Some reactionary commentators argue that the right has to fight culture with politics because the deck is stacked against them. Is that really true?
No. Let’s break it down:
- Most people under 50 today get their news and ideas from the internet, which is a right-wing playground;
- The right has its own, very popular TV network, and, in any event, most of the people who watch the news on broadcast TV are elderly Trump voters;
- The left has the NYT, but only a small number of people read it. The right has the WSJ;
- There are plenty of periodicals on both sides; and
- Hollywood is more interested in making money than in scoring ideological points. Rupert Murdoch used to own one of the studios, but he sold it.
The bottom line is that the reactionary right is losing the culture war for two other reasons. First, the principal opinion-makers on the right are more interested in tax cuts than Dr. Seuss. Second, younger Americans are concerned about rising inequality, the dollar store economy, bigotry, and climate change. The right has nothing to offer on any of these points; it even denies that climate change exists. Why would anyone under 30 embrace the right under these circumstances?