This is the second in a series of several essays by different authors on the issue of conspiracies. This series is sponsored by Claremont McKenna’s Salvatori Center for the Study of Individual Freedom. Laura Field is a scholar in residence at … Continue reading Sinister Syncopation: The “New Conspiracism” Meets the Intellectuals of the Reactionary Right
Earlier this month, Jeffrey Isaac, who is a professor at Indiana University and friendly contributor to The Constitutionalist, wrote a great short analysis for Common Dreams, about the problem of false equivalencies in American politics. Isaac’s article discusses the media’s treatment of Marjorie Taylor Greene, referring back to a profile by Jonathan Chait (“Marjorie Taylor Greene Blamed Wildfires on Secret Jewish Space Lazers”), as well as an odd Axios piece (“The Mischief Makers”) that tried to identify the most troublesome members of the two parties. Isaac’s piece is valuable because he pushes further than most on the problem of false … Continue reading Jeffrey Isaac On Political Asymmetries (and Evaluative Standards in Journalism)
Intellectuals on the right have primed conservatives for secessionist thinking with their attacks on democratic processes, their attacks on liberals, and numerous ideas about the need for separate conservative communities and spaces. After four years of Trump, I find many things about the American political landscape disorienting, and this includes recent gestures towards secession on the right. When Rush Limbaugh suggests that he believes that “there can’t be peaceful coexistence between conservatives and liberals” and that “the US is trending towards secession,” is it something to take seriously? On the one hand, the answer seems clear: no, not really. Limbaugh … Continue reading Secessionist Chic
This week Ross Douthat took up some of my arguments in his column (partly as a response to my article at The Bulwark, where I critiqued his and others’ blasé attitude about Trump). He raises some interesting questions about the effectiveness of “The Resistance,” and concludes that anti-Biden efforts that seek to imitate the left’s resistance won’t work because, as with Trump, it’s the normal bread-and-butter political stuff that really matters. It is a thrill to be engaged like this in the NYT, and I will have to think about this some more, but at bottom I think Douthat’s argument … Continue reading Quick response to Ross Douthat
