@tzimmer_history@mastodon.social Buckley was an actual intellectual, just not a spectacular one, and one pulled down by too much bigotry, ignorance, and arrogance. He played language like a fiddle, but it was often for his own amusement and his delight in being able to get others to dance to his music, rather than for the good of humanity. And too often, he was himself the wowed observer. He lacked sufficient humility and self-awareness. Today's Right doesn't even have BAD intellectuals anymore.