1. My colleague Steven Teles isn& #39;t on Twitter, so I can say behind his back that he& #39;s kind of intimidating; he& #39;s a warm and fuzzy guy personally, but if you want to challenge him on political or theoretical grounds, you& #39;d better come loaded for bear https://politicalscience.jhu.edu/directory/steven-teles/">https://politicalscience.jhu.edu/directory...
2. So I was amused when I saw that pro-Sanders Yale Law prof @samuelmoyn wrote a dismissive review of Steve& #39;s new history (with Rob Saldin) on the Never Trump movement; it was like watching a bunny hop into a cannon mouth https://newrepublic.com/article/158703/never-trumpers-already-won-review-saldin-teles-book">https://newrepublic.com/article/1...
4. Moyn didn& #39;t even try to address the Teles/Saldin argument that NT& #39;ers have influence because they provide policy expertise & staff key posts in GOP administrations; run campaigns; and provide ideas and guard the intellectual boundaries of conservatism https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085YDTP76/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085YD...
5. Nonetheless, to Moyn& #39;s credit he invited Steve on to his podcast (which he shares with @NiskanenCenter fellow @ProfSchleich) to discuss the role of Never Trumpers in politics since 2016 https://www.diggingaholepodcast.com"> https://www.diggingaholepodcast.com 
6. After much Telesian theoretical bulldozing, Moyn makes the more strategically defensible argument that Never Trumpers played a key role (with some Dems) in (39:00) establishing the bounds of policy credibility in the Trump years...
7. ...partly because (40:07) many (esp. in journalism) were given promotions -- Commentary to Washington Post, Wall Street Journal to New York Times -- that gave them greater opinion-making power... https://www.nytimes.com/by/bret-stephens">https://www.nytimes.com/by/bret-s...
13. Nonetheless, moderates can play a significant role in both parties if they can "organize as a coherent bloc, recruit attractive candidates, mobilize moderate voters in each party... and develop ideas to inspire their bases" https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-future-is-faction">https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publicati...
15. The GOP is somewhat different since (52:17) its "actual voting composition... has drifted from where its coalition of policy high-demanders is" -- which is why Trump was able to overcome the Koch primary & Zombie Reaganism https://lawliberty.org/podcast/ronin-without-masters-a-never-trump-assessment/">https://lawliberty.org/podcast/r...
16. Moyn seems mystified by the concept that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"; but Teles hopes NT influence will go beyond abhorrence of Trump to a recognition of the problems of our political economy that created an unsatisfied coalition for Trump https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/opinion/sunday/who-turned-my-blue-state-red.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/2...
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