemeteries. I'm really not sure why this concept is difficult to grasp."]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210714181621/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1415374589375418376 The RationalMedia Foundation apologizes for once again subjecting you to Matt Walsh's Twitter]</ref> He has also called the story a "nefarious hoax",<ref>[https://youtu.be/UgwrjM7ulCk Matt Walsh Excuses Native Genocide]</ref> thus putting his name next to that of asshole extraordinaire [[William Donohue]] on the list of people who claimed the deaths were fake news.

In November 2024, he released episode [[1488]] of his podcast, "Why We Should Stop Apologizing for Our History" that was a screed against indigenous rights and naturally had a lot of Nazis cheering him on in the comment section.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRylz8kHn4A Why We Should Stop Apologizing for Our History], Matt Walsh, ''YouTube'' 22 November 2024</ref>

===Mental health===
{{see also|Mental illness denial}}
====Anxiety and depression====
Walsh does not seem to believe in the theory that chemical imbalances substantially contribute to depression,<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20220615174912/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1019583626244222976</ref><ref>Walsh, M. [https://themattwalshblog.com/robin-williams-didnt-die-disease-died-choice/ Robin Williams didn’t die from a disease, he died from his choice].</ref> which it is strongly implied that he denies that [[antidepressant]]s can treat it.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcBQ05nh-vY Tom Cruise Was Right About Anti Depressants], Matt Walsh on YouTube.</ref><ref>https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/959220</ref> While claiming that [[suicide]] is a choice, he also claims that the notion of chemical imbalances causing depression has supposedly been "thoroughly debunked over and over again", then proceeding to cite how [[Big pharma|drug companies]] bring in hundreds of millions of dollars treating it, with Walsh not even bothering to explain how what is supposedly a lie can make companies that much money. 
{{collapse}}
{{video|youtube|https://youtu.be/qot8CfzLlKk}}
{{collapse end}}

====ADHD====
He is also an [[ADHD]] denier, trotting out the usual old canards of the "environment filled with distractions" and that, like depression, it's just an invention of Big Pharma (never mind the processes of what actually goes into DSM-5; it's not easy).<ref>@MattWalshBlog. (March 13, 2020). [https://web.archive.org/web/20220615170411/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1503045482280538119 "It’s insane that we’re diagnosing people (especially kids) with “ADHD” in a culture where ..."]. ''Twitter''. Accessed March 17, 2022.</ref><ref>@MattWalshBlog. (August 2, 2023). [http://archive.today/2024.01.13-044318/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1686813125213831178 "You don’t have ADHD. You just get distracted because you live your life surrounded by distractions ..."]. ''Twitter''. Accessed August 8, 2023.</ref> There's a bit of Boomer-esque griping about humanity's declining attention span, posted on Twitter, a site about short, shallow distracting soundbites. Never mind that {{wpl|History of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder|ADHD has a long history,}} having been documented since at least the early 18th century.

====DID====
{{collapse}}
{{video|youtube|https://youtu.be/yBdbaZTULlc}}
{{collapse end}}

Walsh's disbelief for DID primarily comes from a belief that some of the people who claim to have it are lying. One segment from 2022 sees him claiming that Shirley Ardell Mason of ''Sybil'' fame did not have this disorder, which he uses as a jumping off point to call the entire illness fake.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d6azjXMhSA TikTok Is Making Mental Illness Trendy]</ref> Although this is certainly possible, this also holds no relevance to if this specific disorder exists. All it would mean is that one person lied about having it. 

In 2012, both raocow and ProtonJon played a rom hack called Notte Luminosa at the request of the romhacker, named Yanama, who claimed to be dying from leukemia, even though this was a lie.<ref>[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TearJerker/Raocow Tear Jerker / raocow]
</ref><ref>[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Heartwarming/ProtonJon Heartwarming / ProtonJon]</ref> But this obviously does not mean that leukemia, which causes the death of over twenty thousand people a year,<ref>[https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/acute-myeloid-leukemia/about/key-statistics.html Key Statistics for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)]</ref> does not actually exist. It just means that Yanama specifically was lying about having it. In the same regard, one person lying about having DID does not mean DID does not exist, just that one person lied about having it.

===Authoritarianism===
Walsh shows many signs of being a wannabe dictator. He staunchly endorses stripping people of the right to vote if he considers them to be "ignorant" or "non-contributing"<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220615174856/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1137490328246726656 Twitter post] 8 Jun 2019.</ref> or feels that they "don't deserve it",<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0coTM5NOvpk Daily Wire Host Says Voting Isn't A Right | The Kyle Kulinski Show], YouTube, 25 Septemeber 2023</ref> and specifically only wants people to vote if they pay taxes and have passed an 8<sup>th</sup>-grade civics exam.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220817000815/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1137344564979744768 Twitter post] 8 Jun 2019.</ref> Walsh has accused activists who want voting to be universal of voter fraud,<ref>[https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/daily-wire-host-voting-is-not-god-given-right-to-be-shared-by-all-people Daily Wire host: Voting is not a 'God-given right' to be shared by all people]</ref> and tweeted that it should be easier to buy a gun than vote.<ref>[https://god.dailydot.com/gun-ownership-right-voting/ Right-Wing Pundit Claims “Gun Ownership Is A More Important Right Than Voting”]</ref> He also supports criminalizing [[adultery]], drag queen story hour, and [[critical race theory]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210924002351/https://twitter.com/mattwalshblog/status/1441099476697968647 "The Texas abortion ban is great. Every red state should copy it. But it shouldn't stop there. Stay on offense. Ban critical race theory in schools, ban gender theory, ban drag queen story hours, criminalize adultery. Do everything the Left fears you might do. Do it all and more."]</ref>

Not only did Walsh condemn businesses that required masks to be worn during the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], he believes that face masks should be made illegal.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220721225302/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1516866143159566341 Twitter post]</ref>

After Florida governor [[Ron DeSantis]] suspended an elected prosecutor for not prosecuting enough abortionists or gender-affirming care providers<ref>[https://reason.com/2022/08/09/ron-desantis-oversteps-his-authority-by-suspending-tampas-elected-prosecutor/ Ron DeSantis Oversteps His Authority by Suspending Tampa's Elected Prosecutor]</ref> and arrested several people for legally voting,<ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/06/ron-desantis-voter-fraud-police-details/ The revealing details of Ron DeSantis’s voter fraud crackdown]</ref> Walsh endorsed him for President explicitly because of his dictatorial actions.<ref>[http://archive.today/2024.01.13-044926/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1566942994095394822 Matt Walsh on Twitter: "DeSantis 2024"]</ref>

In 2023, Walsh called for the US government to arrest and imprison all suspected criminals without due process, championing the use of this approach in [[El Salvador]] and commending the country's use of inhumane prisons (in which torture and other human rights abuses are common). Walsh acknowledged that many innocent people would likely be caught up in this blatantly unconstitutional solution to crime but declared that it was worth ignoring the [[due process]] rights of ordinary people to deter people in [[San Francisco]] from shoplifting.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPjMJ7N46FA We Should Consider Dealing With Criminals This Way], The Matt Walsh Show, 23 August 2023</ref> He's also advocated for the use of torture against petty criminals and the execution of drug dealers.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KD1q7rKqKjw Matt Walsh's Fascist Mask Slips On Twitter | The Kyle Kulinski Show], YouTube, 25 January 2023</ref>

As a self-described theocrat, Walsh has defended the {{wpl|Spanish Inquisition}}, which he believes "gets a bad rap".<ref>[https://x.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1720802351483646157?t=zgBwzCGRniR5mwxLleUN9g&s=09 Social media post]</ref> He has not yet explained his reasoning, leaving us to conclude that he supports the persecution of all non-Catholic religions.

===Firearms===
Although he has quieted down in recent years about guns compared to his younger self, it's unlikely his views have changed, due in no small part to what he advocates would be acceptable punishment for petty criminals:<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20230514051147/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1617611007949668353</ref>

{{quotebox|Our Founding Fathers had very specific goals in mind that they wanted to accomplish. There wasn’t a generalized sense of outrage. It was, these are our goals we want to accomplish. And by the way, they were willing to back it up with guns and violent force. If you want extreme things to happen, you have to be willing to take — to go to extremes. … Everyone keeps bringing up our Founding Fathers. They were willing to pick up guns and kill people for what they wanted. A sign won’t do it. And calling your congressman won’t do it.<ref>https://www.losangelesblade.com/2022/10/04/matt-walshs-sordid-history-as-a-radio-host-exposed/</ref>}} 

After being called out for his horrific ideals by the public, he later doubled down on his radio show, saying things somehow more deranged than the aforementioned material:

{{quotebox|If you want extreme change, you must take extreme action… You have to make people hurt... we probably lost our republic after Reconstruction, not willing to do what they [the Founding Fathers] did.}}

Walsh said this implicitly criticizing the country’s first attempt at a multiracial democracy after the Civil War.

===Hit pieces===
Walsh spends much of his bandwidth attacking a handful of progressive figures, such as [[Bernie Sanders]]<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220615170321/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1224493236825346055 Twitter post]</ref> and [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]],<ref>[https://m.soundcloud.com/mattwalshshow/ep651 Ep. 651 - AOC Attends The Jussie Smollett School Of Victimology]</ref> and organizations that back progressive causes or, in some cases, simply do not hold positions as extreme as his own. Bizarrely, he has also repeatedly tried to smear [[Joe Biden]] and [[Kamala Harris]] as [[Red baiting|radical Marxist extremists]],<ref>[https://facebook.com/MattWalshBlog/videos/700159507544426/ Matt Walsh on Facebook]</ref> when a cursory look at their actual records and agendas would leave genuine Marxists sorely disappointed at best; in Walsh’s mind, everyone who doesn’t support the GOP is a commie, no matter how staunchly pro-capitalist they’ve always been.

===Defending insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt===
Walsh has compared unjustified shootings of black people to the shooting of Ashli Babbitt, a right-wing insurrectionist who was killed after charging a police officer while [[2021 U.S. Capitol riot|storming the U.S. Capitol]], calling [[Black Lives Matter]] hypocrites for protesting over the deaths of unarmed black people but not protesting over the killing of a white insurrectionist. He also [[Just asking questions|JAQed off]] during one of his videos on the subject, suggesting that the officer shot an unarmed woman out of partisan hatred for Trump supporters.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpeYbDL55IM BLM HYPOCRISY: Analyzing the Ashli Babbitt Shooting]</ref>

===Climate change denial===
{{main|Climate change denial}}
{{collapse}}
{{video|youtube|https://youtu.be/1gOgSjxv0hI}}
{{collapse end}}
In addition to the above video, Walsh has suggested without evidence that climate protestors are nearly all mentally ill, and responded to an incident in [[Panama]] where two protestors were shot dead in cold blood by [[blaming the victim]], saying that it was their fault for blocking the road and suggesting they had it coming.<ref>[https://twitter.com/MattWalshShow/status/1722693261561614791 Fed Up Man Shoots Climate Activists Blocking Highway], The Matt Walsh Show, 9 November 2023. [https://web.archive.org/web/20240113051055/https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1722690381899276288/vid/avc1/640x360/_4FKG_F9G1tLnyLQ.mp4?tag=14 (Archived video-only version)].</ref> In addition, Walsh has argued that [[Oxygen|ozone depletion]] and [[acid rain]] were never serious problems''.''<ref name=":15">{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Doug |title=Past environmental threats didn't just disappear |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/07/past-environmental-threats-didnt-just-disappear/ |work=[[Ars Technica]] |date=July 22, 2022 |language=en-us |access-date=July 25, 2022 |archive-date=July 23, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220723181021/https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/07/past-environmental-threats-didnt-just-disappear/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Vaccines===
{{cquote|How do doctors do whole entire surgeries while wearing surgical [[Face masks|masks]]? [[Placebo effect#Nocebo effect|I feel like I’m going to suffocate after wearing one for 45 seconds]].|||<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20220816191258/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1253783769972199425</ref>}}
Despite claiming to have "no stance" on vaccines,<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20220615175040/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1389632418479583236</ref> Walsh, in all seriousness, accused the ''Sesame Street'' character Big Bird of being a drug dealer with the voice of a '[[Psychological projection|child molester]]' for telling children to be vaccinated.<ref>[https://www.mediaite.com/podcasts/matt-walsh-slams-big-bird/ Matt Walsh Calls Big Bird a ‘Drug Dealer’ with the Voice of a ‘Child Molester’ for Doing CNN Town Hall on Vaccines for Kids] by Michael Luciano. ''Mediaite''.</ref> He also released a video in which he discussed why he refused to vaccinate his children against COVID-19, complete with a segment of him spreading [[FUD]] about the vaccine's long-term effects.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1-aAR1ljio Why My Kids Aren’t Getting The COVID Vaccine | The Matt Walsh Show Ep. 813]</ref>

===No fun allowed===
====Satanic anime====

In October 2022, Walsh argued that all {{wpl|anime}} programs (Japanese-animated cartoons) are [[Satanic]], in an effort to own the libs. He stated: "I have no argument for it. I have no argument for why it's Satanic. [[Truthiness|It just seems that way to me]]."<ref>Candice Ortiz (October 17, 2022). [https://www.mediaite.com/podcasts/matt-walsh-declares-anime-satanic-but-admits-hes-not-sure-why/ "Matt Walsh Declares Anime 'Satanic' But Admits He's Not Sure Why"]. ''Mediaite''.</ref><ref name="NewsweekSatanicPanic">{{Cite news |last=Carter |first=Simone |date=October 17, 2022 |title='Daily Wire' Host Who Called Anime 'Satanic' Blasted by Real Satanists |work=Newsweek |url=https://www.newsweek.com/daily-wire-host-who-called-anime-satanic-blasted-real-satanists-1752490 |access-date=February 3, 2023}}</ref> He later added that anime will "literally lead to [[demonic possession]] in upwards of [[PIDOOMA|87 percent of cases, studies show]]."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Loveridge |first=Lynzee |date=October 17, 2022 |title=Daily Wire's Matt Walsh Says All Anime is "Satanic" |work=Anime News Network |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2022-10-17/daily-wire-matt-walsh-says-all-anime-is-satanic/.190927 |access-date=February 3, 2023}}</ref> The [[Church of Satan]] was not amused with Walsh's antics.<ref name="NewsweekSatanicPanic"/>

This claim is especially stupid since there are some Christian animes like [[Superbook]] and {{wpl|The Flying House (TV series)|The Flying House|,}}{{efn|Those two were produced by Tatsunoko, a Japanese studio.}} as well as a few that contain Christian themes such as {{wpl|Trigun}} (whose creator, Yasuhiro Nightow, is even Catholic), and some anime doesn't even contain any fantasy or supernatural elements- for instance, {{wpl|Black Lagoon||.}}

====Recreational drugs====
Walsh is opposed to [[cannabis]] use, but supports [[tobacco smoking]]. His argument regarding this turns on an appeal to productivity, that is, if everyone smoked cannabis they would be less economically productive, and if everyone smoked tobacco they would be more productive. He adds: "Without a tobacco plant, this country doesn't exist. So it has been crucial, central to this country from its foundation. The same cannot be said for marijuana. Tobacco is as American as apple pie."<ref>(November 20, 2023). [https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/matt-walsh-societally-effects-cigarettes-are-actually-pretty-positive "Matt Walsh: 'Societally, the effects of cigarettes are actually pretty positive'"]. ''Media Matters for America''.</ref> However, if all he cared about was economic productivity, he would in turn need to reconsider his anti-LGBT,<ref>Keyvan Vakili and Laurina Zhang (March 23, 2018). [https://hbr.org/2018/03/research-legal-marijuana-and-gay-marriage-have-been-good-for-u-s-innovation "Research: Legal Marijuana and Gay Marriage Have Been Good for U.S. Innovation"]. ''Harvard Business Review''. (Of course, this particular research also directly contradicts his claim about cannabis and productivity as well.)</ref><ref>Kathleen Pearson (June 6, 2023). [https://www.shrm.org/executive/resources/articles/pages/hr-support-lgbtq-employees.aspx "Making the Business Case for Supportive LGBTQ+ Policies"]. ''Society for Human Resource Management''.</ref><ref>Scottie Andrew (June 2, 2020). [https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/02/economy/same-sex-weddings-3-billion-trnd/index.html "Same-sex weddings have boosted economies by $3.8 billion since gay marriage was legalized five years ago this month, a new study says"]. ''CNN''.</ref> and anti-immigration positions.

====Video games====
Walsh has argued a number of times that [[video game]]s are harmful; he refers to video games as a "sacred cow".

In 2018, he wrote a column for ''[[The Daily Wire]]'' titled: "Stop Pretending Violent Video Games Are Harmless Just Because You Like Playing Them". In this column, Walsh asserts that the claim "the level of violence on video games is really shaping young people's thoughts" is an "extremely logical and irrefutable argument"; he claims this right after stating that it is a [[straw man]] to claim that anyone "blames mass shooting {{sic}} on video games". He then argues that violent video games are not healthy for children (or anyone) to play, and anticipating his opponents citing studies that show no causal link between violent video gaming and real-life violence, argues: "You can cite the studies 'proving' that violent video games don’t contribute to violence in kids. I can cite the studies 'proving' they do. And we can go round and round, throwing studies at each other until it finally dawns on us that maybe some things can’t really be proven or disproved with a study." He then appeals to "[[common sense]]" as an alternative, and argues video games should only be played in moderation.<ref name="PretendW"/>

Then he insults people whose hobby is playing violent video games: "Your favorite recreational activity is to pretend that you are killing people. You probably will never kill a single person in real life, but it’s still not good; it’s still unhealthy; it’s still pretty disturbing that you find so much joy in simulated death and destruction. … [Violent video games and movies] feed the twisted part of [one's] brain that delights in ugliness. We all have that in us, to some extent, in one form or another. But we should not indulge the instinct. We should not embrace it and fuel it. We bring ourselves into dark places when we do. Even if the dark place does not involve shooting up a school, it is still a dark place, and it is better to be in the light. … Social media. Movies. TV. All of these things have interfered with our ability to react and respond like human beings. So, video games are not the only culprit. But they are a culprit. And for some people — the people who play a lot of video games, and especially a lot of very violent video games — they probably are a major culprit."<ref name="PretendW">Matt Walsh (March 9, 2018). [https://web.archive.org/web/20230504011353/https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-stop-pretending-violent-video-games-are-fine-matt-walsh "Stop Pretending Violent Video Games Are Harmless Just Because You Like Playing Them"]. ''The Daily Wire''.</ref> Thus he ends the column by making an argument which, at the beginning of the column, he claimed nobody ever made.

In 2019, he wrote another column, going further: he claims that most studies have showed a link between real-life violence and playing violent video games. He also argues that the "real danger of video games" isn't violence but instead "the same sort of danger inherent to television and to the internet. These things, if consumed immoderately, cause isolation and loneliness." However, he then turns around and states that: "The [[Sandy Hook]] shooter was obsessed with video games, playing them for up to ten hours a day. Gamers who suggest this fact is completely irrelevant and utterly disconnected from his eventual burst of murderous violence are defying common sense." He adds that he is not in favor of censoring video games, but rather parents "strictly regulating" how much their children play them.<ref>Matt Walsh (August 6, 2019). [https://web.archive.org/web/20230506023110/https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-real-danger-video-games-it-has-almost-matt-walsh "This Is The Real Danger Of Video Games. It Has Almost Nothing To Do With Violence."] ''The Daily Wire''.</ref>

====Yoga====
On the just downright silly side of Matt's opinions, he does not believe Christians should be engaging in Yoga, and expressed this view in an article with the headline "Yoga Is A Pagan Ritual. Maybe Christians Should Find A Different Workout Routine."<ref>[https://www.dailywire.com/news/walsh-matt-walsh-5 WALSH: Yoga Is A Pagan Ritual. Maybe Christians Should Find A Different Workout Routine.]</ref> Funnily enough, despite Walsh being a practicing Catholic, one of his sources is Albert Mohler, who has said the Catholic Church "is a false church and it teaches a false gospel."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130316235542/http://www.abpnews.com/faith/theology/item/8300-sbc-leader-denounces-papacy SBC leader denounces papacy]</ref>

===Homelessness===
Walsh believes that homelessness is a lucrative industry which allows [[Irony|homeless people to make hundreds of dollars a day]] and that the majority of homeless people are "crazy, violent drifters" who are homeless because they spend all their money on drugs.<ref>[https://www.mediamatters.org/matt-walsh/matt-walsh-complains-many-unhoused-people-make-more-money-people-work-minimum-wage-and Matt Walsh complains many unhoused people “make more money than people that work minimum wage and have been living in apartments”], Media Matters for America</ref>

==Stopped clock moments==
{{Main|Stopped clock}}
*Walsh has criticized [[Donald Trump]] numerous times.<ref>http://archive.today/2024.01.13-051351/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1021368235957063681</ref><ref>http://archive.today/2024.01.13-051554/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1040260750017744896</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20220615170602/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1042110298742775810</ref><ref>http://archive.today/2024.01.13-051808/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1084810933095018496</ref>
*He has criticized [[young Earth creationism]] and the belief that the word "day" in the book of Genesis absolutely must refer to a literal, 24-hour day.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG8JihEKrUI</ref>
*He supports restoring voting rights to convicted felons.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20220615170340/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1060163307422789632</ref>
*He has shown awareness of police brutality,<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20220615170400/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1070060706261807105</ref> making a surprisingly levelheaded, nuanced video<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v_mKEe_gfw</ref> where he:
**Admitted to dismissing the issue in the past
**Acknowledged that the hysteria surrounding the issue was not as prevalent as he made it out to be and that there are still concerning trends within the police force
**Dismantled common excuses that are often used to downplay or even excuse the issue.<ref group=note>However, he threw all this away by [https://web.archive.org/web/20211016173717/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1445442274893176840 claiming] that George Floyd died of a drug overdose and [https://youtu.be/dyKHBJuzTE8 using the police killing of Daunte Wright to make a point about female police officers].</ref>
*He criticized [[Nick Fuentes]] and even argued with him on social media.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20210307061807/https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1159107666930733058</ref>
*He knows the Apollo missions have happened and that humans have indeed flown to the moon. In light of this, he published a video criticizing [[moon landing hoax]] conspiracy theories.<ref>https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1752090483319263594</ref>
*Not a big fan of [[raw milk]].<ref>Matt Walsh (September 1, 2024). [https://x.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1830248695314759988 "Raw milk is disgusting. We live in a first world civilized society and people are actively choosing to consume milk riddled with E. coli and listeria. Pasteurization is not some evil sorcery. It just kills the dangerous bacteria you morons."] ''Twitter''. [https://archive.md/xgI9N (Archive 1)]. [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/dUqdu (Archive 2)].</ref>

==External links==
*[http://themattwalshblog.com/ Matt Walsh's garbage dump itself]
*''[http://antimattwalsh.blogspot.com/ The Anti-Matt Walsh Blog]'', a temporary blog dating from 2014 dedicated to documenting and refuting the views of Matt Walsh
*[https://youtube.com/c/MattWalsh His YouTube channel]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjPFQPK_1QM "The Sad, Unremarkable Mind of Matt Walsh - Part 1"], and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N09MXwF0Zs Part 2]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Matt}}
[[Category:Ableism]]
[[Category:ADHD denialists]]
[[Category:Alt-right activists]]
[[Category:Alt-lite]]
[[Category:Anti-abortion activists]]
[[Category:Anti-intellectualism]]
[[Category:Antifeminism]]
[[Category:Anti-vaccination movement]]
[[Category:Atheophobia]]
[[Category:Bloggers]]
[[Category:Catholics]]
[[Category:Clogosphere]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Crank magnetism]]
[[Category:Declinists]]
[[Category:Denialists]]
[[Category:Fascists]]
[[Category:Fundamentalists]]
[[Category:Genocide denial]]
[[Category:Global warming denialists]]
[[Category:GMO]]
[[Category:Great Replacement conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Gun nuts]]
[[Category:Homophobes]]
[[Category:Internet kooks]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Machismo]]
[[Category:Manosphere]]
[[Category:Mental health woo]]
[[Category:Paedophilia]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]
[[Category:Political pundits]]
[[Category:Racists]]
[[Category:Radio]]
[[Category:Right-wing activists]]
[[Category:Sexists]]
[[Category:Theocracy]]
[[Category:Transphobes]]
[[Category:Trolls]]
[[Category:Vatniks]]
[[Category:White supremacists]]
[[Category:Xenophobes]]
[[Category:YouTube]]

Categories: Ableism, ADHD denialists, Alt-right activists, Alt-lite, Anti-abortion activists, Anti-intellectualism, Antifeminism, Anti-vaccination movement, Atheophobia, Bloggers, Catholics, Clogosphere, Conspiracy theorists, Crank magnetism, Declinists, Denialists, Fascists, Fundamentalists, Genocide denial, Global warming denialists, GMO, Great Replacement conspiracy theorists, Gun nuts, Homophobes, Internet kooks, Living people, Machismo, Manosphere, Mental health woo, Paedophilia, Pseudoscience promoters, Political pundits, Racists, Radio, Right-wing activists, Sexists, Theocracy, Transphobes, Trolls, Vatniks, White supremacists, Xenophobes, YouTube