Republicans are going full hypocrisy in their attacks on Ketanji Brown Jackson

[View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter]( March 22, 2022 You'd be forgiven for not having followed the latest media kerfuffle, which centers on the publication of a new "radical" [magazine]( called Compact. Founded by two religious conservatives and one Marxist, the magazine purports to defend community "against a libertine left and a libertarian right." It, like most magazines, matters mostly to people who write for magazines. But, indulge me for a moment, because Compact helps explain an important evolution in right-wing politics. Basically, a lot of people staffing Compact have grown disillusioned with liberalism. The biggest name on the masthead is Sohrab Ahmari, a fire-breathing religious conservative who has made waves by advocating (and modeling) a new form of [hyper-combative right-wing politics](, which involves cultural conservatives "discrediting their opponents and weakening or destroying their institutions." Contrarians such as Glenn Greenwald and Michael Tracey are also listed as contributing editors. They got weirdo leftist Slavoj Žižek, too. Although the magazine publishes heterodox thinkers from across the political spectrum, many of the people involved can be placed into a single bucket: anti-establishment "post-liberals." They usually voice support for a social democratic welfare state (yay!) while deriding contemporary feminism, transgender people and liberalism (boo...). Suffice to say the magazine gathers people who don't like "cancel culture" or "wokeness" and need to talk about it—a lot. But they also want to say they're still, you know, smart. In their view, the problem is that a lot of other people have become dumb and don't want to hear about their interesting ideas. What are those? Well, let's take a look at the articles. In the first issue of Compact, here are some sample headlines: "[Why We Need the Patriarchy](" (!!!);"[The Case Against Aesthetic Castration"]( (???); and "[The Great Reset is Real](" (...) How... enticing? In place of reading Compact, I'd recommend that you listen to a podcast that a lot of us at Mother Jones are huge fans of. It's called Know Your Enemy, and it features two writers—Sam Adler-Bell and Matthew Sitman—as they analyze right-wing ideas, intellectuals, and authors. It's nice that they read deeply and ask difficult questions. Instead of grievance or anger, they usually go for curiosity. My personal favorite episode so far is a [deep dive]( into William F. Buckley's New York City mayoral campaign (an under-referenced but foundational moment in the history of American conservatism). But I'd also recommend a recent [episode]( on Southern California housewives in the postwar era who formed conservative networks to "protect the family" against perceived threats like diversity, socialist activists, and the federal government (a phenomenon that appears to be recurring today in the form of the critical race theory wars). – Noah Y. Kim Advertisement [UC Press - Maher]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [With Little to Attack SCOTUS Nominee, Republicans Are Going Full Hypocrisy]( Dark-money groups criticizing dark money, and a new appreciation for Justice Breyer. BY STEPHANIE MENCIMER [Trending] [Can Congress stop Louis DeJoy's plan to buy a fleet of gas-guzzling trucks?]( BY ABIGAIL WEINBERG [Medical debts have counted against 43 million Americans’ credit scores. That is finally about to change.]( BY HANNAH LEVINTOVA [About one child per second has fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion]( BY HANNAH LEVINTOVA [500 researchers ask universities to reject fossil-fuel cash]( BY FIONA HARVEY Advertisement [UC Press - Maher]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [A visual diary: What it was like to see the exodus from Ukraine up close]( I ask you to try to imagine that you have suddenly lost all and that you are leaving behind your husbands, brothers, and fathers, not knowing when or if you will see them again. This is what we are looking at. BY PETER TURNLEY [Fiercely Independent] Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. [Donate]( Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755