He would have fit perfectly within a MAGA White House.
͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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| My latest piece over at The Spectator uses the recent wedding of Iran-Contra media stars Oliver North and Fawn Hall to discuss the Reagan-era scandal, how it presaged today’s political media, and how it fits within the current moment. Spoiler alert: Ollie North would’ve been embraced by this president, not scorned by him. Below is an excerpt, but you can read the whole thing here. The scandal itself could have easily been ripped from today’s headlines. Within the past 15 years, we have seen illicit arms trafficking to Latin American groups, clandestine attempts to hide government involvement in questionable national security efforts and deliberate mishandling of classified documents by top American officials. Right now, there are American hostages in the Middle East, held by Iran-backed Islamist terror groups. There are backroom negotiations to free those hostages and others around the world that result in concessions to unsavory characters. There are clandestine operations to advance American interests under the aegis of the federal government. There are increasing interventions against anti-American leftist regimes in Latin America. And the Sandinistas are still in charge in Nicaragua, running an authoritarian leftist regime.
The only real difference is that Iran-Contra would not have triggered nearly as much outrage today as under Reagan. Not only have we turned every issue into a partisan firefight that plays out in the culture, on 24/7 cable news and across the cesspools of social media, we have become inured to controversy altogether. Shame is no longer an operative part of the American ethos. It can be debated as to when that process began – the Lewinsky scandal played a big role – but it has found its full flowering in the second Trump administration.
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