I’m also very ignorant about the details off Pegler’s career. But I would note two things. One, Pegler’s view of the New Deal, as intimated by McWhorter is not that dissimilar to the sainted Walter Lippmann’s (and Herbert Hoover’s) view during the mid-30s. Second, Ms. McWhorter has written and said some fairly ludicrous things about “masculine insecurity” and homophobia driving anti-Communism. So while I’m sure she has her quotes right, I’d need to read a lot more before I trusted her interpretation.