A Tale of Two Kellys: Peter Wehner on the Intellectual and Moral Decline of the American Right
For Peter Wehner, American politics is a tale of two Kellys. On the one hand, there’s the moral resistance of Arizona Senator Mark Kelly to what appears to be the gratuitous violence of American forces overseas. On the other hand, there’s the conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly who has openly fantasized about this bloodthirsty behavior. For Wehner, Megyn Kelly’s immorality is an excellent example of both the moral and intellectual decline of the right. Once a serious journalist who challenged (and upset) Trump in the 2015 debates, Kelly has devolved into what Wehner calls “darkly deranged” territory - a trajectory that mirrors the broader conservative movement’s abandonment of Burkean and Madisonian principles for Kelly-style shock jocks and neo-Nazi clowns like Nick Fuentes.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Bethanne's Best Books of 2025: Where Fact & Fiction Blur
2025 as the New 1925: Will Crypto be Trump's Teapot Dome Scandal?
Ray Suarez on 2025: America's Last Idealist Looks Back at a "Jaw-Dropping" Year
Hollywood's Last Dance: Time Warner and the Death of the American Dream Machine
Big Brother Down Under: Is it 1984 Already in Australia?
Mount Rushmore: America's Most Monumental Contradiction
George Packer's Emergency: When Facts Fail, Turn to Fiction
How 9/11 Broke the News, Both Then and Now: CNN's Finest Hour Was Also Its Last
An Anglo-American Way of Troublemaking: The Fierce, Unruly Life of Jessica Mitford
How Capitalism Can Save Capitalism: The Case for Stakeholder Capitalism
2% of Americans are Homeless: America's Most Shameful Open Secret
A Code RED For Humanity: Forget 80/20 - the 95/5 Rule of our AI Age
Why "Progress" is Ruling Class Propaganda: The Dangerous Idea that Built Civilization and is Now Destroying it