Standing Athwart History, Yelling "Slop!" (w/ John Ganz) [Teaser]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy. On Monday, Manhattan Institute fellow Chris Rufo posted this: "The Right's collective brain is getting melted in a vat of slop, conspiracy, and algorithm-chasing. An intelligent man will guard himself against all of it." Given that Rufo was, after J.D. Vance, perhaps the most prominent Haitians-are-eating-pets-in-Ohio conspiracy theorist in the country, his complaint generated many, many responses rightfully calling him out for his lack of self-awareness and his own role in mainstreaming such a politics. As our friend John Ganz wrote , "Is this hypocrisy, stupidity, or unabashed malevolence? Try all three: it’s politics. Specifically, it’s the politics of the American Conservative Movement. People cry out for a new William F. Buckley. Give the title to Rufo, I say; he’s doing the job already." In this episode we talked to Ganz about how the dynamic Rufo identified has always been a feature of the postwar conservative movement, stretching back at least to William F. Buckley, Jr. and Brent Bozell's defense of McCarthyism; what's distinctive about the Right's present slop era, especially the alignment of conservative movement propagandists, the Republican Party, and the state; populism and the "Madisonian model"; and more! Sources: John Ganz, " I Told You So... " Unpopular Front , Feb 24, 2026 — " Finding Neverland: The American right’s doomed quest to rid itself of Trumpism ," New Republic , Feb 17, 2020 Olivia Bellusci, " Candace Owens Drops Trailer for Investigative Series About Erika Kirk Months After Charlie’s Death ," Yahoo , Feb 24, 2026 Matthew Sitman, " Riding the Trump Tiger ," Commonweal , Aug 7, 2015 Nathan Taylor Pemberton, " Is ‘Slopulism’ Shaping Our Politics? " New York Times , Feb 13, 2026 Ruby Cramer, " You Don't Know Bernie Sanders ," Buzzfeed , Dec 16, 2019. Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word , (1982)

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Standing Athwart History, Yelling "Slop!" (w/ John Ganz) [Teaser] is an episode from Know Your Enemy by Matthew Sitman.

This episode is 00:02:41 long.

This episode was published on Feb 27, 2026.

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