I knew a lot of lefties, way back. They were brazen in their repetition of Kremlin propaganda. And the current crowd is just the same. Somewhere, Angela Davis must be saying, "Hey, that's *my* gig!"

When the likes of David French and Liz Cheney say they are voting for Kamala Harris, of all people, conservatives can say, "Cucks! Sell-outs! Traitors!" or they can ask, "What have we done, in our party and movement, to have brought such a thing about?"

Populism is one thing -- but this is flat-out obscene.

An early National Review figure -- it may have been Max Eastman -- said something like this: "They may not be working for the KGB. But if they were, how would their behavior be any different?"

I think of something that Phillips P. OBrien observed to me, in a podcast: "The Russians have gained far more geopolitical leverage out of the millions they've spent on information warfare than the billions they have spent on the military."

The rule is well established: The only civilians who can be killed in this war are Ukrainians. This is "normal"; anything else would be "abnormal." The role of Ukrainians is to suffer and die. (Yes, "the hypocrisy of the world is revolting.")

For the music-minded, my "New York chronicle" in the September The New Criterion. A slew of performers, composers, contentions ... newcriterion.com/article/new-yo…

Lord Haw-Haws, all around us. They are in the fabric of our society.

🎯

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Even at this late date, it needs to be said, urgently: Vladimir Putin is not a friend of the United States, or freedom, or humane life. “Hell, yes!” many of his fans here say. “That’s the point!” But he has other fans who have simply been duped. They can be reached. Keep trying.

By ⁦Noah Rothman⁩, from the heart, and head. nationalreview.com/corner/message…

To reflect on.

One of populism's neat tricks is: you often can't argue with it. People just feel things "in their bones." Shadowy elites do things, like manufacture the Great Depression. Populism never dies. And, to varying degrees, it is always popular.

Bravo. Ukrainians need all the solidarity they can get. Americans ought to be their natural friends.

From Prof. Sonin -- highly interesting.

Apropos of nothing, and everything: Bill Buckley labored for 50 years to drain the Right of crazy. He had considerable success. The rest of us have a lot of work to do.

This is good news. Moreover, Americans ought to be proud that they have a government that takes an interest in such matters. thehill.com/homenews/admin…

A column interesting, intelligent, and humane. A David French special. nytimes.com/2024/09/05/opi…