It is, on occasion, necessary in the business of opinion writing to defend oneself. My horseshoe coalition column on the alliance of progressives and the anti-interventionist “restrainer” right against American action on the Iranian nuclear program produced a response. It will probably not surprise you to learn that some people on the right who responded completely ignored my thesis and my analysis and reacted almost entirely with canned ad hominem insults that never seem to change from one foreign policy controversy to the next. Which is about what one expects at this point from the populist anti-intervention faction.
In the process, Federalist CEO and co-founder Sean Davis hyperventilated, “The level of deliberate dishonesty and willful deceit from the author of that piece is hardly surprising — he’s a NeverTrumper and deranged Russia collusion hoaxer.” “Dishonesty” and “deceit” in this case constituted quoting people in their own words. It’s pretty rich of Davis to call me “deranged” simply for not changing my views or burning all of my bridges in the Trump era in the way that Davis has. I have not willfully cut ties with all manner of old friends in conservative media or mass-deleted old tweets to cover up changes of position that have since become embarrassing; Davis cannot say the same on either score. We were friends once, in regular contact; ending that was not my choice.
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