Escaping the Victim Pyramid

Are there any smart antisemites?

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Pseudonymous commentator and writer AG Hamilton joins Jamie to discuss the cultural issues in the Republican Party and the media-hungry politicians making everything worse.

The Agenda:
-In memoriam of Ron DeSantis’ presidential bid
-Left-wing agendas
-Media bias
-What would AG do to fix everything
-Worst pundits
-AG’s favorite author is Jonah Goldberg

Show Notes:

-AG Hamilton on X (formerly known as Twitter)

-AG Hamilton on Substack

-RNC Moving to Declare Trump Its Presumptive Nominee

-Trump Backs Off ‘Presumptive Nominee’ RNC Pressure Campaign

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Comments (55)
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  1. Avatar photo
    Kimbaukusfitzgibbon

    I agree with the comment about parents wanting nothing more than getting their children into the best independent k-12 or subsequent college or university, and that those parents have no interest in engaging in curriculum changes. I say this as someone who worked with a brilliant group of people who did their best to find the most appropriate k-12, college or university based on the child’s needs and interests. We shut down after 1.5 years as it was clear to us that the only thing parents were interested in: getting into the most prestigious school.

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  2. McGoogles

    I may have misinterpreted his comments on diversity and then the press. What I heard was him railing against diversity then about 60 seconds later saying his solution to fix the media was...more diversity?

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    Nate Dunlevy

    This was not good. I didn't like the anonymous part, and I say that as someone who used to write anonymously, but more importantly, his contributions were not any more interesting than a random person.

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    Paul Montagu

    I didn't listen to all of it, but great choice to have AG as a guest. I've following him since last summer.

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  5. Jeff.Oster03

    I like interacting with AG on Twitter, but I have to chime in and agree that anonymous Twitter users aren't a good use of our interview time for The Dispatch. AG has the same access to the political world as any of us do, because he isn't a journalist or analyst, and hence isn't doing his own inside research; he just has opinions informed by paying attention to politics.

    We listen to Dispatch guests because they are either 1) participating in politics personally (by holding or running for office) or 2) have access to those who are in politics and talk to them on and off the record as members of the press. If someone is simply a smart guy who follows politics, I don't think they are necessarily worth having as a guest. Many of us could have given this exact same interview simply because we are into politics and are intelligent people!

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  6. Avatar photo
    Addicus

    My ideal talk show panel would actually be an hour long discussion/debate featuring (Politics, Culture, Law):
    From the Center-Left (The Bulwark: JVL, Tim Miller, George Conway)
    Center (The Dispatch: Jonah, KDW, Sarah)
    From the Right (National Review: Ramesh Ponnuru, Michael Brendan Dougherty, Andy McCarthy)

    The fireworks here would be intense and that’s not even pulling in far left (John Stewart, Bill Maher) or Right (Ben Shapiro, Tucker) types – because that would just devolve into a shouting match.

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  7. Avatar photo
    Addicus

    The universities are InDocTROnaTInG our kids! Well stop sending your kids to be lawyers and pol-sci majors. Get a STEM degree and actually do some good in the world.

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    1. BPhillips

      I was curious what "indoctrination" was occurring in pre-K.

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        Scarlette Tarte

        Parents "indoctrinate" their kids. Then they send them to schools that open that world up. They can't stand it. They don't want them to learn "all that stuff".

        That's the opposite of indoctrination.

        Indoctrination is what parents do. Do you really think parents are giving kids a "neutral" upbringing, or presenting "all sides" to what they teach their kids?

        What is really going on here is that they don't want their kids to hear that there is anything outside the bubble they want them to live in.

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  8. Russell J

    Good to hear from AG. A good Twitter follow even though I basically abandoned Twitter prior to the X era. Now pull some strings and get Allahpundit on.

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    Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

    No thank you. An anonymous Twitter user is not someone to whom I'm willing to commit limited listening time. I hope this is the last-ever anonymous guest on Dispatch Media. Twitter delenda est.

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    1. BPhillips

      I started this one on the treadmill, I chose to not interrupt my run to find another to listen to. I made the wrong decision. He seems nice enough but he really did come off like a random Twitter commenter. He is upset that the media would report comments from the Trump campaign more than they reported things from the DeSantis campaign, 5 minutes after acknowledging the DeSantis campaign made a conscience effort to not talk to the media.
      I agree DEI has gone a bit far, but I don't think any reasonable person can argue it's just a front for antisemitism.
      I didn't learn anything from that 40 minutes (except I made a good call quitting Twitter).

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    HappyCow

    I don't always see eye-to-eye with AG but I respect him and follow his posts. I will quibble on his blaming the MSM for DeSantis' campaign failure.

    As noted by AG, DeSantis had a admirable record as an effective, conservative governor. He could have run on that alone but felt the need (or pressure from his too-online staff) to also be a general in the culture war and his campaign emphasized the divisive social issues. The culture war stuff is not good governance. He expanded government to create the Office of Election Crimes and Security --millions of dollars/year to solve a problem that doesn't exist, all to satiate the online right. The Disney snafu, the book banning; none of that was necessary, none of it was good governance.

    DeSantis chose to campaign on his record of being a jerk and so the media covered him as a jerk. He failed because there's already a jerk widely popular among Republicans running for the nomination.

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    1. McGoogles

      I never understood why a lot of people thought DeSantis was going to be great. FL is not a model for the U.S. It has its own set of serious problems (P&C insurance market is a mess, high inflation, a whack a doodle surgeon general or whatever that guy is, drove out critical labor resources that are now hurting the economy, a right wing take over of public education to name a few). DeSantis has had a rubber stamp legislature that does whatever he wants. He has a line item veto that is largely used in vindictive ways. He never would have been able to navigate the politics of the U.S. House and Senate to get meaningful things done. He appeared clueless about foreign policy.

      Maybe without Trump, he would have appealed to the Trump base. But with his (lack of a) personality, bullying behavior and lack of a national set of coherent policies that would have made America better, I always thought he would struggle in the general election and been exposed as a naïve, hateful person that did not possess the skills to lead the U.S.

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    2. BPhillips

      AG seemed OK with everything you mentioned because he agrees with DeSantis on the "big issues". I guess he likes DeSantis as long as he doesn't decide to unleash the power of the state on him, just those "other people".

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    3. Avatar photo
      George.Skinner

      DeSantis supporters almost always seem to be clinging to an imaginary version of DeSantis that they projected before they learned more about the actual man. They'd really, really like that idealized version to be real, and they really, really hate having to admit that he never existed. This isn't exactly a novel phenomenon in politics, though - I'd argue that George W Bush, John McCain (2000 Straight-Talk Express Version), and Barack Obama have all been beneficiaries as well. The disconnect between the adoring praise of Trump supporters and the bare facts about the man himself is truly mind-boggling.

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    4. Betsybowditch

      His "Parents Rights in Education" added to the bureaucracy because schools need to be sure they are in compliance. They had to hire people for that.

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      1. BPhillips

        And I'm not OK with some other kids parents deciding what's OK for my kid to read in the school library.

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        1. Betsybowditch

          Do you want Moms for Liberty involved?

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          1. BPhillips

            Lol, definitely not!

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