How We Lost a Shared Reality
Plus: Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Conspiracy Theory of Western Decline
Recently in The Bulwark:
BILL KRISTOL & ANDREW EGGER: How Biden Can Flip the ‘Acuity’ Script
SONNY BUNCH: ‘Hit Man’ Review and MoviePass Never Made Sense
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TIM MILLER: David Boaz, 1953–2024
BACK WHEN I WAS STILL LIVING IN THE BAY, the Cato Institute’s David Boaz sent me an email out of the blue asking if I’d join him for lunch; he happened to be in town for a speech. We had been pen pals for years and seen each other at conferences but somehow never really “met,” so I was excited for the opportunity to kibitz with somebody whom I respected a great deal.
I was never a libertarian per se, despite having some impulses in that direction. But anytime I read or listened to David I thought that he was the kind of libertarian I would like to be.
No Enemies to the Right? Read David Boaz’s 2019 article in The Bulwark.
CORBIN K. BARTHOLD: Influencers, Bullshitters, and How We Lost a Shared Reality
A SPECTER IS HAUNTING right-wing dissident Substackers—the specter of Renée DiResta.
I’ve met the real DiResta—the friendly and perspicacious one who helps run the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO). She is nothing like the demon that lives in the heads of people like Michael Shellenberger, the gadfly pseudo-journalist and twice-failed California gubernatorial candidate. In Shellenberger’s mind, DiResta believes that “the role of people like her” is “to control what information the public is allowed to consume.” In his view, “DiResta is a master of misleading people.” As far as he’s concerned, she might be a CIA asset!
🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧
Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Mike Madrid: The Latino Century
The Secret Podcast: People Believe the Strangest Things
Beg to Differ: The 'Rally Round the Criminal' Effect
Thursday Night Bulwark was off this week.
Across the Movie Aisle: The Nepo-Baby Panic 🔐
George Conway Explains it All (to Sarah Longwell): Trump Did The Crime, Must Do the Time
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CATHY YOUNG: Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Conspiracy Theory of Western Decline
THE LATEST SENSATION in the “heterodox” media ecosystem is a long essay by celebrated author and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali titled “We Have Been Subverted.” Bari Weiss, whose Free Press website published it this week, touted it as “one of the year’s most important essays.” Ali’s husband, British historian Niall Ferguson, called it “essential.” Several tweets linking to the essay went viral.
In fact, the essay is notable mainly for one thing: it represents a startling plunge, for Ali and evidently for the Free Press, into outright, unabashed conspiracy theory.
AMY HENDERSON: These American Women Stood Out in Paris During Its Modernist Heyday
IN 1900, PARIS DAZZLED. The Exposition universelle was held from April to November that year, and 50 million visitors flocked to see Modernism celebrated in such wondrous exhibits as an escalator of moving steps and “talking pictures.” A “Palace of Electricity” bloomed in a pavilion decorated with thousands of lightbulbs, colored lamps, and multicolored electric flames. The exposition was cheered as “a fairytale spectacle.”
🚨OVERTIME🚨
Happy Friday! Steve Bannon is learning the hard way that there are pitfalls to avoiding Congress, as he’s going to prison. Looney Tunes former Grassley Staffer Mike Davis is having a normal one on Twitter. (Remember, Trump might pick that guy to do anything, and probably something important!) But the weekend is here. Summer come early.
"The damage it would do to America is incomprehensible." Please go spread this new ad from our friends at Republicans for the Rule of Law on your socials. Email it your friends. It’s powerful. Read more about the campaign.
How the “Queen of Canada”… and Conspiracy Theorists Splintered a Small Town (The Walrus)
The 2024 RNC… is looking for a beef stick vendor. Meanwhile, local retailer Kohl’s has passed on supporting it (CNBC).
In Memory of Ben White… Friends of the late Politico editor have set up a GoFundMe for his teenage sons’ education. Please donate if you can.
“You’re cowards…” How Pennsylvania Republicans (elected ones) #backedtheblue when two J6 officers came to the state house (AP). This is the stage of January 6 denialism we are at.
George Conway… on The Daily Show.
The Jobs numbers are good… But the RNC is having to stoop to misinformation about… you know. (I don’t know, Jim!) Oh, the RNC thinks you know the ones.
An Impossible Project… As life gets more digital, are we still analog people at heart? (Trailer / Free movie)
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Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.
