The editors of one the leading (and still reasonably sane) conservative magazines in the country is calling for Joe Biden to relieve Dr. Anthony Fauci of his “duties at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as chief medical adviser...
conservatism
Ivy leaguers who are trying to destroy American democracy
What do Josh Hawley, Steve Mnuchin, Ben Carson, Wilbur Ross, Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon, Mike Pompeo, Ted Cruz, Elise Stefanik, and Kayleigh McEnany have in common? They all have degrees from Ivy League institutions and they are all, in one...
Historian Michael Kazin reviews conservative pundit Mark Levin’s book on Marxism
Michael Kazin is a history professor at Georgetown and former editor of Dissent. Some of you may recall his Current review of Anthea Butler’s White Evangelical Racism. Over at The Nation, Kazin reviews radio and Fox News personality Mark Levin’s...
The political philosophy of candidate J.D. Vance
As many of you know, the author of Hillbilly Elegy is running for a United States Senate seat from Ohio as a national (Trump) conservative. Over at The Washington Post, Simon van Zuylen-Wood offers one of the best profiles of...
George Will on the premodern origins of identity politics…
…and national conservatism. This is a really interesting column. A taste: Prophecy is optional folly but an irresistible end-of-year temptation. So, at the risk of allowing a wish to be the father of a thought, a plausible prediction is that...
Resounding gongs and clanging symbols at Charlie Kirk’s “America Fest”
Charlie Kirk’s pro-Trump, God and country organization Turning Point USA recently hosted a conference called “America Fest.” Thousands of college students, fresh off of final exams, showed-up in Phoenix to attend the event. Let’s see how things went: Colorado congresswoman...
The 1877 Project?
It sure sounds like the Dunning School to me. Here is Eric Levitz at New York Magazine: In a recent column for The American Conservative, Helen Andrews argues that Reconstruction — that brief slice of the 19th century during which Black Southerners enjoyed extensive political...
Andrew Sullivan to Al Mohler: “It is not conservative to declare absolute truths and then impose then on society”
Al Mohler, the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and editor of World magazine’s new “Opinions” section, recently challenged the politics of New York Times columnist David Brooks in a piece titled “Sir, you are not a conservative.” In response...
The right wing echo chamber is growing
In a 2009 New York Times column Nicholas Kristof brought attention to The Daily Me. He wrote: When we go online, each of us is our own editor, our own gatekeeper. We select the kind of news and opinions that...
The “radical young intellectuals” of the American Right
In a piece at The New Republic, writer and podcaster Sam Adler-Bell lists some of their names: Nate Hochman, Declan Leary, Saurabh Sharma, Jack Butler, Sohrab Ahmari, Christopher Rufo, Josh Hammer, Jack Posobiec, Curtis Yarvin, and Matthew Walther. Here is...
Conservative counterrevolutions
For a nation founded on Enlightenment ideals, there has always been a significant number of Americans who don’t like change. As John Huntington and Lawrence Glickman point out, “each time political minorities advocate for and achieve greater equality, conservatives rebel,...
Rick Perlstein: Conservative trolling has a long history
Here is the author of Before the Storm, Nixonland, The Invisible Bridge, and Reaganland: David Frum, the former George W. Bush speechwriter and current never-Trump conservative, recently wrote, “The post-Trump right has a style as distinctive as its authoritarian substance: trolling,...
Episode 24: “Let the People Speak”
The Senate debates and then votes on a Federal Marriage Amendment Episode 24: “Let the People Speak” dropped last night. Subscribers to Current at the Longshore level and above receive this narrative history podcast. Here is a teaser: Listen to Episodes 0, 1,...
Victor Davis Hanson on leaving the NATIONAL REVIEW
If you want to understand the divided state of American conservatism (if you can call it that) right now,, check out this taste of Tucker Carlson’s interview with Victor Davis Hanson: VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: I didn’t know much about Donald...
What happened to Tucker Carlson?
Alex Shephard of The New Republic writes: “He once craved responsibility and tried to give a right-wing audience real news. They didn’t want it. And he adjusted with a vengeance.” Here is a taste of his piece, “How Tucker Carlson...
George Will: “There are a lot of people on campus nowadays who just don’t belong there — they shouldn’t be teachers; they should be political activists”
Over at Politico, Zack Stanton asks George Will if “conservatism” means anything anymore. Here is a taste of his interview with the conservative columnist: In your book, you write that “America’s most dispiriting intellectual phenomenon is the degradation of higher...
Why do conservatives love Hungary so much?
I’ve been reading-up on this lately and hope to write something intelligent soon. In the meantime, I found Damon Linker’s piece at The Week helpful. Here is a taste: Trump’s big win was thrilling for many on the American right,...
Why are some conservatives going to Hungary?
Tucker Carlson is broadcasting this week from Budapest. Why? Damon Linker explains at The Week. Here is a taste: Fans of Carlson’s top-rated prime time show on Fox News learned Monday that he would be broadcasting all week from Budapest, where he would...
Who is J.D. Vance? Apparently a lot of Ohio GOP voters haven’t read Hillbilly Elegy
In his book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, J.D. Vance interpreted Appalachia for a largely educated, non-populist reading public. He was able to do this because he left Appalachia for Yale Law School. He...
Conservative evangelical radio host Phil Valentine changes his tune on COVID-19 vaccination
We wrote about Valentine last week in a post on Eric Metaxas’s claim that “he can spread false information [about the COVID-19 vaccine] all day long.” The New York Times is now covering the story. Here is Hamilton Matthew Masters...