Beck made an unusual appearance in front of a group of Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs on the final day of the Launch Festival in San Francisco, and he seemed to be well-aware of the fact that his conservative presence was an unusual sight to many in the politically progressive city:
"I've talked to about 10 people this morning, and all of them asked the same question - why the hell are you here?"
The answer? To talk about his company.
He talked about how the audience for his media startup has grown over time:
"The audience is currently a footprint of 50 million a month. It is digital, cable, traditional radio, now podcast - 3 million downloads a month...it's a significant audience."
But Beck was the only overtly political guest invited to speak at the show, and he made sure not to disappoint in that regard. Further along in the interview, he became noticeably more excited when asked about ISIS:
"They believe in something. We don't. They believe in something fundamental, it's screwed up, it's psychotic...the army of Armageddon. They are calling on the Roman army and saying 'come fight us now.'"
He then added:
"We should pull back our soldiers from the region until we acknowledge what we are really fighting is a religious war."