Donald Trump is a perfect moral X-ray, and neoconservative intellectual Norman Podhoretz is one of many figures this era has revealed for what they always were. jonathanchait writes
One of the most contentious questions in American political thought over the past half-dozen years has been whether Donald Trump represents a departure from the ideals of American conservatism or, alternatively, its apotheosis. The departure interpretation is put forth mainly by conservatives, who see Trump’s bigotry and authoritarianism as a betrayal of their noble creed.
Podhoretz’s interview is remarkably clear about the fact that he was attracted to Trump not despite the candidate’s racism, nationalism, and authoritarianism but precisely because of those qualities. Podhoretz is boasting that he identified with the social views of white southern men a decade prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act. When asked to elaborate on their alleged good sense, he offers up “when a guy says he’s a girl,” but transgender rights was not a big public issue in the 1950s.
Amazingly, the Journal’s interviewer does not point out how utterly diametrical this sentiment is with Trump’s stated foreign-policy views. Neocons like Podhoretz have spent decades accusing Democrats of advocating “moral relativism” between the United States and dictatorial regimes, but Trump is the first president in the history of the United States to actually espouse it.
“It’s a war, in my view,” Podhoretz says. “Many people are reluctant to see it in those terms. I mean, people say it’s a lot like 1858 and so on, but I don’t see it as a prelude to a civil war and 600,000 Americans dead. That’s not my meaning. But spiritually it’s a war.
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