Remnant D’être

The days of the 2012 GOP “autopsy” are long behind us. Listen as Jonah ruminates ...

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The days of the 2012 GOP “autopsy” are long behind us. Listen as Jonah ruminates on the struggles of protecting serious conservatism at a time of supreme unreflectiveness among many adherents of the movement as to how it has been led astray. Jonah also expresses his optimism at the revitalized raison d’être of The Dispatch in a post-Trump America. Additionally, Jonah even previews a forthcoming idea that could be of supreme interest to The Remnant’s nerdier factions: “I owe it to readers to do a deep dive… into what Liberal Fascism has to say” about the revanchist populism of the Trumpian right.

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  1. Bob Blanchard

    Just got to this one yesterday. I'd love to see a Dispatch log/corner. I remember when it was first added to NRO, and it was excellent. Not so much today as I don't feel many of the writers there today look at it as a separate vehicle to share/debate ideas, but rather just a quick intro/link to longer pieces.

    I'd say give it a go, and see how it works.

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    Peter Markevich

    Getting to this late, but the idea of instituting an "NR Corner"-like space at The Dispatch is great! I would happily follow

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  3. Edward Ericson

    On your comments regarding Hunter Baker's piece, I think you're missing the context in which he's writing. Plenty of Evangelicals in the south (like me) didn't vote for Trump, but were happy to see much of what we wanted enacted (particularly on judges). If my state (Arkansas) had been close, I might have voted for Trump in 2016, but because I knew the state was going to vote heavily for Trump, I could (easily, and perhaps without real "courage"?) vote third party or for the Democrat. Plus, working in academia, as Hunter does, most of my peers and colleagues were voting against Trump as well. So I got my cake (voting with my peers and not being associated with Trump) and ate it too (got the policies that I wanted). Was I really being courageous in doing so, especially in comparison to Hunter? In hindsight, I'm not sure, which is why his apology message (which started as a long FB post) was so inspiring to me. I completely understood his dilemma and the moral, theological, and pragmatic issues that he has been working through (plus, he's a friend, so there's that). Your concerns about his critique of "courage," therefore, I think are off base. He wasn't talking about your situation at all, but about mine (and his). Being a conservative Evangelical in the academy in the south is a very different world than yours, so "courage" can look a lot different as well. Hope that make sense. Love your work!

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  4. sane_AZ

    First off, I hated Trump (still do for that matter). Secondly, nominal Republicans like myself have been put in the position for the past four years of being accused of supporting/defending Trump if we disagree with anything on the left or agreed with something Trump did. That has weakened non-progressive discourse permanently in my lifetime. From this point forward we will be met with, "But Trump" or "But Capitol Jan 6" and we'll have to be quiet again. Love you Jonah but I have no optimism going forward. The left keeps marching left and the best I've ever seen the opposition do is slow it down a little.

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    WKDawson

    For me as a left of center, the Dispatch is very helpful in getting a coherent argument from conservatives. I don't feel that misleading sort of thing like I can get from Fox News. I think on the riots in the summer, I think the Dispatch tempered things better than NYT/WaPo and NR/ Commentary. Noah Rothman has been very consistent, but I felt they were a little too strong there. I'm the kind of guy who wants to know what the heck is really going on and why and is there anything I can do to make things better. Whacking at the symptoms or ignoring them was not very satisfying to me. So I felt you folks at The Dispatch kind of stayed a little more in the right balance. ... and I have come to respect some of the views here, even if it isn't exactly the way I see it.

    Personally, I'd say that the Trump era was a good test of character for you-all conservatives who really bought into what you believe as a result of principle. Maybe I am wrong, but I feel most of the people who really bought Trump hook-line-and-sinker (not merely protesting HRC) are not people who have really been tested, they simply flowed where the gravy goes. I have more respect for people who hold to 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 when deeply challenged than people who just follow the crowd. I hope the democratic party will not stand behind someone as obnoxious as Trump, but it is always possible. This time, it wasn't me who was tested, but I have learned from you-all by your example at least a little bit. ... .... I hope.

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    CynthiaW

    I like the idea of a Dispatch Corner. In the NR Corner, there was originally a lot of back-and-forth among the writers, and I learned a lot as people explained and defended different views on issues and events. That type of interchange is much less common now, although the site in general has a variety of views.

    I would enjoy a Dispatch version if it completely avoided using anyone's Twitter posts as a source of topics.

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  7. Matt

    It would be nice to have a more interactive forum with some ground rules on respect and civility. I don’t know how you do that. I lean a bit left on things and would love a healthy space to discuss sans personal insults and conspiracy theories

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    DillaDonutz

    PS if you guys need to raise prices to help with things, you have my blessing.

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  9. Heidi Seward

    I proselytize for y'all so much! It probably gets a little annoying at times. But I credit The Dispatch with helping me de-program some Trump followers in my life, so keep it up!

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    Edward Lam

    It looks like the theme of the comments today are generally suggestions on what Dispatchers would like to see next.

    I have really wanted to find a space where I can have discussions with other conservatives. Particularly as someone who is still trying to understand what conservatism is, or perhaps what it means to me and my own path. I never went to Parler, because of their early security breaches and some of the behavior I could see from screenshots. I just recently joined CaucusRoom, after hearing their advertisements on a recent episode of The Editors from NR. However, that place isn't any better than Parler as far I can tell. A quick scroll this morning on my "front page" of the site and I'm presented with memes about Biden having dementia, comments indicating that people "wont stand" for 4 years of President Biden and that what happened at the Capitol on January 6th was just the beginning, etc. I would love a rational, calm space that I can interact with other conservatives (or reasonable adults?) on current issues.

    The last thing is that I would just echo the sentiment that I would love to see Chris Stirewalt find some footing over here. I started listening to the Remnant a few years ago *because* of Chris's recommendation. When I learned that Chris had been fired by Fox News and I saw the mixed bag of reactions on Twitter and just thinking through the series of events that led to his termination, I am left with a pit in my stomach. Its not just empathy for someone losing their livelihood, no I found myself deeply affected thinking about the forces at work around the conservative news apparatus, Trumps influence, etc., that would result in someone as logical and reasonable as Chris being pushed away.

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      BWG

      EL, had not heard of Stirewalt's leaving Fox, that is too bad. Sounds like Fox is going through "change-pains", they are no longer the Trump network, but they don't want to give up that big Trump audience - they're trying to figure out what they'll be next. Stirewalt would fit well here, but doubt it would serve as a full-time gig. Chris seems like a great guy, he was a guest on The Remnant back in late Oct, fun and informative interview, dated now of course, but here's the link: https://remnant.thedispatch.com/p/bring-out-the-butcher-paper-efa. (he's a repeat guest, he might even have achieved the "five-time gold coat" award.) He probably should not have taken Bret Baier by surprise with the AZ flip, but it's also prob not fair to second guess decisions made on that turbulent election night. After all the sound and the fury he was absolutely right, and it's hard to argue with success.
      I started reading and listening to Jonah more regularly in early Fall '19, as he and Steve Hayes were assembling The Dispatch infrastructure prior to launch. I liked some of the results of the Trump administration but was getting disgusted with all the Trump dishonesty, corruption, and childish, boorish behavior. (We've now seen what "character is destiny" really looks like.) I like The Dispatch focus on conservative (i.e., classically liberal) values. I don't always agree with the "regulars", Jonah, David, Sarah and Steve, but I do always find them interesting, and they, especially Jonah, help strengthen and sharpen my arguments for conservative policy. Which is and always will be less attractive to the general public than typical "progressive" policies of handouts, big government programs to address every societal ill that crops up, and identity and grievance politics. Hence the need to make cogent, well-reasoned arguments in support. For me, and I believe the Dispatch staff, it has to tie back to the basics: rule of law, economic freedom, and civil liberties. Progressive policies generally lead to infringement/curtailment of these basics in some way.
      The commenters here run the gamut; most are center- to moderate-conservative, some pretty hard right conservative, a few Trumpy (which is definitely NOT conservative - IMO a personality and social grievances cult, though the social grievances are not entirely without merit), some center left, and a few pretty hard left who seem half serious and half-trollish. Although sometimes they raise my ire and blood pressure, in the end I don't begrudge even the hard lefties, they also help me sharpen and clarify my conservative opinions, it's good to spar and I'd say 99.9% of the time remains civil, though it can get pretty heated. I was witness to one person getting kicked off the Dispatch, for some ad hominem attack comments. Sadly it was a conservative who had too much to drink and just lost it in sparring with a lefty. I've been pretty regular on the Dispatch since their establishment a little over a year ago, and that's the only one I'm aware of. Also glad they took that stand.
      Way past my bedtime, so will end with a big "welcome, hope you enjoy!"

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        Edward Lam

        BWG, thank you for the warm welcome to The Dispatch. I think Fox is in a rough patch and will have to undergo some radical overhauls. They will carry the "stench" of being the "Trump" network, or at the very least being the "controversial right" network for a while. I don’t really know what the fix is, because I think they've lost that batch of viewers and it's hard to imagine they go so hard right (or Trumpy?) as OAN or Newsmax.

        I think what sticks in my craw about Fox's decision with relation to Chris Stirewalt and the rest of the decision desk, is that Fox poured dump trucks of money and effort into making sure they had the best polling and analytics in the business, and it was well known that the Fox apparatus was the gold standard. So how can you tout yourself as the best, and then balk at it when it doesn’t give you the answer you want, even if it is the right one?

        Anyways, I appreciated the thoughtful, lengthy response and I apologize I could not give a comparable one in return. Perhaps I would not use a discussion board as well I thought! Cheers.

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