How the Right Lost Its Mind

August 1, 2017
A "contrarian conservative" tries to come to grips with what his side of the political aisle has become, and he loathes much of what he sees.Sykes (Fail U.: The False Promise of Higher Education, 2016, etc.) is a "Never Trump" conservative who has maintained that position after Trump's presidential rise revealed many in that cohort to be opportunists. The author is an earnest conservative who is truly heartbroken and angry about how conservatism has degraded in recent years, and he lays out in clear and honest prose the many problems with a conservative movement that has been taken over by angry white nationalists. "Sometime in the last decade," writes Sykes, "conservative commentator Matt Drudge began linking to a website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. By doing so, he broke down the wall that separated the full-blown cranks from the mainstream conservative media, injecting a toxic worldview into the Right's bloodstream. The conservative movement never recovered." The author also asks whether or not he was partially responsible, through his conservative talk radio show, myriad media appearances, and prolific writings, for the current situation. Except perhaps on this last question of his own culpability and that of pundits like him, the author has written a largely convincing, compelling book. He tends to romanticize a golden age of conservatism, that of William Buckley and Ronald Reagan, both of whom on more than one occasion revealed elements of white nationalist thought. Buckley delivered plenty of screeds against the civil rights movement in his National Review, and Reagan, who opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, had his fair share of racism-tinged gaffes, including his statements about "strapping young bucks" buying T-bone steaks and "Welfare Queens" as well as how "humiliating" the Voting Rights Act was to the South. Still, the author's points about our current state are solid. A courageous book destined to make Sykes a target among many of the worst elements that he eviscerates, which will, sadly, just confirm the strength of his thesis.

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Starred review from October 1, 2017

What happened to the Republican Party? That's the knotty question Sykes (A Nation of Victims) cuts into in this, despite its inflammatory title, stark, honest, and unflinching look at the steps that moved the right to the fractious party it is today, argued from a voice within the camp. Sykes is not rejecting conservatism but providing a contrarian voice to the state of affairs as embodied by the support for and election of President Donald Trump through ideological bubbles and a vocal conservative media. Was the act emblematic of the modern conservative's ideals, or a fluke, out of line with the principles of Republicanism? Where does the "alt-right" end and conservatism begin? And, more seriously pressing than the identity crisis of a political party, what kind of world is being shaped by the politics of this evolution and blurred lines? Sykes concludes with advice to conservatives for how to recover their values and suggestions for how to exorcize the party from its problems. Exceedingly readable, Syke's voice comes across as clearly as if over the airwaves. VERDICT Highly recommended. Sykes provides a valuable contribution to the arguments happening in the GOP about the party's future and priorities.--Laurel Tacoma, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA

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