Another issue, and the one I wish to focus on here, is what I think of as the play behind the play in the attack on Kevin Roberts. John Daniel Davidson, writing in The Federalist, summed up the plot of that supervening play in the subhead to a recent column: “Genuine concern about antisemitism on the right is being hijacked by neocons to attack J. D. Vance in hopes of retaking control of the GOP.”
Bingo. In other words, two separate things can be true at once. I would add that it is not just J.D. Vance who is in the crosshairs but the entire MAGA, i.e., populist, agenda of Donald Trump. A long article published in The Wall Street Journal on November 7 epitomizes the point. “The Crack-Up at the Heritage Foundation,” runs its headline, “Is a Warning Sign for MAGA World.”
It is no secret that the Journal does not much like “MAGA world.” It does not like Trump’s immigration policy, either regarding the border or the illegal migrants who are already in the U.S. It does not like his economic policies, especially regarding tariffs. Nor does it like most planks of his foreign policy.
In the course of its story, the Journal notes that it reached out several times to both Roberts himself and to other Heritage spokesmen. It got no response. That is hardly surprising. The Journal’s coverage of Heritage under Roberts has been unremittingly hostile.
The Old Guard out, but not down.