There's no nice way to say this: The management and on-air show hosts at Danbury, CT radio station WLAD are either misinformed, deliberately disingenuous, or just plain stupid. I believe that all three apply.

WLAD broadcasts constantly warn us about "socialism," even though America is already a socialist country - just like every other first-world nation where private businesses flourish. US Social Security protects the elderly against poverty. We have Medicare for seniors and Medicaid for people who can't afford the ever-increasing cost of health care. Our socialism provides us with police and fire departments, highways, public education, unemployment insurance, FEMA, the FDIC, food and drug safety oversight, SBA loans, the National Weather Service, and even bail-outs for large businesses when their collapse would harm the economy - pure unadulterated socialism. Yet WLAD's conservatives argue endlessly against important consumer protections, calling them unfair regulation. I guess they prefer we go bankrupt from medical debt and die from salmonella or E. coli poisoning.

WLAD hosts push the narrative that undocumented immigrants are our biggest problem, ignoring that tax breaks for billionaires and mega corporations, lack of rights for gays and women, and inflated military spending, including Trump's pointless war with Iran, are far worse. They rail against "cancel culture" while condemning programs that benefit folks who are poor, were born in another country, or with whom they simply disagree. They loved that Trump used his leverage to get Stephen Colbert off the air, and tried to do the same with Jimmy Kimmel. Such hypocrisy. How un-American! Screw the first amendment. WLAD hosts still criticize Joe Biden for his poor handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal even though their guy got us into that war in the first place. That war, also pointless, killed or wounded more than 20,000 American soldiers plus around 200,000 others. Pro life indeed. WLAD show hosts ignore that Donald Trump has increased the national debt to historic levels, and instead blame Democrats for the current economic disaster. But it's not only Trump. WLAD defended Bush and Cheney when they willfully lied us into the war with Iraq that killed or wounded more than 35,000 American soldiers plus another 200,000 civilians. But Bill Clinton's blow-job was the real problem according to WLAD. As of early 2026 the United States has spent and obligated an estimated $8 Trillion on post-9/11 wars, with costs continuing to grow. Just imagine how much good that taxpayer money could have done to help Americans.

WLAD constantly defends Trump's actions, no matter how damaging. Trump cut funding for child cancer research, after-school programs and food assistance for low-income students, and environmental protection, not to mention support for veterans and 9/11 responders. But he expects taxpayers to finance his billion dollar ballroom, after first promising that private donors would pay for it and the white house structure would not be touched. How could anyone not be dismayed when Trump paved over the rose garden? Trump fired medical, financial, and military experts, replacing them with hopelessly unqualified people such as RFK Jr. and Pete Hegseth. You know, the guy who's so incompetent that last year he accidentally shared secret military strike plans with his family and a magazine editor. Trump's constant turnover of incompetent sycophants like Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi show that he has no idea what he's doing. You have to be insane or incredibly gullible to believe Trump's endless obvious lies: That he slashed prescription drug prices by 800 percent, and reversed rising inflation, the 2020 presidential election was rigged, that he graduated first in his class at Wharton, plus thousands more. He doesn't even try to hide his corruption, such as preventing the IRS from auditing his tax returns. Yet WLAD hosts continue to support and defend Trump.

WLAD panders to their least educated and most easily influenced listeners with a mix of racism, lies, and sexism. Perpetual liars Armstrong & Getty ignore that Trump tries to dehumanize LGBTQ people, calling them "confused." They're more concerned with DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) policies at private corporations than they are about masked ICE agents grabbing people - including US citizens - off the streets into unmarked SUVs based solely on their skin color or speaking accent. WLAD show hosts ignore that Trump has quashed thousands of research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) affecting research in areas such as infectious diseases and mental health. Then there are his cuts to education and job training, and environmental programs. Yet after all these cuts Trump has managed to raise the deficit by more than $2 Trillion dollars to an historic high. He has advocated an endless stream of laws and court decisions that harm US consumers. Every day Trump does something more outrageous than the day before, obviously to distract from the Epstein files that contain credible accusations that he raped underage girls. This senile jackass even promotes coal as a clean energy source! But for all that mayhem WLAD loves him anyway.

WLAD broadcasts have pushed the same poison and deceit for decades. Joe Pags spouts hate and lies peppered with immature name-calling. Rich Valdes calls progressive politicians communists, ignoring the obvious difference between totalitarian communism and democratic socialism. According to WLAD, anyone who disagrees with Israel's aggressive war tactics is anti-Semitic. In the wake of constant mass shootings, many involving young school children, WLAD's weekly broadcast of Gun Talk is a slap in the face to every sensible human being. When Trump weaponizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to go after his perceived enemies criminally, Red Eye Radio host Gary McNamara agrees. Local morning host Dave Rinelli still complains about Joe Biden, ignoring the obvious harm Trump is doing to America. Anyone Dave disagrees with isn't just liberal or progressive, they're far-left extremists. Dave argues against "woke," apparently unaware that woke means recognizing racial and social injustice, and caring about others. How can anyone be so ignorant and so callous?

WLAD show hosts cheered when Trump cut Medicaid and food stamps for poor people. They were fine with Trump's closing sections of the Smithsonian Museum because he doesn't like how some parts of history are portrayed. He's done the same at national parks and monuments. At Trump's direction multiple agencies, particularly the EPA and NOAA, removed, or heavily revised, data regarding climate change. After he illegally added his name to the Kennedy Center countless artists refused to perform there, so Trump just closed it down like a spoiled child who didn't get his way. He even tried to put his name on a $250 bill, which is also illegal. After conservative show hosts complained for years that Joe Biden used executive orders to circumvent the judicial system, Trump has issued nearly twice as many (so far) as Biden. He has pardoned some of the most despicable people convicted of crimes including drug trafficking and financial fraud. Lawrence Duran who was sentenced to 50 years in jail for stealing $205 Million from Medicare is now a free man thanks to Donald Trump. Trump also pardoned roughly 1,500 January 6 defendants who beat police officers and smeared feces on the Capitol walls. And we're still waiting for the full unredacted release of the Epstein files Trump promised us. Yet WLAD parrots the party line, again and again, defending pretty much everything Trump and his cohorts do, no matter how horrible or even illegal. The hypocrisy is stunning.

A healthy democracy depends on honest media willing to criticize leaders of every party. WLAD's persistent defense of Republican politicians and refusal to apply the same standards to Donald Trump that it applies to Democratic politicians undermines its credibility and does a disservice to its listeners. WLAD is a disgrace, and its management and advertisers should be ashamed.

Ethan Winer has been an audio engineer and professional musician for nearly 60 years. Ethan's Cello Rondo music video has received nearly 2 Million views on YouTube and other web sites. His two books, The Audio Expert and The Audio Circuits Cookbook, both published by Focal Press, are available at amazon.com and his own web site.

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