Know Your Enemy

Misogyny, MAGA-style [Teaser]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. [https://www.patreon.com/posts/107982813?utm_campaign=postshare_creator] Last month, our very own Sam Adler-Bell published a deeply reported article [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/young-women-leaving-maga-new-right.html] in New York magazine about "the women leaving the New Right." That is, the women who've come to realize, as Sam pithily puts it, this truth about the MAGA movement: "Sexism wasn’t merely the price of entry; it was the theme of the party." MAGA-style misogyny is different than the oldfangled, pre-Trump, pre-Fuentes, pre-Tate brothers iteration that marked the conservative movement in decades past. In this episode, Matt interviews Sam about the article, and they discuss misogyny on the right, old and new; what the women he spoke to describe experiencing during their time on the New Right, the bargain they thought they were getting by joining its ranks, and what they found in reality; the nasty misogyny that, even more than his racism and antisemitism, animates Nick Fuentes; dating and romance on the New Right; rightwing religion, patriarchy, and the 19th amendment; and more. Sources: Sam Adler-Bell, "The Young Women Leaving the New Right [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/young-women-leaving-maga-new-right.html]," New York, March 12, 2026 Ian Ward, "Doug Wilson Has Spent Decades Pushing for a Christian Theocracy. In Trump’s DC, the New Right Is Listening [https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/05/23/doug-wilson-new-right-pastor-hegseth-trump-officials-00355376]," Politico, May 23, 2025 Mariel Padilla, Grace Panetta, & Mel Leonor Barclay, "Who’s Questioning Women’s Right to Vote? [https://19thnews.org/2025/08/pete-hegseth-doug-wilson-women-voting/]" The 19th, Aug 12, 2025 Leo Strauss, Thoughts on Machiavelli [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoughts_on_Machiavelli] (1958)

From Neocon to Never-Trump (w/ Bill Kristol)

There’s perhaps no living person who better embodies the themes, contradictions, ethos, and pathos of “Know Your Enemy” than William Kristol, this week’s guest. Today, Kristol is editor-at-large of The Bulwark [https://substack.com/@williamkristol], a valuable redoubt of unreconstructed Never-Trumpism, which he helped found in 2018. But before dedicating himself, full-time, to the admirable if quixotic mission of undermining Donald Trump from the center-right — alienating many of his one-time friends in the process — Kristol was best known as an influential practitioner of neoconservatism: a staffer in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations; cofounder (in 1995 and 1997, respectively) of The Weekly Standard and the Project for a New American Century; a prominent champion of the 2003 invasion of Iraq; and faithful son of one of neoconservatism’s First Couples: Irving Kristol and Gertrude Himmelfarb. Kristol was also trained in political philosophy by the Harvard Straussian (and frequent KYE subject) Harvey Mansfield. As such, we had an enormous amount to discuss in a limited amount of time. A few things we covered: What was neoconservatism? How should political theory inform political action? Why didn’t Never-Trump conservatism work? Where did Trumpism come from? Are Straussians to blame for the Iraq War? And, why does Kristol (a longtime proponent of regime change in Iran) oppose Donald Trump’s current war with the Islamic Republic? Further Listening:  "Harvey Mansfield on Political Philosophy [https://conversationswithbillkristol.org/conversation/harvey-mansfield/]," Conversations with Kristol, Jun 30, 2014 "Know Your Frenemies (w/ Samuel Moyn) [https://dissentmagazine.org/blog/know-your-enemy-know-your-frenemies-with-samuel-moyn/]," KYE, Aug 10, 2020.  Further Reading:  William Kristol & Robert Kagan, "Toward a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy [https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/toward-neo-reaganite-foreign-policy],"  Foreign Affairs, Jul 1, 1996. William Kristol & David Brooks, "What Ails Conservatism [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB874276753849168000?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqfXGF6XgFXZfPYZO4UyerNwZJA7CU5vvPoZla40m-19wqniTD_wcqkAmsd6vzI%3D&gaa_ts=69c08e1e&gaa_sig=d4IxA5dC73fruxRXB7-Djk3jO2_rj1-SMmTYXac8srNz6o5WOhjw3S98lc_Tl-TvY4CxfV5ByaFZ0vAr_Tnnog%3D%3D]," Wall Street Journal, Sept 15, 1997. Justin Vaïsse, Neoconservatism: The Biography of a Movement [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674060708], (2011) William Kristol and Steven Lenzner, "What was Leo Strauss up to [https://www.nationalaffairs.com/storage/app/uploads/public/58e/1a5/031/58e1a50316b7c097005348.pdf]?" National Affairs, Fall 2003.  Anne Norton, Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire [https://archive.org/details/leostrausspoliti0000nort_p1n4], (2004) Sam Adler-Bell, "How the War on Terror Fuels Trump [https://jacobin.com/2016/08/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-president-generals]," Jacobin, Aug 13, 2016. ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/knowyourenemy] for access to all of our bonus episodes!

James Talarico and the Politics of Progressive Christianity [Teaser]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. [https://www.patreon.com/posts/107982813?utm_campaign=postshare_creator] In this episode, we shift our attention from the Trump administration to the winner of the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate in Texas, state legislator and Presbyterian seminarian, James Talarico. Even before prevailing in that contest earlier this month, Talarico had been having something of a moment, appearing on Ezra Klein's podcast [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa6fiO2EgJ4&t=3947s], being profiled by the New Yorker [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/03/02/james-talarico-profile], and generating a wave of media coverage, much of it focused on Talarico's Christian faith, his criticisms of the religious right, and what it all might mean for his political prospects in a state that remains stubbornly red. We explore what we like and what we find frustrating about Talarico's attempt to mix religious rhetoric and populism; how he navigates the complexities of speaking the language of a particular religious tradition in an increasingly secular, pluralistic society; Dr. King, the Civil Rights Movement, and prophetic religion; the place of religion on the left, and how it differs from the religious right; Herbert McCabe and socialism; and more. Sources: "James Talarico’s Beautiful Answer to Christian Nationalism [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa6fiO2EgJ4&t=3947s]," Ezra Klein Show, Jan 13, 2026 Matthew Sitman, "Whither the Religious Left? [https://newrepublic.com/article/161912/joe-biden-religion-barber-warnock-massimo-faggioli]" New Republic, April 15, 2021 — "Against Moral Austerity: On the Need for a Christian Left [https://dissentmagazine.org/article/moral-austerity-need-christian-left/]," Dissent, Summer 2017 — "Finding the Words for Faith: Meet Christian Wiman, America’s Most Important Christian Writer," The Dish, Sept 3, 2014 Bill McCormick, S.J., "Joe Biden Said Now Is The Time To Heal. But What If Americans Don’t Want Reconciliation? [https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/11/13/joe-biden-election-2020-healing-america-reconciliation/]" America, Nov 13, 2020 Vincent Lloyd, "Marcuse the Lover [http://journal.telospress.com/content/2013/165/9.full.pdf+html]," Telos, Winter 2013 Alex Thompson, "Faith-forward Texas Senate Candidate Follows Porn Actors, Escorts on Instagram [https://www.axios.com/2025/11/08/texas-senate-talarico-instagram]," Axios, Nov 8, 2025 Tad Friend, "James Talarico Puts His Faith in Texas Voters [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/03/02/james-talarico-profile]," New Yorker, Feb 23, 2026 Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss: Meditations of a Modern Believer [https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374534370/mybrightabyss/] (2013) Joseph Bottum, An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/16449/an-anxious-age-by-joseph-bottum/] (2014)

Trump's War Against Iran (w/ Matt Duss)

On February 28, both the United States and Israel attacked Iran, killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the nation's Supreme Leader, along with other political leaders and government officials, destroying various military targets, and bombing a girls elementary school [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/us/politics/trump-iran-airstrike-girls-school.html] that took at least 175 lives, many of them children. Just under a week into the war, where are we? Why did Trump decide to attack Iran now? What reasons did they give, and were any of them plausible? What have the consequences been so far? And what can Democrats do to fight back? To answer these questions, we had on Matt Duss, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy and a former foreign policy adviser to Bernie Sanders. Other topics include: Michael Ledeen and the right's fixation on Iran; Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, and the Iranian hostage crisis, and more.  Sources: Matthew Duss, "War With Iran Would Be Illegal and Stupid. Democrats Should Care [https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/02/27/democratic-party-shaheen-coons-sullivan-trump-war-iran-state-of-the-union/]," Foreign Policy, Feb 27, 2026 Zachary Basu, "Trump's Lethal Presidency [https://www.axios.com/2026/03/02/trump-iran-war-military-strikes-maga]," Axios, Mar 2, 2026 Mark Mazzetti, Julian E. Barnes, et al, "How Trump Decided to Go to War [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/us/politics/trump-war-iran-israel.html?unlocked_article_code=1.QFA.YM9D.MI4XlhcDpKI6]," New York Times, Mar 2, 2026 Michael Ledeen, The War Against the Terror Masters: Why It Happened. Where We Are Now. How We'll Win [https://books.google.com/books/about/The_War_Against_the_Terror_Masters.html?id=uink3PgWIyUC&source=kp_book_description] (2002) — The Iranian Time Bomb: The Mullah Zealots' Quest for Destruction [https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Iranian_Time_Bomb.html?id=dTWGynFMvmMC&source=kp_book_description] (2007) — Accomplice to Evil: Iran and the War Against the West [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Accomplice_to_Evil/isLtmAEACAAJ?hl=en] (2009) ...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/knowyourenemy] for access to all of our bonus episodes!

Standing Athwart History, Yelling "Slop!" (w/ John Ganz) [Teaser]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. [https://www.patreon.com/posts/107982813?utm_campaign=postshare_creator] On Monday, Manhattan Institute fellow Chris Rufo posted this: "The Right's collective brain is getting melted in a vat of slop, conspiracy, and algorithm-chasing. An intelligent man will guard himself against all of it." Given that Rufo was, after J.D. Vance, perhaps the most prominent Haitians-are-eating-pets-in-Ohio conspiracy theorist in the country, his complaint generated many, many responses rightfully calling him out for his lack of self-awareness and his own role in mainstreaming such a politics. As our friend John Ganz wrote [https://www.unpopularfront.news/p/i-told-you-so?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true], "Is this hypocrisy, stupidity, or unabashed malevolence? Try all three: it’s politics. Specifically, it’s the politics of the American Conservative Movement. People cry out for a new William F. Buckley. Give the title to Rufo, I say; he’s doing the job already." In this episode we talked to Ganz about how the dynamic Rufo identified has always been a feature of the postwar conservative movement, stretching back at least to William F. Buckley, Jr. and Brent Bozell's defense of McCarthyism; what's distinctive about the Right's present slop era, especially the alignment of conservative movement propagandists, the Republican Party, and the state; populism and the "Madisonian model"; and more! Sources: John Ganz, "I Told You So... [https://open.substack.com/pub/johnganz/p/i-told-you-so?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email]" Unpopular Front, Feb 24, 2026 — "Finding Neverland: The American right’s doomed quest to rid itself of Trumpism [https://newrepublic.com/article/156368/finding-neverland-conservative-quest-rid-trumpism]," New Republic, Feb 17, 2020 Olivia Bellusci, "Candace Owens Drops Trailer for Investigative Series About Erika Kirk Months After Charlie’s Death [https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/candace-owens-drops-trailer-investigative-154640508.html]," Yahoo, Feb 24, 2026 Matthew Sitman, "Riding the Trump Tiger [https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/riding-trump-tiger]," Commonweal, Aug 7, 2015 Nathan Taylor Pemberton, "Is ‘Slopulism’ Shaping Our Politics? [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/02/13/style/slopulism-trump-conservative-social-media.html]" New York Times, Feb 13, 2026 Ruby Cramer, "You Don't Know Bernie Sanders [https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rubycramer/you-dont-know-bernie-sanders]," Buzzfeed, Dec 16, 2019.  Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word [https://monoskop.org/images/d/db/Ong_Walter_J_Orality_and_Literacy_2nd_ed.pdf], (1982)