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Michael Beschloss: From Historian to Hack
As American Historians go, I’ve always considered Michael Beschloss to be in the upper half of his field. While he is no David McCullough or Stephen Ambrose, he is no Howard Zinn either. His last three works, The Conquerors, Presidential Courage, and Presidents of War are, in my view, first-rate.
However, since his employment with MSNBC as a “contributor,” I have to wonder if he is a candidate for the insane asylum. Since I do not watch MSNBC (nor could you pay me to), I did not see any of his hyperbole but Joe Concha of FOX recently demonstrated to me what I’ve been missing.
It seems that shortly after the FBI’s raid on President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Beschloss took to Twitter to compare Trump to convicted (and executed) spies, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. It was one of the most ludicrous remarks that I have ever heard; even by MSNBC standards.
A few days later, showing that his stupidity was the real deal, Beschloss compared Biden’s Philadelphia speech to Abraham Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech before the Civil War and FDR’s “Four Freedoms” speech before World War II.
Absurdity such as this coming from a supposed scholar simply takes my breath away. Does Beschloss actually believe what he’s saying?
I have to wonder if he intends to publish another book; at least a book that purports to be about history. Does he actually believe that anyone will read it, that is, anyone outside the ruling class? Perhaps he hasn’t thought about that. Perhaps he will never write again, preferring to be an MSNBC hack. In neither case will he ever be believed again by those of us who still have functioning brains.
I realized while listening to Beschloss’s idiocy that, one by one, our respect for institutions (and the people of those institutions) is being permanently severed. One by one, they’ve fallen; the media, business professionals, medical, educational, even the military. The elite (both real and self-styled) have permanently walled themselves off from the middle class.
Some people will say it’s always been this way. Other people will blame Trump and/or the Pandemic for either creating the problem or making it worse. At this point, it makes little difference. The genie is out of the bottle and it will never be put back in.
Published in General
Worse, Beschloss put the 1860/1940 idea into the Biden speechwriters’ heads. Beschloss boasted of influencing Biden:
I’m relieved that the speech came from Biden’s own withered brain. It would indeed be frightening to think that it came from anyone who is advising him.
That name sounds familiar. Is he the richard who published a study on gun ownership during colonial times and when challenged announced that unfortunately his research was lost during mishap at his home? Flood, fire, or some such excuse.
I believe you might be referring to Michael Bellesiles, who wrote Arming America. That jackwagon actually won the Bancroft Prize in 2001, until it was discovered that he had fudged almost the entire thing.
Call him the Milli Vanilli of historians. As incredible as it seems, I read somewhere that he put out another book. Wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole.
OK. I guess I confused them.
Understandable. They’re both jackwagons…
Beschloss has been a political hack for awhile. Back when Obama was running for president he asserted (with no evidence) that Obama was or would be the smartest person ever to be president.
Beschloss lost his credibility at least as long ago as his first gigs with the PBS News Hour. He is now completely entwined with the movers and shakers of our day. Between he and his wife, Afsaneh Mashayekhi Beschloss (there must be a few juicy stories tucked away about them), they are on all the right boards of all the right foundations.
If you want to make an illustrated dictionary, please put a photo of Beschloss next to “pompous.” Or better yet, a photo of Beschloss with Obama.
As it turns out Beschloss is not the only pompous historian out there. I had completely forgotten about him, but a blurb on FOX this morning pointed out that in 2020, “distinguished historian” Jon Meacham put out the following garbage: “…There is a lizard brain in this country. Donald Trump is the product of the White Man’s, the anguished, nervous White Guy’s lizard brain…”
So, there are nearly 75 million of us lizard brains out here. And there are at least two ***t-for-brains individuals in this country who refer to themselves as historians and will shamelessly suck up to any Democrat in power.
I believe we have them outnumbered.
I prefer Londo Mollari’s and Captain Benjamin Sisko’s term: “Surrounded.”