Back in the early 2000’s I used to read Jonah Goldberg’s posts at NR Online. He was pleasant and witty and struck a balance between ideology and practicality that at the time I thought was warranted. But over the years Goldberg has “evolved.” His positions have become establishment conservative to the point that they are just moderate Democrat with a streak of Neo-Con foreign policy thrown in.
When Donald Trump exposed the National Review as a useless pack of losers Goldberg slid even farther to the left and then last month when Tucker Carlson began exposing the false flag nature of the January 6th “insurrection” Goldberg flounced out of his Fox News role. Now he has completed his transition to CNN’s newest “conservative” stooge. I guess they really needed a new one now that Joe Scarborough has completed his transformation into a less unfunny Stephen Colbert. Goldberg will provide the needed gravitas to match Don Lemon when they break out the Point/Counterpoint act over the outrage of the week.
I look back at those times and I have to assume it was more a case of my own ignorance than Goldberg’s deception. He’s probably still the same guy. He may even still believe exactly the same things he always has. What’s changed is the degree to which I’ve learned the hard lesson that the establishment Republicans; both the politicians and the media were always there just to use us for a paycheck. They never believed in the values they claimed they were defending. Their job was to get our votes or our dollars and put up an act as if they were fighting a battle against the Left and lose gracefully.
So all of Jonah’s act; his “Liberal Fascism” book, his cultural observations; were all just the window dressing to keep us clicking on his show. Now his show has found its true home. And with CNN supposedly reworking their brand to be a “straight news” outlet Goldberg can assume his place as the moderate Republican who can explain the crazies on the right to such sages as Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper.
I’m sure it will be a good gig for him. He’ll adjust his outlook to match the stripe that CNN/Discover is pretending is their version of objectivity this week. As I said I don’t think Goldberg has changed meaningfully over the years. If tomorrow they need him to call himself a liberal or a libertarian or a conservative I’m sure he could tweak his act and make it work.
To me the important thing is to learn a little something from the experience. What I’ve figured out is never take things at face value. Look at results. The scientific method is the operative approach. Do a thought experiment. If X claims to be a conservative then when X is in office does he make things more conservative? If the opposite occurs either X is incompetent or X isn’t conservative. Either way, eliminate X and look for a better alternative and then try it. It’s very ad hoc but it’s probably the only way to get results.
So good luck Jonah I hope the viewers at CNN enjoy your act. At least now you’ll be with your actual team.