Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager

Credentials

  • Dennis Prager attended Brooklyn College and graduated with a double major in anthropology and history. From 1970–72, he attended the Middle East and Russian Institutes at the Columbia University School of International Affairs, however he left graduate school to write an introduction to Judaism.1Sara E. Karesh; Mitchell M. Hurvitz (2005). Encyclopedia of Judaism. Infobase Publishing. pp. 402. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

* Profile image of Dennis Prager speaking at CPAC 2016 in National Harbor, Maryland. Gage Skidmore [CC BYSA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Background

Dennis Prager is a conservative radio talk show host and author. Prager and his business partner Allen Estrin founded the conservative 501(c)(3) online media organization Prager University, or PragerU, which works to spread “’Americanism’ through the power of the Internet.” It promotes “conservative sound bites that clarify profoundly significant and uniquely American concepts for more than 100 million people each year.”2Madaline Donnelly. “How Dennis Prager’s Conservative Online University Reaches Millions,” The Daily Signal, November 4, 2015. Archived August 29, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/HQ7bD 3What We Do,” PragerU. Archived August 29, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/k6zGc

While it styles itself as a university, the website footer notes that “Prager University is not an accredited academic institution and does not offer certifications or diplomas.” According to a Rewire profile, “Dennis Prager, has historically fought against what he describes as ‘liberal’ evils—marriage equality, feminism, and multiculturalism.” The profile suggests that PragerU targets middle school and high school children.4Bria Shea. “Fracking Titans Spend Millions Proselytizing School Children,” Rewire, April 30, 2015. Archived August 29, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/SphpV According to PragerU’s 2014 annual report, a priority is to develop relationships with educators in “in college, high school, middle school and homeschools.”5“Thanks A Million: Make that Twenty-Four Million!” (PDF), Prager University, 2014.

Prager first began broadcasting on radio in 1982, and his show became nationally syndicated in 1999. From 1994 to 1995, Prager also hosted a national television show. Prager received an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine University. In October 1986, he was appointed by Ronald Reagan to the U.S. Delegation to the Vienna Review Conference on the Helsinki Accords.6Biography,” Dennisprager.com. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/E2FEL 7About Dennis Prager,” Creators Syndicate. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/bstpy

Prager, using one student as evidence, has voiced concerns that modern universities are producing a “a homosexuality-celebrating culture.”8College taught her not to be a heterosexual,” DennisPrager.com, April 19, 2005. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/PxRls He called campus rape a “gargantuan lie to get votes” by the “feminist left.”9NRO’s Dennis Prager: Campus Rape Culture Is A ‘Gargantuan Lie to Get Votes,’” Media Matters, October 30, 2014. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. He has said that gay marriage is a more important problem than the economy,10Dennis Prager Thinks Gay Marriage Bigger Threat Than Bad Economy,” YouTube video uploaded by user “heathr456,” April 12, 2009. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. describes climate change (as well as the prevalence of heterosexual AIDS) as “hysteria,”11Leading Australian Earth Scientist Debunks Global Warming,” The Dennis Prager Show, April 27, 2009. Archived December 24, 2010. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/in0G2 and claims that environmentalists “are more devoted to nature than to human life.”12Dennis Prager. “Environmentalism and Human Sacrifice,” Townhall, February 26, 2013. Archived September 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/XkLJl

Stance on Climate Change

PragerU

PragerU has consistently promoted videos by prominent climate change deniers including Alex Epstein, Bjorn Lomborg, Patrick Moore, and Richard Lindzen.13Environmental Science,” PragerU. Archived September 6, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/QvmDY One of PragerU’s most popular videos, claiming over 5.7 million views, features Richard Lindzen, and is titled “Climate Change: What Do Scientists Say”:14Climate Change: What Do Scientists Say,” PragerU, April 18, 2016. Archived September 6, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/ZbMvb

In a tweet pointing to two of Lindzen’s videos, including the above, Prager said:

2017

Talking on the Dennis Prager show, Prager described human-caused climate change as a “fraudulent, make-believe, created myth”:15Dennis Prager On Global Warming,” YouTube video uploaded by user “Audioburst,” January 12, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

“You know there’s not a grant that goes out from this government unless there is a tie-in to the fraud of global warming? Do you know how many scientists’ lives have been ruined by that fraud? That fraudulent, make-believe, created myth of global warming caused by man? Every research grant has to show a tie to global warming to be funded. 

Do you know how many young scientists’ and old scientists’ lives have been ruined because they wouldn’t go along with that? I would tell Donald Trump to reach out to them and bring the real scientists back into science and into medicine. So that America can see real science and real medical research again, not the Soviet-style science that has emerged under Barry Obama from Honolulu.”16Dennis Prager On Global Warming,” YouTube video uploaded by user “Audioburst,” January 12, 2017. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

2009

In an interview with climate change denier Ian Plimer, Dennis Prager describes climate change as “only the latest hysteria,” comparing it to what he describes as “the hysteria over heterosexual AIDS in America”:17Leading Australian Earth Scientist Debunks Global Warming,” The Dennis Prager Show, April 27, 2009. Archived December 24, 2010. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/in0G2

“To me, this is only the latest hysteria. I have lived through so many in my lifetime, that I don’t believe a single one has actually panned out. […] And then the hysteria over heterosexual AIDS in America, millions were predicted to die from it, Newsweek and Time were culprits there as they so often are. The popular media are spectacularly irresponsible, because hysteria sells and non-hysteria does not sell copy. […] If it turns out that global warming is a tragedy, then so I should be so judged. In the meantime, the President and others should be judged because they are transforming the American economy and therefore the world economy based on drivel.”

Dennis Prager on Covid-19

October 2021

In October 2021, after he was diagnosed with Covid-19, Dennis Prager said he had tried to get Covid-19 with the intent to “achieve natural immunity”:18Julian Mark. “Conservative radio host said he constantly hugged strangers to catch covid: ‘What I hoped for the entire time’, The Washington Post, October 19, 2021. Archived October 20, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/toY6K

“I have engaged with strangers, constantly hugging them, taking photos with them knowing that I was making myself very susceptible to getting covid,” Prager said. “Which is, indeed, as bizarre as it sounded, what I wanted, in the hope I would achieve natural immunity and be taken care of by therapeutics.”

October 2020

Prager previously appeared on his “Fireside Chat” in October 2020 to echo then-President Donald Trump’s sentiments to suggest people shouldn’t fear COVID. Prager claimed even the elderly had a “minuscule chance” of dying from it.19Fireside Chat Ep. 155 — Does COVID Dominate Your Life?” YouTube video uploaded by user “PragerU” October 8, 2020. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

Dennis Prager: [00:05:26] As of now, about 200,000…210,000 Americans have died of COVID. We will really not know the real numbers for a while because we really will know it based primarily on excess deaths. Because a lot of people are listed as a COVID death when they tested positive for COVID, but may have died of a heart attack or something else.

But anyway, let’s even say that it is that number. You know, about 700,000 Americans, I think that’s the number, say, 600,000 just to be safe, die each year of heart disease. Now why should we not allow fear of heart disease, which kills more than three times the number of people each year that COVID has? Why shouldn’t we allow that to dominate our life? Because it happens every year, whereas the virus doesn’t happen every year? That’s the only reason I could think of. [00:06:28]

[00:06:27] And at what number should it dominate our lives, and by the way, why should it dominate the lives of anybody under 70 or under 80? Your chances of dying of COVID under 70 are miniscule, just miniscule. So why why would it dominate your life? [00:06:47]

Dennis Prager: [00:07:00] There are a lot of people in the medical profession and of course, in the media who think it’s good to frighten people. This is astonishing to me.

You know, I often contrast this world to the value system that I inherited from what we call the Judeo-Christian tradition. Do you know that the you know what God says the most in the Old Testament? And I was probably in the Bible, including the New Testament. What God says the most to human beings. The phrase or the statement, God says by far the most: do not fear. [00:07:47]

Dennis Prager: [00:07:50] The fear it leads you to irrationality. I have no issue with people wearing masks as I do when I go indoors. But outdoors, especially when you’re not in a very condensed crowd, is simply irrational. It’s the function of irrationality, which is a product of fear because the fear is irrational. Why don’t I fear it? I love life, I don’t want to die. But why don’t I fear it? Because the chances of my contracting have been dying from it, even at my age, are miniscule. That’s why. So I don’t want I want to live life, I don’t want to only be safe. [00:08:33]

Dennis Prager: [00:09:35] Thousands of scientists don’t agree with the lockdown, but they don’t follow them. Thousands of scientists believe in hydroxychloroquine, but they’re not even allowed to be on Twitter or on Facebook. They’re taken down. Scientists! It’s not true about “follow the science.” Most science, by the way, has actually been furthered by lone voices or lonely or minority voices. Thank God for those voices. Isn’t that why you go for a second opinion? [00:10:08]

August 6, 2020

In a “Fireside Chat” episode entitled “The Left Is Weaponizing Medicine,” Prager promoted Hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid.

Dennis Prager: [00:01:35] Anyway, this one is it is addressing an issue of the moment that is very, very, very disturbing to me, and that is the the mockery of all doctors who believe that hydroxychloroquine and zinc, and the zinc part is very important, but that hydroxychloroquine and zinc can help people the very earliest stages of COVID. [00:02:03]

Dennis Prager: [00:02:39] You know, people who say better safe than sorry don’t seem to apply it to hydroxychloroquine. Hydroxychloroquine is completely safe. It’s been used for over 50 years. There are people who take it for decades. It is taken by anybody who goes to a place where there’s malaria, and if nothing happens, it’s probably in the final analysis as safe as as aspirin. [00:03:08]

Dennis Prager: [00:03:58] The reason for the the opposition, which is overwhelmingly on the left, is politics. It is the hatred of Donald Trump, who recommended it early on. Just mentioned that in a news conference that he that he heard it. It’s it’s helpful. This caused people who hate Donald Trump more than they love human beings to go crazy over the issue. It’s hysteria. [00:04:28]

Dennis Prager: [00:04:44] Russian collusion with the Trump campaign turned out to be hysteria based on a lie. So we go from hysteria to hysteria. This hysteria over global warming. I don’t deny that the Earth is getting warmer. I don’t deny that burning fossil fuels is is an element in it. But I do deny that the Earth is coming to an end, that this is an existential threat to humanity that demands the radical reorientation of of all of our economies. [00:05:14]

And especially, I know it’s a phony issue because they don’t recommend to nuclear power. Nuclear power is not, is not fossil based and it’s it’s extremely safe and it works anyway. We’re living through another hysteria, the hysteria over hydroxychloroquine.

Dennis Prager: [00:07:53] And now the ridicule of the doctors who who went to Washington, and after 18 million views, I think it was, was it 18 million or 14 million? I thought it was the largest number of views of something like that within a few hours. And then they took it off. Do you know that Prager U does not have a Twitter account? We have been banned from Twitter because we simply retweeted the the news conference of these doctors. [00:08:25]

April 14, 2020

Prager wrote a column at Townhall arguing against lockdowns for Covid-19, suggesting they were not necessary to reduce loss of life.20Dennis Prager. “Has the Lockdown Worked?Townhall, April 14, 2020. Archived October 20, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/aiGLI

“As I explained in my last column, modern men and women have substituted ‘experts’ for prophets and priests. Science is the secular religion, and ‘experts’ are its prophets and priests,” Prager wrote. “[O]n what grounds are we to believe that millions would die without ruining the American — and the world’s — economy? Without our being told by an omniscient God, there is no way to know the definitive answer.”

He added: “The number of confirmed infected people is meaningless, since so few people anywhere have been tested for the virus, and we don’t know how many people already had the virus and never knew it. (Moreover, asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic carriers of the virus constitute the majority of those infected.)”

Prager compared death rates from the US to France, suggesting the numbers disprove the effectiveness of lockdowns. He then used Sweden as an example:

“Yes, Sweden’s death rate per 1 million is higher than its Scandinavian neighbors, Norway and Denmark, which did lock down their economic life. But as of the latest report, in the past two days, Sweden, which has almost exactly the same number of people as Denmark and Norway combined, lost 20 of its citizens to the coronavirus, while its neighbors lost 18.”

Prager concluded:

“The left blames President Donald Trump for our crisis (as if only America is undergoing economic ruin and loss of life).

“If they were honest, they would blame reliance on ‘experts’ and ‘modeling.’ But they hate Trump more than they love Americans — or truth.”

March 12, 2020

Prager compared Covid-19 to the Flu on episode 125 of his “Fireside Chat”, where in the same episode he described the danger to smoking cigars as “minuscule because it is not a cigarette”:

Dennis Prager: [00:01:52] About 30 people, they say, have died from from the Corona virus. And I don’t agree, for example, about closing down schools, universities, all public events. I don’t support that, as it happens, I think kids should continue to go to school. [00:02:12]

Dennis Prager: [00:03:09] So why don’t I agree with the school closings, for example? Why aren’t I panicked over this as as so many are, and as the media are and others are? And the answer is it’s philosophical. [00:03:32]

Dennis Prager: [00:05:04] As of this moment, 30 Americans have died of the Coronavirus. Maybe by the time you see this, you know in a day or two with this or next week, whenever you watch it, it may be more than that, but it’s 30. Now, do you know the number of Americans that have died this season—and it’s not over, the flu season—this season from the flu? According to the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control in the United States, 34,000 approximately 34,000 Americans have died of the flu. Last year, over fifty thousand Americans, according to the CDC, died of the flu. Why was there no panic over that? I don’t think you have a very good answer to that question. [00:05:47]

Dennis Prager: [00:06:13] Why are we getting numbers on the Coronavirus but not numbers on the flu? When the numbers are so much greater? Well, you’ll say, well, because this could lead to something far greater than than the flu. But that’s what I heard in the past about SARS and about the swine flu and about other outbursts of viruses that have taken place. But none of them led to anything catastrophic. [00:06:42]

Dennis Prager: [00:11:02] But but. There are there are risks that are so minuscule compared to the benefit, like a visit to Israel, like going to class. I mean, I think people should go to class. I think people should go to meetings. People should live life normally. Yes. Wash your hands more often. That’s fine. I’ll give you an I give you another example, my trusty cigar. OK, so we always get some letters. I can’t believe it. [00:11:35]

Dennis Prager: [00:11:36] You know, you smoke cigars. The risk of in cigar smoking is so minuscule because it is not a cigarette. You don’t inhale a cigar. It is done for taste, not for nicotine. So I have enjoyed this since I was 16 years of age. [00:11:53]

Dennis Prager: [00:11:54] Just. One of the. Delights of my life. And in other words, the ratio of the joy versus the risk is so gigantic that all I opt for the joy. [00:12:12]

The above are just a few examples of Prager’s statements on Covid. Example episodes from Prager’s “Fireside Chat” below:

Dennis Prager & Feminism

Prager has called the campus rape culture a “gargantuan lie to get votes” and “nonsense” promoted by the “feminist left.” According to Prager, women today “whose identities are wrapped up in being a feminist are nearly all dummies.”21Dennis Prager. “Feminism and Intelligence,” Townhall, May 16, 2017. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/wNBc6 Speaking with Breitbart, Prager claims that universities now “have whole departments of nonsense, like Gender Studies and Women’s Studies” and that “It’s the most anti-intellectual place in the country. It’s a very big problem.”22Exclusive – Adam Carolla and Dennis Prager Talk Smashing the Left’s ‘Safe Spaces’: ‘When You Confront the Cowards, They Flee’,” Breitbart, May 25, 2017. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/nB9xk

Hear audio below of Prager talking about feminism, via Media Matters, from an October 28, 2014 “Restore America” rally:23NRO’s Dennis Prager: Campus Rape Culture Is A ‘Gargantuan Lie to Get Votes,’” Media Matters, October 30, 2014. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

According to Prager, “feminism […] is the most mislabeled movement. It is actually masculinism.”24NRO’s Dennis Prager: Campus Rape Culture Is A ‘Gargantuan Lie to Get Votes,’” Media Matters, October 30, 2014. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

Prager has been criticized25Megan Carpentier. “Dennis Prager Still Thinks Women Should Just Give It Up Already,” Jezebel, December 30, 2008. Archived August 30, 2017. by feminists26Megan Carpentier. “Conservative Dennis Prager Knows It’s Not Rape If His Wife ‘Submits’,” Jezebel, December 23, 2008. Archived August 30, 2017. and also accused by one Daily KOS author for endorsing “marital rape.”27Dennis Prager Endorses Marital Rape,” Daily KOS, December 26, 2008. Archived October 20, 2021. Archive URL:https://archive.ph/kVyLq The accusation arose from a December 23, 2008 column written by Prager titled ”When a Woman Isn’t In the Mood, Part I,” which contained the following paragraph:

“It is an axiom of contemporary marital life that if a wife is not in the mood, she need not have sex with her husband. Here are some arguments why a woman who loves her husband might want to rethink this axiom.”

A second Daily KOS author reviewed Prager’s full column and concluded he was ”NOT advocating marital rape,” and that the first accusation was not justified. “What I see Prager saying is that a loving wife will CONSENT to a man’s request for sex even if she doesn’t feel like it,” the author writes.28No, Prager is NOT Advocating Marital Rape,” Daily KOS, December 26, 2008. Archived August 30, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/N59zw

Prager wrote a second column titled “When a Woman Isn’t In the Mood: Part II,” which added:29Dennis Prager. “When a Woman Isn’t In the Mood: Part II,” Townhall, December 30, 2008. Archived September 6, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/A2Eao

“In Part I, I made the argument that any woman who is married to a good man and who wants a happy marriage ought to consent to at least some form of sexual relations as much as possible. (Men need to understand that intercourse should not necessarily be the goal of every sexual encounter.)

In Part II, I advance the argument that a wife should do so even when she is not in the mood for sexual relations,” Prager begins. He then outlines “eight reasons for a woman not to allow not being in the mood for sex to determine whether she denies her husband sex.”

PragerU also posts videos on feminism. For example, one video features conservative radio commentator Tammy Bruce in a course titled “Feminism 2.0” According to the video, women have men to thank for feminist progress:30Feminism 2.0,” PragerU, February 10, 2014.

It is easy for feminists to forget this, but it was men who gave up their monopoly on political power and gave women the right to vote,” Bruce says in the video. “Men who invented birth control, the refrigerator, the washing machine, and so many other devices that liberated women.”

PragerU features a number of videos by Christina Hoff Sommers of the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) including a video claiming “There is No Gender Wage Gap31There Is No Gender Wage Gap,” PragerU, March 6, 2016. and a similarly titled video on “The Myth of the Gender Wage Gap“ (AKA “Feminism vs. Truth”),32The Myth of the Gender Wage Gap,” PragerU, September 22, 2014. and another video titled the “War on Boys.”33War on Boys,” PragerU, May 19, 2014.

In another PragerU video, Dennis Prager argues that “The power of the visual to excite men has no analogue in women.”34He Wants You,” YouTube video uploaded by user “PragerU,” March 2, 2015. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog. Prager also pointing to another video on the subject, titled “Men and the Power of the Visual.“35Men and the Power of the Visual,” YouTube video uploaded by user “PragerU,” January 28, 2016. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

Prager, who has denied the existence of a campus rape problem, also claims that being falsely accused of rape could be just as bad or worse than the actual act of rape:36Dennis Prager. “The Rape of a Name Is Also Rape,” Creators.com, June 25, 2007. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/7DmxN

“The rape of a name can be as vicious a crime and as destructive an act as the rape of a body. Sometimes the rape of a body is worse, sometimes the rape of a name is worse. But they are both rapes,” he wrote.37Dennis Prager. “The Rape of a Name Is Also Rape,” Creators.com, June 25, 2007. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/7DmxN

Prager has further argued that feminism is a root of depression in women:38Dennis Prager. “Why Are So Many Women Depressed?Townhall, June 24, 2008. Archived May 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/bLedJ

“So, while society continued to teach boys to control themselves, it stopped teaching girls to do so. Girls’ emotions and feelings were inherently valuable. And denying this was attacked as sexist, if not misogynistic.

“Consequently, the women many of these girls grew into lacked the ability to control their natures, to control their emotions, or their moods, and therefore lacked the facility to engage in the self-control necessary for happiness and the avoidance of depression.

“Another aspect of feminism that has probably contributed to many women’s unhappiness was the rejection of femininity.”

Key Quotes

July 2016

Dennis Prager spoke at the Western Conservative Summit, where he claimed that “the left has a monopoly on hysteria” with examples including “heterosexual AIDS” and campus rape:39Robert Mainville. “Dennis Prager: ‘Heterosexual AIDS’ And Campus Rape Are Liberal Lies,” Right Wing Watch, October 17, 2016. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/6hEEI

“The left has a monopoly, almost a monopoly, on hysteria,” he said. “And I will just give you a few examples of the hysterias of your lifetime. One was heterosexual AIDs in America. Do you remember that? when we were told by Time and Newsweek and The New York Times, remember when they said AIDS doesn’t discriminate? Well, that was a lie. AIDS does discriminate. It happens to attack in America—and I emphasize in America— overwhelmingly, gay men and intravenous drug users and his partners. You know the group least likely to get AIDS? Gay women. So it can’t be homophobic to say the truth.”

June 2016

Speaking in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Prager likened voting for Donald Trump to dropping the atom bomb:40Moral Demand of Our Time Trump’s Only Saving Grace?CBN News, June 17, 2016. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/24ILc

“We dropped two atom bombs over Japan,” Prager said. “Why? Because the context morally demanded it and the moral demand in our time in America is the defeat of the Left.”

In September 2016, Prager described Trump as “chemotherapy” for the “cancer” of the left:41Dennis Prager. “NeverTrump, NeverHillary and the ‘Principles’ Question,” Stream, September 7, 2016. Archived November 6, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/1ouAQ

“[L]eftism is a terminal cancer in the American bloodstream and soul. So our first and greatest principle is to destroy this cancer before it destroys us. We therefore see voting for Donald Trump as political chemotherapy needed to prevent our demise.”

April 21, 2015

Prager, a guest on the Glenn Beck radio program, said that the reason for California’s historic drought was that the state had been worshipping false gods:42Kyle Mantyla. “Dennis Prager Blames California Drought On ‘Worship Of Nature’,” Right Wing Watch, April 21, 2015. Archived September 6, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/zWNLm

“Where I live in Southern California, the reason we have no water is not because of drought, it is because of the worship of nature. For example, the incredible amount of water that is taken from humans in order to save some six-inch fish. This is the worship of nature.”

March 2015

Talking on the Glenn Beck Show, Prager said that he used to be liberal but “left the left”:43Miranda Blue. “Dennis Prager: ‘The Left Doesn’t Hate Evil, The Left Hates Carbon Emissions’,” Right Wing Watch, March 19, 2015. Archived September 6, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/An0Dl

They didn’t hate communism. They hated Reagan more than Brezhnev,” he said. “I said, ‘I can’t be here. I hate evil. They don’t hate evil.’ The left doesn’t hate evil, the left hates carbon emissions.”

February 2014

Speaking with The Christian Post, Prager declared:44Audrey Barrick. “America Is in Aberration, Says Radio Host,” The Christian Post, February 3, 2014. Archived September 6, 2016. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/rpuVZ

“You don’t need a liberal religion,” he said. “It exists. Leftism is a religion. It even has a Bible – the editorial page of your newspaper (The New York Times).”

November 2010

Writing at Townhall, Prager argued that higher self-esteem may be undesirable and encourage “criminality”:45Dennis Prager. “Want To Raise a Good Person? Stop Nurturing Your Child’s Self-Esteem,” Townhall, November 30, 2010. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/zqit5

“[T]he self-esteem movement officially launched by California in 1986 has been at best silly and at worst injurious to society,” Prager wrote. “There is no correlation between goodness and high self-esteem. But there is a correlation between criminality and high self-esteem. […] Yes, people with high self-esteem are the ones most prone to violence.”

Prager wrote that high self-esteem in children can “produce a less moral individual”: 

“High self-esteem in children does not produce good character, and in fact is likely to produce a less moral individual,” Prager wrote.

July 2009

Writing at TownHall, Prager claimed that “America’s only hope” lies in exposing “the danger of the left”:46Dennis Prager. “Americans Are Beginning to Understand the Left,” Townhall, July 21, 2009. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/U170b

“There is only one good thing about the Obama administration’s attempts to nationalize most health care and to begin to control Americans’ energy consumption through cap-and-trade: clarity about the left. These attempts are enabling more and more Americans to understand the thinking and therefore the danger of the left,” Prager wrote.

“ Right now, America’s only hope of staying American rather than becoming European lies in making these principles as clear as possible to as many Americans as possible. The left is so giddy with power right now, we actually have a chance.”

2009

Speaking on CNN, Prager said that gay marriage was a more important issue than the economy:47Dennis Prager Thinks Gay Marriage Bigger Threat Than Bad Economy,” YouTube video uploaded by user “heathr456,” April 12, 2009. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

“I don’t think that the press covers always what’s most important. Because, honestly, whatever side you’re on, I can’t think frankly of a more important issue even including the economy, than the definition of marriage.”

March, 2004

In a column at TownHall, Prager wrote:48Dennis Prager. “San Francisco and Islamists: Fighting the same enemy,” Townhall, March 2, 2004. Archived October 10, 2004. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/OL2YJ 49San Francisco and Islamists: Fighting the same enemy,” The Dennis Prager Show, March 2, 2004. Archived September 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/n53yG

“America is engaged in two wars for the survival of its civilization. The war over same-sex marriage and the war against Islamic totalitarianism are actually two fronts in the same war — a war for the preservation of the unique American creation known as Judeo-Christian civilization.

“One enemy is religious extremism. The other is secular extremism.

“One enemy is led from abroad. The other is directed from home.”

1993

n a 1993 essay, Prager strongly rejects homosexuality. He wrote:50Dennis Prager. “Judaism’s Sexual Revolution: Why Judaism (and then Christianity) Rejected Homosexuality,” Crisis 11, no. 8 (September 1993). Republished at Catholiceducation.org. Archived June 5, 2004. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/PbWSL

“Judaism cannot make peace with homosexuality because homosexuality denies many of Judaism’s most fundamental principles. It denies life, it denies God’s expressed desire that men and women cohabit, and it denies the root structure that Judaism wishes for all mankind, the family.”

Without citing a source, Prager also notes, “While the typical lesbian has had fewer than ten ‘lovers,’ the typical male homosexual in America has had over 500. […] Men, not women, are sexually sadistic. The indiscriminate sex that characterizes much of male homosexual life represents the antithesis of Judaism’s goal of elevating human life from the animal-like to the Godlike.”

Key Actions

Jan 7, 2021

On Jan. 7, 2021, one day after the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, The Dennis Prager Show posted a YouTube video titled “Biden’s Massive Lie: Black Lives Matter Would Have Been Treated Differently.” He called the insurrection “despicable and equally stupid.”51Biden’s Massive Lie: Black Lives Matter Would Have Been Treated Differently,” YouTube video uploaded by user “The Dennis Prager Show,” January 7, 2021. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

Prager then says [2:06] : “[Biden said] that had this been Black Lives Matter that they would have been treated much worse. That is as close to a pure lie as I can actually imagine a pure lie being. The pro-BLM and BLM protesters this year, month after month, burning after burning, burning after burning, looting after looting, destruction after destruction, car after car, police car burned after police car burned, and what exactly was done against these people? Joe Biden lied now, a greater and more destructive lie than any of the alleged lies of Trump for 4 years.”52Biden’s Massive Lie: Black Lives Matter Would Have Been Treated Differently,” YouTube video uploaded by user “The Dennis Prager Show,” January 7, 2021. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

I would like to know how BLM protesters have been more violently treated,” Prager says, referring to the Black Lives Matter movement, which emerged in response to deadly police violence against Black people in the US.53Biden’s Massive Lie: Black Lives Matter Would Have Been Treated Differently,” YouTube video uploaded by user “The Dennis Prager Show,” January 7, 2021. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

April 2017

Dennis Prager and comedian Adam Carolla began filming a movie parodying political correctness at universities. They launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for the film, titled No Safe Spaces, and aim to raise $500,000 which would be matched by Dangerous Documentaries, the production arm of the self-described “investigative think tank,” Capital Research Center (CRC).54Paul Bond. “Adam Carolla Launches Crowdfunding Campaign for ‘No Safe Spaces’ Movie,” Holywood Reporter, April 24, 2017. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/9RxEu

View the video pitch below:

The CRC, which has also described global warming as “nonsense,” has received over $265,000 from ExxonMobil, and nearly $700,000 from Koch Foundations, among millions from other conservative funders.55Steven J. Allen. “Global Warming: 25 years of this nonsense,” Capital Research Center, April 21, 2015. Archived September 5, 2017. Historically, CRC also advocated for smoking56Capital Research Center and the tobacco industry,” SourceWatch. Accessed October 18, 2015. while being paid by the tobacco industry.57CancerScam Message Track,” May, 1997. Retrieved from Truth Tobacco Industry Documents. Bates #2078829061-2078829063.

February 26, 2013

Writing at Townhall, describing a study promoting genetically modified foods by Bjorn Lomborg, Prager denounced environmentalists:58Dennis Prager. “Environmentalism and Human Sacrifice,” Townhall, February 26, 2013. Archived September 4, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/XkLJl

“So who would oppose something that could save millions of children’s lives and millions of other children from blindness?

The answer is people who are more devoted to nature than to human life.

And who might such people be?

They are called environmentalists.”

August 27, 2013

As Media Matters reported, Dennis Prager equated tolerance for LGBT Americans with “a threat of fascism in America”:59Luke Brinker. “NRO’s Dennis Prager: LGBT Non-Discrimination Efforts Breed ‘Fascism’,” Media Matters, August 27, 2013. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/htg5n

“I have never written that there is a threat of fascism in America. I always considered the idea overwrought. But now I believe there really is such a threat – and it will come draped not in an American flag, but in the name of tolerance and health,” Prager wrote at the National Review.60Dennis Prager. “Tolerance, Health, and Fascism,” National Review, August 27, 2013. Archived September 6, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/QNhFk

[…]

“Take tolerance.

“Last week, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that an event photographer’s refusal on religious grounds to shoot the commitment ceremony of a same-sex couple amounted to illegal discrimination.”

[…]

“This is what happened to a florist in Washington State who had always sold flowers to gay customers, but refused to be the florist for a gay wedding: sued and fined.

“This is what happened to a baker in Oregon who had always sold his goods to gays, but refused to provide his products to a gay wedding: sued and fined.

“This is what happened in Massachusetts, Illinois, and elsewhere to Catholic Charities, historically the largest adoption agency in America. Their placing children with married (man-woman) couples, rather than with same-sex couples, was deemed intolerant and a violation of the law. In those and other states, Catholic Charities has left adoption work.

“In the name of tolerance – fighting sexual harassment – five- and six-year-old boys all over the country are brought to the police for innocently touching a girl.

“In the name of tolerance – girls’ high school teams in California and elsewhere must now accept male players who feel female.

“In the name of tolerance – businesses cannot fire a man who one day shows up on the sales floor dressed as a woman.”

July 31, 2012

In a National Review article titled “Sandusky Abused Children, NCAA Abuses History,” Prager criticized the NCAA for removing Penn State’s football victories after the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia scandal. Prager goes on to compare “the terrible wrong committed by the NCAA’s rewriting of history” to the introduction of the introduction of the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful Education Act in California.61Sandusky Abused Children, NCAA Abuses History,” National Review, July 31, 2012. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/Q3uHe

“That American history is dominated by the contributions of white Anglo-Saxon Protestant males is irrelevant to all those who see history as a feel-good exercise, not the relating of what actually occurred,” Prager wrote at the National Review. “[A]ccording to California’s teachers, the purpose of education is not to teach truth, it is to ‘adequately portray the diversity of our society.’”

“The lesson the NCAA is teaching young people — that history and truth don’t matter if enough powerful people don’t want them to matter — can be as injurious to society as the cover-up was to the victims of Sandusky,” Prager added.

April 27, 2009

Prager hosted Australian climate change denier and mining industry executive Ian Plimer on his show. Prager introduced Plimer, whose background is in mining geology, as “one of the most prominent of Australia’s scientists” in the climate change arena. Emphasis and links added to common myths, as debunked at SkepticalScience.62Leading Australian Earth Scientist Debunks Global Warming,” The Dennis Prager Show, April 27, 2009. Archived December 24, 2010. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/in0G2

“I need to introduce to you yet another highly prominent scientist from around the world who has so much important data to give to us about the, what is called global warming, or has been now metamorphosed into climate change since it may not be warming,” Prager began.63Leading Australian Earth Scientist Debunks Global Warming,” The Dennis Prager Show, April 27, 2009. Archived December 24, 2010. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/in0G2

Plimer claims that mainstream climate scientists have “sold their souls” on the search of “fame and fortune”:64Leading Australian Earth Scientist Debunks Global Warming,” The Dennis Prager Show, April 27, 2009. Archived December 24, 2010. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/in0G2

DP: So you feel that a lot of scientists have sold their souls?

IP: Oh, very much so. It’s a case of following the money. It’s a case of following the fashions and the fads. It’s a case of getting the fame and the fortune which comes with something like this, and we’ve seen it before in science, and we’ve seen at times that science has made some monumental errors which have been corrected. There is a self-correcting process in science. But it’s got a lag to it, and it takes some time before you can actually get the science corrected by new science.

Plimer also claims that Arctic sea melt is “quite normal”:65Leading Australian Earth Scientist Debunks Global Warming,” The Dennis Prager Show, April 27, 2009. Archived December 24, 2010. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/in0G2

DP: Let me raise the most popular notions with regard to so-called global warming, or now climate change, and have you respond to them. The one that is raised the most often is pictures of Arctic and Antarctic ice melting. How do you respond to that?

IP: The ice sheets wax and wane all the time. They expand and they contract. It’s rather like having a Christmas pudding. If you put your fist into it, then some of the pudding will move out of the bowl and will rise.66Human activity is driving retreat of Arctic sea ice,” SkepticalScience. Archived September 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/qEscs

[…]

DP: Yes, exactly. That’s what it would seem. So let’s go back, this is really critical, the ice issue. So this notion of ice melting, what you’re saying is it’s, this is utterly normal for both the Arctic and the Antarctic.
IP: It’s quite normal, and we’ve had ice sheets squeezed out. […]

Dennis Prager breaks in to summarize his view of the science, for his viewers:67Leading Australian Earth Scientist Debunks Global Warming,” The Dennis Prager Show, April 27, 2009. Archived December 24, 2010. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/in0G2

DP: All right, so again, I have to review this for my sake and my listeners’ sake, that in the past, there have been times of far greater carbon dioxide amounts in the atmosphere of Earth, and it was not hotter, and ice was not melting.68Do high levels of CO2 in the past contradict the warming effect of CO2?SkepticalScience. Archived September 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/0IoIK

IP: That’s correct, and in fact, we had a number of big ice ages that lasted for tens of millions of years when we had high carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

DP: So they’re simply not related.

IP: Not related at all.69Does CO2 always correlate with temperature (and if not, why not?),” SkepticalScience. Archived September 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/SvAqP

Moving on to greenhouse gases, Plimer argues that water vapor is more important than CO2, and also claims that quadrupling CO2 would not lead to runaway global warming:70Leading Australian Earth Scientist Debunks Global Warming,” The Dennis Prager Show, April 27, 2009. Archived December 24, 2010. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/in0G2 71Explaining how the water vapour greenhouse effect works,” Skeptical Science. Archived September 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/RVTLd

DP: so what is…what do you make of the whole notion of greenhouse gases?

IP: Well, the major greenhouse gas in the air is water vapor. The other greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide, which once it’s got up to about twenty or fifty parts per million, it’s done its job, and you can double or quadruple or triple carbon dioxide and it makes very little difference to temperature. That’s why we’ve been able to have very high carbon dioxide contents in the past and not have a runaway greenhouse, or not have…

[…]

DP: Is it possible to have too much carbon dioxide?

IP: Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant. It’s plant food. And every time we’ve had high carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we’ve had a thriving of life on Earth.72Plants cannot live on CO2 alone,” SkepticalScience. Archived September 8, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/EWZhO

November 2006

When Keith Ellison was elected as the first Muslim to the United States Congress, Prager wrote that he should not be allowed to take his oath on the Koran but rather the Bible:73Dennis Prager. “America, Not Keith Ellison, decides what book a congressman takes his oath on,” Townhall, November 28, 2006. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/500Ru

“He should not be allowed to do so – not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization,” Prager wrote. “ it is an act of hubris that perfectly exemplifies multiculturalist activism […] Devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness who do not see how damaging to the fabric of American civilization it is to allow Ellison to choose his own book need only imagine a racist elected to Congress.”

Prager adds that Ellison, would “be doing more damage to the unity of America and to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9-11.”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) responded to Prager’s column, noting that “Prager is flat-out wrong when he asserts that Representative Ellison’s use of a Koran would be ‘damaging to the fabric of American civilization.’ To the contrary, the U.S. Constitution guarantees that, ‘no religious test shall ever be required’ to hold public office in America.”74(Press Release). “ADL Statement on Dennis Prager’s Attack On Muslim Congressman for Taking Oath of Office on Koran,” Anti-Defamation League, December 1, 2006. Archived December 30, 2006. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/bmNIA

The ADL also notes that Prager is also misinformed, as members of Congress are not officially sworn in with a Bible. Rather, the official swearing-in ceremony is done in House chambers, and the oath of office administered en masse by the Speaker of the House. “No Bibles or other holy books are used at all,” ADL notes. “Members may, if they choose, also have a private ceremony with family and friends. At these unofficial ceremonies, Members frequently solemnize the event by taking an oath while holding a personal family Bible.”75(Press Release). “ADL Statement on Dennis Prager’s Attack On Muslim Congressman for Taking Oath of Office on Koran,” Anti-Defamation League, December 1, 2006. Archived December 30, 2006. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/bmNIA

Affiliations

Social Media

Publications

Dennis Prager is a prolific author at numerous publications including TownHallNational ReviewCreators Syndicate, and numerous other sources. View the attached spreadsheet for a list of Prager’s National Review and Townhall articles, sorted by date (.xlsx).

According to his profile at Creators SyndicatePrager has written a number of books including Happiness Is A Serious Problem (1998), Think A Second Time (1996), The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism, and Why The Jews? The Reason For Antisemitism. From 1985 to 1995, Dennis Prager wrote and published the journal Ultimate Issue. From 1995 to 2000, he wrote The Prager Perspective.78About Dennis Prager,” Creators Syndicate. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/bstpy

Prager has also appeared, produced, and/or written a number of films including:79Dennis Prager,” IMDB. Archived September 5, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/OvzCr

  • How Iraq Was Won and Lost (Video short) (producer) — 2017 
  • Baseball, Dennis, & the French (Documentary) — 2011
  • The Middle East Problem (Video Short) — 2010
  • Fuck (Documentary) — 2005
  • Israel in a Time of Terror (Video documentary) (producer) — 2002
  • For Goodness Sake (producer) — 1993
  • For Goodness Sake II (Short) (Producer) 1996
  • The Dennis Prager Show (TV Series) — 1995
  • For Goodness Sake (Short) (Producer) — 1993

Other Resources

Resources

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