This growing disdain for the political process corresponds nicely with his recent efforts to broaden his brand. And since he has eschewed the right-wing rants that made him famous, Beck’s own politics have become increasingly difficult to peg. He tells The Daily Beast he’s not really a conservative or a libertarian, and offers a surprisingly sharp critique of small-government crusaders. “I don’t think the conservatives in America are thinking this through quite enough,” he says. “Let’s say you get your big cuts … When somebody you personally know loses their job and is in pain and suffering, and then comes to your door and says, ‘You wanted these cuts! My family can’t eat!’ what are you prepared to do? Sit there and argue with him some more about how great it is that we’ve cut it and that’s the way to save the country?”

Rather than rant and rave about the need for deficit reduction, which he favors, Beck now spends more airtime urging his followers to show charity when government services are eventually slashed. Incidentally, he says this is the real reason for controversially pushing his audience to stockpile canned goods and gold: “not to hoard food” but to dispense it to their unemployed neighbors when disaster strikes…

But Beck’s ultimate success—as a conservative tastemaker, a cable-news killer, or a national savior—will depend on the continued loyalty of his rabid fans. And to foster that devotion, Beck will turn to a different role model: “When you’re true to yourself—not the audience that reads about me in the newspaper or sees a clip someplace, but the audience that actually comes and watches, just like Oprah—they get to know you and they sense something genuine.”

Indeed, the fealty of Beck’s fan base has always been driven, in large part, by his soul-baring transparency. (He once famously opened an interview with Sarah Palin on Fox by reading an entry from his diary.) It’s a fact that hasn’t escaped the executives tasked with monetizing his brand.