A recent Claremont Review of Books article by the obviously pseudonymous Publius Decius Mus, “The Flight 93 Election,” has created quite a stir in the conservative universe. The article is a vigorous defense of Trump and Trumpism, and has been touted widely by Trump supporters. Rush Limbaugh read it aloud on his radio program. It has even inspired its own hashtag, #IAmDecius, but it has also generated a very vociferous reaction from anti-Trumpers. This National Review article by Jonah Goldberg contains links to several of the critical responses.
Decius is one of the minds behind the now defunct Journal of American Greatness, which is significant because it was a vehicle for self-identified Straussians of the West Coast variety. This distinction may only be meaningful to pointy-headed conservatives who are familiar with the intricacies of the intra-conservative battles of recent decades and to do justice to its significance at the philosophical level would require more elaboration than a short op-ed allows. Suffice it to say for now that West Coast Straussians have historically been on the side of the anti-Trump critics of the article. What follows is a brief reaction to the political significance of what is going on here. I’ll leave the philosophical nitty-gritty for later.
The whole “Flight 93” article is full of “hot takes,” so to speak, that lend themselves to excerpting and cutting and pasting. Decius has quite a way with words. But this passage below struck me as the most significant and deserving of comment:
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