How the Anti-Woke Right Became the Thing It Hates
When the anti-woke right mirrors the woke left’s pathologies.
Twenty years ago, Tucker Carlson wore a bow tie and argued with liberals on CNN. This was in a different age – a different dimension, almost – to the one we live in today. People on either side of the aisle could disagree vociferously while still operating within a shared reality. Nobody felt the need to establish first whether the Holocaust happened or if men could have babies.
Today Carlson nods along as a podcast guest describes Winston Churchill as the real villain of World War II – worse than Hitler. The man who stood against fascism is recast as the monster by the sort of person who thinks nose rings and pink hair spell the end of civilisation.
This would be fascinating if it were just one man’s strange descent into the murky waters of conspiracy theory and paranoia. But Carlson is far from alone. He’s merely the most famous example of a new orthodoxy on the right that’s turning conservatism on its head and employing many of the same tricks as …
