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November 10, 2025 at 7:15 PM

The migration of the former staff of the Weekly Standard

Frank Monaldo
@FrankMonaldo

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I used to be an avid reader of the Weekly Standard until it ceased publication in 2018. Since then you have Bill Kristol, who is sympathetic to Zohran Mamdani, migrating to one end of the political spectrum. Tucker Carlson has moved in an opposing direction, recently giving a softball interview to Nicholas J. Fuentes, a white nationalist. In between, you have people like John Podhoretz and Matthew Continetti who might be considered not pro-Trump but "Trump Curious."

Where would you all place the former Weekly Standard staff in the following categories: Crazy left (CL), Never Trump (NT), Trump Curious (TC), Pro-Trump (PT), Crazy-right (CR). You can use the abbreviations. Are these categories sufficient? I have added some of my observations

Bill Kristol (CL)
Stephen Hayes (NT)
Fred Barnes (TC)
Jonathan V Last (NT)
Philip Terzian (PT)
Max Boot (CL)
Joseph Bottum
Tucker Carlson (CR)
Matthew Continetti (TC)
Joseph Epstein (TC)
David Frum (NT)
David Gelernter
Reuel Marc Gerecht
Michael Goldfarb
John Podhoretz (TC)
Mary Katharine Ham (TC)
Brit Hume (PT)
Frederick Kagan
Robert Kagan
Tod Lindberg
Irwin Stelzer

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Discussion (26)

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    cdor@cdor·48w

    I have no comments on most of these people because of the ones with which I am familiar, I agree with your categorization. Obviously, I cannot define the ones I don't know well. Max Boot and Bill Kristol should have learned to code. They are reliably wrong on everything they say or write. Tucker has jumped the shark, as they say. He always had a certain wackiness, but was willing to challenge power. His current concept of challenging power is to align with seriously demented people. Makes one wonder if he hasn't found his comfort level.

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    GLDIII Purveyor of Splendid Malpropisms@GLDIII·48w

    I think I would move Robert Kagan to the NT category. Fred Kagan I think is Trump ambivalent unlike his brother who is a firm believer in the value of "expertise of the international community consensus".

    As for Joesph bottom I would put him in the Trump agnostic category. I don't even think I have seen him even comment on anything political in any of his ramblings.

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    Subcomandante America@TheReticulator·48w

    I still have my Weekly Standard baseball cap. It's a good quality cap, too, but it needs a trip through the washing machine.

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    RufusRJones@RufusRJones·48w

    Great post. Excellent.

    Michael Medved voted for Harris.

    I wanted Ted Cruz because I wanted an expert on the Federal Reserve and civics. The problem is we have printed too much money and we have too much government to be idealistic in that sense. The Republicans that aren't Crazy Right and have gone against Trump don't appreciate this. The GOP jumped the shark in 2004 when Bush promised Medicare part D so he could win and finish off Iraq. It was a $9 trillion instant unfunded liability.

    I was mesmerized by Tucker when he was on the morning weekend show. I was less thrilled when he got his own show. Now he's nuts. I don't get it.

    I wish I could talk to David Frum and Bill Kristol CIA-style. What in the hell did they ever actually believe?

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    Mark Camp@MarkCamp·48w
    Frank Monaldo (View Post):

    Are these categories sufficient?

    I write on behalf of a small group of us to thank you for asking for our input, and to give our regrets.

    Now, the list of allowed values for the ordinal attribute “position on the [?] spectrum’” sound as though they would suitable to most folks.

    But we are those poor few Ricocheteers who were irreversibly indoctrinated by a lifetime in the data processing industry into the logically inviolable principles of data definition, according to which the attribute itself is unacceptable. (Because, we were taught, data has to be defined before it is logically possible to collect it. The rule stuck is in our heads like the moral of a Brothers Grimm fable.)

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