Jonah Goldberg on Conversations with Bill Kristol - Weekly Standard Marketing

Jonah Goldberg on Conversations with Bill Kristol - Weekly Standard Marketing [CLICK HERE TO VIEW A MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDATION FOR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT, A WEEKLY STANDARD ADVERTISER] Please note that this message reflects the opinions and representations of the advertiser only, and not necessarily the opinion or editorial positions of The Weekly Standard. Jonah Goldberg on Conversations with Bill Kristol Dear Friends, The Foundation for Constitutional Government is pleased to announce the release of a [new conversation with Jonah Goldberg] on Conversations with Bill Kristol. Chapter descriptions are attached (click on the images below to view each chapter). In his second Conversation with Bill Kristol, National Review senior editor Jonah Goldberg discusses President-elect Donald Trump and how conservatives might think about their task during Trump's presidency. Goldberg and Kristol also reflect on the state of liberalism and conservatism today, and consider some trends in the broader culture-e.g., political correctness, the rise of social media, celebrity politicians-and how they might affect the conservative movement in 2017 and beyond. To view the other Conversations that have been previously posted, [click here.] This Conversation and all previous releases are also available as audio podcasts on [iTunes] and [Stitcher]. Best, Andy Zwick Executive Director [goldberg_ch1.png] [goldberg_ch2.png] [goldberg_ch3.png] [goldberg_ch4.png] Below are excerpts from the Conversation: On celebrity culture and politics GOLDBERG: The appeal of the undercurrents of the popular culture are actually much stronger than a lot of the rules of thumb that we apply to politics. So when [Donald Trump] would say things in the primaries, [the media would say] that's going to kill him, and it wouldn't because people were watching him as a creature from a different dimension. They were watching him as the guy from The Apprentice and all the rest. People said throughout the early primaries that the laws of political gravity are eventually going to apply. [But] he was not under the jurisdiction of the laws of political gravity. He was under the laws of jurisdiction of entertainment gravity... Celebrity and the cult of personality politics work better in this new media environment than they have worked since at least Kennedy, if not going back much further. On Trump's political opportunities GOLDBERG: I think that Trump has got this very advantageous position. When 60 percent of the electorate thinks you're not qualified to be president, you actually have remarkable room for improvement in people's minds. If the Left keeps taking the bait and burning flags every time he says you shouldn't burn flags it gives him the Nixonian opportunity to hold the center. Conservatives will hold their nose, and people like National Review might gripe, but if [the Left] goes with Elizabeth Warren-style liberalism, it gives Trump the space to be a modestly center-right president. On covering the Trump presidency GOLDBERG: This is the first time in my professional life where I have zero ownership of a Republican president and it's incredibly liberating. Going forward, if Donald Trump does things that I think are good, I will say so. If he reverts back to the character that I thought was on ample display during much of the campaign, I get to say "I told you so." It's sort of win/win. My guess is it's going to be "all of the above." He's going to do some really good things. I think all of his appointments with some exceptions have been pretty top notch. The thing I worry about is not ideological, it's characterological. I think he was, to his credit, sobered by the fact that he actually won...[For now] he's taking it seriously. Good for him, a couple of tweets notwithstanding... On political correctness and civility GOLDBERG: This is the point I make on college campuses all the time when I talk to conservative college students: Just because rudeness is un-PC doesn't make it heroic or brave. Being rude and crude just for the sake of shock value is almost the definition of asininity...Though if there's a certain amount of rudeness, or a certain amount of eye poking that is necessary to make a political point, I'm more forgiving of it... Yes, there is a lot of cultural Marxism in [political correctness], and it's a vehicle for left wingers to impose all sorts of stupid ideas on society. But for the average person on a college campus, a big chunk of political correctness is an attempt to update manners to account for a more diverse society...Calling people by what they want to be called isn't caving into the Left, it's decency. African Americans for completely understandable reasons don't want to be called colored or Negro, they want to be called black or African American. The idea that, in 1968, an un-PC brave person wouldn't give into that is lunacy. It's a diverse society and being un-PC as a matter of some sort of knee-jerk principle I think of...as a kind of right-wing PC. Watch the Conversation here: [ About Conversations with Bill Kristol. Conversations with Bill Kristol is an online interview program hosted by Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol and produced by [The Foundation for Constitutional Government]. A forum for substantive, thought-provoking dialogue on pressing issues in the news and American politics, Conversations segments feature informal discussions between Kristol and guests on a diverse array of issues of public concern-from the American presidency and the Middle East peace process to the ideas that have shaped Western civilization. Recent guests include former world chess champion and human rights activist [Garry Kasparov], Supreme Court Justices [Clarence Thomas] and [Samuel Alito], syndicated columnist [Charles Krauthammer], former Vice President [Dick Cheney], former Treasury Secretary [Larry Summers], former Speaker of the House [Newt Gingrich], business founder [Peter Thiel], best-selling author [Ayaan Hirsi Ali], former commander in Iraq and Afghanistan [General David Petraeus], former U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff [General Jack Keane], and Harvard professor [Harvey Mansfield]. New conversations are released bi-weekly. Users can access Conversations at [www.conversationswithbillkristol.org] to watch all conversations free-of-charge, read guest biographies, download podcasts and transcripts, and view additional footage. About the Foundation for Constitutional Government. [The Foundation for Constitutional Government] is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization devoted to supporting the serious study of politics and political philosophy, with particular attention to the Constitutional character of American government. The Foundation's online programming includes [Conversations with Bill Kristol,] [Great Thinkers], a comprehensive site devoted to political philosophers such as [John Locke] and [Alexis de Tocqueville], as well as websites devoted to important [Contemporary Thinkers] such as [Harvey Mansfield], [Irving Kristol], and [James Q. Wilson]. Media contact: Andy Zwick 917-423-1422 AZwick@constitutionalgovt.org You have received this message because you signed-up to receive communications from Weekly Standard advertisers. We respect your privacy and will never rent or sell your email. Please note that this message reflects the opinions and representations of the advertiser only, and not necessarily the opinion or editorial positions of The Weekly Standard. [UNSUBSCRIBE HERE] | Change your email preferences [here.] The Weekly Standard, 1150 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 [Privacy Policy]