The week between Christmas and New Years is a sort of no-man’s land. Everyone is recovering from the holiday and using it as a chance to catch their breath and look ahead to the next year. And that goes for me too. January is the launch of my book and I will be very busy trying to perform the marketing functions that I’ve been told are important for the success of the book launch. So, on Monday I’ll be reading all of the information I’ve been sent and trying to fulfill all of these tasks correctly.
Now honestly, I don’t know how much relevance they’ll have for the success of the book but I’m giving it a shot so off I go. I’m both excited and skeptical about the prospects of this launch being successful. I don’t have a large digital footprint and I don’t see how enough people will hear about this book to make it a big splash. And so, if it is a dud and only sells a few copies, I’ll chalk it up to experience and move on to other ways to amuse myself. But if it’s a huge success I’ll claim that I knew from the beginning that I was a literary giant just waiting for the world to beat a path to my door and that from now on I’ll wear designer clothes and expensive sunglasses wherever I go. Hmmm.
I’ve been paying some attention to what the pundits are saying about how the political situation will play out in 2026. The Left is talking trash about anything and everything they can. A friend asked me about the brouhaha that went on at the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) gathering recently where Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin demanded that Tucker Carlson and some other pundits apologize for talking to Nick Fuentes. For those who don’t know him, Nick Fuentes is a young dissident who is decidedly anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. Carlson interviewed him much as he interviews many controversial figures.
My take on all this is I don’t think we need any more gatekeepers demanding people get cancelled because they have unpopular opinions. Nick Fuentes and Ben Shapiro will never be able to sit down and discuss their differences. So what? Even if Fuentes is the devil himself, Tucker Carlson should be able to interview him without having to apologize and take some kind of loyalty pledge. And I think Shapiro and his colleagues at the Daily Wire provide lots of insightful and entertaining content that I consume. But acting as censors for other people on the Right is not one of their appointed offices. After all, watching the Left act as woke judges and juries over everyone’s behavior and cancelling those they didn’t “approve of” was one of the things that got Donald Trump re-elected. Freedom of speech is only important when it’s speech that someone else is trying to censor. So regardless of whatever stupid things Nick Fuentes believes or even says, I’m not demanding anyone be cast out of the vast right-wing conspiracy just for interviewing him.
The problem isn’t that Tucker Carlson interviewed Nick Fuentes; it’s that he gave him a free pass. William F. Buckley used to interview extremists to expose them, but Carlson allowed hateful views to be broadcast without any pushback. We know Carlson is capable of a ‘hardball’ interview, so his decision to play ‘softball’ here feels like an endorsement rather than an inquiry.
And I have no problem with anyone saying whatever they want about Fuentes. He seems like more or less a bigoted young idiot. And lately Carlson has been playing devil’s advocate with everything from Maduro to socialism. If he gets too wild with his positions he’ll lose the sensible middle of the country. But I don’t see any reason to excommunicate him. Free speech is free speech. The cure for any of his opinions is someone else’s opinions. Are we afraid that Nick Fuentes will convince most people he is smart? I’m not. He’s a sideshow act and the people… Read more »
Come to think of it, Ben Shapiro should debate Nick Fuentes on some impartial platform. The trick will be finding an impartial moderator.
That is a good idea but the bigger trick would be getting Nick Fuentes to agree to the debate.
Just challenging him would have value. If he declined it would look weak.