The Ben Mulroney Show - When social media attacks -- is it worse from the left or the right?

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

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Welcome back to the Ben Milner Show. Welcome to the Ben Mulnery show. I should say it's Friday, the 14th of November. Thank you so much for joining us on this final day of the work week. A lot of people don't follow American politics. And so every now and then when we introduce you to some stories down there, it's important to take a step back and sort of explain who the players are. Senator John Federman of Pennsylvania is the person I want to start. this conversation with. And you might have heard his name. You might have seen who he is. He's bald guy, a big, big guy with a little goatee. He always wears sweatshirts. A lot of people think he looks slovenly, but he had a stroke prior to running for office. He got attacked viciously by Donald Trump and his acolytes. But he won. And he has been recovering from that stroke more and more when I hear him speak he sounds like he's in complete control of his

faculties but one thing that separates him from so many of his of his party members is he's got this anti-politician brand about him he's with the informal style he chooses country over party meaning he is broken with the democratic party on a number of things he calls it like he sees it and sometimes the way he sees it is that his party is not always in the right uh he stands firmly on the side of Israel and the war in Gaza and he he has broken bread

and found common cause with Republicans when he he deems it appropriate and aligning with his values but he was on CNN a couple of days ago and he was being interviewed by the journalist Dana Bash

and he was talking about the political tone of discussion on the left versus the right and he was asked, you know, which side gets it, which side is responsible for more of the sort of the toxic dialogue, the left or the right? Let's listen to what he had to say. You said, quote, I've drunk deeply of the venom of both the left and the right. As a connoisseur, I can confirm that the most poisonous, the bitterest, is from the far left.

That is pretty remarkable to hear you say that as an elected Democrat. Why? You know, it's just been my personal experience on this thing. And when I asked my digital team, I said, you know, we're on all the platforms, you know, really what's kind of the harshest, what's kind of the most personal? And the answer was immediate. He said, oh, blue sky, it's blue sky. And the difference is, I mean, the right would say really rough things and names. You know, some names I won't repeat on TV. but on the lift, it was like they want me to die

or that we're cheering for your next stroke. Yeah, and look, blue sky, by the way, if you don't know what it, it was supposed to be the antidote created for what was viewed as the toxic right-wing reactionary language that existed on X, and this was going to be the safe space for people that have respectful conversation, and John Federman is here to tell you

that is most definitely not the case. If you run afoul of what they view is, a purity test here or there. And the reason that that interaction with Danabash is so timely is because yesterday John Federman was hospitalized after a fall near his home. His office released a statement explaining that he had ventricular fibrillation, a flare-up of ventricular fibriolation, which caused him to feel lightheaded in fall and he got minor facial injuries.

And sure enough, like clockwork, I asked my intradition, Trepid producer Mike Drolay, go find out what people are saying about him online. One guy says, maybe the impact on the ground will make Federman woke again. Another one says, it is a grave mistake to wish Federman well. He is a genocide addicted monster who deserve that fall and everything that comes from it. The ground, however, I hope that's okay. This is some of the lighter fare that was said about him. This is the stuff that we can say on the radio.

And look, I wanted to talk about this because I've spoken before about what I believe is a permission structure that we have created on the left. that allows for people of those views to get away with saying things that while people on the right absolutely say those things, they face consequences at a far higher clip than the people on the left. And you're not going to disabuse me of that vision. I have been paying attention to this for a while. And it reared its head as well this week when in the aftermath of the gold Jim debacle where a black lesbian was attacked by somebody who identified as a trans woman. Then we find out that that person had previously viciously attacked his ex-wife and assumed

her first name when health and fitness influencer Joey Swoll, who has made a brand out of defending good behavior at gyms, treating people with respect at gyms, calling out bad behavior at gyms so that people can feel more at home trying to attain their physical goals. That's his brand. And he came out in defense of this woman who, it's important to note, is a black lesbian. And he said that person who self-identifies as a woman had no business in that locker room. And he caused other women to feel unsafe and made this woman unsafe. That was his position.

And sure enough, as a person I said, I would never interact with online anymore. but I will bring up here, and I'm loath to bring her up because the fact that I'm a man, she's going to say I'm targeting her and I'm a misogynist. Rachel Gilmore decides to come out and call him gross and a transphobe and dumb. And those are just some of the kind things that she's capable of saying. I don't know, first of all, you pick the wrong fight. If this is the hill you're going to die on, there are plenty of ways to defend transgender people against the pushback that they get on the daily basis.

This is not the horse to back in that race. This is the, of all the examples to use, you're picking a vile human being who beat a woman and then attacked another woman in a gym and you are choosing this example to hold up as the reason we should be getting on side with your vision of the world, Rachel, and you think it's acceptable, acceptable to call somebody names

because they disagree with you. And this is, that's just endemic of the entire situation. It's why it's okay for Avi Lewis, the current NDP leadership contender, to stand shoulder to shoulder grinning with a guy like Fred Hahn, who is the Ontario leader of Coupie, the largest public sector union in the country. This is a man who has said and who has made life unlivable for a number of the Jewish members of his union by some of the things he has done and said. This is why a guy like Eve Engler, who is a vile anti-Semite and a net negative in the

world in terms of the toxicity that he brings to everything he touches and talks about, why this guy is on the cusp of actually becoming an NDP candidate. Now, I ask you, if there had been an analogous right-wing version of Eve Engler, who wanted to enter the PC leadership, or the Conservative Party leadership. Do you think he'd get so far as to raising 90 grand of $100,000 entrance fee? No, they would have marginalized that person because they don't want to platform that person because that person's voice does not deserve to be elevated. This is why people can get away with calling people fascists and transphobes or homophobes.

Why? Because they happen to be slightly to the right of that person on the left. But we've given permission to the left to do and say awful things and they get a pass more or less for it. And I wanted to bring this up today because we are divided. And by the way, anybody who says when they hear this, oh, Ben, the right does it too, of course the right does it too. But if all you can point at is Donald Trump and the terrible things he says, the name calling that he perpetrates. and some of the people in his inner circle. I mean, heck, Marjorie Taylor Green went on to the view

and had, I don't know if it's genuine, but she delivered a masterclass in going into the lion's den and finding a way to have, believe it or not, but a respectful conversation with people you disagree with. If she can have a late life conversion, my hope is it sticks with her, but if she can appreciate that she was one of those people on the right that deserve to be in check,

can we do something about the army of people on the left who wish people to die? Look at what people said about Charlie Kirk. Look at the terrible things that were said about a man who was killed for his views. And the glee with which people on the left celebrated his death. Find me an analogy on the right that compares to that level of depravity and I will eat my words. I'm not kidding. I will do it. And you can't do it because it doesn't exist because we have not created a permission

structure on the right that exists on the left. And until we solve that, we are never going to have a conversation amongst equals. The backstabbing. I'm excited to do it. Canada's number one reality show. This is a highly venomous snake. I'm worried about his life at this point. We both aren't afraid to be killers.

I'm the puppet master. She was Karen. This is Survivor. We're going to go to War Survivor. All new Wednesdays on Global. Stream on Stack TV.