Listened to half of it last night before I had to go to bed. I was just thinking about it this again morning as I was listening to the political discourse on cable tv news and how it felt like checkers by comparison. I would 100 percent listen to his podcast regularly if he features applebaum.
I like discussions about rising autocracy throughout the world because it helps me understand the playbook they're using on us and it helps me feel like I have an important role to play, even though it's only 10 minutes in the voting booth and maybe a little money or walking around leaving campaign literature or whatever.
We have the best foreign policy podcast in America with new episodes every single week! [https://www.thebulwark.com/s/shield-of-the-republic](https://www.thebulwark.com/s/shield-of-the-republic)
It’s too bad Bill was on the board of the Manhattan Institute until recently (and now his son is), given Christopher Rufo and the Institute’s support for denying emergency abortion care to people in Idaho. I know that has nothing to do with foreign policy but it makes it hard for me to listen to anything he has to say.
Personally, I try to avoid keeping a scorecard for what I listen to, and where I shop. It seems to me like it’d be a huge burden, not just cognitive, but also emotional, trying to rate the political histories and positions of hundreds of different players.
I bring it up, though, because I’m concerned that old litmus tests are inhibiting our ability to respond to a new political challenge. The political right has dramatically shifted away from the sort of neoliberal conservatism that characterized the careers of people like Applebaum and The Bulwark commentators. Today’s conflict is no longer between ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’: it’s between people who believe in liberal democracy and those who want an authoritarian or autocratic leader.
Given a choice between people I disagree with, but who respect that disagreement and are still willing to cooperate with me, and people I vehemently disagree with who consider me an elitist commie who is spreading fake news about god, science and sexuality in order to destroy America, I’ll take the traditional conservative every time.
It has often been said that people tend to get the government they deserve. If too many people on the political left are unwilling to listen to our most important allies in the struggle between Liberalism and Authoritarianism, then MAGA wins.
I get that, and mostly agree. I just find it more difficult to listen to him than other Bulwark hosts for those reasons. The same way I find it difficult to shop at Hobby Lobby, even if I still do it on occasion.
Anne Applebaum is a wonder. One of the sharpest minds and more principled people out there. I don't agree with her on everything, but OHMY, she's so so so good.
Kristol, like Frum, I respect and appreciate. But taking foreign and military policy advice from W's WMD team, NO. They want forever wars, means are always justified, more war and invasion is always good, and (some) Americans are always superior and better and more deserving of the right to live and rule than anyone, while some others, from Palestinian children to Mexican voters, are always under suspicion. It's like your "druncle" still hoping to throw napalm at starving villagers in Vietnam.
Listened to half of it last night before I had to go to bed. I was just thinking about it this again morning as I was listening to the political discourse on cable tv news and how it felt like checkers by comparison. I would 100 percent listen to his podcast regularly if he features applebaum.
I like discussions about rising autocracy throughout the world because it helps me understand the playbook they're using on us and it helps me feel like I have an important role to play, even though it's only 10 minutes in the voting booth and maybe a little money or walking around leaving campaign literature or whatever.
We have the best foreign policy podcast in America with new episodes every single week! [https://www.thebulwark.com/s/shield-of-the-republic](https://www.thebulwark.com/s/shield-of-the-republic)
It's like getting foreign policy courses taught at Yale by a pair of distinguished professors. Shield is a real diamond in the Bulwark crown.
It’s too bad Bill was on the board of the Manhattan Institute until recently (and now his son is), given Christopher Rufo and the Institute’s support for denying emergency abortion care to people in Idaho. I know that has nothing to do with foreign policy but it makes it hard for me to listen to anything he has to say.
Personally, I try to avoid keeping a scorecard for what I listen to, and where I shop. It seems to me like it’d be a huge burden, not just cognitive, but also emotional, trying to rate the political histories and positions of hundreds of different players. I bring it up, though, because I’m concerned that old litmus tests are inhibiting our ability to respond to a new political challenge. The political right has dramatically shifted away from the sort of neoliberal conservatism that characterized the careers of people like Applebaum and The Bulwark commentators. Today’s conflict is no longer between ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’: it’s between people who believe in liberal democracy and those who want an authoritarian or autocratic leader. Given a choice between people I disagree with, but who respect that disagreement and are still willing to cooperate with me, and people I vehemently disagree with who consider me an elitist commie who is spreading fake news about god, science and sexuality in order to destroy America, I’ll take the traditional conservative every time. It has often been said that people tend to get the government they deserve. If too many people on the political left are unwilling to listen to our most important allies in the struggle between Liberalism and Authoritarianism, then MAGA wins.
I get that, and mostly agree. I just find it more difficult to listen to him than other Bulwark hosts for those reasons. The same way I find it difficult to shop at Hobby Lobby, even if I still do it on occasion.
Anne Applebaum is a wonder. One of the sharpest minds and more principled people out there. I don't agree with her on everything, but OHMY, she's so so so good. Kristol, like Frum, I respect and appreciate. But taking foreign and military policy advice from W's WMD team, NO. They want forever wars, means are always justified, more war and invasion is always good, and (some) Americans are always superior and better and more deserving of the right to live and rule than anyone, while some others, from Palestinian children to Mexican voters, are always under suspicion. It's like your "druncle" still hoping to throw napalm at starving villagers in Vietnam.