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 […]
conservatism
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 […]
What is going on at The Claremont Institute?
The conservative website The Bulwark takes a shot at the pro-Trump think tank. The subtitle of Laura Fields’s piece says it all: “How the once-distinguished conservative think tank plunged into Trumpism, illiberalism, and lying about the election.” They have even […]
Should the first 50 pissed-off people to get to the microphone at a school-board meeting be running our schools?
Rich Lowry of The National Review writes: To paraphrase Bill Buckley, it’d be better if the schools were run by the first 50 pissed-off people standing in line to get to the microphone at a contentious school-board meeting than by the […]
The Trump intellectuals who despise their fellow citizens, but love America
Historian Joshua Tait calls-out the so-called “Trump intellectuals”–many of them connected to Hillsdale College and the Claremont Institute–who claim to be “ardent patriots” who are “at odds with real America, but remain committed to the rhetoric of patriotism.” These Trumpers […]
Conservative columnist on systemic racism: “I didn’t create these systems. But I wish I had realized earlier that these systems had created me”
Here is Wheaton College graduate and former George W. Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson: Systems had been carefully created to ensure I went to an all-White church, in an all-White neighborhood, while attending an all-White Christian school and shopping in all-White […]
What is happening in the red states?
The Atlantic is running another fascinating piece of political journalism from Ron Brownstein. Conservatives know they have no chance of shaping national policy, so they are appealing to localism. While I am certainly supportive of cultivating local culture, as an […]
Conservative publishing is having a hard time turning Joe Biden into a “compelling villain”
Here is McKay Coppins at The Atlantic: In the conservative book world, nothing is supposed to set off a gold rush like a new Democratic president. Ever since Bill Clinton inspired a wave of right-wing best sellers in the ’90s, […]
William F. Buckley: “…I, for one, would not willingly die for ‘democracy'”
Historian Joshua Tait writes, “…the democracy-denying beliefs and actions of today’s conservative Republican party–rejecting the results of the 2020 presidential election and seeking to manipulate voting laws nationwide in a cynical assault on the democratic process–have plentiful precedent in conservative […]