Tag Archives | conservatism

Salon of the Refused, Episode 21

Announcement by , September 29, 2020

Episode 21 of my podcast series, Salon of the Refused, is now available. I talk with Washington Post columnist George F. Will about the rising statism of the right. The conversation includes: how he became more “libertarian,” the “loaded pistol” of populism and the virtues of elitism, the paradox of American conservatism, the substance of Donald […]

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“The Very Heart and Soul of Conservatism”

Commentary by , September 1, 2020

Republican Convention Roundup, Part 2 The debate over what Democrats should do about the race riots is heating up. I happily took a break from Twitter for a while to avoid the unhinged responses to my own piece in The Bulwark urging the Democrats to get on top of the issue. Among the saner pundits, […]

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What if It’s All Burned Down Already?

Feature Article by , August 9, 2020

As it looks increasingly likely that President Trump is going to lose reelection in November, the attention of disgruntled Republicans has moved down the ballot. Hence the “Burn It All Down” debate: To what extent should Trump’s failures be taken out on the rest of the Republican party? Mona Charen, for example, argues that “the […]

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The Ideas Primary

Commentary by , May 24, 2020

Five Things You Need to Read Today Editor’s Note: Check out a long and interesting podcast I did a few days ago with a couple of libertarians who were interested in discussing nationalist conservatism, the Enlightenment, and the nature of reason. I knew I had no choice but to do this podcast when I heard […]

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WTF Happened to The Federalist?

Feature Article by , March 30, 2020

Coronavirus Truthers are now a thing, and I regret to inform you that a publication I used to work for has taken the lead in spinning crazy Infowars-style conspiracy theories about how the virus is all being hyped up by the Deep State. Ben Domenech, publisher of The Federalist, recently took to Twitter to explain […]

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The Man Who Was There

Commentary by , February 9, 2020

Impeachment Roundup 1. The Man Who Was There The impeachment trial is over, and the Senate voted against Donald Trump’s removal from office. I don’t like to say that he was “acquitted,” because this was not a criminal trial, and because all the facts presented confirmed that he actually did what he was accused of. […]

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The Contest of Ideas

Commentary by , January 26, 2020

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. “He Is Our O.J.” Like most people, I haven’t been following very closely the Senate impeachment trial. Why? Because we all know the fix is in. The trial is not revealing any new information, so instead it is just an opportunity for Republicans to present their rationalizations […]

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What Is Autonomy?

Commentary by , January 14, 2020

From My Notebook Having published and sent out into the world my book on Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, I have begun work on my next project, my book in defense of the “autonomous individual.” Some of you have asked me why I chose that term. Partly, it’s because that is the term chosen by the […]

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“Bellicosity and Disengagement”

Feature Article by , January 13, 2020

Following the US military’s assassination of Iranian terror master Qassem Suleimani, a lot of people have been trying to make sense of President Trump’s Iran policy and the support for it among the otherwise isolationist nationalists. The New York Times sums up the sense of confusion: “Mr. Trump has yet to resolve the two conflicting […]

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The Inherent Tension

Feature Article by , December 24, 2019

Top Stories of the Year: #2 I ended the last item in my countdown of the top stories of the year by observing the irony that a non-ideological figure like Donald Trump could trigger a broad ideological transformation of the entire American conservative movement. Perhaps this is because those who are seeking to promote that […]

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