#20 – Michelle Malkin
By her own admission on her Twitter bio, Michelle Malkin is a “Little brown woman with a big mouth.” Don’t be fooled; Malkin remains a powerhouse influencer for conservatives in this country. The founder of the ever-expanding twitchy.com has her own personal Twitter following that nears a million followers, and she uses it to often aggressively engage with people on politics. Her regular cable news appearances are sharp and on-point, whether she is debating the latest developments in the race for the White House or Walmart photos that get doctored to look like Venezuela to somehow bash Bernie Sanders’ socialist policies of government (it’s a whole thing, you should really click that link). [image via Twitter]
#19 – Stephen Bannon
The continued influence of Breitbart in 2015 demonstrates that Andrew Breitbart created something far more than a personal political blog. The Breitbart News network has continued growth not only on its popular homepage of original content but also through a daily Sirius XM satellite radio show that executive chairman Stephen Bannon himself hosts. Just this fall, Bloomberg identified Bannon as “the most dangerous political operative in America”, and his work at Breitbart provides a home for conservative readers who identify even further to the right of Fox News. [image via screengrab]
#18 – Joy-Ann Reid
2015 may have been the year that Joy Reid saw her MSNBC show end along with that of Ronan Farrow, but anyone who counts out Reid’s political influence does so at his/her peril. With the passing of countless news cycles, the national conversation remains focused on civil rights in the twenty-first century and the role of law enforcement in minority communities; for all of these pivotal discussions and more, Reid provides a strong and respected voice for liberals as managing editor of TheGrio.com and remains a regular voice on MSNBC. Reid showed her stuff in an epic immigration debate with Ann Coulter on Real Time with Bill Maher this summer as well. [image via Twitter]
#17 – Bill O’Reilly
It would be hard to fathom any sort of ‘Most Influential…’ list without acknowledging the man who anchors arguably the most successful show anywhere on cable news. On The O’Reilly Factor, Bill O’Reilly increasingly seems willing to hit conservatives in addition to his usual piñata, President Obama, liberal pinheads, and anyone else who doesn’t agree with him. The best-selling author also added another to his growing collection of work in 2015: the controversial Killing Reagan, growing the ever-expanding brand of O’Reilly across the political landscape. Cable news can lead to fleeting fame and influence for some, but not so for O’Reilly who would certainly have been inducted early on and then afforded the lifetime achievement award as well. [image via Fox News]
#16 – Jorge Ramos
On so many fronts, Jorge Ramos is a key figure of influence in a political media landscape and its ever-so-swiftly shifting demographics. There are many reasons why he has earned the nickname “The Walter Cronkite of Latino America,” and the Univision host has carved out a uniquely placed role in the 2016 election. Ramos led an early fight against Donald Trump‘s rhetoric; he has taken on Trump’s proposed border wall, lambasted Trump’s “fear-mongering” commentary, and famously got tossed out of a Trump press conference by, you guessed it, the mogul himself. But when given the chance, Ramos also dug in at DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz this year. Despite the renewed focus on terrorism, the immigration dialogue is far from over, and Ramos figures to play a key role in political media through the remainder of the election cycle. [image via Twitter]
NEXT PAGE: See who made the cut for our #11-15 selections!
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