The National Rifle Association can behave like a religious order: Its internal squabbles rarely spill out into public view. But on Friday, Glenn Beck, a Tea Party icon, aired his ongoing rift with one of the organization’s officials. During his radio show, Beck said many of his listeners would soon be receiving a ballot in the mail, which would ask them whether they wanted to recall Grover Norquist, the founder of Americans for Tax Reform, from the NRA’s board. It was the culmination of a quixotic crusade begun by Beck three years ago, when he alleged the advocate had unseemly ties to radical Muslims. He implored the NRA members in his audience to vote for Norquist’s removal.

“His connections to really, really dangerous people in the Islamist side is frightening and it needs to end and his influence needs to be dramatically reduced, at least in conservative circles,” Beck said.

For the NRA, the timing of Beck’s announcement could be considered less than ideal. Since early last week, the group has been dealing with a different public relations problem involving a prominent associate. On February 8, its most outspoken board member, Ted Nugent, took to social media to blame a dozen prominent American Jews for gun control. The comments were so indisputably hateful that even gun enthusiasts who revere the aging rock star called for his removal. And now the Norquist controversy has the prerogatives of the NRA in the spotlight again.

https://www.thetrace.org/2016/02/glenn-beck-grover-norquist-nra-uproar/