Ross Douthat may have doubts about Donald Trump, but about the reactionary mission, he has none; “progressivism” has taken over our institutions, and it must be rooted out by state action. Is he right?
Here are my reactions:
- The leaders of the evil “progressivism” he identifies in his NYT column are foreigners and businessmen. There are no–none, zip, nada–prominent woke American politicians.
- The cultural lurch to the left that Douthat deplores so vigorously had nothing to do with Democratic control of the federal government. The universities radicalized when Richard Nixon was president. It was a conservative Supreme Court, not Barack Obama, that found gay marriage to be a constitutional right. The New York Times published and promoted “The 1619 Project” when Donald Trump was president. The backlash to George Floyd’s death also occurred during Trump’s first term.
- To the extent that “progressivism” took over American institutions, it was partly due to self-selection (leftists don’t gravitate towards business) and partly because they won the argument in the eyes of the public. Douthat and his reactionary friends want to use the power of the federal government to overturn that victory. By using force, they will only encourage the left to dig in.
- The GOP’s priority over the last 50 years has been to cut taxes for rich people and hold the line on the welfare state, not to do battle with cultural elites. On these issues, the right has been consistently triumphant. Douthat has nothing to say about that.