18 Righties You Should Follow on Twitter
This is by no means the first website to produce a list of must-follow conservatives on Twitter. A handful of right-wing sites have done so over the years, and even left-leaning publications like Paste Magazine and Salon have lately joined in the fun (mostly focusing on conservative Trump skeptics).
But since the political twitterverse is a vast place, where there are indeed a good number of insightful and entertaining righties worth checking in on daily, I figured that another such list isn't going to hurt anyone.
To make this one a bit different, however, I'm going to leave out some of the conservative social-media juggernauts like Ben Shapiro and Jonah Goldberg, who everyone already follows and knows are great. In fact, I'm not going to include anyone who has more than 150k followers. Instead, along with some familiar figures in the media, I'm going to include individuals whose names you may not have heard of until now.
Here we go (in no particular order):
1. Guy Benson A Fox News contributor and political editor at Townhall, Benson has long been known for his thoughtful and intellectually-consistent commentary. His Twitter feed is an extension of that insight:
Benson is a principled voice and strong critic of uninformed and reckless political activism, as exhibited recently by Jimmy Kimmel:
2. Michael Freeman Freeman is a conservative speechwriter, so you'd think he'd have some trouble fitting clever insight into 140 characters or less. Fortunately, that hasn't been the case. His sharp wit generates a chuckle from me at least a couple times a day.
Schappert is a Fox News regular, the host of the reality show Hollywood Weapons, and one heck of a nice guy. A U.S. Army Special Forces veteran, Schappert is a warrior and a diplomat who has been known to use his Twitter feed to try and bridge the gap between the conservative movement and the Trump base. Additionally, he often provides a unique perspective on battles fought in the culture war:
4. Jon Gabriel
Gabriel, Ricochet.com's Editor-in-chief, is kind of a Twitter legend, so there's a pretty good chance you're already following him. But in case you're not, here are some samples of the brilliance:
Warning: Gabriel regularly shares his taste in music with his followers...and that taste is kind of weird.
I'm embarrassed to say that I wasn't familiar with Bethany Mandel until she generated (not by design) a fair amount of social-media attention by giving birth to her third child in a car on her way to the hospital .
When I say @SethAMandel delivered our baby, I'm being totally serious. He did the whole thing blind, while giving coordinates to nervous 911
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) April 28, 2017
Married to Seth Mandel of the New York Post, Bethany is a principled and provocative writer who isn't afraid to tackle culturally-complicated topics.
She's also kind of hilarious on social media:
How many months does Trump have to be in office before the RNC stops sending me emails about Hillary Clinton?
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) October 17, 2017
Older two kids got three shots between them and now we’re talking about how our chinchilla and my mom died because they got sick pic.twitter.com/1TKHXbVVyx
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) October 17, 2017
Watching Manhunt and considering buying a cabin on Amazon because I can't even go off the grid without the web. https://t.co/4TuXtliuru
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) October 16, 2017
Nelson occasionally composes diary-style columns for RedState, and is very active on Twitter, where she not only produces conscientious commentary, but also retweets some of the more interesting social-media content from the political Right.
A commentator for the Washington Examiner, Adams is a must-follow on Twitter for his sharp, timely takes on the news of the day. He calls out political tribalism and double-standards whenever he sees them, and he does so with style.
Ppl flaming Kelly for going to bat for Trump are guilty of what they criticized Trump for doing to Khan, who was also a political operative. pic.twitter.com/X792vLzZgA
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) October 19, 2017
is there a reason why these NRA ads sound like excerpts from sarah connor's diary?
— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) October 20, 2017
Corban is a rape survivor and Second Amendment advocate who uses her horrific experience to educate audiences across the country on sexual assault, the lasting impact it has on survivors, and self-protection. As an advocate and mentor for young women, Corban's insight on Twitter has been particularly prudent to recent high-profile news stories involving sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.
She also happens to be uproariously funny:
Beyond all that, she's a tremendous free-throw shooter.
9. Jay Caruso
Caruso writes for the Dallas Morning News and RedState, among other publications. He also co-hosts the entertaining Fifth Estate podcast with Neal Dewing.
A conservative and staunch Trump critic, Caruso has little patience for media-sycophants who've traded in their ideological principles and sense of decency for ratings and website-clicks.
Re-upping. The right wanted a version of Jon Stewart & The Daily Show. They got it w Tucker. Not a good thing. https://t.co/z4kxIcsntQ
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) October 15, 2017
Whatever Trump is paying John Kelly he should get a waiver to triple his salary.
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) October 19, 2017
10. Christian Toto
For those worn out on the exhaustively-preached left-wing orthodoxy of the entertainment industry, Christian Toto hears you. He's a Denver-based entertainment reporter and commentator who examines the industry from a unique right-of-center perspective via his website, Hollywood in Toto. The content is always interesting, as are his Twitter takes.
11. Allen Ginzburg
Ginzburg has written for multiple conservative websites, but most of his commentary these days can be found on Twitter. He's a sane voice in insane times, who calls out both sides of the political aisle.
12. J.R. Salzman A veteran and wounded warrior of the Iraq war, Salzman is insightful and strongly spoken on issues relating to the military, foreign policy, and Veterans Affairs.
This shrapnel is from my amputated arm & came from the Iranian IED that almost killed me. Should I mail it back now? pic.twitter.com/tT80mdd8HI
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) July 15, 2015
Plus, he's always posting awesome stuff like this (which alone is worth a follow):
I have a prosthetic arm chainsaw debarker attachment. Why? Because I'm a badass, that's why.… https://t.co/Z4RYsG3Npn
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) October 19, 2017
And this:
I just pushed a sawmill for 8 hours. Your uppity post yoga prancing around Trader Joe's doesn't impress me.
— J.R. Salzman (@jrsalzman) October 20, 2017
Make sure you check out Salzman's word-work creations too. They're fantastic.
13. Liam Donovan
Donovan, a contributor to National Review, works in Washington DC and has a sharp and wonky political mind. His thoughts are always worth paying attention to.
14. Darrick Johnson
Johnson is a regular guy whose Twitter-follow caught my eye when I realized that he lives in the town next to mine. Though I've never met him, I thoroughly enjoy his smart and funny tweets, and I can't for the life of me figure out why fewer than 300 people follow him. Perhaps we can change that.
15. Ben Howe
Howe is a popular political writer (for RedState), filmmaker, and straight-shooter who has an uncanny gift for nailing profound, air-tight points in just a few words.
16. Tom Nichols
A number of people on Twitter have remarked on how much I remind them of Nichols (who's a fellow author and political writer), and that they pay close attention to both of us. I have no reason not to believe this, other than the fact that he has a hundred-thousand more followers than I do (maybe I'm just a late bloomer). Anyway, his popularity is well-deserved:
17. Salena Zito
CNN's Salena Zito is a very thoughtful journalist who has made it her job to examine the political tides in our country through the eyes of regular people. She recognized the power of Donald Trump's appeal to working-class voters during the 2016 campaign, and has written several respectful pieces on these folks. That respectfulness has carried across to her Twitter feed where she is always a measured, informative purveyor of news.
Every Tweet has my Mom and Dad on one shoulder & my kids and granddaughter on the other. Have to be responsible for my words. Thank you! https://t.co/72b0QF5ooe
— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) May 8, 2017
18. Haley Byrd
Byrd is a congressional reporter for the Independent Journal Review, and doesn't throw out a ton of a personal commentary on Twitter. However, her light-hearted approach to political reporting is always appreciated:
why isn’t Ted Cruz doing a Sanders impression right now. why isn’t Bernie doing a Ted Cruz impression. this would fix the national discourse
— Haley Byrd (@byrdinator) October 19, 2017
Well, I hope you all found the list useful, and if you're looking for one more conservative worth a follow, I hear this guy has a way with words:
Happy tweeting.
