@tzimmer_history@mastodon.social
2026-04-29 13:31 UTC
Replies (3)
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@tzimmer_history@mastodon.social 2026-04-29 13:49
In that sense, there is a fairly direct path from William F. Buckley, the godfather of Modern Conservatism, to Rufo. Not the mythological Buckley who purged the extremists – but the real historical figure who deemed the demagogues useful and the extremist energies indispensable.
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@wesdym@mastodon.social 2026-04-29 15:01
@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.
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@wesdym@mastodon.social 2026-04-29 15:05
@tzimmer_history@mastodon.social What happened -- and Buckley and Goldwater were both a part of this -- was that the post-FDR Right got desperate, and wooed extremists to their cause, to tap that deep well of emotional vigour. And it worked in the short term. But it also had predictable longer-term costs. (And Goldwater DID predict them, and warn against this.) If you hand your weapon to an extremist, you risk becoming their prisoner. And that's what's happened to the GOP. Today's GOP is run by those nuts.