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Every time a public figure talks about the P**ud Buoys, they should note that the group conducts readings from Pat Buchanan's 2001 book, The Death of the West, at every meeting. That book is a white nationalist screed against immigrants. There is no finessing this.
For crying out loud, even arch-conservatives Charles Krauthamer and Bill Buckley had acknowledged by the early 1990s that Buchanan, Reagan's former advisor, was a "fascist." https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1268262288575746048?s=20
Buchanan-ism is a key throughline that connects the GOP of the Nixon and Reagan era to today's far right. The Oregon GOP, for example, scrounged up this completely unqualified person to run for Atty General. He cut his political teeth w/ Buchanan in 2000. https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1317248717745893377?s=20
In 1992 Pat Buchanan, who had a weekly dinner date with some of the most virulent antisemites on the American right, looked at David Duke's rise in Louisiana and thought "that guy is singing our tune!" https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1251946619924176896?s=20
That same year, 1992, he got a primo speaking spot at the Republican National Convention. Remember, both Krauthamer and Buckley had used "the f-word" to describe Buchanan's ideology by then. https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1174155925696811008?s=20
Anyway, here's what Donald Trump said about Pat Buchanan in 1999, 2 years before Buchanan published that white nationalist screed of a book that the P**ud Buoys take as their bible.
To be clear...Pat Buchanan can write whatever dopey books he wants, and the P**ud Buoys can read whatever they want. But the RNC did not need to give Pat a speaking gig in '92. Trump did not have to tell those Buoys to "stand by." Ted Cruz does not to take selfies with the PBs.
And PBS and MSNBC did not need to give Pat Buchanan a national platform for decades, even AFTER leading conservative intellectuals expressed concern that Buchanan was a fascist.
Anyway...past is prologue. And also, the actions we take in the present determine the sort of future we will live in. I wish more folks in positions of power in the 90s and 2000s had taken their responsibilities more seriously and relegated Pat bin to the dustbin he deserved.
Anyway, read this brilliant piece on Buchanan, Duke, and the crucial year of 1992 by @lionel_trolling. https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-year-the-clock-broke-ganz
And then listen to this really insightful podcast series on David Duke. https://twitter.com/SethCotlar/status/1286468752393945089?s=20
