Here's a random thought for the weekend. Over the last decade or two there have been a lot of prominent opinion-havers moving from right to left. Here's a tiny sampling:
- Max Boot
- Bruce Bartlett
- John Cole
- Bill Kristol
- David Frum
- Jennifer Rubin
- Michael Steele
- Stuart Stevens
- George Conway
- Charlie Sykes
- etc.
Some of this was a reaction to George Bush. Some to Donald Trump. Some have become generally more liberal, others are just opposed to the current state of conservatism under Donald Trump. I'm not trying here to characterize them in any detail.
But what about the other direction?
- Dave Rubin
- Dennis Miller (remember him?)
- Glenn Greenwald (not conservative, but certainly anti-liberal these days)
- Elon Musk (never really liberal, but definitely hard conservative now)
- Russell Brand
Even this list is obviously a stretch, but it's the best I can do. Is my memory just completely failing me? Are there other, more serious folks in the pundit space that have moved recently from liberal to conservative?
POSTSCRIPT: And what do we call the people in the first group? In the '60s, liberals who became conservatives were eventually called neocons. Unfortunately, neoliberal is already taken so we can't use that. Maybe anti-cons? Non-cons?
People you thought were progressive and seemingly turned to the right were actually always right of center. They thought if they pretended and lied to themselves, they could fit in with their domestic community.
The moment they were attacked for stepping outside of the community, the facade came off to protect their egos, searching for a community that would embrace them.
It's something you see everywhere. Inside the trans community there are militant ones who claim you can only be trans if you have a very specific set of attributes, kicking out people who might be trans-lite or trans-attached.
If y'all (we) aren't careful, MAGA will end up being seen as the "big tent" party.
Oh, dear... how people hang on to their labels. A lot of the guys I talk to these days say that they didn't leave the Democratic Party; it left them. It's certainly the way I feel. A lot of the people you named going right to left were war hawks who have found a friendlier current home in the Democratic Party. A lot of us were Democrats because we wanted a less aggressive foreign policy (Iraq, Afghanistan, anyone?) And because we believed that people should be judged without regard to their skin color. Guess what? That's not the current Democratic Party. It may be that the Republicans are even less coherent - I won't argue that case. Some of us are looking for some sane alternative way. There's something to be said for throwing the rascals out - entrenched power is scary no matter who is in charge.
Ahh, yes, the 'The party left me but I don't have any evidence it did' sorts.
I'm sure you're totally making sure might makes rights Republicans aren't getting into office, hmm?
No?