Wayne Allyn Root | |
|---|---|
 Root in 2013 | |
| Born | Wayne Allyn Root (1961-07-20)July 20, 1961 (age 63) Mount Vernon, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
| Occupation(s) | Television and radio talk show host, author,political and social commentator |
| Employer(s) | Newsmax (2010–2020) Breitbart News (2011–present) Townhall (2012–present) Citizens Journal (2013–present) KBET (2016–present) Las Vegas Review-Journal (2016–2020) USA Radio Network (2017–present) The Gateway Pundit (2017–present) Creators Syndicate (2019–present) Las Vegas Tribune (2020) |
| Notable credit(s) | Fox Business (2009) Fox News (2009, 2012, 2014 and 2016–2017) Ghost Adventures (2008–2013, 2015–2016 and 2018–2019) King of Vegas (2006) Las Vegas Law (2016) Ora TV andRT America (2014–2017) |
| Television | Financial News Network (1989–1991) Newsmax TV (2017–2020) |
| Political party | Republican (before 2007, 2012–present) Libertarian (2007–2012) |
| Movement | Conservative andlibertarian |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 (with Parks) |
| Website | rootforamerica |
Wayne Allyn Root (born July 20, 1961)[1][2] is an American conservative television and radio host, author, activist, conservative political commentator andconspiracy theorist.[3][4] He is the host of three television shows: "The ROOT Reaction" nightly at 10 PM ET on Real America's Voice TV...and at 7 AM ET on Lindell TV network...and Saturdays at Noon ET "America's Top Ten Countdown with Wayne Allyn Root" onReal America's Voice TV. President Trump has been a guest on Wayne Allyn Root's TV and radio shows 16 times- including a face-face TV interview in October 2024. Root is also the radio host of "Wayne Allyn Root: Raw & Unfiltered" on AM 670 in Las Vegas and nationally-syndicated on theTalk Media Network, and formerly onNewsmax TV.[5] Root was an opinion columnist for theLas Vegas Review-Journal.[6] His newspaper columns are currently nationally syndicated on Sundays by Creators Syndicate.
Root was the vice presidential nominee for theLibertarian Party in the2008 presidential election. In 2012, he left the Libertarian Party, rejoined theRepublican Party, and endorsed and voted forMitt Romney andDonald Trump. He has remained a staunch supporter of Trump.
Root is the CEO of the publicly traded penny stock company VegasWinners.com, (WNRS symbol) who recently partnered with the MGM Hotel's BetMGM.[7]
Root attended theThornton-Donovan School inNew Rochelle, New York[8] and was a member of the class of 1983 atColumbia University, studyingpre-law andpolitical science.
In June 2016, Root described himself as a "Jew turned Evangelical Christian".[9] As of November 2016, Root described himself as Jewish, and says he considersDonald Trump to be the first Jewish president, in the same sense thatBill Clinton was often called the "first black president".[10]
Root worked forWNBC radio (nowWFAN) in the early 1980s. From 1989 to 1991, he worked with theFinancial News Network before its subsumption intoCNBC.
Root was founder and chairman of Winning Edge International Inc.[11] In the 2000s, he hostedWayne Allyn Root's Winning Edge, a television show which promoted Root's sports handicapping operation.
Root co-hostedKing of Vegas onSpike TV. He producedGhost Adventures on theTravel Channel.[12]
Root had been a longtimeRepublican Party member and supporter who self-identified as aLibertarian Republican. He ran for a seat on theWestchester County Board of Legislators in 1983. In 2007, Root ended his association with the Republican Party and joined theLibertarian Party.[13] Root's book outlining hislibertarian views,The Conscience of a Libertarian, was published in 2009.[13]
On May 4, 2007, Root declared his candidacy for the Libertarian Party's2008 presidential nomination. On May 25, 2008, Root advanced to the fifth ballot of the Libertarian Party presidential nomination vote at the2008 Libertarian National Convention before being eliminated and endorsingBob Barr, who became the party's presidential nominee. Root then became the Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee, securing the nod in the third round of voting for that nomination.[14]
Though in the same graduating class asBarack Obama atColumbia University, Root has stated on a number of occasions that he has no recollection of having met or seen Obama at Columbia.[8][15] He has claimed that this alleged lack of eyewitnesses to Obama's presence at Columbia is highly "suspicious" and should be "a cause for great concern."[16]
In 2010, Root ran for the position of chair of theLibertarian National Committee of the Libertarian Party. He was defeated by Mark Hinkle by a vote of 228–281 in the third round. He subsequently succeeded in being elected to theLibertarian National Committee as an at-large member.[17] At the2012 Libertarian National Convention, Root again was elected to the Libertarian National Committee as an At-Large Member, despite being seen by some LP members as being part of the "top-down faction."[18] The party's 2012 presidential candidate and former RepublicanNew Mexico GovernorGary Johnson endorsed Root.[19]
In September 2012, Root resigned all Libertarian Party positions, re-joined the Republican Party and endorsedMitt Romney in the2012 presidential election.[20][21] He predicted Romney would win the election against incumbent presidentBarack Obama, citing, among other factors, that the "Enthusiasm Factor" for Romney was "huge".[22]
Root had announced that he intended to run as a Republican candidate for theU.S. Senate inNevada in 2016, for the seat held by retiringDemocratic SenatorHarry Reid.[21][23] However, he did not run. He supported and voted for Republican nomineeDonald Trump in the2016 presidential election[24] and2020 presidential election.
Root was the opening speaker for Trump's rally in Las Vegas in late October 2016 during the presidential campaign. At the rally, Root, suggested that he wished ill uponHillary Clinton andHuma Abedin, hoping they met the same ending asThelma & Louise.[3] The lead characters in the film take their own lives by driving off a cliff. In his speech, Root said "Trump warriors" armed with "pitchforks, jack hammers and blow torches" would violently take over Washington D.C.: "We're coming to tear it down. We're coming to rip it up. We're coming to kick your ass. And we're coming to put you in prison", he said referring to a fantasy he had about Clinton and Abedin.Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager, later told CNN that Root's "conduct is completely unacceptable and does not reflect our campaign or our candidate".[25]
In August 2019, Root praised President Trump. Following Trump's assertion that Jews voting for the Democrats show "either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty", a comment which was rejected by his critics who said he was following anantisemitic canard, Root countered the claim.[26] Root said that "Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world...and the Jewish people in Israel love him like he's the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God." Later, PresidentDonald Trump thanked Root onTwitter for "the very nice words" and shared what was said about him.[27][28]
In October 2019, while speaking at a pro-Trump conference in Miami, Florida at the Trump National Doral Miami, Root reportedly boasted about a time in his childhood when, as one of the few white students at a predominantly black high school, he knocked one classmate unconscious and shattered another kid's teeth. "My buddies and I were high-fiving and laughing," Root reportedly said during his speech. "Man, it was funny." He reportedly went on to say that "you've got to be a natural-born killer" to win in politics.[29]
Root is known for spreadingconspiracy theories[3][4][30] and false information.[31]
Root was a leading proponent ofthe conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.[32] Root falsely claimed that Obama was not a student atColumbia University.[4] He later stated in a 2012 interview withSean Hannity that he believed Obama was a "foreign exchange student" there.[30] He has repeatedly described Obama as a "Marxist, anti-American, anti-Israel, globalist, middle class-hating, Muslim sympathizer".[30] In 2017, he claimed that Obama was gay, called him "Bathhouse Barry" and said that he had info from Obama's "friends in Chicago" about his "sordid past".[30] In 2014, he described Obama as a "Manchurian candidate", possibly hired by theBilderberg Group to destroy the United States and "kill all of us".[30]
Root promoted conspiracy theories around themurder of Seth Rich, and at various times suggested thatDebbie Wasserman Schultz, Hillary Clinton,Donna Brazile, Bill Clinton,Eric Schneiderman andJohn Podesta were involved in the murder.[30]
During the white supremacistUnite the Right rally, Root falsely claimed that blaming white supremacistJames Alex Fields Jr. for killingHeather Heyer was "such B.S. Probably paid actors & infiltrators hired bySoros. No conservative I've ever met commits violence. EVER."[30]
On the night of the2017 Las Vegas shooting, in which 58 people were shot and killed byStephen Paddock (including himself) and 2 of them shot by Paddock later died of their injuries in 2019 and 2020 respectively, Root tweeted: "Clearly coordinated Muslim terror attack." Police later determined only one shooter—a non-religious American—was involved.[31][33][34]
In 2018, Root argued that Special CounselRobert Mueller's investigation intoRussian interference in the 2016 election is motivated by "penis envy", because "Mueller's is smaller than Trump's."[30]
On February 6, 2021,Twitter permanently suspended Root's account for "violating Twitter rules".[35]
In July 2022, Root debated journalistIsaac Saul at Freedom Fest in Las Vegas, arguing thatthe 2020 United States Presidential Election was stolen and thatDonald Trump should run for president again in 2024. During the debate, Root promoted, among other ideas, thatCOVID-19 vaccine injuries were being concealed by the government; that millions of illegal immigrants were voting in US elections and tipping them in favor of Democrats; that multiple states coordinated to stop counting on election night 2020 until more illegitimate ballots could be found to favor the election of DemocratJoe Biden; and thatLas Vegas Culinary Union tactics are the only reason Democrats win elections inNevada, which he believes to be otherwise almost entirely Republican.[36]
On March 19–21, 2020 (2020-03-19 –2020-03-21), Chief Health Care Bureau Lisa Landau andNew York Attorney GeneralLetitia James ordered Root to stop advertising My Doctor Suggests, LLC onKBET andUSA Radio Network citing violations of state laws on deceptive acts and practices.[37][38]
On April 29, 2020, Gordon Pedersen of My Doctor Suggests LLC and GP Silver LLC was ordered by theUnited States Department of Justice (DOJ) under theTrump administration to permanently stop advertising and selling all of these products out there.[39] A hearing on the government's request for a preliminary injunction was set for May 12, 2020. The products were discontinued and the website was permanently shut down as a result.
With the defeat of what he calls the "top-down faction" (Alicia Mattson, Aaron Starr, Wayne Allyn Root, Bill Redpath, Mark Rutherford, and others) though, he found hope for the future of the party.
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| Preceded by | Libertariannominee forVice President of the United States 2008 | Succeeded by |
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