Good question. I know she talks about William F. Buckley in the 1950’s - but I think that he and National Review would have problems with today’s MAGA scene. Just had a look at NR which seems to be concerned about Democratic weakness.
Good question. I know she talks about William F. Buckley in the 1950’s - but I think that he and National Review would have problems with today’s MAGA scene. Just had a look at NR which seems to be concerned about Democratic weakness.
Given that Buckley actively defended Jim Crow and racial segregation and said the White South had all the justification it needed to operate an apartheid system because it was the "superior civilization," I doubt that racist pig would have had the slightest difficulty with MAGA. He was very good about whitewashing his pro-Nazi America First beliefs. I've always been amazed how he snookered liberals into thinking he was a "reasonable conservative." If you want more of the truth about him, go read Jacob Heilbrunn's "America Last," the real history of the American Right.
I actually hadn't known much about the extent of Buckley's flat-out, unapologetic racism until, say the last fifteen years or so. I'd only watch his show if he had someone like James Baldwin on. and that show he did with Allen Ginsberg in which Allen read his fabulous "Wales Visitation" was something everybody should see. the poem sure shut Buckley up. in fact, it knocked him out.
but I never found anything "reasonable" about any part of the whole Buckley enterprise.
one oddball fact is that when Murray Kempton put his big anthology together, he dedicated it to Buckley who had, Kempton said, a "gift for friendship." go figure.
They'd have problems with MAGA because the Republicans have taken their advice in the wrong direction. Buckley et al. wanted the elite, esp. the economic elite, to call the shots. The MAGAs are shooting in all directions without (as far as I can tell) a coherent program.
Good question. I know she talks about William F. Buckley in the 1950’s - but I think that he and National Review would have problems with today’s MAGA scene. Just had a look at NR which seems to be concerned about Democratic weakness.
Given that Buckley actively defended Jim Crow and racial segregation and said the White South had all the justification it needed to operate an apartheid system because it was the "superior civilization," I doubt that racist pig would have had the slightest difficulty with MAGA. He was very good about whitewashing his pro-Nazi America First beliefs. I've always been amazed how he snookered liberals into thinking he was a "reasonable conservative." If you want more of the truth about him, go read Jacob Heilbrunn's "America Last," the real history of the American Right.
I actually hadn't known much about the extent of Buckley's flat-out, unapologetic racism until, say the last fifteen years or so. I'd only watch his show if he had someone like James Baldwin on. and that show he did with Allen Ginsberg in which Allen read his fabulous "Wales Visitation" was something everybody should see. the poem sure shut Buckley up. in fact, it knocked him out.
but I never found anything "reasonable" about any part of the whole Buckley enterprise.
one oddball fact is that when Murray Kempton put his big anthology together, he dedicated it to Buckley who had, Kempton said, a "gift for friendship." go figure.
I never had ANY use for William F. Buckley. He was a legend in his own mind.
The party weakness. The grassroots is very strong and
is constantly undermined and
ignored.
The party has lost touch with
their constituents. Biden hasn't.
Buckley would likely have kicked the MAGAts to the curb, but he did have a soft spot for the “Christian elites”
They'd have problems with MAGA because the Republicans have taken their advice in the wrong direction. Buckley et al. wanted the elite, esp. the economic elite, to call the shots. The MAGAs are shooting in all directions without (as far as I can tell) a coherent program.