Derek Robertson has a piece at Politico Magazine called “How ‘Owning the Libs’ Became the GOP’s Core Belief.” It’s an interesting article with plenty of quotes from friends of National Review. The thesis is that conservative provocations against liberal elites have a long history that predates the rise of Donald Trump. That’s true. But in the course of his narrative, Robertson mischaracterizes Irving Kristol’s position on Joseph McCarthy. I’m here to correct him.
Robertson says Kristol was “one prominent conservative willing to defend McCarthy, much to the chagrin of nearly everybody to the left of the John Birch Society.” He quotes from the most infamous essay Kristol, then-managing editor of Commentary, ever wrote: “Civil Liberties, 1952—A Study in Confusion.” And then he writes that, “To Kristol, the certainty McCarthy signaled was worth commending, despite his argument’s lack of substance or his corrosive rhetorical style.”
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