I used to listen to Yuval Levin when he was a guest on conservative podcasts in the mid 2010s. National Review, The Weekly Standard, etc. One thing he said that stayed with me is this: "There is no plan." He said it in reference to the perception of chaos in the government. This was in the later years of the Obama administration. He meant that beyond the acquisition and maintenance of power in D.C. and other places, there wasn't an agenda. It was just politicians trying to stay in office.
The fact that that statement stayed with me might lead you to think I have an admiration for Yuval Levin. I do not. Each podcast I listened to where he was a guest was unsatisfying, to say the least. Back then, he did not turn away from the description of "big-government conservative," a paradoxical characterization a conservative should protest. While conservatives do pursue government power, it's poor form to brag about it.
No. Yuval Levin is one of those bloodless conservatives. Passionless, a wonk who would feel right at home in a debate over the merits of the Jaffa School as opposed to the Straussian School or quoting the best of Russell Kirk. The people who grew up voting for Republicans don't want that anymore. We don't want the gradual descent as dignified losses pile up, as our so-called "principles" condemn us withstand leftists experimentation on our society, hoping for someone to galvanize the party like Reagan did four decades ago.
That someone showed up. It was Donald Trump. He showed up and understood immediately that the purpose of a political party is to win elections, not dither about what planks should go in the platform. The era of theorizing is over. The Left wants us dead, or neutered enough that we can't fight back against their incessant attacks against our institutions. And as for the divisive rhetoric? The Leftists have been calling Republican candidates for president Hitlerian since Thomas Dewey. Our side has been more than patient with the Left's crybullies who slander us constantly and then keen for civility the moment we open our mouths to fight back. Enough. Time to be honest. Time to say out loud who the Left really is. No more genteel debates bemoaning mean tweets. It's time to win an election and reverse the catastrophes caused by the buffoon Joe Biden and his cabinet full of incompetents.
It's not your party anymore, Levin. Go align yourself with the dignified losers who are still Never Trump. They'll be happy to share their dogeared copies of Russell Kirk with you. The rest of us will be voting for the man who encouraged us to fight.
Regarding JD Vance’s statement, the first part (Biden campaign’s central premise is that Trump is dangerous) is absolutely true. While I agree the second part (Biden is directly responsible for the assassination attempt) is a bit overcooked, we all know what the narrative would be if the shoe were on the other foot, because right now with the shoe on this foot, they are still trying to blame it on Trump.
Bari Weiss thinks Levin is "one of the most cogent explainers of our current political moment". He is highly respected by Jonathan Haidt and by Ben Shapiro. One might think it useful to hear what he has to say.
But, noooo. Readers encounter words that use a few words to criticize Trump (omigod, he said "worse"!) for contributing to the vitriol or for insisting the 2020 election was stolen, in a larger context that also criticizes Biden and the Democrats, and suddenly they loose their water, accusing the FP, threatening to unsubscribe because it's going "liberal", and other nonsense.
In so doing, they prove Levin's point. Whether we agree or not, it's up to us to listen and consider other points of view. Summarily dismissing and dissing a widely respected Constitutional scholar without even reading the piece - who btw is a conservative and among other things a director at the American Enterprise Institute and former advisor to President Bush - is beyond childish. Apparently many feel that it's a "waste of my time" to read or hear anything they disagree with.
Fine. All are entitled to their opinion, and even narrowness if they so choose. Unfortunately though, that only adds to the divisiveness and bitterness. On the other hand, maybe read the piece and see if there is any valuable information to make the reader think. If we are so quick and adamant to dismiss anyone who isn't "on our side", we are lost.
The Free Press published an article by N.S. Lyons about Trump as a Hegelian world-spirit on the order of Napoleon. I developed this theme in an essay about how American is contaminated by the false idea of a Zeitgeist. Instead of living in an Age of Reason, we live in an Age of Trump.
I literally stopped reading at this: "Donald Trump himself has been the worst offender on this front, but his opponents and critics have frequently come close."
Do better, TFP. Too many more pieces like this and you'll lose me.
With media sharply divide along party lines, we live in two fractured and distinct information spaces, which means we increasingly live in a society with two Overton windows, which means the bad ideas in both go unanswered and become widely-held and legitimately crazy, and even the rational beliefs of the other side are seen as fringe.
I wish more commentators would talk about how we need to end the two party system, systemically. Third-party candidates will never be viable in a first-past-the-post system, and yet having viable third parties is one of the only ways out of this mess. It's a shame alternative voting is seen as a liberal thing, because in truth it benefits every voter, while diminishing what truly needs to be taken down a peg: the Democrat-Republican cabal
The painful irony, of course, is that the one thing everyone can agree on is that our elections need to be protected from the other party's meddling, so there's probably political will in there somewhere.
This guy is a conservative? Scholar? Trump is worse than the left? Insanity. The Dems have tried to overthrow the President since he was elected with a purchased set of lies about his ties to Russia, and because he asked Ukraine to look at the Biden's ties to Burisma? (which needed looking at because Hunter was raking in money from them for squat). They destroyed the meaning of the impeachment process with these hoaxes. They brought 90+ felony charges against Trump once he left office, weaponizing the justice system,. They have called Republicans nazis, fascists, threats to Democracy, racists, every phobe there is (homo, transgender, gender, abortion). If they are talking, lies are falling out - Republicans want to ban all abortions even in cases of rape, they want to ban contraception, dismantle social security, stop medicare, enslave blacks, force women to stay in the home. So many Democrat lies we could fill a book with them. They have shown Trumps decapitated head as a joke, said put him in the bullseye, and posted too bad the Pa shooter missed. They have consistently attacked the Supreme Court, a co-equal branch of government, and now Biden will supposedly propose 18 year term limits for them while not proposing similar limits on Congress (had we had these Biden would have been out of government 30+ years ago). How can a conservative look at all this and say Trump is the bigger problem? That Trump is the bigger threat to our republic? The Democrats have shown they will stop at nothing to maintain power, absolutely nothing. I remember when Nicolle Wallace (now has an MSNBC program) started commentating on political events for NBC. They introduced her as a conservative. I listened to her and thought who are they trying to kid. She was wildly liberal. As I read this piece I got deja-vu. This author sure doesn't write like a conservative; he sounds more like someone with TDS
One of the reasons I enjoy TFP is because of the freedom its writers have to express their opinions and disagreements. It is refreshing to read a different point or view and narrative than what’s been blaring at us for the past decade or two.
When the comment section is filled with “the article started well but after XYZ I stopped reading…” I wonder if we, as a nation, are really interested in listening and learning from each other. It seems that we still want our echo chambers, and I can be totally mistaken but I think CNN and Fox News do a great job at providing that.
I hope TFP continues to do the kind of journalism that allows for different voices and perspectives to exist, and I hope that we as a nation are willing to grow and learn from opinions that differ from ours.
Only speaking for why I stopped reading, when you are hit with a statement of "fact" that is so manifestly false and biased as to be absurd, the rest of the article becomes a waste of time. There is a reason I subscribe to TFP and not the New York Times or Washington Post. That doesn't mean I want to be in an echo chamber and am closed to divergent views. I just don't want my intelligence insulted.
The Secret Service leadership has been exposed as disastrously incompetent. 90% of the current hand wringing would not have occurred, had they simply done their job.
Suspicions of why Trump was assigned a team of inexperienced temps are all over conservative media; the anger runs deep and it is only growing worse as more information comes out.
“Libs of TikTok” and others are busily digging up and exposing vile postings by teachers, professors, and other people in positions of power and responsibility who expressed disappointment that the shooter “missed”. Some of them have been summarily dismissed from their jobs.
None of these louts stopped to ask, if the Secret Service is this awful and incompetent, aren’t Biden and Obama also in danger? Few on the left seem to have thought this through.
I’m afraid that the shooting will only deepen the divide and not bring the country together. My own wife, an NPR-addicted liberal, hasn’t said a word about the tragedy, not even about the death of the firefighter who threw himself over his family to protect them. Nor has any other liberal I know.
The notion that we are going to grow from this experience is sadly laughable.
I actually listened to Mr. Levin, did not agree with every point, but found the thesis compelling. Then I happened to read some comments—then more comments—then realized those commenting want an echo chamber against the “lefties” rather than a free press. There seems to be a very simple theme running through the comments section. Liberals bad. Trump good. Sorry, but it is possible to listen to almost all the major news outlets and find factual information in each and every one. The problem is do you want to read widely enough to recognize a fact when you read it and thus enable yourself to actually tease truth from half truth or do you just want to cleverly spout a few cherry picked nuggets to “make your point.” Congratulations to the Free Press for working hard to try to live up to their aims. And thanks Fred for the one thoughtful comment which was:
“I disagree with that characterization, too — but the whole point of the essay was that we need to disagree without jumping to immediate accusations of "blind...dishonest." Certainly, I'd rather be called "blind" than "literally Hitler" (LOL) but yours was the first comment I read after the essay, and it was a little jarring to me. Yeah, you and I think he's wrong about Trump being the worse offender, but I think his general point was valid and too important to get stuck on that remark.”
I happen to think Levin is correct about Trump but hey maybe I’m reading too much. At least I know Fred and I could likely find common ground. I did not get that sense from most of the comments
I used to listen to Yuval Levin when he was a guest on conservative podcasts in the mid 2010s. National Review, The Weekly Standard, etc. One thing he said that stayed with me is this: "There is no plan." He said it in reference to the perception of chaos in the government. This was in the later years of the Obama administration. He meant that beyond the acquisition and maintenance of power in D.C. and other places, there wasn't an agenda. It was just politicians trying to stay in office.
The fact that that statement stayed with me might lead you to think I have an admiration for Yuval Levin. I do not. Each podcast I listened to where he was a guest was unsatisfying, to say the least. Back then, he did not turn away from the description of "big-government conservative," a paradoxical characterization a conservative should protest. While conservatives do pursue government power, it's poor form to brag about it.
No. Yuval Levin is one of those bloodless conservatives. Passionless, a wonk who would feel right at home in a debate over the merits of the Jaffa School as opposed to the Straussian School or quoting the best of Russell Kirk. The people who grew up voting for Republicans don't want that anymore. We don't want the gradual descent as dignified losses pile up, as our so-called "principles" condemn us withstand leftists experimentation on our society, hoping for someone to galvanize the party like Reagan did four decades ago.
That someone showed up. It was Donald Trump. He showed up and understood immediately that the purpose of a political party is to win elections, not dither about what planks should go in the platform. The era of theorizing is over. The Left wants us dead, or neutered enough that we can't fight back against their incessant attacks against our institutions. And as for the divisive rhetoric? The Leftists have been calling Republican candidates for president Hitlerian since Thomas Dewey. Our side has been more than patient with the Left's crybullies who slander us constantly and then keen for civility the moment we open our mouths to fight back. Enough. Time to be honest. Time to say out loud who the Left really is. No more genteel debates bemoaning mean tweets. It's time to win an election and reverse the catastrophes caused by the buffoon Joe Biden and his cabinet full of incompetents.
It's not your party anymore, Levin. Go align yourself with the dignified losers who are still Never Trump. They'll be happy to share their dogeared copies of Russell Kirk with you. The rest of us will be voting for the man who encouraged us to fight.
Regarding JD Vance’s statement, the first part (Biden campaign’s central premise is that Trump is dangerous) is absolutely true. While I agree the second part (Biden is directly responsible for the assassination attempt) is a bit overcooked, we all know what the narrative would be if the shoe were on the other foot, because right now with the shoe on this foot, they are still trying to blame it on Trump.
I thought Bari's comments made more sense than Yuval's.
If I say BANAL with a British accent do I sound like Douglas Murray?
Bari Weiss thinks Levin is "one of the most cogent explainers of our current political moment". He is highly respected by Jonathan Haidt and by Ben Shapiro. One might think it useful to hear what he has to say.
But, noooo. Readers encounter words that use a few words to criticize Trump (omigod, he said "worse"!) for contributing to the vitriol or for insisting the 2020 election was stolen, in a larger context that also criticizes Biden and the Democrats, and suddenly they loose their water, accusing the FP, threatening to unsubscribe because it's going "liberal", and other nonsense.
In so doing, they prove Levin's point. Whether we agree or not, it's up to us to listen and consider other points of view. Summarily dismissing and dissing a widely respected Constitutional scholar without even reading the piece - who btw is a conservative and among other things a director at the American Enterprise Institute and former advisor to President Bush - is beyond childish. Apparently many feel that it's a "waste of my time" to read or hear anything they disagree with.
Fine. All are entitled to their opinion, and even narrowness if they so choose. Unfortunately though, that only adds to the divisiveness and bitterness. On the other hand, maybe read the piece and see if there is any valuable information to make the reader think. If we are so quick and adamant to dismiss anyone who isn't "on our side", we are lost.
The Free Press published an article by N.S. Lyons about Trump as a Hegelian world-spirit on the order of Napoleon. I developed this theme in an essay about how American is contaminated by the false idea of a Zeitgeist. Instead of living in an Age of Reason, we live in an Age of Trump.
https://kurtkeefner.substack.com/p/donald-trump-man-of-destiny?r=7cant
I literally stopped reading at this: "Donald Trump himself has been the worst offender on this front, but his opponents and critics have frequently come close."
Do better, TFP. Too many more pieces like this and you'll lose me.
With media sharply divide along party lines, we live in two fractured and distinct information spaces, which means we increasingly live in a society with two Overton windows, which means the bad ideas in both go unanswered and become widely-held and legitimately crazy, and even the rational beliefs of the other side are seen as fringe.
I wish more commentators would talk about how we need to end the two party system, systemically. Third-party candidates will never be viable in a first-past-the-post system, and yet having viable third parties is one of the only ways out of this mess. It's a shame alternative voting is seen as a liberal thing, because in truth it benefits every voter, while diminishing what truly needs to be taken down a peg: the Democrat-Republican cabal
The painful irony, of course, is that the one thing everyone can agree on is that our elections need to be protected from the other party's meddling, so there's probably political will in there somewhere.
The Gabby Giffords shooting was part of a mass shooting. Not an assassination attempt. Awful....
This guy is a conservative? Scholar? Trump is worse than the left? Insanity. The Dems have tried to overthrow the President since he was elected with a purchased set of lies about his ties to Russia, and because he asked Ukraine to look at the Biden's ties to Burisma? (which needed looking at because Hunter was raking in money from them for squat). They destroyed the meaning of the impeachment process with these hoaxes. They brought 90+ felony charges against Trump once he left office, weaponizing the justice system,. They have called Republicans nazis, fascists, threats to Democracy, racists, every phobe there is (homo, transgender, gender, abortion). If they are talking, lies are falling out - Republicans want to ban all abortions even in cases of rape, they want to ban contraception, dismantle social security, stop medicare, enslave blacks, force women to stay in the home. So many Democrat lies we could fill a book with them. They have shown Trumps decapitated head as a joke, said put him in the bullseye, and posted too bad the Pa shooter missed. They have consistently attacked the Supreme Court, a co-equal branch of government, and now Biden will supposedly propose 18 year term limits for them while not proposing similar limits on Congress (had we had these Biden would have been out of government 30+ years ago). How can a conservative look at all this and say Trump is the bigger problem? That Trump is the bigger threat to our republic? The Democrats have shown they will stop at nothing to maintain power, absolutely nothing. I remember when Nicolle Wallace (now has an MSNBC program) started commentating on political events for NBC. They introduced her as a conservative. I listened to her and thought who are they trying to kid. She was wildly liberal. As I read this piece I got deja-vu. This author sure doesn't write like a conservative; he sounds more like someone with TDS
One of the reasons I enjoy TFP is because of the freedom its writers have to express their opinions and disagreements. It is refreshing to read a different point or view and narrative than what’s been blaring at us for the past decade or two.
When the comment section is filled with “the article started well but after XYZ I stopped reading…” I wonder if we, as a nation, are really interested in listening and learning from each other. It seems that we still want our echo chambers, and I can be totally mistaken but I think CNN and Fox News do a great job at providing that.
I hope TFP continues to do the kind of journalism that allows for different voices and perspectives to exist, and I hope that we as a nation are willing to grow and learn from opinions that differ from ours.
Only speaking for why I stopped reading, when you are hit with a statement of "fact" that is so manifestly false and biased as to be absurd, the rest of the article becomes a waste of time. There is a reason I subscribe to TFP and not the New York Times or Washington Post. That doesn't mean I want to be in an echo chamber and am closed to divergent views. I just don't want my intelligence insulted.
A few thoughts:
The Secret Service leadership has been exposed as disastrously incompetent. 90% of the current hand wringing would not have occurred, had they simply done their job.
Suspicions of why Trump was assigned a team of inexperienced temps are all over conservative media; the anger runs deep and it is only growing worse as more information comes out.
“Libs of TikTok” and others are busily digging up and exposing vile postings by teachers, professors, and other people in positions of power and responsibility who expressed disappointment that the shooter “missed”. Some of them have been summarily dismissed from their jobs.
None of these louts stopped to ask, if the Secret Service is this awful and incompetent, aren’t Biden and Obama also in danger? Few on the left seem to have thought this through.
I’m afraid that the shooting will only deepen the divide and not bring the country together. My own wife, an NPR-addicted liberal, hasn’t said a word about the tragedy, not even about the death of the firefighter who threw himself over his family to protect them. Nor has any other liberal I know.
The notion that we are going to grow from this experience is sadly laughable.
This was one of the most interesting and intelligent conversations (Yuval) I've heard in a long while. I need to read his book.
I Read the 1st few comments to
" decide " if I wanted to read the article...
NOPE!
Wouldn't it be better to read for yourself to make that decision? How do you know the comments were accurate?
I actually listened to Mr. Levin, did not agree with every point, but found the thesis compelling. Then I happened to read some comments—then more comments—then realized those commenting want an echo chamber against the “lefties” rather than a free press. There seems to be a very simple theme running through the comments section. Liberals bad. Trump good. Sorry, but it is possible to listen to almost all the major news outlets and find factual information in each and every one. The problem is do you want to read widely enough to recognize a fact when you read it and thus enable yourself to actually tease truth from half truth or do you just want to cleverly spout a few cherry picked nuggets to “make your point.” Congratulations to the Free Press for working hard to try to live up to their aims. And thanks Fred for the one thoughtful comment which was:
“I disagree with that characterization, too — but the whole point of the essay was that we need to disagree without jumping to immediate accusations of "blind...dishonest." Certainly, I'd rather be called "blind" than "literally Hitler" (LOL) but yours was the first comment I read after the essay, and it was a little jarring to me. Yeah, you and I think he's wrong about Trump being the worse offender, but I think his general point was valid and too important to get stuck on that remark.”
I happen to think Levin is correct about Trump but hey maybe I’m reading too much. At least I know Fred and I could likely find common ground. I did not get that sense from most of the comments
I'm reading all of Yuval's books