Michael J. Knowles

Michael Knowles (/noʊlz/; born March 18, 1990)[1] is an American conservative political commentator, podcaster, and author.

Michael J. Knowles
Knowles in 2019
Born (1990-03-18) March 18, 1990
Bedford Hills, New York, U.S.
Occupationpolitical commentator, podcaster, author
NationalityAmerican
Alma materYale University (BA)
Notable worksReasons to Vote for Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide
Spouse
Alissa Mahler (m. 2018)
Website
www.michaeljknowles.com

Early life and education

Born in Bedford Hills, New York, Knowles began training as an actor with the Stella Adler Studio of Acting,[2] as part of its Advanced Teen Conservatory. He graduated with a B.A. in History and Italian from Yale University, where he produced the first English rendering of Niccolò Machiavelli's play Andria in 2012. Knowles is of Italian descent.[3] Knowles was raised in the Catholic faith by his family, but had fallen away during his adolescence; while at Yale he experienced a reversion to the Church, spurred at first by ontological arguments.[4]

Career

Acting

Before graduating from Yale, Knowles participated in two web series: Never Do Business with Friends and Survive. Upon graduation, Knowles trained with Wynn Handman at his acting studio in New York City and appeared in various web series, films, and television shows.[5]

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

In April 2016, Knowles acted in a TV commercial entitled "War Room" for the Ted Cruz presidential campaign.[6]

Knowles also is the voice actor in the fictional podcast and audiobook "Another Kingdom", directed and produced by colleague Andrew Klavan.[7]

Political commentary

In 2016, Knowles was invited to join The Daily Wire, beginning as regular guest and cultural correspondent for The Andrew Klavan Show podcast.[8] Knowles previously worked with Andrew Klavan's son, Spencer, on theater productions while they were undergraduates at Yale.[9][10] In 2017, Knowles released an empty book called Reasons to Vote for Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide.[11] The book, which contained 266 empty pages and an extensive bibliography, became the number 1 best-selling book on Amazon.[12] Shortly after Knowles lauded President Donald Trump on Fox & Friends, Trump in return praised Knowles' book as "a great book for your reading enjoyment."[13][14] That year, Knowles began his role as host of The Daily Wire's third podcast, The Michael Knowles Show.

Controversies

In April 2019, Knowles gave a speech at the University of Missouri–Kansas City entitled "Men Are Not Women"[15] on gender identity during his YAF national college speaking tour. Student protesters disrupted his talk, deeming it transphobic.[16] One protester, Gerard Dabu, assaulted him and sprayed him with an unknown mixture, later determined to be lavender oil and other non-toxic household liquids. Dabu was charged with assault and other violations.[17][18][19]

In September 2019, Knowles called teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg "a mentally ill Swedish child" on the Fox News program The Story. Fellow segment guest and Democratic Party activist Christopher Hahn replied, "You're a grown man and you're attacking a child. Shame on you." Knowles responded, saying, "I'm not. I'm attacking the Left for exploiting a mentally ill child."[20] Hahn returned, "Relax skinny boy, I got this." Knowles promptly added, "She is mentally ill. She has autism. She has obsessive–compulsive disorder. She has selective mutism. She had depression." The network apologized for Knowles' statement by saying his comment "was disgraceful — we apologize to Greta Thunberg and to our viewers." Knowles did not apologize and Fox said they have "no plans" to have him on again in the future.[21][22]

In January 2020, while the impeachment proceedings of President Donald Trump were underway, Knowles and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), launched a podcast titled, Verdict with Ted Cruz.[23][24] On January 27, Cruz announced via Twitter that Verdict had secured the number one spot on the podcast charts for that week.[25][26]

References
  1. "Michael J. Knowles". IMDb. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  2. "Michael J. Knowles". Michael J. Knowles. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  3. Knowles, Michael (March 11, 2018). ".@andrewklavan constantly complains that I don't pay for books. If not in library or on Project Gutenberg, I'll buy used on Amazon, sometimes Kindle or Audible. Among the many values my Italian family instilled in me is never to pay retail". Twitter.com. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  4. "An Interview with the Catholic of the Daily Wire". Those Catholic Men. September 26, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  5. "The Modern Renaissance Man: Michael Knowles on Art, Politics and Jimmy McMillan". Yale Daily News. March 7, 2014.
  6. "War Room, Cruz for President". YouTube. April 21, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2018.
  7. "Another Kingdom". Daily Wire. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
  8. "Daily Wire". Daily Wire.
  9. "Michael Knowles | Yale College Arts". collegearts.yale.edu. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  10. "Spencer Klavan | Yale College Arts". collegearts.yale.edu. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  11. Holley, Peter (March 15, 2017). "An author praised Trump on 'Fox & Friends.' Hours later, his book had a presidential endorsement". The Washington Post. Washington DC: Nash Holdings LLC. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
  12. Concha, Joe (March 9, 2017). "Amazon bestseller 'Reasons to Vote for Democrats' is a book of empty pages". The Hill. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
  13. "An author praised Trump on 'Fox & Friends.' Hours later, his book had a presidential endorsement". The Washington Post. 2019.
  14. "Donald J. Trump on Twitter". Twitter (in Latin). July 26, 2017. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
  15. Michael Knowles at UMKC: "Men Are Not Women", retrieved 2019-11-18
  16. "University of Missouri protester arrested for spraying white liquid on conservative commentator during speech". Newsweek. April 12, 2019.
  17. "Conservative Speaker Michael Knowles Speech Disrupted", The Washington Post, Associated Press, April 12, 2019, archived from the original on April 25, 2019
  18. "Student charged over protest at anti-transgender speech". The Seattle Times. 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
  19. "Conservative speaker who was assaulted by protester: 'This was a warning shot to conservatives'". Fox News. New York City: News Corp. April 13, 2019. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
  20. Zhao, Christina (September 23, 2019). "Fox News guests fight on-air after one called Greta Thunberg a "mentally ill Swedish child": "Relax skinny boy... you're despicable"". Newsweek. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
  21. Koerner, Claudia (September 23, 2019). "Fox News Apologized To Greta Thunberg After A Pundit Called Her "Mentally Ill"". BuzzFeed News. Los Angeles, California: Buzzfeed. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
  22. Bauder, David (September 24, 2019). "Fox apologizes for 'disgraceful' comment about Thunberg". WAVY.com. Associated Press. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
  23. Kastrenakes, Jacob (2020-01-22). “Ted Cruz Now Has an Impeachment Podcast, Too.” Ted Cruz now has an impeachment podcast, too." The Verge. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  24. Kearns, Madeleine (2020-02-06). "The Final Verdict?". National Review. Retrieved 2020-02-26
  25. Cobler, Paul (2020-01-28). "Ted Cruz’s podcast on impeachment trial sits atop iTunes charts". Dallas News. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
  26. Duehren, Andrew (2020-01-30). "Impeachment Trial Pushes Ted Cruz to Top of Podcast Charts". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2020-02-26.
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