Glenn Beck Profile…

New York Magazine’s Michael Idov profiles Glenn Beck…

He’s called himself a “rodeo clown,” but he insists his own outrage is no act. A “libertarian, big time,” he compares the moment he heard about the first round of bailouts to “another 9/11.” And though his vision of the future is nothing less than apocalyptic—we could be heading into “the darkest period in American history”—in delivering it, he sounds less angry than hurt. Last month, he gave a sobbing sermon of consolation to disenfranchised conservatives (“They don’t surround us. We surround them”) that’s now a YouTube classic. Is he afraid that crying might become his trademark? “Yes, it bothers me. I’m a crybaby. I cry at commercials. I am 90 percent chick in that territory. I’m such an easy target. I’m surprised SNL hasn’t come after me.” (Sure enough, Stephen Colbert gets around to mocking Beck the next night, making him seem like a teary militia member.)

The Escalade exits the highway and weaves down an idyllic road between generously spaced-out Tudor mansions. “Lots of empty houses here,” says Beck, pointing at a blue Sotheby’s sign flapping at the top of one driveway. Does it feel strange to be prospering when the world, in Beck’s opinion, is going to hell? “I’m actually grateful,” he answers, “because we’ve been able to help people with our wealth.” We stop in the middle of a perfectly semi-circular driveway. George Washington’s so-called Personal Position Flag (with thirteen six-pointed stars) hangs from the mansion’s front window. Beck’s prized possession is a few pipes from a pipe organ in a church where Washington prayed.

“We were thinking about putting you in the trunk for the way back!” he says before disappearing inside.