Rick Perlstein
Appearances
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
Donald Trump only has one power, and that's to give orders. The rest of us 300 million have the power to refuse or accept those orders, right? And so it's up to us whether the First Amendment survives or dies. But this is a real gut check moment. It's kind of one of those first they came for the Palestinian activist. And I did not speak because I was not a Palestinian activist.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
And we all know how that story ends.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
So this guy, William F. Buckley, he burst onto the scene in his early 20s in 1951 with a book called God and Man at Yale. It launched his career as the most important intellectual on the right. And the entire argument of that book was that universities and college professors specifically should not be the ones deciding what young people learn, right? They should not be able to set their curricula.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
The curricula should be set by the boards of trustees because they're rich people. Christians who have skin in the game. And so that's been a kind of a generational project ever since. Decade after decade, Ronald Reagan in the 1960s, one of the first things he did as governor was end free tuition for the University of California. That was a reaction to the protests there.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
It was basically manufacturing liberals. Hmm, hmm. And the people who protest, protest are, you know, what we call conservatives, right? And the conservatives are on the catbird seat right now.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
Well, that's a legal phrase, right? And this suddenly makes this this foreign policy issue, right? If we have an enemy abroad, as declared by the president, suddenly this whole different category of laws applies.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
This is a legal scaffolding to outlaw whole categories of speech, you know, using kind of bad faith arguments about, you know, Americans facing threat abroad.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
The idea that these protests are anti-Semitic is a project of gaslighting. After a quick break.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
Yeah, I mean, we're talking about intimidation and humiliation, right? I mean, when I thought of a prison in Louisiana, you know, I immediately thought of this classic movie from 1967, Cool Hand Luke. Cool Hand Luke, I was gonna say, yeah. Right? It was a classic 60s movie. Because it was about a guy who just kind of instinctively defied authority.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
He went to jail for cutting the heads off parking meters when he was drunk. And he was sent to this prison that was basically run like a concentration camp. And the plot of the movie is basically very simple. This one guy, this one charismatic guy, Paul Newman, refuses to submit.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
I quite frequently go to Shabbat dinner at the house of a friend of mine, and I pray alongside the most religiously serious people I know, people who actually study the holy text in Hebrew of Judaism, and they are all Palestinian solidarity activists. So the idea that these protests are anti-Semitic is a project of gaslighting.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
If you look at some of the people he pardoned for January 6th, one guy was wearing a Camp Auschwitz t-shirt. If you look at the Doge worker who was fired because of all his tweets saying they were discovered – You know, saying I wouldn't marry anyone outside my ethnic group if you paid me or I want more eugenics. Right. And the vice president of the United States says, oh, he's not such a bad guy.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
You know, give the kid another chance. Right. Compare that to Mahmoud Khalil.
It's Been a Minute
What's more "American" than the right to protest?
Well, I mean, first of all, it's a very clever strategy, right?