Know Your Enemy

It seems almost every  big culture-war battle of the moment—from "Critical Race Theory" to COVID mandates—is being fought in America's schools. Meanwhile, Democrats, anxious about a midterm rout driven by angry Republican parents, too often are conceding these battles to the right, adopting their rhetoric and their terms of debate, and have been for a long time—despite supposedly being the party of teachers' unions.  Does it have to be this way? We put that question, and many more, to our guest Jennifer Berkshire, the coauthor (with Jack Schneider) of A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door and co-host of the education podcast Have You Heard.  Jennifer guides us through the recent history of conservatives' war on public education—fights over desegregation, the Reagan administration's A Nation at Risk, the "parents' rights" movement of the 1990s, Obama-era ed reform, and the CRT gag-orders sweeping the nation today. Along the way we tease out some illuminating contradictions in the right's nationalist coalition, which  seeks to cultivate a shared, sanitized story about American history while simultaneously dismantling the only system by which that narrative can be imposed. We also cast a critical eye on the triangulating, moderate Democrats who have utterly failed to provide a galvanizing, alternative message about the purpose of public education. As Jennifer makes brilliantly clear, the crisis of American education is real; the question is, who will be empowered to solve it? Further Reading:Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider, A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door:  The Dismantling of Public Education and the Future of School (The New Press, November 2020)Jennifer Berkshire, "The GOP Has Revived Its Obsession With Parents’ Rights," The New Republic, Dec 9, 2021— "The GOP's Grievance Industrial Complex Invades the Classroom," The Nation, Oct 28, 2021— "'Corporate Democrat Goes Down to Defeat in Virginia,'" The Nation, Nov 8, 2021— "How Education Reform Ate the Democratic Party," The Baffler, Nov 17, 2017Sam Adler-Bell, "Behind the Critical Race Theory Crackdown," The Forum, Jan 13, 2022Sarah Jones, "We're Having the Wrong Conversation About Schools," New York Magazine, Jan 12, 2022...and don't forget to subscribe on Patreon for access to all of Know Your Enemy's bonus episodes!

Author, podcaster, and New York Times Magazine staff writer Jay Caspian Kang joins Matt and Sam for a spirited discussion of some treacherous topics: identity politics, critical race theory, and cancel culture (oh my!). Jay is our charming, intrepid guide to these touchy subjects, those that liberals and leftists are sometimes loath to engage, offering his idiosyncratic (though not contrarian!) takes on each — and inspiring some of our own.Subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon to listen to this bonus episode, and all of our bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/knowyourenemy 

When Joan Didion died at the age of 87 in December, her early conservatism figured into a number of obituaries and commentaries, but was rarely discussed in detail. Matt and Sam turned to Sam Tanenhaus, William F. Buckley, Jr.'s biographer and knower of all things National Review, to discuss Didion's early writing for the magazine, her roots in California conservatism,  and how her politics changed—and didn't—over the course of her long career.  Along the way, they discuss why she loved Barry Goldwater and hated Ronald Reagan, why she finally stopped writing for National Review, and how she compares to other writers from that era—from Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe to Gore Vidal and Garry Wills. Sources:Joan Didion: "On Self-Respect,"  Vogue,  1961‘I want to go ahead and do it,' (Review of Mailer), NYTimes, Oct 7, 1979"The Lion King," (Review of Dinesh D'Souza), NYRB, Dec 18, 1997"New York: Sentimental Journeys,"  NYRB, Jan 17, 1991. "John Wayne: A Love Song," Saturday Evening Post, 1965Slouching Toward Bethlehem (1968)The White Album  (1979)Salvador (1983)Political Fictions (2001)Where I Was From  (2003)A collection of Didion's National Review Writing Commentary on Joan Didion:Ross Douthat, "Try Canceling Joan Didion," NYTimes, Jan 5, 2022Parul Sehgal, "The Case Against the Trauma Plot," NYTimes, Dec 27,  2021Louis Menand, “Out of Bethlehem,” New Yorker, Aug 17, 2015Stephen Schryer, "Writers for Goldwater,"  Post45, Jan 20, 2020Haley Mlotek, "It’s All in the Angles," The Nation, June 15, 2021Caitlin Flanagan, "The Autumn of Joan Didion," The Atlantic, Feb 15, 2021Jacob Bacharach, "Joan Didion Cast Off the Fictions of American Politics," The New Republic, Dec 27, 2021...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Unlocked by popular demand: Psychoanalytic writer and teacher Pat Blanchfield joins Sam for a discussion of Freud and politics. Together we ask: how can psychoanalytic tools help us make sense of our irrational political moment, our desires and attachments, as well as conservatism, liberalism, fascism, Donald Trump, and even Thanksgiving? If we've done our job right, you'll derive many blistering insights from this discussion whether or not you've read a single page of Sigmund Freud — or remotely buy into his theories of mind, culture, or clinical practice. (And hopefully we didn't talk too fast.) Because Freud would disapprove of any injunction to enjoyment, we'll simply say: "have a listen, if you please."(Originally published on Patreon 12/01/2021.)Further Reading/Listening:KYE Episode 7: "Gun Power" (w/ Pat Blanchfield)Pat Blanchfield, "Kyle Rittenhouse is an American," Gawker, Nov 16, 2021Adam Phillips, Becoming Freud: The Making of a Psychoanalyst, Yale Press, Mar 22, 2016.Peter Gay, Freud: A Life For Our Time (1988)Jacqueline Rose, "To Die One's Own Death," LRB, Nov 19, 2020...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

With another year of the podcast, the pandemic, and American decline in the rearview, we turn to Know Your Enemy's absurdly brilliant listeners for guidance and intellectual stimulation. That's right, folks, it's a mailbag episode! And thanks to you, our cups runneth over with fascinating questions. Along the way, we discuss the intellectual legacy of one-time National Review wunderkind Garry Wills; why Bill Buckley never wrote a great book; right-wing half-wit propagandists like Ben Shapiro and Charlie Kirk; conservative feminism; Richard Nixon's role in conservative history; Vatican II; Bob Dylan's artful incoherence; our favorite books; and our favorite bourbons. We also take a few minutes to discuss listener feedback from our last episode with Nate Hochman. We are truly blessed with the most curious, sophisticated, and intellectually voracious listeners in the podcast game. We love you freaks so very much. So strap in! Like the year 2021, it's a wild ride, with many twists, turns, and digressions. Further Reading:Matthew Sitman, "There Will Be No Buckley Revival," Commonweal, Jul 28, 2015. Garry Wills, "Daredevil," Atlantic, Aug 2009.                             Bare Ruined Choirs (1979)                             Confessions of a Conservative (1979)                            John Wayne's America  (1997) Sam Adler-Bell, "The Radical Young Intellectuals Who Want to Take Over the American Right," New Republic, Dec 2, 2021. Leonard Coen, Beautiful Losers (1966)Kaya Oakes, The Defiant Middle (2021)Christopher Isherwood, The Berlin Stories (1945)Janet Malcolm, Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (1982)Dan Georgakas & Marvin Surkin, Detroit: I Do Mind Dying (1998)Norman Rush, Mating (1991)..and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Finally, another enemy! This time Matt and Sam are joined by Nate Hochman, a rising star on the intellectual Right and one of the subjects of Sam's recent New Republic article about today's young, populist conservatives. They discuss Michael Oakeshott, friendship and politics, where the Right and Left might agree, and, especially, where they don't.Further Reading:Sam Adler-Bell, "The Radical Young Intellectuals Who Want to Take Over the American Right," New Republic, Dec 2, 2021Nate Hochman, "Michael Oakeshott, 30 Years Later," National Review, Dec 18, 2020Matthew Sitman, "Leaving Conservatism Behind," Dissent, Summer 2016Michael Oakeshott, Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays (Liberty Fund, 1991)                                            The Voice of Liberal Learning (Yale University Press, 1990)..and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Psychoanalytic writer and teacher Pat Blanchfield joins Sam for the long-awaited KYE "Freud Pod," in which we discuss how psychoanalytic tools can help us make sense of our irrational political moment, our desires and attachments, as well as conservatism, liberalism, fascism, Donald Trump, and even Thanksgiving.Subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon to listen to this bonus episode, and all of our bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/knowyourenemy

It's rare for nearly all the inhabitants of the KYE podcast universe to gather in one place, but it happened earlier this month in—as you might guess—Florida, where the National Conservatism 2 conference was held. The proceedings were littered with extraordinary claims of a "totalitarian cult" (liberals and the left) deliberately trying to destroy the United States, with the help of Big Tech, China, and...university professors. The conference seemed to mark the ascendency of national conservatism on the Right, and perhaps the Republican Party. Matt and Sam break it all down: what it means, what it portends, and why they're wrong.Sources:Watch all the National Conservatism conference videos (YouTube)David Brooks, "The Terrifying Future of the American Right," Atlantic, November 18, 2021J.G. Ballard, Super Cannes (Picador, 2000)Murray Rothbard, Man, Economy, and State (David van Nostrand Company/William Volker Fund, 1962)Background Listening:Know Your Enemy, "The Definitely Not-Racist National Conservatives," July 30, 2019                                            "The Rise of the Illiberal Right," July 12, 2019                                             "Frank Meyer: Father of Fusionism," November 10, 2021...and don't forget you can subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Matt talks with playwright Ben Firke about I Am The GooseKing, which just finished its debut run at The Tank theater in New York City. Here's a description of the play:Jane Vazquez is a journalist on assignment for a tech blog. She travels to New Hampshire to interview a young conspiracy theorist and YouTuber named Phil, who has thousands of followers who embrace his elaborate "vegetable conspiracy," first outlined by the mysterious GooseKing. As Jane goes deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of Phil's family, she finds herself in a mire of journalistic ethics.To learn more, watch the I Am The Gooseking trailer or read an excerpt from the play. To contact Ben Firke, follow him on Twitter (@pasta_ben).Subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon to listen to this bonus episode, and all of our bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/knowyourenemy

Matt and Sam dedicate an entire episode to an under appreciated but indispensable figure in the founding of post-war conservatism: Frank Meyer, the father of "fusionism."Meyer was  a man of  contradictions: an ex-communist ideologue who longed for consensus; a cantankerous, unyielding debater who kept his friends and rivals close; a bohemian, individualist Jew who argued vociferously for freedom and against repressive orthodoxies, but who converted to Catholicism on his death bed. In this episode, we explore his life, work, and legacy — including a close reading of his most famous book, In Defense of Freedom: A Conservative Credo. Along the way, we ask some big questions: Why was it so important for Meyer to find a philosophical justification for fusing the traditional and libertarian strains of the conservative movement? How did he go about doing it? And did it work? Today, many — especially younger — conservatives consider fusionism to be a dead consensus, a marriage of erstwhile convenience in which one partner, economic libertarians, got everything they wanted, while the other, Christian traditionalists, have seen unfettered capitalism and licentious liberalism destroy the precious permanent things they had hoped to conserve: Church, family, and community.  As the seams of the fusionist alliance fray, we look back to the man who conceived it in the first place. This one is for the nerds. We hope you enjoy it! Further Reading: Frank S. Meyer, In Defense of Freedom: A Conservative Credo (Regnery, 1962)George H. Nash, The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945 (Basic Books, 1976)Jeffrey Hart, The Making of the American Conservative Mind: National Review and Its Times (ISI Books, 2006)Garry Wills, Confessions of a Conservative (Doubleday, 1979)Kevin J. Smant, Principles and Heresies: Frank S. Meyer and  the Shaping of the American Conservative Movement (ISI Books, 2002)Various, "Against the Dead Consensus," First Things, March 21, 2019Frank S Meyer, "The Twisted Tree of Liberty," National Review  Jan 16, 1962L. Brent Bozell Jr. "Freedom or Virtue," National Review, Sept 11, 1962...and don't forget to subscribe on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes!