What’s the Matter With Oz?

 

Kevin D. Williamson is a good writer whose work is always informative and interesting. Williamson recently penned an essay that heaped scorn on Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. Oz is a representative of what has been called Trumpism, that is, help for the working class vis-à-vis immigration, job offshoring, industrial decline, etc., being skeptical of elites and experts. Williamson’s complaints about Oz are the complaints of the intellectual media elite. There’s not nearly enough intellectual rigor in Oz’s policy proposals to suit Williamson. Williamson has never had much sympathy for the working class, who he thinks is mainly to blame for its own troubles. He appears to deplore the idea of hitching the Republican wagon to the deplorables.

“No matter what happens to Trump, Trumpism is not going away,” said Thomas Frank.

Frank is a liberal, the author of “What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America” and “Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?” that answers the question about why the working class doesn’t vote for liberals anymore. In short, the Democrats abandoned the working class. They are now the party that caters mainly to the intelligentsia, the educated elites of academe, Silicon Valley, the elite media, and Washington, D.C.

Those elites are people who back in the ’40s and ’50s voted almost entirely for Republicans. But that changed.

In the meantime, we have Republicans who can’t understand why they lost their favorite constituency. They are just as sympatico with the elite class as the Democrats are. They were educated in Ivy League schools and fancy themselves elite insiders of D.C. and the media. They are just as contemptuous of the working class as today’s Democrats are.

Maybe they are still conservatives according to their own definition of conservative. But they are no longer at the tip of the political spear of the conservative movement.

Frank thinks the thing is that the Republicans found a way to beat the Democrats. They found a way to overcome the whole demographic calamity that was supposed to bury them. Now they are riding a wave of success that has been going on for almost 30 years. So they are not going back to the old way of seeing things politically. They have embraced former President Donald Trump’s brand of nationalist populism, neither started by nor exclusive to Trump by the way, and the next Trump who comes along, perhaps Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz, or maybe even Dr. Oz, isn’t going to make the same mistakes that Trump did, such as alienating suburban women. He or she will be very hard to beat. Whatever one thinks about the events of Jan. 6, they don’t seem to be affecting this dynamic much.

Progressives seem to be unable to counter this. They are perhaps too addicted to their contempt of the working class or too enchanted by their own righteousness and intellect to ever try to appeal to “deplorable” people. They are too wedded to their radical social agenda, which is anathema to flyover country.

The Kevin Williamson types may go on heaping scorn on the pols who inhabit the Trumpism space, but they’d be better served if they stepped up and helped Republicans win. They could better use their wit and perspicacity to hone the Republican message. Today, populism is being equated with racism and white supremacy, and that is wrong. American populism is about democracy and a decent life for all Americans. Populist support could be used toward those ends and has already been used to make solid conservative gains. Good conservative writers should be pointing this out.

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  1. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Williamson has always been a [REDACTED] who thinks that cleverly-worded snark and insults are a proper replacement for well-developed insight. I hope more people will take notice.

    • #1
  2. MWD B612 "Dawg" Member
    MWD B612 "Dawg"
    @danok1

    Leaving aside the issues of Trumpism and Kevin Williamson’s opinions, Dr. Oz is unqualified because:

    1. He is not an actual resident of Pennsylvania. He lives in New Jersey and is using his in-law’s (I believe) address in PA to claim residency. This alone ought to disqualify him.
    2. He jumped at the chance to give up his reputation as an excellent cardiovascular surgeon and join Oprah’s stable of TV hosts who push New-Age nostrums and quackery. This speaks to his judgement, IMHO.
    3. He has no organic, actual policy positions on anything, at least none that he advocated before jumping in to the Senate race.. He speaks in a mealy-mouthed, emotion-based rhetoric of feelings and meaning. Hard pass.

    What all this has to do with “Trumpism” and  a conservative, America-First agenda I’m at a loss to explain. Perhaps someone here can do so. Just because KDW objects to a candidate doesn’t mean Kevin is wrong.

    (Edited to correct typos, grammar, &c.)

    • #2
  3. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):
    Just because KDW objects to a candidate doesn’t mean Kevin is wrong.

    The guy might be unfit, but KDW’s arguments for why can still be wrong.

    In as much as KDW makes Trumpism and populism the enemy, he will be wrong and his opinions should be taken with a huge heap of salt.

    • #3
  4. MWD B612 "Dawg" Member
    MWD B612 "Dawg"
    @danok1

    Stina (View Comment):

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):
    Just because KDW objects to a candidate doesn’t mean Kevin is wrong.

    The guy might be unfit, but KDW’s arguments for why can still be wrong.

    In as much as KDW makes Trumpism and populism the enemy, he will be wrong and his opinions should be taken with a huge heap of salt.

    True, but Kevin’s early objection to Oz was and is that he’s a quack and a charlatan. And he’s right about that. If populism means supporting Oz in the primary, then “Feh!” on populism. (My take in the general election may be different though.)

     

    • #4
  5. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Mehmet Oz is not, as KW might suggest, representative of “Trumpism” (whatever that is) but rather representative of many celebrities who, when celebrity isn’t enough, decide to go into politics.

    Most should just be laughed at. But so should KW.

    • #5
  6. Victor Tango Kilo Member
    Victor Tango Kilo
    @VtheK

    The next Trump who comes along, perhaps DeSantis, Rubio, Cruz, or maybe even Dr. Oz, isn’t going to make the same mistakes that Trump did, such as alienating suburban women.

    Trump didn’t alienate suburban women; a histrionic nonstop hate campaign from the corporate media (abetted by NeverTrump Republicans (who likewise despise the working class)) alienated suburban women.  And when ‘The View’ trains their hate campaign on “the next Trump,” the box-wine consumer demographic will follow.

    “Oh,but Trump gave them material to work with. The next Trump won’t say things they can twist into misogyny.”

    Four words: “Binders full of women.”

    • #6
  7. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    The next Trump who comes along, perhaps DeSantis, Rubio, Cruz, or maybe even Dr. Oz, isn’t going to make the same mistakes that Trump did, such as alienating suburban women.

    Trump didn’t alienate suburban women; a histrionic nonstop hate campaign from the corporate media (abetted by NeverTrump Republicans (who likewise despise the working class)) alienated suburban women. And when ‘The View’ trains their hate campaign on “the next Trump,” the box-wine consumer demographic will follow.

    “Oh,but Trump gave them material to work with. The next Trump won’t say things they can twist into misogyny.”

    Four words: “Binders full of women.”

    I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt. I think the OP meant “… mistakes that Trump did, such as relying on questionable folks and failing to ever really grip the reins …”. It was probably a typo.

    • #7
  8. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Roderic: The Kevin Williamson types may go on heaping scorn on the pols who inhabit the Trumpism space,  but they’d be better served if they stepped up and helped Republicans win.  They could better use their wit and perspicacity to hone the Republican message.  Today, populism is being equated with racism and white supremacy, and that is wrong.   American populism is about democracy and a decent life for all Americans.   Populist support could be used toward those ends and has already been used to make solid conservative gains.   Good conservative writers should be pointing this out.

    Most political writing is idiosyncratic.  It’s based on one views which are in turn based on a lifetime of experience, and reason which is itself biased in what the writer considers true and relevant or not.  Political writing is usually a matter of opinion, with a smattering of supporting examples in the form of anecdotes and watery statistics; and it depends on the not only the strength of the supporting examples but on the overall reasoning and appropriateness of the conclusions.  Confirmation bias (which has gotten a bad rap) and the underlying premises and purposes of the reader play an important role in the greater acceptance and appreciation of the writing.  And time does too, often proving or exposing as false the writer’s premises and conclusions.

    And the most attractive writing is compelling in style and reason, but is not necessarily correct.  Often it’s far from correct, though it may take the readers’ world by storm, and its adherents and effects may last long after the premises have been proven wrong in practice.

    And then a not so minor point of consideration is why the writer is writing in the first place: to expose his thoughts or to convince readers of his views, or to make the world a better place, to just to grab notoriety, or simply to make a living.

    Writers have said that writing is essentially an egotistical practice: no one writes except in order to be read — though this is not necessarily true, either, and certainly not true of many amateurs who write to clarify their own thoughts or as a cathartic experience.  But the writers I find compelling have style and substance and a conclusion that I can agree with, learn from, or even admire.  Williamson has never been one of these.

    • #8
  9. Unsk Member
    Unsk
    @Unsk

    First, Kevin Williamson is only a notable writer because the Never Trumpers and the CommmieDemocrat Elite thinks he should be.   He is not worth reading or even quoting. He is now just garbage. Once upon a times decades ago he may have had something to say. Not now. 

    Whether of not Dr Oz is a bonafide American First Man of the People I cannot say. At least I can say for whatever reason he has chosen to chosen to align with Trump which in what I would guess for a person that runs in   his social circles to be a position that has  given him a ton of grief. So I would think for that there may be something to his candidacy.  Few politicians actually have well grounded principles or the ability to articulate them well so if we have not heard great things from him yet may not be a reason to dismiss him yet. 

    • #9
  10. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Unsk (View Comment):

    First, Kevin Williamson is only a notable writer because the Never Trumpers and the CommmieDemocrat Elite thinks he should be. He is not worth reading or even quoting. He is now just garbage. Once upon a times decades ago he may have had something to say. Not now.

    Whether of not Dr Oz is a bonafide American First Man of the People I cannot say. At least I can say for whatever reason he has chosen to chosen to align with Trump which in what I would guess for a person that runs in his social circles to be a position that has given him a ton of grief. So I would think for that there may be something to his candidacy. Few politicians actually have well grounded principles or the ability to articulate them well so if we have not heard great things from him yet may not be a reason to dismiss him yet.

    Remember when the TV spiritualist was running for president?

    • #10
  11. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Williamson has never been one of these.

    His bias against the working class always seems to be missing a piece of the equation.

    Half my family is rustbelt working class. My grandfather worked for decades in a paper factory, never once missing a day of work until he retired. He was loyal to his company. Employer/employee loyalty was a big deal at one point in our country. But at some point, the employer decided their loyal employees were replaceable.

    They got the message.

    • #11
  12. Victor Tango Kilo Member
    Victor Tango Kilo
    @VtheK

    BTW did anyone else read the headline and think this was going to be another article about how the people in Australia have lost their damb minds? 

    • #12
  13. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Stina (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Williamson has never been one of these.

    His bias against the working class always seems to be missing a piece of the equation.

    Half my family is rustbelt working class. My grandfather worked for decades in a paper factory, never once missing a day of work until he retired. He was loyal to his company. Employer/employee loyalty was a big deal at one point in our country. But at some point, the employer decided their loyal employees were replaceable.

    They got the message.

    They?  You mean the employees?  Sorry to hear that.

    • #13
  14. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Unsk (View Comment):
    First, Kevin Williamson is only a notable writer because the Never Trumpers and the CommmieDemocrat Elite thinks he should be.

    I’m pretty sure Kevin was a notable writer long before the NeverTrump phenomena.  I don’t know when he joined National Review but he had a book published in 2013, well before Donald Trump started running for president.  If you don’t like him, fine, but he didn’t build his career on opposition to Trump.

    • #14
  15. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    Unsk (View Comment):
    First, Kevin Williamson is only a notable writer because the Never Trumpers and the CommmieDemocrat Elite thinks he should be.

    I’m pretty sure Kevin was a notable writer long before the NeverTrump phenomena. I don’t know when he joined National Review but he had a book published in 2013, well before Donald Trump started running for president. If you don’t like him, fine, but he didn’t build his career on opposition to Trump.

    I don’t know if that negates what he said. Just because Trump wasn’t a thing yet doesn’t mean those same people aren’t who promoted Williamson.

    • #15
  16. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Stina (View Comment):

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    Unsk (View Comment):
    First, Kevin Williamson is only a notable writer because the Never Trumpers and the CommmieDemocrat Elite thinks he should be.

    I’m pretty sure Kevin was a notable writer long before the NeverTrump phenomena. I don’t know when he joined National Review but he had a book published in 2013, well before Donald Trump started running for president. If you don’t like him, fine, but he didn’t build his career on opposition to Trump.

    I don’t know if that negates what he said. Just because Trump wasn’t a thing yet doesn’t mean those same people aren’t who promoted Williamson.

    OK, maybe.  But having read one of his books and several of his articles, as well as listening to many podcasts with KDW, I don’t see what “CommieDemocrat Elites” would find appealing.  Williamson takes shots at Trump, but he takes shots at socialists and Democrats all the time.

    • #16
  17. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    Unsk (View Comment):
    First, Kevin Williamson is only a notable writer because the Never Trumpers and the CommmieDemocrat Elite thinks he should be.

    I’m pretty sure Kevin was a notable writer long before the NeverTrump phenomena. I don’t know when he joined National Review but he had a book published in 2013, well before Donald Trump started running for president. If you don’t like him, fine, but he didn’t build his career on opposition to Trump.

    I stopped reading him before Trump.

    • #17
  18. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    The Kevin Williamson types may go on heaping scorn on the pols who inhabit the Trumpism space,  but they’d be better served if they stepped up and helped Republicans win.  They could better use their wit and perspicacity to hone the Republican message. 

    Kevin is not a party man, and has no interest in being one. Best to consider him someone with an infinitely full bladder, keen on release, and unconcerned with whether he is inside the tent or outside of it. 

    • #18
  19. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):
    But having read one of his books and several of his articles, as well as listening to many podcasts with KDW, I don’t see what “CommieDemocrat Elites” would find appealing.  Williamson takes shots at Trump, but he takes shots at socialists and Democrats all the time.

    The deep state alliance that includes free trade globalists is not partisan. That’s why Romney is nearly indistinguishable from a Democrat these days.

    I would focus less on KW’s mouthiness and  focus more on what he promotes.

    His positions are sympatico  with the global elite, which makes grouping him in with NT (and NT with commie Democrats) so suitable. They all have the same goal – the radical transformation of America and the establishment of a global trade consortium (and if Brussels proved anything, center of trade is center of power).

    • #19
  20. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Victor Tango Kilo (View Comment):

    The next Trump who comes along, perhaps DeSantis, Rubio, Cruz, or maybe even Dr. Oz, isn’t going to make the same mistakes that Trump did, such as alienating suburban women.

    Trump didn’t alienate suburban women; a histrionic nonstop hate campaign from the corporate media (abetted by NeverTrump Republicans (who likewise despise the working class)) alienated suburban women. And when ‘The View’ trains their hate campaign on “the next Trump,” the box-wine consumer demographic will follow.

    “Oh,but Trump gave them material to work with. The next Trump won’t say things they can twist into misogyny.”

    Four words: “Binders full of women.”

    Agreed 100 %. A directed and intentional campaign can move the needle in any context. In fact, histrionic nonstop hate campaign may be an understatement in this case. How else to explain Blasey Ford and her being taken seriously even for a moment?

    Also, suburban women and the suburbs more generally have been falling away for decades. The suburbs around Chicago used to be solidly Republican which kept Illinois red to purple. That ended somewhere in the 90’s. My impression is that this has been a nationwide trend. They really went in for the likes of Bill Clinton and Ross Perot; the disaffection with Republicans runs deep apparently. In light of this long standing trend, it’s no wonder that corporate America has gone so woke as these suburbanites are the ones manning all those corporate DEI committees. This was long before Trump.

    • #20
  21. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    I like Kevin Williamson’s columns precisely because he is not easy to categorize and I don’t always agree.  He is from Lubbock but does not romanticize the common man in red states nor defer to the beautiful people. 

    Dr. Oz is a terrible candidate for lots of reasons and I don’t see him as a Trump guy in any case.

    In any event, the sooner Republicans start picking candidates on a more substantive basis that claims of loyalty to Donald Trump, the better (not that NeverTrump types need apply).  Trump’s recent blast against Pence for acting to certify the election was toxic nonsense.  The GOP has a real opportunity and making grievances about the successful steal of 2020 the core issue alienates far more than it energizes.  

    • #21
  22. Headedwest Coolidge
    Headedwest
    @Headedwest

    Kevin Williamson and Doctor Oz: a pox on both their houses.

    • #22
  23. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Mehmet Oz is not, as KW might suggest, representative of “Trumpism” (whatever that is) but rather representative of many celebrities who, when celebrity isn’t enough, decide to go into politics.

    Most should just be laughed at. But so should KW.

    The GOPe uses “Trumpism” now the way the DNC uses “Fascism”.  It’s just a cudgel to swing at anything they don’t like, with no connection to the meaning of the word.

    • #23
  24. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    Unsk (View Comment):
    First, Kevin Williamson is only a notable writer because the Never Trumpers and the CommmieDemocrat Elite thinks he should be.

    I’m pretty sure Kevin was a notable writer long before the NeverTrump phenomena. I don’t know when he joined National Review but he had a book published in 2013, well before Donald Trump started running for president. If you don’t like him, fine, but he didn’t build his career on opposition to Trump.

    That’s not what he said.  I sometimes liked KDW back in the day, but Unsk’s statement is still true.  The NeverTrumpers also existed before Trump ran — they were just called different things.  Many different things.  Same people.

    Your objection is overruled :-)

    • #24
  25. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    Unsk (View Comment):
    First, Kevin Williamson is only a notable writer because the Never Trumpers and the CommmieDemocrat Elite thinks he should be.

    I’m pretty sure Kevin was a notable writer long before the NeverTrump phenomena. I don’t know when he joined National Review but he had a book published in 2013, well before Donald Trump started running for president. If you don’t like him, fine, but he didn’t build his career on opposition to Trump.

    I don’t know if that negates what he said. Just because Trump wasn’t a thing yet doesn’t mean those same people aren’t who promoted Williamson.

    OK, maybe. But having read one of his books and several of his articles, as well as listening to many podcasts with KDW, I don’t see what “CommieDemocrat Elites” would find appealing. Williamson takes shots at Trump, but he takes shots at socialists and Democrats all the time.

    Same things they adore about Rubin and Brooks.

    • #25
  26. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Stina (View Comment):
    The deep state alliance that includes free trade globalists is not partisan.

    Same goes for opponents of free trade.  Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump both are opposed to it.

    • #26
  27. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    BDB (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Mehmet Oz is not, as KW might suggest, representative of “Trumpism” (whatever that is) but rather representative of many celebrities who, when celebrity isn’t enough, decide to go into politics.

    Most should just be laughed at. But so should KW.

    The GOPe uses “Trumpism” now the way the DNC uses “Fascism”. It’s just a cudgel to swing at anything they don’t like, with no connection to the meaning of the word.

    or “racism”

    or “homopho….er I mean transphobia”

    • #27
  28. RufusRJones Member
    RufusRJones
    @RufusRJones

    This country did every single thing wrong in the face of the wage deflation and job destruction from automation and globalize labor.

    Every single institution is failing from a conservative or libertarian point of view.

    The Democrat party cannot advance without either creating social problems or pretending we have them.

    Act accordingly.

    (The one comment that Williamson is famous for I think is misinterpreted. He said that people should get away from poorly governed areas. So we have problems at the local level and we have problems at the national level.)

    https://www.realvision.com/shows/mike-green-in-conversation/videos/is-the-golden-age-of-liberal-capitalism-over

    https://www.realvision.com/shows/real-visionaries-lyn-alden/videos/in-the-dollar-we-trust-has-the-us-lost-its-economic-power

    “The crisis is happening”— in this eye-opening and sometimes shocking discussion over supply chain issues, The Bullion Reserve co-manager Simon Mikhailovich hosts Fortis Analysis LLC founder and logistics expert Ross Kennedy to discuss why we may never recover from our current disruption. The two discuss how we got here, why the U.S. economy may never look the same, and the painful measures it will take to re-invent it. Kennedy and Mikhailovich point to long-term market incentives that have weakened supply chain infrastructure and suggest that a “kinetic decoupling” with China will force us to re-evaluate our trade relationship and our entire economy. Kennedy also offers ideas about how the U.S. can economically reinvent itself, citing the potential of next-generation industries to revitalize the American working class. Recorded on October 29, 2021.

    • #28
  29. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    Stina (View Comment):
    The deep state alliance that includes free trade globalists is not partisan.

    Same goes for opponents of free trade. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump both are opposed to it.

    Except that the opponents of globalism (nice swap in of Free Trade for Globalism) aren’t allies the way the globalists are. That’s assuming Bernie Sanders isn’t actually a globalist like most actual socialists/communists end up being.

    • #29
  30. Al Sparks Coolidge
    Al Sparks
    @AlSparks

    Roderic: The Kevin Williamson types may go on heaping scorn on the pols who inhabit the Trumpism space, but they’d be better served if they stepped up and helped Republicans win. They could better use their wit and perspicacity to hone the Republican message.

    I’ve heard Jonah Goldberg object to this “get on the team” message.  I’ve not been happy with his move to “strange new respect” land, but he’s right about one thing.  His job, as a pundit, is to give his honest opinion, not write for a particular team, at least not beyond the journal he happens to be employed by.  The same applies to Kevin.  I’m confident that whatever he writes, he’s giving his honest opinion, and that’s all I can ask of him as a reader.

    • #30
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