THE

KAVANAUGH NOMINATION

FRED BARNES • PETER J. BOYER

TERRY EASTLAND • ANDREW FERGUSON

JULY 23, 2018 • $5.99 THE TORY KINGMAKER How backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg came to hold the fate of Theresa May’s government, the future of his party, and the outcome of Brexit in his hands by DOMINIC GREEN

WEEKLYSTANDARD.COM Contents July 23, 2018 • Volume 23, Number 43

2 The Scrapbook Attention-seeking nincompoops, Kavanaugh panic, & more

5 Casual David Skinner, taskmaster

6 Editorials Judging Kavanaugh • Trump Rattles NATO 9 Comment

Boola boola: the Yale Law School freakout by Andrew Ferguson

The long, long quest for a conservative High Court by Terry Eastland

Another win for The List by Peter J. Boyer

Donald Trump and the return of prescriptivism by Barton Swaim 2 Articles

16 Targeting Kavanaugh by Fred Barnes Democrats will go after him by fair means or foul. Mostly foul.

17 All Aboard the Trump Train by John McCormack The GOP primary in Wisconsin is a contest of personalities, not policies 6 19 Bernie Persists by Alice B. Lloyd Will he ever stop running?

21 The Trade Routes Not Taken by Tony Mecia There are better ways than tariffs to get concessions

Features

23 Manners Maketh Man by Dominic Green When the end comes for Theresa May, Jacob Rees-Mogg will be the Tory kingmaker

29 A Modest Proposal by Andy Smarick Three lessons from Hayek that helped a conservative reformer 19 Books & Arts

34 The Battle of Pershing Park by Catesby Leigh Why is it so hard to build a World War I memorial near the White House?

39 Remedial Bergman by John Simon On his centennial, introducing the great director to a new generation

42 Your Other Body by B. D. McClay A thought experiment in how we relate to the world

34 44 Not a Parody Trump channels Thucydides

COVER BY BRITT SPENCER THE SCRAPBOOK Area Doofus Makes Nuisance of Self t’s July. The news tends to be less Coverage also appeared, the hem of the robe of I momentous than at other times. among other places, in the Statue of Liberty. The Scrapbook understands that. But Politico, Newsweek, and The woman, Patricia the media’s sudden fixation on indi- the New York Times. Okoumou, refused vidual acts of “protest” has us wish- Then we were given to come down until ing for more stories about kids giving extensive coverage in the “all the children are back to the community and celebri- Post and USA Today and released,” though after ties saying dumb things. on CNN and MSNBC of about three hours The week of Independence Day a mom, no doubt heed- police nabbed her was especially packed with stories ing the counsel of Rep. and took her away. about people making asses of them- Maxine Waters to harass Meanwhile, visitors selves. In Huntsville, Ala., a man cabinet members, who who traveled great shouted “Womp, womp” as a priest confronted then-direc- distances to see Lady delivered the invocation at a small tor of the EPA Scott Liberty on the Fourth gathering at a park gazebo to protest Pruitt as he lunched at a of July were turned President Trump’s policies along the Washington restaurant. away, and cable and U.S.-Mexico border. (“Womp, womp” Video of the encounter network news chan- is the dismissive sound made by the quickly went viral on nels had reporters on egregious Corey Lewandowski on social media. Initial reports described location to cover this major news Fox News when another commenta- the woman, Kristin Mink, as a “school event. A week later The Scrapbook tor mentioned a girl with Down syn- teacher,” and so she is, but the fact that received an email press release urg- drome separated from her parents.) her employer is the very upmarket ing Okoumou’s sympathizers not to This lone counter-protester then D.C. private school Sidwell Friends donate money to “false gofundme brandished a gun, ensuring his instant rather complicated the idea that her accounts attempting to raise money arrest by nearby police officers. exploit was a spontaneous demand for in her name,” which suggests that A story about an idiot trouble- justice from the hoi polloi. “[Pruitt’s] the news media weren’t the only ones maker would have worked well on a scandals, I told him, would ultimately trying to capitalize on her stunt. local alt-paper’s police blotter page, push him out,” the woman wrote in We appreciate the challenge posed but it strikes us as thin gruel for a full an op-ed for the Guardian, after video by slow news days. But surely there 800-word story in the Washington Post, of her stunt went viral, “but his real are more interesting things for enter- complete with interviews and dramatic crime was the one he was committing prising journalists to cover—gas narrative storytelling (“All around against children like my son . . . ” prices? restaurant sanitation rat- [the priest], people were shaking, cry- On the Fourth itself, another ings?—than what some nincompoops ing and getting up from the ground”). lone demonstrator climbed onto do to gain attention. ♦

If It Stops meet that doesn’t include firing Moving . . . more reporters. As if things couldn’t get worse, ne of the tragedies of the government of New Jersey O American life, as we’ve had has discovered a way to kill off occasion to lament in these pages local journalism for good—by before, is the slow decline of local subsidizing it. journalism. The Internet and Gov. Phil Murphy has just social media seem to meet many signed a bill that creates some- people’s need to stay connected thing called the Civic Information to their communities, news orga- Consortium. The nonprofit organi- nizations are widely reviled by a zation, according to reports, will be polarized public, and most own- charged with “strengthening local ers of local newspapers can’t seem media” and “focus[ing] on civic

to think of any way to make ends engagement and projects that will FIGURE, BIGSTOCK. BOTTOM: TWS ART; GARY LOCKE TOP:

2 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 meet the information needs of under- served New Jersey residents.” This “consortium” will be a “collaboration” between several New Jersey colleges and universities, including Rutgers and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Experts in journalism (as distinct from actual journalists) often don’t grasp the principle that independent journalism ceases to be independent the moment it takes money from the government it’s supposed to monitor. Of course, the same principle applies equally to many other areas—academic freedom and state-funded higher edu- cation, for instance—but those of a lib- eral or progressive mindset persist in believing the things they dominate are somehow neutral and therefore deserv- ing of government largesse. We don’t presume to know what will revive local journalism, though we suspect imaginative entrepreneurs will in due time figure out how to make local news coverage profitable again. We’re pretty sure what won’t achieve that end: a lot of academics using public money to “collaborate” with each other. ♦ Whitewash This ith the retirement of Justice W Anthony Kennedy and nomi- nation of Brett Kavanaugh to take his place, liberal academics and commen- tators are panicked, so sure are they that a more conservative Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade. be careful what they wish for. How’s moral outrage. It used to be that you Believing as we do that that? “Getting rid of Roe,” she argues, could always count on anti-abor- Roe was a moral and tion and anti-gay hostilities to stoke the base. But gay people and certain constitutional abomi- would deprive the far [sic] right of one gay rights have become more famil- nation, we can only of its most crowd-pleasing, rabble- iar. There is now a right to marry the hope they’re right. rousing, go-to issues. After all, there adult partner of your choosing. To be In their agitation, is plenty to dislike about abortion, if sure, there has been a presidential full- liberals have come up with one is so inclined: the assumed sex- court press aimed at replacing gays ual promiscuity of careless women with immigrants as the new subverters some pretty awful punditry and disobedient girls; the view that on the subject of abor- of the American way. Yet the last few abortion is murder; and the power weeks have revealed that mistreatment tion and Roe. Take, for Roe gave to women by liberating of immigrant families can cause popu- instance, a July 7 piece by them from their traditional place in lar, religious and legislative blowback, Carol Sanger in the New the home. Roe bashing is a powerful including from conservatives. York Times: “Reversing Roe Could source of solidarity; its absence would deprive Republican politicians and Hurt the G.O.P.” Sanger, a professor Fox News of the issue that stands at The sheer nastiness of this critique at Columbia Law School, suggests the ready to roil the political pot. is something to behold: Republicans that conservatives enthused by the This is especially true now that fewer only oppose abortion, she’s saying,

GARY LOCKE prospect of overturning Roe should targets are available for Republican because they can raise money and

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 3 get votes from it. Has she pondered the possibility that some people may think unborn human lives deserve protection for the same reason born ones do? But leave that aside and www.weeklystandard.com consider her suggestion. She wants Stephen F. Hayes, Editor in Chief conservatives to do what liberals Richard Starr, Editor Fred Barnes, Robert Messenger, Executive Editors want—preserve Roe v. Wade—because Christine Rosen, Managing Editor it’s in conservatives’ interest to do so. Peter J. Boyer, Christopher Caldwell, Andrew Ferguson, Matt Labash, We’re put in mind of Tom Sawyer, National Correspondents who famously persuaded his dimwit- Jonathan V. Last, Digital Editor Barton Swaim, Opinion Editor ted friends to give him their treasures Adam Keiper, Books & Arts Editor Kelly Jane Torrance, Deputy Managing Editor for the privilege of whitewashing a Eric Felten, Mark Hemingway, fence for him. The Scrapbook may John McCormack, Tony Mecia, Philip Terzian, Michael Warren, Senior Writers not be very bright, but we’re pretty David Byler, Jenna Lifhits, Alice B. Lloyd, Staff Writers sure that leaving Roe in place is what Rachael Larimore, Online Managing Editor liberals want, not what conserva- Hannah Yoest, Social Media Editor Ethan Epstein, Associate Editor tives want. We’ll pass, Professor. But Chris Deaton, Jim Swift, Deputy Online Editors Priscilla M. Jensen, Assistant Editor thanks all the same. ♦ Adam Rubenstein, Assistant Opinion Editor Andrew Egger, Haley Byrd, Reporters Holmes Lybrand, Fact Checker Sophia Buono, Editorial Assistant Tomy! Tomi! Tomé! Philip Chalk, Design Director Barbara Kyttle, Design Assistant he line between politics and Contributing Editors Claudia Anderson, Max Boot, Joseph Bottum, T entertainment grows blurrier contemplate some of the nuances and Tucker Carlson, Matthew Continetti, Jay Cost, Terry Eastland, Noemie Emery, Joseph Epstein, with each passing hour. Consider: complications of reforming our abor- David Frum, David Gelernter, As the battle over President Trump’s tion laws in a way that makes the Reuel Marc Gerecht, Michael Goldfarb, Daniel Halper, Mary Katharine Ham, Brit Hume, second Supreme Court nomination United States a more just and humane Thomas Joscelyn, Frederick W. Kagan, Yuval Levin, Tod Lindberg, Micah Mattix, Victorino Matus, began to take shape, millions of con- society. But we’re not counting on P. J. O’Rourke, John Podhoretz, Irwin M. Stelzer, servatives in search of expert analysis that happening. Charles J. Sykes, Stuart Taylor Jr. tuned into . . . Tomi Lahren. “I’m going to be honest with you,” William Kristol, Editor at Large “Pressing for a Supreme Court deci- she said in a 2016 interview. “I’m not a MediaDC Ryan McKibben, Chairman sion to overturn Roe v. Wade would be reader. I don’t like to read long books. Stephen R. Sparks, President & Chief Operating Officer a huge mistake,” the 25-year-old pun- I like to read news. So I couldn’t tell Kathy Schaffhauser, Chief Financial Officer Mark Walters, Chief Revenue Officer dit suggested. “We lose when we start you that there was a book that I read Jennifer Yingling, Audience Development Officer David Lindsey, Chief Digital Officer tampering with social issues.” that changed my life. More so, I love Matthew Curry, Director, Email Marketing That last assertion is self-evidently to read news and I love to read com- Alex Rosenwald, Senior Director of Strategic Communications Nicholas H. B. Swezey, Vice President, Advertising preposterous, but we’ll forgive the Fox mentary and I love to watch TV. I love T. Barry Davis, Senior Director, Advertising Jason Roberts, Digital Director, Advertising News commentator on the grounds to watch news. I’m a watcher and I’m Andrew Kaumeier, Advertising Operations Manager that she was three months old when a writer. A reader in the sense that I Brooke McIngvale, Manager, Marketing Services Advertising inquiries: 202-293-4900 Bill Clinton was elected in 1992. It like to read news but I have a very Subscriptions: 1-800-274-7293 would be terrific, though, if she would short attention span, so sitting down The Weekly Standard (ISSN 1083-3013), a division of Clarity Media Group, use her no doubt capable mind to with a book is very difficult for me.” ♦ is published weekly (except one week in March, one week in June, one week in August, and one week in December) at 1152 15th St., NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005. 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American Express, Visa/MasterCard payments accepted. Cover price, $5.99. Back issues, $5.99 (includes postage and “Thanks for this [question]. Our handling). Send letters to the editor to The Weekly Standard, 1152 15th colleagues in Washington have done a Street, NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20005-4617. For a copy of The Weekly Standard Privacy Policy, visit www.weeklystandard.com or write to terrific job covering the Trump presi- Customer Service, The Weekly Standard, 1152 15th St., NW, Suite 200, dency, the Mueller investigation and Washington, DC 20005. Copyright 2018, Clarity Media Group. All rights reserved. No material in The Weekly the extraordinary . . . ” (“Your Politics Standard may be reprinted without permission of the copyright owner. At weeklystandard.com/podcasts Questions, Part 1,” Patrick Healy, The Weekly Standard is a registered trademark of Clarity Media Group. New York Times, July 8). ♦ FIGURE: BIGSTOCK; HEAD, JOHN SCIULLI / POLITICON GETTY

4 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 CASUAL

life—that seemed certain. Even if I Work Is Job One were to become a pauper, I would be a book-loving pauper. But in my house, everyone had to have a job as soon as that was practi- y children have all had brought home many literature cal. We were being taught to work. reached the age when anthologies from college that I made Not, mind you, how to work, but it is possible for them time with. For my AP exam, I wrote whether to work. And though I say to be paid to work. about Death in Venice by Thomas whether, there was no “or not.” The MIt’s the usual kind of jobs that kids Mann, which I knew from an old only option was to work. do. After snowstorms, my sons per- paperback my father, while in the We were taught to accept as inevi- suade neighbors to let them shovel Navy, had lugged around the world table, as an unquestionable fact, that their walks for whatever they’re will- in a book-filled suitcase. It was a our lives would be structured around ing to pay. My daughter babysits. strange mélange of literature that I the exchange of our labor for money. I Work is not a big part of their lives, explored as a teenager, from the essays could still become a pauper if I really however. And though I have wanted, but knowing that I ought hesitated to tell them the news, to work, it became more natural my wife and I agree that they to picture myself earning a living. need to work more than they I did not appreciate this les- currently do. son until years later when I made Hearing my father’s stories a friend who had not learned it. about the jobs he held as a child, The son of a very successful busi- I think of how much harder he nessman, he had been raised with worked than I did. And when I the assumption that he would think of how hard I worked as grow up free to pursue his dreams, a teenager, it makes me think and that the money to carry of how much less hard my chil- him over the dry patches would dren work. already be in his bank account. That each generation works Then his father went bust, and less hard than the last—is this my friend found himself waiting progress? The question answers for his old man to recover. When itself, but I have to say that I that didn’t happen, he continued hated having to work as a kid. to think a revival in their for- It didn’t make sense that I had tunes was just around the corner. to haul milk and soda and beer as It wasn’t. Many times I suggested a stockboy in a delicatessen. Or to my friend that he get a job, that I had to make sandwiches any job. People do it all the time, and man the kitchen when I I said. became a clerk. Why work at He was without money and all when there was homework I without the will to earn it. One wouldn’t get to, books I wouldn’t find of F­ rancis Bacon to the absurdities of day he asked me what I thought of time to read, or sleep that I wouldn’t Franz Kafka, from old British poetry what had become of his life, and with have a chance to catch up on? to Sylvia Plath, from Washington some impatience I spoke at length Of course, had I not been spend- Irving to John Irving. I felt a curiosity about the lessons that his family’s ing 12 or so hours a week working about every book I came across. That wealth had deprived him of—that at the Douglaston Deli, I very well it was written down, printed, and people need to work, not just to sur- might have squandered every minute placed between covers was enough vive, but, in most cases, to thrive. of that time on nothing so produc- reason to get started. So long as some- I was too blunt, apparently. He tive as homework or reading. But in one had stuck it into a book, I felt stopped speaking to me. my self-righteous imagination, that’s honor-bound to find out why. All the time my kids hear that they where all that wasted time in the deli Catching me in my bedroom read- ought to dream. True enough, but would have gone: to the perfection of ing, my mother would say I was not now I must tell them that they ought my mind. being productive. I knew she was to work as well. This notion was flimsy but not wrong. Reading had something to

BRITT SPENCER entirely unfounded. My sisters do with how I was going to spend my David Skinner

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 5 EDITORIALS Judging Kavanaugh

s a presidential candidate, Donald Trump vowed to light. Former Democratic majority leader Harry Reid nominate federal judges “in the mold of” Antonin having broken the tradition of allowing filibusters on A Scalia, and he has lived up to his word. Neil Gor- judicial nominees, Democrats cannot alone stop Kavana- such was a superior pick to replace the late Justice Scalia in ugh’s confirmation. But the ferocity of their rhetoric will 2017. And the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to replace intensify in proportion to the powerlessness of their own Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court is another. position. We shudder to think what tendentious exegeses Kavanaugh, 53, understands Washington better than and slanderous charges they’ll produce when the hear- most judges. After graduating from Yale and Yale Law ings begin. and clerking for appeals court judges, he joined the office Democrats learned something terrible from the fight of Independent Counsel over Robert Bork in 1987. Ken Starr during the Clin- Ted Kennedy and his ally ton-Lewinsky investigation. Joe Biden defeated the He was one of the authors nomination of a decent man of the Starr Report—which, and a distinguished jurist despite accusations to the by the simple expedient of contrary in 1998, was a fair, calling him a racist and a thorough, and nuanced monster. As a reward they work of analysis. Kavana- ended up with an intermit- ugh worked as an attorney tently amenable alternative: for President George W. Anthony Kennedy. In the Bush and also as his White intervening three decades, House staff secretary, one of the two Senate caucuses the most demanding jobs in Here he comes: Kavanaugh heads to the Senate with Mike Pence. have become more and Washington. more prone to unreasonable Bush nominated Kavanaugh to the Court of Appeals, opposition. Partly this is a result of the federal ­judiciary’s D.C. Circuit, in 2003. He wasn’t confirmed until 2006 arrogation of powers not intended for it, and partly it’s a thanks to the timeworn Democratic tactic of inventing rea- result of political polarization across the nation. In any sons to object to sound Republicans. Senators Dick Durbin case, by 2009, only 9 of 40 Republican senators voted (D-Ill.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) accused Kavanaugh of to confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the High Court. A year having misled them over his role in the Bush administra- later, only 5 of those 40 voted to confirm Solicitor General tion’s post-9/11 detention policy. He hadn’t, but we expect Elena Kagan—this despite the fact that Kagan was vastly to hear a great deal of recriminatory rhetoric on that score superior to Sotomayor as a thinker and a scholar. from Durbin and others in the coming weeks. But at least some Republicans could bring themselves Kavanaugh resembles Scalia in two main senses: He to vote for Barack Obama’s nominees. One of those, Lind- is by all indications a textualist, meaning he interprets sey Graham of South Carolina, the reddest of red states, the law as it’s written rather than as its authors suppos- took ferocious criticism for his votes. Last year, only 3 edly intended; and he is an originalist, meaning he inter- of 49 Democrats could bring themselves to vote for the prets the text in light of what its words meant when it was unquestionably qualified and thoughtful Neil Gorsuch, enacted into law. Although Kavanaugh clerked for retiring and not one of them was from a blue state. Justice Anthony Kennedy, famous for drawing extratex- In the contest of sheer unreasonable antipathy, Sen- tual distinctions and inventing special models of interpre- ate Democrats win decisively. Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey tation, the younger judge has a long record of relying on announced his opposition to the nominee before Presi- the simple text of the law. dent Trump even made his choice. One assumes such Senate Democrats are certain to find every turn of Democrats are only reflecting the irrational hatred of the phrase in Kavanuagh’s extensive oeuvre that can reason- interest groups that support them: The Women’s March,

ably—and unreasonably—be presented in an unfavorable for instance, mistakenly sent out a press release after the / GETTY / BLOOMBERG YURI GRIPAS

6 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 announcement of Brett Kavanaugh reading, “In response ments nor his character will give any fair-minded law- to Donald Trump’s nomination of XX to the Supreme maker, Democrat or Republican, reason to conclude that Court.” Cory Booker of New Jersey also suggested that he is anything but a first-rate legal mind and a conspicu- it didn’t matter who the nominee was: “I’m well on the ously qualified nominee. ♦ record with saying that, before it was even Kavanaugh, that this is a very problematic constitutional moment for this country.” Academic qualifications, professional accomplish- ments, judicial philosophy, and personal character mat- ter not at all in the face of crass political concerns. “Brett Trump Rattles Kavanaugh has proven he cannot be trusted to defend a woman’s right to choose,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced, despite the fact that she won’t be voting on NATO the nomination. “Americans don’t want Trump and Brett Kavanaugh’s extreme anti-choice agenda,” tweeted Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.). Massachusetts senator Eliza- resident Donald Trump visited Brussels on July 10 beth Warren, similarly, announced that “there’s a lot to as part of his three-nation European trip. There he dislike about Brett Kavanaugh’s record—including his P offended our NATO allies and outraged both the hostility toward consumers.” As everyone knows, “hostil- American and European news media by excoriating the ity toward consumers” is a thing that should never be said many alliance members who spend below the 2 percent of about a judge. GDP they agreed to spend on defense in 2006. Do Democrats not understand that a judge’s duty is Three points seem especially relevant in the wake of the not to impose his political preference but to interpret the headlines. First, Trump’s rhetoric is foolish and unhelpful. law, whether or not he happens to like the law? The better His obsession with NATO spending commitments grows question is: Do they care? from his bizarre sense that the world’s lone superpower Neither Judge Kavanaugh’s words nor his achieve- is always and everywhere getting screwed. This victim

Businesses and Consumers Reel From Trade Measures

THOMAS J. DONOHUE Texas, for example, could see and extra duties in response to U.S. PRESIDENT AND CEO $3.9 billion in exports subjected to tariffs. According to Nobis, “People feel U.S. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE tariffs, with pork and whiskey among dejected and depressed, and you can the hardest hit. Alabama could see see it on their faces.” The evidence is stacking up and the $3.6 billion in exports affected, These stories are echoed by word is spreading: Tariffs are a major including auto parts and steel. countless others in states nationwide. financial strain on American consumers The tariffs have gone from political In Wisconsin, producers of cheese, and businesses alike. The Trump to personal for many, and local news cranberries, and toilet paper are administration has slapped billions coverage has begun to tell their stories. being hit hard. In South Carolina, of dollars worth of tariffs on imports In New Mexico, local outlet KRQE manufacturers of autos, lawn mowers, from around the world, provoking highlights how Canada’s retaliatory and numerous other goods are reeling. retaliatory actions from other nations trade tariffs against the U.S. are costing The cumulative effect of the and boomeranging back to hit our own New Mexico’s salsa and chili industry retaliatory tariffs could eventually people. A new analysis and online hundreds of thousands of dollars. “It’s stunt the economic progress our interactive map by the U.S. Chamber always concerning when there are country has worked so hard to of Commerce show the state-by-state tariffs or price increases when it comes achieve. To stop the pain and end impact of this brewing trade war on to items we use for our salsa,” says the strain on consumer budgets, it’s American businesses, farmers, and Gilbert Sanchez, general manager of a time for the administration to reverse consumers—and it isn’t pretty. salsa producer in Albuquerque. course and adopt smarter approaches As of last week, approximately In Michigan, Ken Nobis has spent for addressing trade concerns around $75 billion worth of U.S. exports are 50 years working on his family dairy the world. now subject to retaliatory tariffs, which farm, but today his business is under To view the full state-by-state analysis, will make American-made goods more pressure as Canada, China, the EU, and visit www.thewrongapproach.com. expensive, resulting in lost sales and Mexico have all targeted the cheese ultimately lost jobs across the country. and dairy industry with regulations Learn more at uschamber.com/abovethefold.

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 7 mentality reflects Trump’s view of himself. The president against Russia.” “Germany, as far as I’m concerned, is cap- spends much of his time complaining about the various tive to Russia because it’s getting so much of its energy from forces he imagines are out to get him. And he talks about Russia,” he further told NATO secretary general Jens Stol- the country in the same way. tenberg. “We have to talk about the billions and billions of One day it’s China; the next it’s Mexico. If it’s not the dollars that’s being paid to the country we’re supposed to be E.U., it’s our Asian trading partners. It’s the Democrats, protecting you against.” the media, the FBI, his attorney general, the “deep state.” Europe’s diplomatic elite constantly downplay Russian And now, once again, it’s NATO. Always the victim—the aggression, in Ukraine and elsewhere, and warn against man and his country. even rhetorical gestures at Russia’s expense. Germany’s Second, despite the deep paranoia, Trump’s criticisms president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, recently said that Rus- are not entirely mistaken. Most NATO states maintain sia’s attempt to murder former spy Sergei Skripal on British insufficient military forces. Russian expansionism is one soil was a big deal, yes, but “we should be at least as worried of the constants of modern European history, and spend- about the gallop­ing alienation between Russia and the West, ing just 1 percent of GDP on defense—Belgium spends the consequences of which stretch far beyond this case”— less than 1 percent; Germany, Denmark, and the Czech meaning, in other words, that it was no big deal at all. Republic a little more—is rash. Yet the president’s sug- But Trump, to put it generously, is himself an imper- gestion that these countries raise their defense commit- fect messenger here. In recent weeks, he has amplified Rus- ment to 4 percent of GDP is unrealistic. The United sian claims that it did not meddle in the 2016 U.S. elections, States itself only spends 3.5 percent of GDP on defense. despite abundant public evidence to the contrary. And, just Perhaps this is Trumpian diplo- last week, he mocked those trying to macy: gross overstatement in search warn him that Putin is a bad global of a favorable compromise. actor. Trump dismissively declared, Europeans fairly complain that “Putin’s fine. He’s fine. We’re all fine.” defense-spending-as-a-percentage- The West does need to be more of-GDP is a crude metric for dem- cognizant of Russia’s agenda, and onstrating commitment to NATO. NATO is key. The alliance is about Greece, for example, claims to spend far more than our “paying for 2.27 percent of its economy on Europe’s protection.” It was the most defense, but this is laughable—the important mechanism for main- Greeks count pension benefits as mil- taining the postwar security and At the NATO summit in Brussels itary spending. On the other hand, trade order that helped no one more Italy only spends 1.15 percent of its economy on defense than the United States. The long-term stability encour- and manages to superintend virtually the whole Mediterra- aged by the alliance produced tangible benefits worth far nean. Europeans are well aware that they shortchange their more than Trump’s zero-sum calculus suggests—in col­ militaries. In February 2017, Defense Secretary James Mat- lective defense savings, in trade, in foreign investment, in tis, echoing the president’s earlier complaints, told NATO economic growth, and in deference to America’s wishes to raise military spending or the United States would be on European matters large and small. NATO, how- forced to “moderate its commitment to the alliance.” Many ever imperfectly, remains the bulwark against Russian of our European allies have done so, and Trump should expansionism, thwarting Putin’s attempts to divide the take credit for it. West against itself and projecting strength and unity in Third, and most important, Trump’s rhetoric on NATO transatlantic security. reveals yet again his deep misunderstanding of America’s The alliance needs reinvigoration and redefinition, role in maintaining a rules-based global order. “The U.S. is yes. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty speaks of an paying for Europe’s protection, then loses billions on Trade. “armed attack,” but in the present age an “armed attack” Must pay 2% of GDP IMMEDIATELY, not by 2025,” may not involve tanks and planes. Russia is busy mas- Trump tweeted on July 11. tering the arts of asymmetrical warfare—cyber warfare, The immediate point at issue was Germany’s deal with attacks on electrical infrastructure, propaganda cam- the Russian state gas company, Gazprom, to build a pipe- paigns—and the treaty ought at least to attempt to con- line across the Baltic Sea. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline template these possibilities. would afford Russia enormous power over eastern Europe’s This is the problem with Trump’s focus on his mis- energy supply, and there is visceral opposition from Poland guided sense of “fairness” in NATO defense spending. and Hungary, which both have painful memories of Rus- NATO needs U.S. leadership as it adapts to new threats and sian and German hegemony. “I think it’s very sad,” Trump counters an increasingly belligerent Russia. Trump is only said in Brussels, “when Germany makes a massive oil and directing attention away from crucial priorities by whining

DURSUN AYDEMIR / ANADOLU AGENCY / GETTY / ANADOLU DURSUN AYDEMIR gas deal with Russia where we’re supposed to be guarding about the “dues” owed by our most committed allies. ♦

8 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 COMMENT

ANDREW FERGUSON Boola boola: the Yale Law School freakout

hen President Trump hell, they ask, do professionalism and ing to the website Above the Law, 52 announced last Monday pedigree have to do with anything? percent of current Yale law students W that he had chosen Brett Especially when “the true stakes of are men. Among alumni the percent­ Kava­naugh to replace Anthony Ken­ his nomination” are so high? Kava­ age of men is even higher. And yet nedy, his little speech rang out like a naugh’s nomination is an “emergency,” 55 percent of the signers are women. starter pistol. Instantly every activ­ they tell us, and the school’s implicit “Disparate impact” theory, which every ist, party hack, and ideological main­ embrace of him raises a “disturb­ signer of the letter doubtless sub­ chancer bolted from the blocks, issuing ing question: Is there nothing more scribes to, tells us this imbalance on its petitions and press releases and formal important to Yale Law School than its face establishes that male alumni have statements with astonishing speed and proximity to power and prestige?” been victimized by gender bias, per­ at maximum volume. This haps unconscious, on the part of the includes Kava­naugh’s alma A day after female signers. Did they really think mater, Yale Law School, and a we wouldn’t notice? contingent of his fellow Yalies. Kavanaugh’s The letter itself is an anguished cry. It took only an hour after nomination, a The signers say that Kavanaugh,­ who Trump’s announcement otherwise looks like such a pleas­ for the law school’s flacks collection of not- ant fellow, is a threat to “our safety to announce the news that proud and indeed and freedom.” The word safety is Trump had chosen one of deployed here not in its conventional their own: “President Donald horrified fellow sense but as cant. Safety or its lack is a Trump today nominated Brett subjective feeling that, once asserted, M. Kavanaugh­ ’90 . . .” etc., Yalies declared is entitled to override other objective etc. The rest of the school’s themselves considerations. (Hell hath no fury press release was a series of like a law student who feels unsafe.) testimonials from acquain­ ‘ashamed of our Freedom, as the Yalies use it, means tances about Kavanaugh­ ’s alma mater.’ the freedom to have an abortion and overall magnificence. One the freedom to tell other people what professor called him “a terrific judge.” Disturbing or not, it’s the kind of to do, through government regula­ Another said that “Kava­naugh com­ question that answers itself. And the tion and mandates. Thus Kava­naugh mands wide and deep respect among answer is no sir, there is not—abso­ is not only a threat but an existential scholars, lawyers, judges, and justices.” lutely nothing whatsoever. The reason threat—of course that blockbuster A man with the impressive job title Yale Law School exists is to convey its phrase makes its mandatory appear­ “John A. Garver Professor of Jurispru­ “students, alumni, and educators” as ance. You can’t have an emergency dence” summed up: “We are proud close as possible to power and prestige. without its being totally existential. that he is our graduate.” You can’t charge $255,000 for a law The most arresting sentence in the We? Speak for yourself, Herr Pro­ degree unless you throw in a healthy letter comes near the end: “People fessor. By the next day a collection of portion of P&P. This is why all those will die if he is confirmed.” They will? not-proud and indeed horrified Yalies people who signed the open letter Should it be necessary to point out had posted a rebuttal to the school’s went to Yale and not to Oklahoma City to the Yale grads that people—in fact, press release, with the title “Open Let­ School of Law. Nothing against OKC. everybody—will die even if Kava­ ter from Yale Law Students, Alumni, I’m sure it’s terrific. naugh is not confirmed? Human mor­ and Educators Regarding Brett As of Wednesday afternoon, 297 tality should be a settled issue by now. Kavanaugh.”­ They were, they wrote, students and alumni had signed the Perhaps the signers meant that more “ashamed of our alma mater.” petition, which continues to collect people will die if Kava­naugh is con­ The letter, which is twice as long signatures as a Google doc. One recent firmed. But that can’t be right: There as the press release, is a masterpiece graduate named Alda Yuan, from the can’t be more people than everybody. of pure scold. The signers criticize class of ’18, thought the letter was so Maybe they mean people will die in the “press release’s focus on the nomi­ nice she signed it twice. A quick scan different ways if Kava­naugh is con­ nee’s professionalism, pedigree, and of the long list of signers raises dis­ firmed. It’s hard to see how he’d man­

LIKENESSES: DAVE CLEGG LIKENESSES: DAVE service to Yale Law School.” What the turbing questions, however. Accord­ age to arrange this, even from the

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 9 Supreme Court, and anyway, dead is ions, as lawyer and judge. Soon these Nor was John Paul Stevens, chosen dead. Obviously these guys went to cases will be as familiar as a Beatles in 1975 by President Gerald Ford, law school, not medical school. tune. There’s the Obama­care con­ much of a judicial conservative. The But! Let me be clear, as President traception mandate that Kavanaugh­ Ford administration’s attorney general Obama liked to say. The Yale letter is opposed, the young immigrant whose characterized Stevens as “a moderate not worthless. It serves as a kind of abortion was postponed, his opposi­ conservative” but court-watchers saw preview of the coming weeks, as the tion to net neutrality on First Amend­ him as a liberal, someone whose views opposition to Kavanaugh­ ’s nomina­ ment grounds, his approval of prayer could “evolve,” as they did, for exam­ tion unfolds. We can expect more at “open public school events in bra­ ple, on affirmative action. anguished cries, more scolding. The zen contravention of our country’s The Burger Court (1969-1986) closest the letter gets to making an separation of church and state.” wound up compiling a record of judi­ argument is to offer tendentious sum­ “The list,” they write, “goes on.” cial activism that rivaled that of the maries of some of Kava­naugh’s opin­ We can be sure of it. ♦ Warren Court: for example, the court approved busing as a remedy for seg­ regation, created a constitutional COMMENT ♦ TERRY EASTLAND right to abortion (this was Roe v. Wade), and effectively rewrote federal civil rights law to permit racial quotas The long, long quest in private employment. In 1981, Ronald Reagan picked for a conservative High Court Sandra Day O’Connor to succeed Jus­ tice Potter Stewart. In O’Connor, Rea­ o Brett Kava­naugh is now part ties to choose justices of the Supreme gan chose a judicial conservative but of the story. Kavanaugh,­ from Court, and they have put on the Court not the best one available. Three can­ Sthat part of the swamp known as no fewer than 13. Kavanaugh, who didates in particular, including Robert Bethesda, Md., is President Trump’s clerked for Kennedy 25 years ago, Bork, were better qualified by the tra­ nominee for the seat vacated by retir­ would be the 14th. Even so, the quest ditional measures of ability and expe­ ing Justice Anthony Kennedy. If Kava­ for a solidly conservative Court has rience, and were exemplars of judicial naugh is confirmed, and if, as conservatism. Reagan chose O’Connor advertised, he is a constitu­ If Kavanaugh­ is because he had vowed during his pres­ tionalist, the country will be idential campaign to pick a woman closer to having a solidly con­ confirmed, and if, (the first ever) for the Court. He stuck servative Supreme Court. to that promise, but O’Connor’s tenure That has long been a goal as advertised, he is on the Court came at some cost to con­ of modern conservatism, a constitutionalist, stitutional liberty: in Planned Parent- which more than half a cen­ hood v. Casey (1992), when the Court tury ago developed a sharp the country will had the chance to overrule Roe, a bad critique of judicial liberal­ be closer to decision in so many ways, she affirmed ism. The liberal Warren the abortion right instead. Court (1953-1969) drew con­ having a solidly Because the Stewart vacancy servative objection, and in conservative occurred in the first year of Reagan’s 1964, Republican presiden­ first term, and because he was likely tial candidate Barry Goldwa­ Supreme Court. to have additional vacancies to fill, ter attacked its school prayer, the president could easily have cho­ reapportionment, and criminal proce­ proved elusive. At no point have a sen Bork for Stewart’s seat, knowing dure decisions as exercises in “raw and majority of justices been reliably con­ that another seat might open which naked power,” writes Lucas Powe in servative, not only in what they may he could offer to O’Connor—or a dif­ The Warren Court and American Politics. say about judging but also in the actual ferent woman of stronger conserva­ Goldwater “moved the Court’s results exercise of judicial power. There have tive credentials. into two-party American politics.” In been missed opportunities. The quest for a reliably conserva­ other words, he made judicial selec­ Notwithstanding campaign prom­ tive court had not advanced far by the tion an issue in presidential and Sen­ ises that he would appoint judicial end of the Burger Court, in 1986, when ate campaigns. conservatives, only one of the four Reagan nominated the indisputably Goldwater, of course, was not jurists Nixon selected (Warren Burger, conservative appellate judge Anto­ elected president, but Republican Harry Blackmun, Lewis Powell, and nin Scalia, and the Senate confirmed presidents starting with Richard William Rehnquist) proved reliably him by a vote of 98 to 0. Republicans Nixon have had multiple opportuni­ conservative, and that was Rehnquist. controlled the upper chamber. That

10 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 was not the case a year later, when ulated in a media campaign, had there dentally, Souter, like O’Connor and Reagan nominated Bork, one of the been one, against his nomination. Kennedy, voted in Casey to affirm Roe. great intellectuals in the law, to suc­ As for his judicial philosophy, there In spite of the addition to the ceed Justice Lewis Powell. Mounting appeared to be so little of it as to cause Court since 2005 of three Republican- a vicious campaign against the nomi­ worry in the Justice Department that appointed justices—Chief Justice John nee, the Democratic Senate had the he might move in almost any judicial Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito numbers to prevail, and did so, 58 to direction. And there were alternatives and Neil Gorsuch, each of whom is a 42. The lesson taught was the obvi­ to Souter: All of the others on the judicial conservative—the Court has ous one: that the optimal condition for shortlist from which he was selected lacked a reliably conservative majority. confirmation is when the same party were regarded by the president’s judi­ Might Kavanaugh­ be the justice who controls both the executive branch cial selection team as having a more finally creates that majority? Or do we and the Senate, as the Republicans did formidable record in the law. Some­ have in the making another missed from 1981 through 1986, and as they how, though, Bush appointed Souter— opportunity in the rugged terrain of do today. If Bork had been confirmed, another missed opportunity. Not inci­ judicial selection? ♦ he almost surely would have had, with Scalia, a profound influence on the court’s jurisprudence. As it was, Bork COMMENT ♦ PETER J. BOYER was not on the Court, and Democrats achieved a great victory (for them). Reagan then turned to Anthony Another win for The List Kennedy, who was confirmed in Feb­ ruary 1988. Kennedy was a federal ubtlety not being Donald ism, originalism, and judicial modesty appeals court judge with conserva­ Trump’s customary approach to was vouchsafed by both the Federalist tive credentials, though his were not Shis job, his nomination of Brett Society and the Heritage Foundation. on a par with Scalia’s or Bork’s. Rea­ Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was The first part of that calculation gan, who spoke often of his desire to a surprisingly artful political play. has certainly proved true. Republi­ appoint conservative judges, probably For the many Trump supporters can elites were “doing cartwheels over could not have done better than Ken­ who delight in the president’s thumb- the selection,” wrote Jim Geraghty at nedy, given the political circumstances. in-the-eye approach, the Court vacancy National Review. Kavanaugh enthusi­ During his 30 years on the Court, was an opportunity for Trump to actu­ asts cited the judge’s schooling (Yale), Kennedy proved consequential in ally earn the prefab fulminations from his work in George W. Bush’s White a number of areas, including indi­ Democrats, which were coming no House, his tenure on the D.C. Circuit vidual rights (religious liberty and matter whom he chose, by selecting (the farm team for the High Court), free speech) and also constitutional a nominee that another Republican his service on Ken Starr’s White­ structure (federalism and separation president might have deemed too risky. water team, and the large volume of of powers). But Kennedy proved the The option preferred by this group was his legal writings, which have often most disappointing justice for conser­ Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals judge been cited in Supreme Court opin­ vatives. He wrote the anti-constitu­ Amy Coney Barrett, whose presence on ions. And, there was the added virtue tionalist opinion that created a right Trump’s short list caused palpitations of Kavanaugh’s personal benignity, to same-sex marriage, a matter prop­ on both sides of the aisle. A nomination evidenced in the autobiographical erly left for the people of the states to of Barrett—a devout Catholic, mother account he recited at his nomination decide. Also, like O’Connor, Kennedy of seven, and a Notre Dame Law ceremony—devoted husband and declined to overrule Roe v. Wade. grad—promised a full-scale culture war father of two girls, coach of a Catho­ In 1990, President George H.W. of a confirmation process, whose pas­ lic Youth Organization basketball Bush picked federal appeals court sions would certainly have spilled over team, and volunteer at charities for the judge David Souter to replace Justice into the November elections. homeless. He also cited the diversity William J. Brennan. Souter had been Instead, Trump chose the safe route. of his law clerks, adding, “I am proud on the appeals court less than a year He calculated that if he named a nomi­ that a majority of my law clerks have and written few opinions, none of nee of unassailably prodigious stature, been women.” That personal detail which involved controversial matters he would thrill the party establishment may prove useful in keeping Repub­ such as the right of privacy, affirmative and keep jumpy Republican senators lican senators Susan Collins and Lisa action, or separation of church and in line, without too greatly disappoint­ Murkowski on board. state. Nor had the jurist written much ing his anti-establishment base. After Jeb Bush was pleased with the pick. elsewhere, including in law reviews or all, Kavanaugh­ was on The List—that “Excellent choice for SCOTUS,” other media. campaign compilation of prospective Bush tweeted. “Judge Kava­naugh Souter’s substantive record was so Trump appointees whose embrace of will be a strong defender of the thin that it could not be easily manip­ conservative values such as textual­ Constitution.”

12 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 But what about the Deplorables— more muted in their approval of the another Bushie swamp creature, we the grassroots Trump supporters who Kavanaugh pick. On his Fox News would have voted for Jeb! Kavanaugh have cheered Trump’s disruption of program on the night of the selection, is a Roberts-in-the-waiting.” institutional order and for whom a Sean Hannity explained Trump’s ratio­ That Chief Justice Roberts has Yale degree and lifetime tenure as a nale to his viewers. “President Trump, become anyone’s idea of a moder­ Washington insider are not virtues, in many ways, has political aspects to ate squish is an indication of con­ but blemishes? this,” Hannity said. “He had to thread servatives’ past disappointments in “This was a very smart pick,” says a political needle. And by the way, he Supreme Court justices, as well as their Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief has to think about senators like Col­ high expectations in the age of Trump. strategist and an original Deplorable. lins and Murkowski, and then on Some conservative public figures Bannon says that when he’s asked the other side, Senator Cruz of Texas have been openly critical of the choice about the Kavanaugh selection, he and Rand Paul of Kentucky. In other of Kavanaugh, perhaps none more replies, “Trust the process.” By that, words, pick a judge with a very narrow pointedly than former Pennsylvania Bannon means trust The senator and perennial presidential List, the culmination of the candidate Rick Santorum. “Donald conservative legal commu­ That John Roberts Trump said he was going to energize nity’s long project to build a is anyone’s idea of the base with this pick,” Santorum deep bench of bright young said during an appearance on CNN. Constitutionalists. a moderate squish “I don’t think he did that . . . [Kava­ Bannon notes that when naugh] is from Washington, he is the other establishment Repub­ is an indication of establishment pick, he is the Bush licans, such as many in the conservatives’ past pick. . . . It just seems like Trump, in national security and for­ this case, just bowed to the elite in eign relations communi­ disappointments in Washington. I think it’s gonna rub a ties, shunned candidate Court justices, as lot of people the wrong way.” Trump, the Federalist Soci­ Radio and television host Mark ety and Heritage stepped up. well as their high Levin focused on remarks Kavanaugh Trump had had to scram­ expectations in made while hearing an O­ bamacare ble to put together a list of case, in which he seemed to lay the national security advisers, the age of Trump. ground for the Supreme Court’s subse­ which brought such figures quent validation of the law. “You have as George Papadopoulos and Carter margin in the U.S. Senate who could to assume that Kavanaugh­ would have Page—and, ultimately, Special Coun­ also successfully maneuver through a voted with Roberts on this, because sel Robert Mueller—into his circle. confirmation hearing and garner the they both came at it from exactly the But the gold-standard names on the votes from a majority of senators.” same position,” Levin said. “He is not judicial list gave Trump leverage with On the day after Kavanaugh’s selec­ Scalia. He is not Thomas. He is not skeptical voters as a candidate, and an tion, Rush Limbaugh hosted Vice Alito. And in this case, he wasn’t even invaluable resource as he’s filled the President Mike Pence, who assured Kennedy. So, we’ll see. The conser­ federal judiciary with solid conserva­ Limbaugh’s listeners that “What vatives on the Judiciary Committee tives. In Trump’s hands, The List has you have in Judge Kava­naugh is a politely and legitimately need to pur­ acquired an almost mystical status, a constitutional conservative.” Lim­ sue this. This is a big deal. It goes to the talisman against the Republican ten­ baugh himself focused mostly on the issue of textualism, and originalism.” dency toward unreliable court picks unhinged response to the nomination Perhaps the most unusual criticism and Trump’s own erratic inclinations. by the political left. of Kavanaugh came from Fox News On the subject of Brett Kavanaugh, Kurt Schlichter, the Townhall col­ judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano, Bannon sounds like an initiated mem­ umnist and scourge of the Never- who seemed to tie Kavanaugh’s ten­ ber of the Republican establishment. Trump right, tweeted his approval of ure with the Starr inquiry to a con­ “I’m all in,” he tells me. “He gives the Kavanaugh pick. “We couldn’t spiracy to cover up the suicide of the Court super intellectual firepower. lose,” he wrote, in an apparent refer­ Clinton White House deputy counsel With Gorsuch, Alito, and Kavanaugh, ence to The List. “And with Kava­ Vincent Foster. you’re going to have a center of grav­ naugh, we haven’t.” “You remember Vince Foster who ity for decades to come, regardless of Not all of Schlichter’s followers killed himself in the White House,” whether Trump has another pick or were onboard with his enthusiasm Napolitano asked on the channel’s not. They’re going to form a conserva­ for Kavanaugh. “He will become the morning “Fox and Friends” show. tive intellectual core that will have a next wishy-washy middle of the road “How did his body get from the White profound effect on American life.” squish,” one tweeted. Wrote another: House to Fort Marcy Park? Who was Other Trump supporters have been “This pick SUCKS. If we wanted the prosecutor in charge of figuring

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 13 out how his body got there? Who was native in his confirmation process. In and ending sentences with preposi­ the prosecutor that exonerated Hillary Kavanaugh, Trump has forwarded a tions inhibits clarity) and the way in and the thugs that moved his body? nominee who has won the endorse­ which liberal egalitarianism is bound A young Brett Kavanaugh. So that’s ment of both Jeb Bush and Steve Ban­ up with descriptivism. going to come out.” non. That is a spectrum wide enough, Prescriptivists, by contrast, write Fortunately for Brett Kavanaugh, presumably, to include everyone in the about language as amateurs; they are the universe of Vince Foster conspir­ occasionally fractious Republican Sen­ non-academics or at least non-linguists; atorialists is not likely to be determi­ ate conference. ♦ they care about standards and customs and believe that educated people have a duty to preserve the best of them for COMMENT ♦ BARTON SWAIM the sake of clarity and felicity. They are, in the broadest sense, conservative. I am not sure what academic lin­ Donald Trump and the guists think about Donald Trump’s unorthodox spellings and occasional return of prescriptivism bad grammar, but it is a frequent source of amusement to me that people who n June 3, at 6:13 p.m., Presi­ ians, is merely to “describe” or analyze would in other circumstances incline dent Trump was evidently in the language as scientists treat the phe­ to the more liberal descriptivist view O a bad mood. He had heard or nomena of their fields, not to prescribe are the quickest to deride Trump for read one too many times that he uses right and wrong uses. There is, after the sort of mistakes their descriptiv­ bad grammar and eccentric capitaliza­ all, no divine or scientific arbiter of ist instincts should have taught them tion. He tweeted: right and wrong in the use of language. aren’t mistakes at all. Twitter is rife with It’s unwise to assign too much this form of insta-prescriptivism. When After having written many best selling books, and somewhat prid­ political significance to Trump types roll instead of ing myself on my ability to write, it attitudes on grammar and role or loose when he means should be noted that the Fake News usage, but it’s fair to gen­ lose, a hundred educated constantly likes to pour over my eralize that descriptivism wits are there to point out tweets looking for a mistake. I capi­ has been commoner on the mistake. “There always talize certain words only for empha­ the left and prescriptivism playing politics,” he tweeted sis, not b/c they should be capitalized! on the right. Academic about Democrats—he The wits and scolds on Twitter linguists are universally meant they’re . . . “Her and pounced: The word is “pore,” not in the descriptivist camp, Obama created this huge “pour.” Got him again! and the descriptivist out­ vacuum,” he said of Presi­ The Trump presidency has turned look is in some measure dent Obama and Hillary many things upside down, and the inspired by the desire for a Clinton—what a dolt . . . politics of grammar is one of those society free of class preju­ “No matter how good I do things. For several decades now, the dice and judgmentalism. on something,” he said of practice of reproaching people for “I am just as concerned the New York Times, “they’ll using bad grammar and poor spelling about clarity, ambiguity, never write good.” has been thought mean, inegalitarian, and intelligibility as any­ So invested are these regressive. You see it in the common one with a prescriptivist unlikely scolds in broad­ term for reproachful grammarians: temperament,” the linguist David casting the president’s mistakes that Grammar Nazi. Crystal writes in his book How Lan- a host of respectable media outlets— It’s true that a few “prescriptiv­ guage Works. “But I am not so stu­ the New York Times, the Washington ists,” those who take the view that pid as to think that we shall achieve Post, CNN, CBS News, and many most grammatical norms are there for any gain in clarity by avoiding split others—gave extensive attention to a a sound reason and should be adhered infinitives or not ending sentences retired South Carolina school teacher, to most of the time, achieved wide with prepositions. And I am not so Yvonne Mason, who marked up a popularity during these decades—I’m insensitive as to blame others who do form letter ostensibly from the presi­ thinking of John Simon, Jacques Bar­ not have the opportunity I have had dent and sent it back to the White zun, the slightly more forbearing Wil­ to acquire an effective command of House with copious corrections in liam Safire, and two or three others. standard English.” The remark nicely purple ink. She snapped a picture of But there are few like these anymore, captures the way in which linguists her mark-up and posted it to her Face­ and the trend has long been toward the caricature the prescriptivist attitude book page, the image went viral, and it “descriptivist” attitude: The grammar­ (I am not aware of any serious writer became a two- or three-day media sen­ ian’s job, if we must have grammar­ who argues that splitting infinitives sation. Only there were few if any mis­

14 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 takes in the president’s letter. Chiefly, ism with shocking ignorance and usu­ to lists of complaints that Prescriptiv­ Mason pointed out capitalizations that ally fail even to try to understand the ists have made about particular usages, (as the Times allowed, to its credit) are prescriptivist viewpoint. Prescriptivists like Swift’s lists, and count the survival mandated by the federal government’s do not, pace Crystal, Steven Pinker, and of some of the complained-of usages as official style guide. The idea of a others, fail to understand that language defeats for Prescriptivism, and proof school teacher correcting Trump’s oaf­ changes naturally. Nor is it relevant that Prescriptivism is bound to fail, ish use of language was, however, too that some prescriptivists have advanced but never, to my knowledge, credit the good to pass up. specious positions over the centuries disappearance of offending usages to All this put me in mind of a marvel­ (Dryden’s hostility to stranded prepo­ the efforts of Prescriptivists.” ous book published last year, Struggling sitions, Swift’s lists of barbaric neolo­ Of course it’s proper to prescribe for Our Language by Mark Halpern. gisms) or that some prescriptivists are good and denounce bad uses of lan­ The book is a series of essays on lan­ censorious jackasses. Every significant guage. That is how a vast and compli­ guage and linguistics by a non-linguist belief has had misguided proponents. cated language maintains its graceful who believes, correctly in my view, The question is not whether lan­ shape when expressed by its best writ­ that human language doesn’t lend guage changes—no one denies this— ers. Young writers learn to generate itself to scientific study in anything but whether capable and influential language fluently, not by writing how­ like the way academic linguists think. writers can stimulate changes that ever they want, but by heeding the pre­ And unlike most linguists and other enhance clarity and felicity in the scriptions of older and more capable credentialed experts on language, language. And they can, as attested writers and fearing to do otherwise. Halpern is a terrific writer. by anyone who’s ever read a disap­ How strange that it took Don­ It’s his essay “What Is Prescriptiv­ proving comment by an adept writer ald Trump to remind our educated ism?” that I find especially helpful. on an ill-advised usage (the use of class of this plain truth. Our recent The piece is eccentric and funny and infer to mean imply, say) and after­ and probably unwitting converts to generous toward those with whom the ward abstained from that usage. “The prescriptivism should learn to mod­ author disagrees, and it is to my mind efforts of Prescriptivists to guide (not erate their criticisms and not sound a peremptory defense of prescriptivism. stop) language change have sometimes so much like clever show-offs and Halpern contends that descriptivist failed, sometimes succeeded,” Halp­ hypercritical schoolmarms. But their grammarians write about prescriptiv­ ern writes. “Descriptivists often point instincts are sound. ♦

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 15 appearances is getting ready to run for the Democratic nomination in 2020. Targeting Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who also is being touted as a 2020 can­ didate, upped the ante. Kavanaugh­ ’s Kavanaugh nomination, she says, “presents an existential threat to the health of hun­ dreds of millions of Americans.” Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) is a cooler Democrats will go after him by fair means or foul. head. He says tens of thousands “will Mostly foul. by Fred Barnes die if this bill passes.” He misunder­ stands one thing: It’s a lawsuit, not a emocrats can be expected on the notion the fine was actually bill. But don’t quibble. Democrats are to offer overblown or even a tax, the health care program had on a roll. D goofy objections to President lost its fifth vote. And besides, it had There are two big flaws in their Trump’s nominees to the Supreme become unconstitutional. hyperbole. The prospects of the law­ Court. But they’ve outdone them­ That sounds a bit complicated. suit’s ending Obama­care are quite selves in the case of Brett Kavanaugh,­ a The nub of the maneuver is that the poor. And even if it did, America superbly qualified federal judge. lawsuit could reach the Supreme wouldn’t sit still. A new health system There are two factors that could Court. And its newest justice, Kava­ would quickly be created, probably a affect the Kava­naugh nomina­ better one than Obama­care. tion unfavorably, and Republicans The second long-shot attack might not see them coming. And involves GOP senators Susan no, a new twist on Roe v. Wade isn’t Collins and Lisa Murkowski. It’s one of them. dawned on Democrats that argu­ As a judge on the U.S. Court of ing Neil Gorsuch would be the Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Kava­ fifth vote to killRoe didn’t work naugh proposed a compromise in with them last year, and isn’t likely a 2017 case involving a pregnant to work against Kavanaugh now. 17-year-old girl, an illegal immi­ Collins and Murkowski voted grant, who wanted an abortion. for Gorsuch and seem a fair bet to Kavanaugh­ wouldn’t have granted back Kava­naugh too. The two sen­ it immediately. His liberal col­ ators did take a hike, though, when leagues overruled him. Glum Democratic senators foretell Republicans sought to “repeal The pro-abortion forces claim the Kavanaugh apocalypse, July 10. and replace” Obamacare.­ And Kava naugh­ ’s actions indicate he’s with their help, Republicans were ready and willing to toss Roe into naugh, would then be the fifth vote thwarted. So why not try to peel them the dead bin. But Democrats appear for getting rid of Obama­care. You can away from their party on Kavanaugh’s unsure they can convince enough see where it’s headed—if the Senate confirmation, only with wild claims people of this disaster. Which is why doesn’t block his confirmation, you’ll about health care? they’ve seized on the fate of Obama­ lose your health care. It’s a stretch to Farfetched? For sure. But Demo­ care as their chief cudgel. think this might work, but Democrats crats’ chances of keeping Kavanaugh And so we turn to the two possible believe they can get away with say­ off the Supreme Court are mighty pitfalls—both long, long shots. The ing anything about health care. They slim. It makes sense to swing for the first is a lawsuit filed by 20 Republi­ think they own the issue. fences. Democrats can get away with can state attorneys general in April, They follow up with further pre­ calling Republicans killers, labeling three months before Kavanaugh was posterous claims. Former Virginia them racists, or causing an uproar. nominated. It argues that Obama­ governor Terry McAuliffe puts it The press won’t mind if they insinuate care is unconstitutional because the this way: Kavanaugh­ ’s nomination that Kavanaugh’s a killer. fine it imposes for failing to buy “will threaten the lives of millions of In the Trump years, Democrats health insurance was eliminated Americans for decades to come and have turned to tantrums and disrup­ by last year’s tax reform bill. And will morph our Supreme Court into a tion. At the House hearing where FBI since Chief Justice John Roberts had political arm of the right-wing Repub­ official Peter Strzok testified last week, based his vote to uphold Obama­care lican party.” Democratic members yelled “point of This isn’t a fringe character talk­ order” over and over when Strzok was Fred Barnes is an executive editor ing. McAuliffe, a pal of the Clintons, in trouble. Republicans were blamed

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16 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 Just wait. If Democrat resisters are demands? Of course not. They’ll claim over time,” Nicholson tells me of his willing to pounce on Republicans as a need to see every piece of paper that journey to the right. Nicholson says they leave a restaurant, imagine what crossed Kavanaugh­ ’s desk at every job his turn to the GOP was aided by his they’ll do at the Kava­naugh confir­ he’s held. college girlfriend (now wife) Jessie; his mation hearings. Remember Virginia They want to delay the hearings as disillusionment with identity politics; senator Tim Kaine at the vice presi­ long as possible, past the first Monday a year he took off from school to figure dential debate in 2016? He interrupted in October, even past the midterm elec­ things out while working on a ranch Mike Pence every time Pence started tion. That’s Democratic leader Chuck in Wyoming; and his experience as a to talk, and it wasn’t because he was Schumer’s idea of a clever tactic. Marine officer in Iraq and Afghanistan into a spirited exchange of views. Saul Grassley will get tough. He’s (where he earned the Bronze Star). Alinsky would have been proud. already stopped Democrats from using “In ’07, I was in Anbar as a part of Chuck Grassley, chairman of the “blue slips”—the traditional delay­ the Surge, and my platoon was seeing Senate Judiciary Committee, has made ing tactic of home-state senators from it shift from bad to good. I was furi­ a deal with Democrat Dianne Fein­ the other party. If the Democrats try ous with Barack Obama, Hillary Clin­ stein to let Democrats look at tons of to slow-walk Kavanaugh, he’ll crack ton, and Bill Richardson. Go back Kava­naugh documents. Will Demo­ down again. And Mitch McConnell and look what they were saying about crats act in good faith and limit their will have his back. ♦ the Surge and how it wasn’t working. It was working. I saw it with my own eyes,” Nicholson tells me. “By saying the things they did, they were under­ cutting our support. And it made me All Aboard angry. So I came back between my deployments: I donated to McCain, I went to rallies, put up lawn signs.” the Trump Train The August 14 primary remains a toss-up: a June Marquette University Law School poll found Nicholson lead­ ing Vukmir 37 percent to 32 percent, The GOP primary in Wisconsin is a contest with 30 percent of voters undecided. of personalities, not policies. by John McCormack While Nicholson is running as an out­ sider, Vukmir is emphasizing her own Neenah, Wisc. record as a conservative who has fought enate candidate Kevin Nich­ right alongside Governor Scott Walker olson’s opponents accuse him of for years. Vukmir was a nurse who got S being a young man in a hurry, her start in politics as a “mom with a and at the Independence Day parade cause”—concerned with her children’s on July 3, the charge is in a literal sense school curriculum. She became an true. Dressed in blue jeans and a polo advocate for school choice and won a shirt with “USMC” emblazoned on it, seat in the state assembly in 2002. She Nicholson scrambles to shake hands has racked up the endorsements of along the route winding around Lake many Republicans in the state, includ­ Winnebago. Occasionally, he has to Kevin Nicholson and Leah Vukmir ing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan jog to catch up to his campaign RV, and Representatives Sean Duffy, Jim which is adorned with red, white, and a Republican. At one point chants Sensenbrenner, and Glenn Grothman. blue lights on the hood to resemble the of “Baldwin! Baldwin! Baldwin!” Neither Nicholson nor Vukmir can flag and a picture of Nicholson and his erupt from a small group cheering think of any policy differences between family on the side along with his cam­ on the incumbent senator: Democrat them. Nicholson, instead, focuses on paign slogan, “Send in the Marine.” Tammy Baldwin. telling me about their “dramatically dif­ The reactions from the crowd are The GOP primary in Wisconsin pits ferent life experiences” and the fact that as mixed as you’d expect in a state Nicholson against state senator Leah he’s running from “outside the politi­ where politics are polarized. Some Vukmir. It is a contest of personalities, cal system.” Vukmir says: “The big­ parade watchers thank Nicholson for not policies. Each candidate has a good gest difference is definitely that I have a his service; another refuses to take the story to tell. Nicholson grew up in a proven track record as a conservative.” campaign flyer until she’s sure he’s Democratic family and was national While it may be hard to detect a dif­ president of the College Democrats ference between the two candidates John McCormack is a senior writer while at the University of Minnesota. on policy now, Nicholson is under fire

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July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 17 views. In a 2000 speech at the Demo­ and Senator Ron Johnson. “If Presi­ differently, but at the end of the day cratic National Convention (and in dent Donald Trump wants to protect what he’s doing is amassing an incred­ an MSNBC appearance), Nicholson good-paying, family-supporting jobs ible record,” says Nicholson. “Unlike backed a right to abortion. He says he here in Wisconsin, I respectfully ask many in the media, I’m not looking wrote the speech without any reference that he reconsider tariffs on steel and for ways to bring the president down,” to abortion, but the DNC “inserted aluminum,” Walker said in March. But says Vukmir. that line—a laundry list of Democrat both Vukmir and Nicholson support One of the flashpoints in the race platform issues, including comments Trump’s tariffs as a negotiating tactic, has been Steve Bannon’s endorse­ on abortion.” Jessie, “being more and they both promise to eventually ment of Nicholson. Both candidates mature and intelligent than me, said: bring them back down. had sought Bannon’s endorsement ‘You don’t believe that, don’t read it.’ I “What the president is doing—clear last fall, but then Vukmir denounced was a dumb kid who wanted to be on as day, and anybody can see this—is Nicholson for not disavowing Bannon TV, and like a lot of young men who saying, ‘I don’t like tariffs. You want in January after he criticized Donald had never thought about this issue to get rid of tariffs? I’m happy to move Trump Jr. for meeting with Russians critically—by that issue I mean life, to free trade.’ And we should. But that who promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. and the importance of protecting inno­ doesn’t mean following through on the “Certainly, had he endorsed me and cent life—and she was right, and I was status quo,” says Nicholson. “The goal then I found out about his comments wrong.” Nicholson says seeing lives is a world with no tariffs.” and the way he brought our president lost in war and having three children “I’m a free trader, but like the presi­ down, I would have backed away from of his own helped him “understand I dent I also believe in fair trade,” says that immediately,” Vukmir says. have a duty to protect innocent life.” Vukmir. “We’ve got to give the presi­ According to Nicholson, “I sat During an interview at a café in the dent time to negotiate.” down with Steve Bannon once in my Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield, Vuk­ The Marquette poll found that Wis­ life. We had a conversation for about mir says she is grateful for Nicholson’s consin voters, by a two-to-one margin, 90 minutes, no different than you and service to the country: “I’m a military think the steel and aluminum tariffs I just had about trade, economics. We mom myself. My son just finished will hurt the economy. “Twenty-nine talked about immigration.” Army Ranger School a few months percent think increased tariffs on steel I asked both candidates if they were ago.” She doesn’t question the story of and aluminum imports will improve concerned about Bannon’s efforts his political evolution. But, she adds: the U.S. economy, while 55 percent to promote the “alt-right,” and both “Even Ronald Reagan, who [Nichol­ think tariffs will hurt the economy,” avoided the question, noting they were son] uses in his ads and we all know pollster Charles Franklin wrote on just trying to get as much support as was a Democrat—Ronald Reagan gave June 20. “On free-trade agreements in possible. Bannon may have backed us 20 years in the conservative move­ general, 51 percent think these agree­ bigots like Paul Ryan’s primary chal­ ment before he ran for one of the high­ ments have been a good thing for the lenger Paul Nehlen and Alabama’s Roy est offices in the land. So I think that’s U.S. economy, while 28 percent think Moore, but he is after all a former chief a question that a lot of people are ask­ they have been bad for the economy.” strategist for President Trump. ing: Why are you running for this par­ But Republican primary voters back Right now, the Wisconsin Senate ticular office?” the steel and aluminum tariffs 50 race doesn’t rank as competitive on Nicholson’s answer is essentially percent to 31 percent, and neither anyone’s list. The Wisconsin GOP has the same as Vukmir’s: to advance a Nicholson nor Vukmir wants to get on lost two strongly Republican state sen­ conservative agenda on judges, health the wrong side of Trump. ate districts in special elections this care, deregulation, spending, and so on. Both Nicholson and Vukmir year, and in the June poll, Baldwin led He says it will take an outsider to beat declined to criticize Trump in July Nicholson 50 percent to 39 percent and Baldwin and “push back on leadership” when he attacked Milwaukee-based Vukmir 49 percent to 40 percent. But in Washington. “If leadership’s doing Harley-Davidson—which had those numbers could change. the right thing, heck, I’m the first guy announced it was moving some pro­ Tammy Baldwin herself points out there to support them any which way I duction to Europe to avoid retalia­ that Wisconsin was one of the states can. If they’re not, on things like multi- tory tariffs. Tammy Baldwin, who has where the polls were off in 2016. On trillion dollar omnibus bills dropped generally opposed free-trade deals, election day, Trump was trailing in the on people’s desks with 48 hours notice, responded to the Harley move by call­ state by 6.5 points in the RealClear­ I’m the first guy pushing back,” he says. ing on Trump to target China and not Politics polling average. He won by What is unlikely is that you’d see Europe. When I asked Vukmir and 0.8 points. Scott Walker will be at the either candidate pushing back against Nicholson if there was anything at all top of the ticket in November. He has Donald Trump if elected. they’d criticize the president for, nei­ a narrow lead over all the potential The president’s steel and aluminum ther candidate had a negative word Democratic challengers, and there’s tariffs are opposed by Wisconsin’s most to say. “I think we can all sit around a chance he could help sweep another prominent Republicans: Ryan, Walker, and argue stylistically what we’d do Republican senator into office. ♦

18 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 It’s a model that hasn’t changed much in nearly 50 years of public Bernie Persists life. Old friends and former staffers describe Sanders as a restless dema­ gogue who crafted a formula for a pop­ Will he ever stop running? ulist, socialist political campaign born of a 1970s-era sense of justice and pur­ by Alice B. Lloyd sued it relentlessly. For much of that formative decade, he ran stubbornly, ernie Sanders is supposed to some might say delusionally, as the be introducing his campaign perennial longshot candidate of the B manager and most loyal far -left Liberty Union party, netting staffer, Jeff Weaver. The Vermonter single-digit percentages in Vermont and unwavering Bernie shadow for Senate and governor’s races until 32 years has just published a book 1980, when he ran for mayor of Burl­ called How Bernie Won, a rehash of ington as an Independent and won by the 2016 Democratic primary with just 10 votes. According to contempo­ the socialist senator as revolution­ raries from those days, city mayor was ary victor in the Democratic par­ the first real job he ever held. ty’s war of ideas. Its titular thesis was Huck Gutman, a lifelong Burling­ seemingly vindicated the night before: tonian who served as then-congress­ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ben man Sanders’s chief of staff from 2006 Jealous, both Berniecrats, won upset to 2012, first met the candidate in victories in their primary races. the early 1970s. Back then, win­ When Sanders arrives, the party ning wasn’t the point. “I don’t erupts into cheers. “I’ve known this think it ever occurred to me,” Gut­ young man a long time,” he says, man says. But after winning may­ grumbling his gratitude for Weaver as oral, U.S. House, and U.S. Senate he reminisces about their first doomed races and then becoming a serious campaign together. Before long, how­ contender in a presidential primary— ever, he slides into a version of his old all while running on the same set of stump speech—now with more than a Rejecting corporate donors and tak­ ideas—Sanders’s socialism hasn’t soft­ little gloating thrown in. ing only small donations—that has ened. And his victories have deepened “We won that one, too,” he says long been part of Sanders’s platform his long-held desire to retain control of the 1986 campaign that Weaver too: “We try to make the campaign by of his message and his movement’s joined. In fact, they won a meager 14 the people and for the people. What do growing electoral gains. “The sense I percent of the vote, but Sanders means you see today?” A field crowded with always have of Bernie Sanders is that “winning” in the philosophical, post- copycats, that’s what. he’s stayed the same,” Gutman says, 2016 sense of the word. “Three years “What’s not important is who paraphrasing Lillian Hellman’s let­ ago, talking about Medicare for all was wins governor of Virginia, or what­ ter to the House Committee on Un- a crazy idea. Now I don’t know what ever,” Sanders says. (He might have American Activities in 1952. “He percentage of Democrats are running meant Maryland, where Jealous won cannot and will not cut his conscience on the idea of Medicare for all,” he his gubernatorial primary the night to fit this year’s fashions.” says. About 60 percent of the Demo­ before with help from Our Revolu­ Sanders isn’t opposed to tailoring cratic primary candidates who’ve won tion, a fundraising group that grew out his message to suit contemporary com­ so far this year support some version of Sanders’s campaign). What matters munications media, however. Dur­ of Sanders’s Medicare For All pro­ is Bernie’s way of winning: “It’s under ing most of the 27 years he’s served posal, according to the Progressive the radar, grassroots,” he reminds the in Congress, Sanders has cultivated Change Campaign Committee. audience. “We are in the business of an audience whom he enthusiastically “Free college!”—another new stan­ transforming this country.” and directly educates in the ideology dard for 2018’s hopeful blue wave And Bernie Sanders’s business of the far left. As Gutman explains, surfers—“All the ideas we talked model—the one that’s made him the Sanders’s national call-in radio pro­ about that were so radical and extreme beloved socialist grandpa of the pop­ gram, Brunch with Bernie, which first are now mainstream!” Sanders says. ulist new left, and the bête noire of aired in 2003 as a vehicle to harness Hillary Clinton and the Democratic populist opposition to the invasion of Alice B. Lloyd is a staff writer National Committee—may now be Iraq, was “an hour out of his week to

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July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 19 airwaves by so-called conservatives.” snags. Two Sanders scions have recently were,” as Troville describes the ethos Even then, Sanders was ahead of risen to prominence in New Eng­ of the day, one that, for Bernie Sand­ Democrats, “none of whom really felt land progressive politics: Sanders’s ers at least, never died. “Most people the need to go on talk radio.” stepdaughter, Carina Driscoll (whose outgrow it. I don’t think he has. You Today, he hosts a streaming Face­ mother, Jane, met Sanders just before could turn the clock back—he was say­ book series, The Bernie Sanders Show, he won the Burlington mayor’s race ing the same things.” He was living whose guests have included Bill Nye and married him eight years later), lost them as well: Before his political career, and Elizabeth Warren and where her own bid for city hall this year. But Sanders never directly participated in Sanders regurgitates talking points Driscoll did win an endorsement from the capitalist system his constituents and discusses the news of the day Our Revolution. Sanders’s son Levi, a and supporters primarily serve. And through a socialist lens. Many epi­ candidate for Congress in New Hamp­ yet, “Now he’s a millionaire,” Troville sodes attract millions of viewers. shire, did not get Our Revolution’s marvels. “That’s gotta change you, Sanders is less interested in a Firing backing, nor his father’s. The decision, but he hasn’t changed his message.” Line format or a televised town hall- family friend Sandy Baird says, “Seems style debate. “He’s not looking to cre­ odd to me. I know why they backed anders the unlikely socialist mil­ ate a public forum. I wouldn’t say he’s Carina—she was the most progressive Slionaire hasn’t accrued his fortune a pluralist,” says Burlington journalist candidate in a three-way race. I don’t without controversy, and his wealth and longtime Sanders associate Greg know why they didn’t take a position in may undermine his message were he Guma, who has known Sanders since favor of Levi.” to mount another presidential cam­ his Liberty Union days and wrote A paternal endorsement would paign. An FBI investigation of Jane The People’s Republic: Vermont and the compromise Bernie’s longstanding Sanders’s problematic money man­ Sanders Revolution. After his mayoral disdain for “dynasty politics.” But it is agement as president of Burlington election campaign in 1980, Sanders Levi who was weaned on his father’s College—which closed in 2014 after recruited Guma to help launch an stubborn principles. Father and son her ambitious plan to transform the early version of The Bernie Sanders barely scraped by while Sanders ran school from an affordable, local college Show: “He was concerned about how for Senate and governor under the into a destination for wealthy children the media would treat him. ‘I should Liberty Union mantle in the lean of the suburbs failed utterly—hasn’t have a spot on the nightly news,’ he 1970s. They eked out a life together in damaged the family’s fortunes. Sand­ said.” Mayor Sanders wanted to com­ bohemian squalor, dependent on the ers bought a third home in 2016, and municate his ideology directly to the kindness of neighbors in Burlington. he raked in more than $1 million two people. He eventually got his way: For (Levi’s mother, Susan Campbell Mott, years in a row from sales of Our Rev- the last two years of his decade in city shared custody but wasn’t a constant olution and its Grammy-nominated hall, Sanders hosted a public-access presence in the boy’s life, according audiobook. The young adult version, TV show, Bernie Speaks With the Com- to friends who knew Bernie then.) Bernie Sanders’ Guide to Political Revo- munity. His preferred communication Sanders “didn’t have a job job,” says lution, was also a bestseller. style seemed “perilously close to a then-neighbor and political ally Darcy Baird, who taught at Burlington state media situation,” Guma says. It Troville. Troville worked at IBM and College until its closing, has known also belied an arrogance and insecu­ attended the University of Vermont Bernie Sanders on both sides of pros­ rity Guma knew to be typical of his while his friend Bernie made a quasi- perity. “He was a socialist, he was a friend Bernie. vocation out of running for office. hippie, he was a wreck. He had an Guma notes that Sanders’s desire to “We were all poor, but he didn’t apartment that was chaotic to put it speak to audiences unfiltered sounds a pay his utilities,” Troville recalls. mildly. He had a car held together lot like the rationale President Trump “His apartment was stark and dark. A with tape. He was a good single par­ now uses to justify his destructive Twit­ lot of people said he was on welfare.” ent, but without much money. And all ter habit. “Being in office convinced He’d often stop by bearing gifts of of a sudden he was mayor.” Sanders’s him more of the power of the individ­ food and sundries from other hippies ascent to the presidency in 2020 would ual in history as motive force,” Guma for Bernie and Levi. When he wasn’t be no less shocking than his narrow says of Sanders. During a discussion in campaigning for a single-digit slice of 1980 win, she says. But of one thing the late 1990s, when Guma challenged the statewide vote, Sanders was a free­ she’s convinced: “He’s always been him for “selling out to the mainstream” lancer: sometimes a writer, sometimes the same. Always.” after a photo-op of Sanders with the a carpenter, occasionally a cutter-and- “He’s running for president,” Clintons on the White House lawn, paster of educational film strips about Guma assures me, when I ask about “he said he’d realized his power,” Guma Eugene V. Debs. Bern-mentum for 2020, “he’s a move­ recalls. “You could call it hubris,” he Poverty informed the platform that ment and the head of a personality adds, “He has demagogic tendencies.” eventually put him in power. “Tak­ cult.” Jeff Weaver demurs when asked Sanders’s everyman-socialist story, ing from the one side of Burlington to about Sanders’s plans for 2020 but says however tightly woven, has suffered give to the other, which was where we that if Sanders runs, he’s on board. A

20 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 Sanders staffer I met at Weaver’s party to do this.” Yes, he would be the oldest succeeded less than half the time. is less circumspect, saying her money presidential candidate in American his­ They were more likely to succeed is on another Sanders presidential tory, and an unreconstructed socialist when the foreign country depended on run. Guma agrees. “The establish­ millionaire, “But why wouldn’t he?” the United States to buy its goods, the ment will put up various people, but Guma says. “He’s the presumptive study found, a rare condition today. he’ll announce, no doubt,” he says, front-runner.” “There have been times in the past, adding that Jane Sanders is encourag­ In other words, The Bernie Sanders back to the Nixon administration, ing Bernie to run. “She’s pushing him Show must go on. ♦ where the United States has sought one-sided trade concessions where we say we are going to get more trade and balance things out,” says Mac Des­ tler, a University of Maryland profes­ The Trade Routes sor who studies American trade policy. “In those cases, we have sometimes gotten something, sometimes not.” Not Taken Some of our trading partners have made proposals to try to avoid the new tariffs, but not always to the administra­ tion’s satisfaction. China offered to buy There are better ways than tariffs to get more U.S. goods to stave off new tariffs. concessions. by Tony Mecia Germany proposed to scrap the E.U.’s 10 percent tariff on American autos in n escalating tariffs, Donald Trump exchange for our dropping a 2.5 percent is treading a dangerous and high- tax on European cars and holding off I stakes path. Tariffs lock out for­ on Trump’s threats to impose an added eign competition, but they also punish 25 percent duty. Argentina, Brazil, and consumers with higher prices, disrupt South Korea successfully negotiated global supply chains, infuriate allies, to avoid the steel tariffs by agreeing to and impair economic growth. To limit their exports. Trump, though, these are mere bumps Yet for the threats to have power, in the road to the free-trade ideal that some of these tariffs will have to be he outlined at the conclusion of the G7 lasting, and as retaliatory measures meeting last month in Canada: “No increase, all sides will feel the eco­ tariffs, no barriers, that’s the way it nomic pain. The Trump adminis­ should be—and no subsidies.” Smoot and Hawley, trade-war losers tration believes that other countries Raising tariffs in order to eliminate have more to lose and will be quicker them might sound like nonsense, yet Most economists and historians to offer concessions. Proposed U.S. it is a tactic that Trump is employing believe Smoot-Hawley exacerbated auto tariffs, for instance, could chop with increasing vigor. In the last few the economic problems of the Great Canadian auto production in half and months, he has imposed tariffs on steel Depression—the bank collapses, the plunge the province of Ontario into and aluminum, hit China with tariffs stock-market implosion, the restrictive recession, economists from the Cana­ on a range of consumer and industrial monetary policies—while prompting dian Imperial Bank of Commerce sug­ products, and proposed new tariffs other countries to retaliate and thereby gested in a July research note entitled on foreign cars and automotive parts. slowing trade. “A Sword of Damocles.” Yet there are High tariffs, the theory goes, will give While often described as unprec­ consequences here, too. An analysis Trump more leverage in negotiations. edented, the Trump tariffs are just last month by the Tax Foundation pre­ So far, though, the tariffs have led to a more prominent and larger-scale dicted that if all the proposed tariffs retaliation, not concessions. version of trade disputes that have and countertariffs were implemented, Trump’s actions are evoking fears of cropped up often over the years. A they would shave about half a point a global trade war. The president’s tar­ 1994 study from the Peterson Institute off U.S. growth and lead to the loss of iffs are often compared to the econom­ for International Economics looked more than 300,000 U.S. jobs—offset­ ically disastrous 1930 Smoot-Hawley at 72 cases of threatened U.S. trade ting about a quarter of the gains from tariffs, which nearly doubled the sanctions from the 1970s to the early last year’s tax cuts. average U.S. tariff rate to 20 percent. 1990s—including such riveting sagas “The pain would be felt broadly,” as disputes with Europe over oilseeds says Scott Lincicome, an interna­ Tony Mecia is a senior writer and conflict with Japan over citrus tional-trade lawyer and adjunct at The Weekly Standard. and beef—and found that tariff threats scholar at the free-market Cato

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 21 Institute. “They might hurt more, in 1996 with an agreement on informa­ that the administration has not done but we’d still have a gaping flesh tion technology. More recently, the more to gain international support wound.” And although other coun­ Obama administration tried but failed against such Chinese practices: “We tries might have more to lose, foreign to reach a comprehensive agreement on simply have not done a fair enough job leaders might be tempted to continue environmental products. Could a presi­ of rallying our allies to join us in this the trade fights because standing up to dent who considers himself a master so it’s the world against China.” Trump is politically popular abroad. negotiator pull it off? We don’t know, Another option is singling out for The safer approach to opening mar­ says Bhala, as “the Trump administra­ sanctions Chinese companies that kets for U.S. companies is to rely on tion has not even tried.” have benefited from illicitly obtained the institutions and tools that have Then there’s the possibility of reach­ technology. Again, the Trump admin­ repeatedly reduced trade barriers over ing an agreement with a small group of istration has not pressed on that. In a the last seven decades. It might be less countries. Here again, Trump doesn’t parallel move, though, it did punish headline-grabbing than tweeting about seem interested. He pulled out of the Chinese telecom company ZTE for unfair trade deals and tariff threats, but Trans -Pacific Partnership soon after illegally trading with Iran and North the strategy has historically been effec­ taking office. It would have reduced Korea, but eased the penalties after tive. “Tariffs and tariff threats tend not tariffs on some 18,000 products across the Chinese government protested. to work, but there are tons of areas that 12 countries that together make up 40 U.S. law already calls for foreign prod­ are ripe for the picking that have been percent of world trade. ucts developed with stolen intellectual proven over the years to create recipro­ Trump says he prefers direct, bilat­ property to be banned. There have cal market opening,” notes Lincicome. eral agreements. Yet since taking office, been about 30 such cases filed this year, In the last 100 years, worldwide bar­ the Trump administration has con­ though the numbers are on the rise. riers to trade have fallen dramatically, cluded just one such deal, with South “What the Trump administra­ generally through negotiations under Korea. Announced in March, it made tion could do is single out those Chi­ the auspices of the General Agree­ mostly minor revisions to existing nese companies which are benefiting ment on Tariffs and Trade and the trade regulations, and a review by the from that kind of technology acquisi­ World Trade Organization (WTO). In free-trade Heritage Foundation found tion and really make life difficult for 1947, for instance, the average world­ that the agreement “advanced several them,” says Gary Hufbauer, a senior wide tariff was 22 percent. Today, most Obama Administration-era policies fellow with the Peterson Institute for developed countries have average tar­ that do nothing to expand the freedom International Economics. “The Trump iffs in the single digits, including the to trade for Americans.” administration could work with allies United States (1.6 percent), the E.U. In negotiating free-trade deals, to boycott those particular firms in var­ (1.6 percent), Canada (0.8 percent), Trump still has plenty to offer our ious ways, denying them financing and and China (3.5 percent). Other barriers partners without placing the threat of banking relationships, and not allow­ have fallen, too, although every coun­ higher tariffs on the table. The United ing them to export. To me, that would try retains some protectionist measures States already imposes tariffs and other be much more targeted and appropri­ such as industry subsidies, high tariffs substantial trade-restricting barriers on ate to the legitimate objections than on certain goods, and laws restricting a wide range of products and services— what Trump is now talking about.” foreign companies in certain sectors. from cheese, butter, sugar, and canned The 164-member WTO also has “The first and best way to negoti­ tuna to carpets and numerous indus­ dispute-resolution panels. Trump likes ate market access in the form of lower trial products. Our laws restrict for­ to say that the WTO is “a catastro­ tariffs and lower non-tariff barriers eign airlines and shipping companies. phe” and unfair to the United States, is through a multilateral trade round There’s also the $20 billion the govern­ but those panels have ruled in favor under the auspices of the WTO,” says ment spends annually on agriculture of U.S. complaints 91 percent of the Raj Bhala, a professor of international subsidies—left largely intact in House time. Pressing China on its violations law at the University of Kansas. The and Senate versions of the recent farm and exposing it to the world as a trade current negotiations, known as the bill. All of these are ammunition for scofflaw could be an effective tactic, Doha Round, started in 2001 but negotiating better trade deals. especially since many of our allies have stalled. One of the biggest problems for share our concerns about Chinese The Trump administration could American companies in recent years policies. Instead, the Trump adminis­ also seek smaller, less comprehensive has been that China, with its govern­ tration is blocking the appointment of wins by using the WTO framework to ment subsidies and forced technology new WTO judges, which could leave negotiate agreements in specific sectors transfers, has failed to protect intellec­ the panels unable to function by the of the economy. If Trump is concerned tual property. The answer here is less end of the year. about unfair treatment of the auto likely to be tariffs than unified global The Trump administration has industry, for example, then why not opposition. At a Weekly Standard plenty of trade tools at its disposal— lead negotiations that drop barriers to summit in May, Trump budget direc­ and most of them won’t damage the trading in autos? That’s what happened tor Mick Mulvaney expressed regret economy. ♦

22 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 Jacob Rees-Mogg in front of the Houses of Parliament Manners Maketh Man Whether the end of (Theresa) May comes in July or September, Jacob Rees-Mogg will be Tory executioner and Tory kingmaker

By Dominic Green knacks and stacks of books on the mantelpiece. Through the open Gothic Revival window, I can hear the distant London wail of police sirens and a busker’s bagpipes. hank you for coming,” says Jacob “Absolutely astonished you should want to speak to Rees-Mogg, the Conservative back- me,” he says in a rarefied English accent from another bencher whose soft hands now hold age. “I can’t think American readers would be in the the fate of Theresa May, the outcome least interested.” of Brexit, and the future of the Con- He knows perfectly well why I want to interview him, ‘Tservative party. We sit down at a table in his office in the and why Americans might soon be very interested in him. Palace of Westminster. There are Georgian cartoons on In January, Rees-Mogg was elected to the chairmanship of the wall, a teakettle and cups at hand, and political knick- the European Research Group (ERG), a single-issue forum for the Conservative party’s Euroskeptics in Parliament. Dominic Green is the culture editor of Spectator USA In February, the ERG sent Prime Minister Theresa May a

and a frequent contributor to these pages. letter signed by 62 backbenchers, exhorting her to stick to BEN PRUCHNIE / GETTY

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 23 the clean Brexit she promised in January 2017 in a speech But there is more of the serious comedy of Evelyn at Lancaster House in London. It was becoming clear that Waugh. Rees-Mogg’s anachronistic, almost theatrical May wants a much softer Brexit—or even some sort of overdressing; his posh, staunch, and fecund Catholicism, Remain by other means. and his conviction that the old days and old ways were Sixty-two is much higher than the magic number of better all recall later Waugh. His constituency, North East 48. The Conservative party runs its parliamentary busi- Somerset, is in Waugh country. ness through the 1922 Committee, which was, of course, Yet the man they call the Right Honourable Member founded in 1923. Under party rules, if 48 MPs send a let- for the Eighteenth Century is nobody’s fool. He knows ter of “no confidence” to the chairman of the 1922 Com- that Europe is the Achilles’ heel of the Conservatives and mittee, he must call a leadership contest—even when of British politics in general. He knows that many among the party leader is prime minister. The the Tory party membership want rebels have to time their attack care- him as their next leader, that he has fully; they can only call one vote in Rees-Mogg knows that one of the highest recognition fac- any 12 months. many Tories want him tors of any politician in the coun- Rees-Mogg has never held cabinet try, that his feelings about Brexit office. He has existed on the right mar- as their next leader, are closer to those of ordinary Brit- gins of parliamentary Conservatism that he has one of the ons than to those of the political since his election to the House of Com- highest recognition and media elites, and that the party mons in 2010. But his chairmanship of factors of any politician leaders fear him for these reasons. the ERG; his unremitting opposition to in the country, that his He is, of course, too polite to tell the E.U. and its machinations; his utter me any of this. commitment to a total Brexit; and his feelings about Brexit remarkable popularity with the party are closer to those of heresa May’s government rank and file add up to a veto over the ordinary Britons than is being stretched on a May government’s Brexit negotiations to those of the political T rack of its own devising, and, should Britain and the E.U. reach and media elites, and and Rees-Mogg and the ­Brexiteers a deal in October, over parliamentary are tightening the screws. In her approval of it. that the party leaders Lancaster House speech, May “We’re likely to have a vote in about fear him for these committed Britain to “a new and 20 minutes to half an hour, so I’ll trot reasons. He is, of equal partnership . . . not par- down and trot back again,” he explains course, too polite to tial membership of the European with the most considerate of drawls. tell me any of this. Union, associate membership of “Just to warn you.” the European Union, or anything Rees-Mogg is famous for his good that leaves us half-in, half-out.” manners. Like his pinstriped double-breasted blue suits Britain, she promised, would not “seek to hold on to bits and his mannered accent, his courtesy is from another age. of membership as we leave.” But in early May, the prime So is his way of life, whose dogged Victorian lavishness minister signaled that she wanted Britain to remain in irritates some among the British public for the same rea- a customs union with the E.U. after Brexit. By June, the sons that it endears him to others: the six children with Brexiteers had forced her to back down. forenames like Anselm Charles Fitzwilliam, Alfred Wul- “It’s a bit odd, really,” Rees-Mogg says with strenu- fric Leyson Pius, and Sixtus Dominic Boniface; the hered- ous understatement. “The government is nearly two years itarily wealthy wife; the country pile, where the nursery is into the Brexit process, and it still hasn’t worked out what run by Rees-Mogg’s own childhood nanny. it wants to negotiate with the European Union. It’s still There is much of P.G. Wodehouse in Rees-Mogg. negotiating its customs plan internally, and I’m not sure When he canvassed door to door in his first, unsuccess- this is very helpful. It would have been better if they’d had ful attempt to win a seat in parliament, nanny came too. an idea much earlier on.” When the papers reported that he was driving around in Rees-Mogg, 49, is the son of a former editor of the a Bentley, he objected that it was only a Mercedes. A con- London Times, William Rees-Mogg. Legend has it that temporary of Rees-Mogg’s at Eton recalls how the pupils his father made young Jacob study a page of the encyclo- wagged him by humming the national anthem during pedia per day and discuss its contents at dinner. I have class, so that young Jacob would jump out of his seat and met him once before, as an undergraduate, late at night stand to attention. by a kebab stand in Oxford. He was wearing a suit and tie

24 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 then, too. After Oxford, Rees-Mogg made millions as a result was chaos, and the complete collapse of Britain’s founder of the investment firm Somerset Capital. ­negotiating position. On Friday, July 6, she summoned “I think with a negotiation you have to go in know- her cabinet to Chequers, the prime minister’s weekend ing what you want, knowing what your bottom line is, retreat. After 12 hours of discussions, the cabinet emitted a and knowing what you might accept if you’re absolutely “collective statement of intent” for the final stage of Brexit pushed,” he says. “It’s been 15 months since the triggering negotiations, which begins in October. of Article 50 [which notified the E.U. of Britain’s intent to The negotiating positions announced include com- leave], and two years since we voted to leave. Still not hav- plete harmonization with present and future E.U. rules on ing established one of the key elements of the end state in the import and export of goods. The European Court of your own mind seems to me an unusual position to be in.” Justice would have a permanent role in arbitration in Brit- For “odd” and “unusual,” read “absurd” and “dis- ish courts. The U.K. and the E.U. would be a “combined graceful.” In her first year in office, Theresa May turned a parliamen- tary majority into a minority gov- ernment through a mistimed and shoddily fought general election. After that, she retained power by setting Remainers and Brexiteers against each other in her cabinet. All the while, she made concession after concession in negotiations with the E.U., including a promise to pay £40 billion to the E.U.’s Mul- tiannual Financial Framework dur- ing the exit period. In return, May has received . . . nothing. “Do I know where they’re going to end up?” Rees-Mogg asks, get- ting as close to anger as such a polite man can. “No. They don’t know where they’re going to end up.” Brexit was never going to be The Right Honourable Member for the Eighteenth Century with five of the six Rees-Mogg children easy. But it didn’t have to be this hard. May’s government has failed to order civil servants customs’ territory,” in which the U.K. would apply E.U. to prepare for the entirely plausible scenario in which tariffs and taxes to goods entering or exiting the E.U. the U.K. and the E.U. fail to reach a deal, and the U.K. The Chequers statement reversed everything that May crashes out of the E.U. in March 2019. This may have been had promised in her Lancaster House speech. And it was a deliberate omission. For if there are no plans for “No just the opening gambit for the October ­negotiations. Deal,” then any deal remains the only alternative—even What will be left of Brexit once Barnier and the E.U. a Remain-by-stealth deal. Some Euroskeptics suspect that negotiators do what they have done at every meeting and May, who endorsed Remain in the 2016 referendum, has demand concessions without giving anything in return? wanted that all along. In that light, the Chequers statement was less a wish list Admittedly, the Remainers had always warned that than a prelude to total surrender and the undoing of the Britain was so ensnared in the E.U.’s octopus-like tenta- popular vote. cles that escape was impossible. But May has compounded Some of the Brexiteers in the cabinet are reported to complexity with ineptitude. Her self-serving lack of clarity have objected. Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary whose has held together her divided cabinet and party, but at the charisma was crucial to the Vote Leave campaign in 2016, expense of the nation and its trust in democracy. In June, reached into his grab bag of quotations and opined that any her team failed to present proposals as previously agreed Conservative who tried to sell May’s faux-Brexit would be when they met with the E.U.’s chief negotiator, Michel “polishing a turd.” But Johnson, noting that May and the Barnier, and his team in Brussels. “turd-polishers” had the numbers, signed the Chequers

MATT CARDY / GETTY CARDY MATT Last week, May finally showed her hand. The statement. So did the minister for Brexit, David Davis.

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 25 Then they headed for the exits. It was Davis who the numbers to install a Brexiteer as prime minister—at resigned first, early on Monday morning, July 9. Johnson, least, not yet. having sulked in his tent over the weekend like Achil- If May can make it to the summer recess at the end of les, resigned at lunchtime. By the end of the day, it was July, she will survive until September and probably until rumored that Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Com- the opening of final Brexit negotiations in October. Her mittee, had received the necessary 48 letters. But May was enemies will spend August plotting. They expect that Bar- determined to tough it out. nier, true to form, will ask for more concessions, and that “My God,” a ministerial aide told me. “Who knows May, true to form, will grant them. After that, the thinking what’s going to happen? It all depends on whether any- goes, the Brexiteers will have a chance of winning a no- one else resigns this afternoon, and whether anyone confidence vote, and the wider party might have recon- ciled itself to the need for a new leader. Rees-Mogg will be crucial to deciding when that moment comes, and the ERG’s votes will be key to its outcome. Jacob Rees-Mogg, in this scenario, will be first executioner, then kingmaker.

rippling, Pink Floyd-ish gui- tar chord sounds through a A speaker in Rees-Mogg’s office and down the corridors of the Palace of Westminster. I had half-expected that MPs would be called to vote by a handbell, rung by a man in breeches and perhaps a wig. The guitar chord evokes bad memories of Tony Blair, the guitar-strumming charmer who, To deal or not to deal: Rees-Mogg at a Brexit event in London earlier this year like John Major before him and Gor- don Brown and David Cameron after, hands in a letter this evening. My gut feeling is, she’ll allowed Britain to slide further into the maw of the E.U. try to hang on. No one wants a general election. That’s because it was good for business. the biggest fear here. So if no one else goes soon she The Brexit referendum of 2016 asserted the will of the should make it through.” people over their rulers, and the value of sovereignty over There were no major resignations on Monday night, business. Despite the vote, the Remainers still make the though Rees-Mogg was on the BBC threatening May with argument for business over the democratic will of the peo- a revolt of “50 to 100” MPs. But on Tuesday, two party ple. But Rees-Mogg believes that Britain can get free from vice-chairmen resigned—the first, it was rumored, of a the legislative grip of the E.U. without damaging the Brit- slow drip of resignations coordinated by the ERG. Donald ish economy. Trump, who arrived two days later, said that Britain was “We have £40 billion’s worth of leverage,” he notes. in “turmoil” and that it was “up to the people” of Britain Money “which the European Union needs because it has to decide May’s fate. But the Conservative MPs are more very limited ability to borrow. How does [the E.U.] fund afraid of the people’s wrath than of a bad deal with Brus- its committed projects in Romania and everywhere else if sels; they want to avoid a general election. And whether it doesn’t have British money to spend? It could ask the May stays or goes, Britain currently has no workable Germans for more, but that’s not going to be very popular. Brexit policy. That makes a “No Deal” Brexit much more Or it could tell the other countries that they’re getting less likely. And all this vindicates Rees-Mogg. As the clock money, but that wouldn’t be very popular. So we have a runs out on negotiations, his maximal Brexit becomes a pretty strong position.” fait accompli, and he its standard bearer. “We also have a £180 billion trade deficit with the Rees-Mogg kept his powder dry after the Davis and European Union. So there are lots of regions within the Johnson resignations. The Conservative Brexiteers have E.U., or indeed individual countries, that are highly the numbers to pull down a Remainer prime minister dependent on their trade with the U.K. Both sides have

if they time their attack correctly. But they don’t have strengths in this negotiation. It seems to me a deal where / GETTY / BLOOMBERG CHRIS J. RATCLIFFE

26 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 we say, ‘You want our money, and we want a trade deal.’ A spring, after he had started appearing every other Monday pretty good deal could be done.” on an LBC radio phone-in show (“Ring Rees-Mogg”), he The problem to Rees-Mogg is not the hostility was the bookmakers’ favorite too. The papers started talk- of Brussels; that is to be expected. The problem is the ing about “Moggmania” and “Moggmentum.” flawed British strategy, and the lack of confidence in its LBC used to be a local station, the London Broad- execution. “I think we have allowed the E.U. to set the casting Company. Its combination of angry callers and terms of the negotiation much too much. This is not wis- excellent traffic reports long made it the London cabbie’s dom after the event; I’m saying it while it’s going on at station of choice. Now digitized, LBC broadcasts all over the same time. It was a huge mistake to allow the E.U. Britain, and advertises its acronym as “Leading Britain’s to set the timetable before we’d settled the trade. What Conversation.” Appearing on LBC, Rees-Mogg is talk- are we buying for this money? At the moment: nothing. ing across the divide between Remainer London and the The money hardly gets talked about now. So we’re giving Brexit-supporting masses outside the capital. He is also them £40 billion for nothing.” talking over the heads of his party’s leadership. The vaunted politeness makes the “We reflected the mood of the criticism all the more devastating. The country when it came to Brexit,” truth hurts, but in an age of spin and Whether May stays or says Nick Ferrari, who hosts the fakery, it also pays dividends. Rees- goes, Britain currently morning show on LBC. The day Mogg is unaffected about his affect- before the 2016 referendum, he was edness, and often more candid than has no workable Brexit appearing on a politics program a politician can afford to be. He is a policy. That makes a with Boris Johnson’s journalist sis- social conservative and a Christian in a ‘No Deal’ Brexit much ter, Rachel. country without social conservative or more likely. And all this “Your brother’s won this,” he Christian voting blocs, even among the vindicates Rees-Mogg. told her. “Britain’s going to vote Conservatives. The public likes his hon- to leave.” esty, his willingness to be awkward, and “Well I’ve just spoken to him,” his independence. she replied, “and he thinks they’re just going to come up “I can’t see the point in being in politics if you’re short. They haven’t quite got enough.” not yourself,” he says. “If you’re simply interested in “You’re in London too much,” Ferrari replied. implementing other people’s policies then you should “And that’s the divide,” he tells me. “That’s the become a civil servant. If you have ideas and some form ­reality. If you’re in the London bubble, chances are of ­ideology, then it’s exciting, because you can argue for- you’re going to be a Remainer. Once you’re outside, ward. If you’ve sorted it through, you probably have a you’re across the divide.” pretty clear idea of how you could improve the condition We’re sitting in the LBC studios in Leicester Square. of the people of the nation.” Ferrari has just come off air after interviewing Rees- We are talking about Edmund Burke, the 1689 British Mogg. On this morning’s show, a woman from Medway in bill of rights, and the American Constitution, when the Kent—a working-class outcrop of Brexit voters, but inside guitar chord rings again, followed by an urgently tinkling the London commuter belt—rang and asked, “Why can’t bell. “Ah, that’s the vote,” he says, before resuming a read- we have a prime minister that shows your passion?” ing from the bill of rights, which permitted only Protes- “There’s a fair amount in Brexit of what powered tants to bear arms. Trump to the presidency, the feeling that the world has “As a papist, I’d be a little bit worried,” he jokes. “Now, passed us by,” Ferrari says. “I’ve asked Jacob whether he I must go and vote, but I’ll be back.” wants to be leader of the party. And of course he said, as Rees-Mogg leaves me alone in his office. This is a every leader of the party once said, ‘I don’t have any ambi- breach of the House of Commons’s security protocols, tion to be there.’ Boris Johnson says the same, and he still and of common sense too. Does he do this because he is wants to be leader.” a thinking person, a person of conscience, and trusts that “What appeals about Rees-Mogg to my listeners is others are too? what appeals most of the time about Boris Johnson, which is that they will answer a question honestly. And Jacob he Conservative membership, who decide the can currently do that, because he’s not a cabinet minister. party’s leadership contests, is considerably grayer, He’s seen as being quite rebellious, but not necessarily an T whiter, and righter than its MPs. Recent polls archrebel. He leads the ERG. So if he doesn’t agree with a have Rees-Mogg as the members’ choice for leader. By the policy, he’s in a glorious position that appeals to people.”

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 27 Rees-Mogg’s anachronistic persona accords with that politics is like. I’m very aware that in a month, people independence. “I think it’s also the way he dresses, the might look at each other and say, ‘Isn’t he the chap who way he speaks,” Ferrari says. “It’s as if they’ve undone used to be Jacob Rees-Mogg?’ LBC will cancel me and everything you learn in media training. And sometimes it it’ll all be over.” “I am just a backbench Tory MP, one of works. You could say the same about Trump.” many,” he insists. I mention meeting Rees-Mogg at a kebab stand as an When it comes to Brexit, however, Rees-Mogg now undergraduate. represents just over half of the country, and at a time when “He wasn’t wearing a suit, was he?” Ferrari asks. Theresa May’s government seems set on trying to overrule “Yes, he was.” them. He may be a backbencher, but he is now singularly “But he wasn’t buying a kebab, was he?” influential. On July 11, it was rumored that the ERG has “Yes, he was. He’s always had a populist streak.” given Theresa May an ultimatum: If she does not return Ferrari observes that Rees-Mogg has just returned to her Lancaster House positions within a week, the from South Shields, a pro-Brexit postindustrial town ERG will release the last letters to the 1922 Committee. in the northeast of England. “I know In the coming weeks, Jacob Rees- he’s the son of an editor of the Times Mogg’s principles will meet the who became a lord. I know he’s Eton Rees-Mogg is expert at complexities of power politics. and Oxford and all that. But I can tell playing the modern media The resignations of David you, he resonates better with our lis- game. Most politicians Davis and Boris Johnson are the teners in the North than their own death knell of Theresa May’s gov- politicians do.” cultivate a persona and ernment. Rees-Mogg’s position Rees-Mogg is expert at playing the then come across as as chair of the ERG, his standing modern media game. Most politicians mediocre actors. But among the party membership, cultivate a persona and then come Rees-Mogg’s persona is and his remarkable cross-party across as mediocre actors. But Rees- his character. That makes public appeal make him the Mogg’s persona is his character. That most powerful man in British makes him unflappable, for his prin- him unflappable, for his politics today. No Tory can pull ciples run deeper than the personae of principles run deeper down Theresa May without Rees- his rivals and interviewers. than the personae of his Mogg’s support. If the Brexiteers “I trust my electors,” he says. “I rivals and interviewers. lack the votes to force one of their see them in weekly meetings. I’m their own into 10 Downing Street, advocate, I’m there to take up their neither can an alternative leader case. I’m not there to decide whether they’ve got a good prosper without their endorsement. case or a bad case. And I think that if you trust people, Over the last three decades, three Conservative prime they’re more likely to trust you back. Also, I don’t shy ministers—Thatcher, Major, and Cameron—have fallen away from disagreeing with people. Of course, people like over the question of Europe. May will be the fourth. The it when you share their views. But they’d rather know party cannot reunite without reconciliation between its that they didn’t share your views than have you wobbling Europhile majority and its sizable Euroskeptic minority. about just for the sake of it. Trust in politics is important.” Rees-Mogg will be the key to that process, and he is rel- I ask him why he had left me alone in his office. “Until ishing it. you mentioned it, it didn’t occur to me.” He apologizes; there is only time for one more question. or a man who dresses like Neville Chamberlain, “As a Catholic living in Somerset,” I ask, “What’s your Rees-Mogg is playing a modern game. He’s broad- favorite Evelyn Waugh novel?” F casting to the Brexit-voting provinces, but he’s I’m expecting him to nominate Brideshead Revisited or built a power base deep in Westminster. He’s a rogue ele- the Sword of Honour trilogy, Waugh’s late-period elegies ment in the parliamentary party, but he’s also the party for a lost world, or even the religious-historical Helena. membership’s choice. Rees-Mogg mulls it over for a moment and then laughs. Asked how he feels about being the people’s choice, he “Scoop,” he announces. “It’s got to be. For a moment I laughs, mumbles his disavowals quietly and then emits a thought that was a difficult question. Scoop. It’s such fun.” diversionary burst of Victoriana: “It’s all quite jolly, but His reply surprises me at first. But then I remember that it’s not serious. If people put money on the bookmakers, he is a journalist’s son, playing a complex media-political they’ll lose their money as they usually do. You know what game in a country that is coming apart at the seams. ♦

28 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 A Modest Proposal Three lessons from Hayek that helped a conservative reformer understand that authority should be devolved.

By Andy Smarick n Are you certain you have the information necessary to act wisely? n 1945, the Austrian economist and public intel- n Who are the experts who could acquire all the rele- lectual F.A. Hayek published an article on “The vant information and translate it into smart policy? Use of Knowledge in Society.” It was a response n Assuming such experts exist, how would you find to those advocating for planned economies, but them? its lessons can be generalized. Hayek was mak- n Can all the relevant information spread across Iing a profound argument: We must appreciate the limited countless interested parties be translated into a ability of central authorities to collect and use informa- form that can be used by a single authority? tion. Even if we could make a government agency that n Since conditions on the ground change constantly, was lean, efficient, and staffed only with able and selfless can the necessary information be rapidly and con- professionals, he pointed out, it would still struggle to tinuously sent by the field to the governing body? achieve its ambitions. The roadblock isn’t intentions; it’s infor- In my experience, government bod- mation. It is “a problem of the utilization of ies often decide to act and then use what- knowledge,” Hayek wrote, “which is not given ever information is available to decide to anyone in its totality.” No one can ever have how to act. For instance, during the edu- all the information necessary, much less all of cation-accountability era, led by states in it smartly combined and analyzed, to make the the 1980s and ’90s then tightly embraced right decisions. In his words, “the knowledge by Washington with the No Child Left of the circumstances of which we must make Behind Act (2001), governments decided use never exists in concentrated or integrated they wanted to hold schools accountable form but solely as the dispersed bits of incom- for results. They used reading and math plete and frequently contradictory knowledge test scores largely because that was the which all the separate individuals possess.” information that was available. In other words, the countless minds thinking The “Hayek Test” suggests that gov- about, engaged in, and influenced by a policy Hayek ernment officials should first figure out matter will always know more in combination what the right information consists of than any single body. and then decide whether they are actually able to acquire I am not an economist and in no way qualified to ana- enough of it. Only then should they decide on any action. lyze Hayek’s views on the price system or business cycles. In the case of education accountability, the federal govern- But I do know a little bit about policymaking. My views ment might’ve first asked, “What are all the things that we have been formed by work for six different government care about when it comes to school performance?” Then bodies over nearly 20 years—from a state legislature and it would’ve asked, “Are we actually able to collect, analyze, Congress to the White House and Department of Educa- and make use of all of that data for all of our schools?” tion. What I glean from Hayek’s article is a five-part test Hayek helps us recognize something that should be that should be used by government officials prior to acting: obvious: That it’s much easier for small, local agencies to answer “yes” to such questions than large, faraway bod- Andy Smarick is the civil society, education, and work director ies. An entity that oversees three nearby schools is better at the R Street Institute and recently concluded a term as president able to respond to changing conditions than a central body of Maryland’s state board of education. A version of this article was overseeing 3,000 schools spread far and wide.

delivered as a lecture at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. Usable information takes different forms based on COLLECTION / CORBIS GETTY HULTON-DEUTSCH

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 29 the size of the government body. A small-town mayor can We’d be able to quantify the performance of different stu- take a daily briefing from his director of transportation to dent subgroups. understand exactly what’s happening with traffic or road But the congressman was suspicious of the law’s narrow construction and know what citizens are experiencing. But focus on reading and math scores. He thought that those if the Secretary of Transportation in Washington wants were poor indicators of school success. He didn’t think this information on the status of each city’s roads, she’d need data would necessarily enable experts to improve schools a statistical analysis of available standardized data reflect- and thought emphasizing standardized tests would obscure ing averages and themes and largely devoid of personal the invaluable knowledge that local practitioners possessed. experience. He believed good educators continuously adapt to chang- Understanding how these types of problems result from ing community conditions, student needs, and so on, and centralized economic planning, Hayek argued for free mar- he believed a cumbersome federal framework would hinder kets and the price system. There are analogous strategies such work. Obviously my boss didn’t refer to what I’m call- ing the Hayek Test, but in hindsight, I see he was rea- soning along those lines. I haven’t mentioned that he was a former high school teacher and well understood how much more knowledge local leaders have compared to those far away. And I was overestimating the ability of a central authority to choose the right measures, to collect the data, and to make use of them. He voted against the leg- islation. It became law, nonetheless, and his concerns were largely borne out. If a government agency becomes convinced that conditions have deteriorated far enough, it will put aside the knowledge problem and act. The pre-No Child Left Behind era was considered troubling enough that it begot the No Child Left Behind Act. This was not entirely irrational, but we failed to recognize the A sixth-grader takes a state math test in New York. knowledge problem and our good intentions went awry. This is not to say that all efforts to centralize deci- for other policy domains. Federalism and localism push sionmaking are indefensible, but rather that policymakers decisionmaking down—local police make most day-to-day too easily convince themselves that centralization, which law-enforcement decisions, not the Attorney General. Sim- means the acquisition of more power, is the right answer. ilarly, tradition allows us to use knowledge accumulated over generations instead of constantly gathering informa- ayek’s 1944 book, The Road to Serfdom, is well tion from scratch. G.K. Chesterton astutely noted that tra- known for its argument that grand state plan- dition offers a vote to our predecessors—he called it “the H ning leads to an increasingly authoritarian state. democracy of the dead.” One of its themes is the coercive power of the state. As And in this regard, Hayek’s article remains particu- society believes more and more that authorities have the larly salient for our policymakers. He argued that scien- knowledge to act ably, more decisions are made centrally, tific knowledge—in this case, knowledge of general rules of the state increases in power, and the process begins again. human behavior—isn’t everything. There is instead a “very As a result, those wanting to influence society increasingly important but unorganized knowledge” discovered and see the attraction of working for the state. As Hayek wrote, possessed in “particular circumstances of time and place.” as “the state will alone decide who is to have what, the only This kind of specific knowledge seldom lends itself to sta- power worth having will be a share in the exercise of this tistical form. directing power.” I was a young congressional aide when No Child Left The attraction is especially strong for those with techni- Behind was under consideration and tried to convince my cal expertise in some area of governing. As Hayek noted, boss, a representative from Maryland, to vote in favor. I was “There is little question that almost every one of the tech- convinced the test data generated by this legislation would nical ideals of our experts could be realized within a com- revolutionize education. We’d have information from all paratively short time if to achieve them were made the sole

100,000 public schools on reading and math proficiency. aim of humanity.” The potential of centralized government IMAGES / UIG GETTY EDUCATION

30 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 to bring about very specific ends creates “enthusiasts for service, demanded a course of action foreign to reformers planning.” on both sides of the aisle: relinquishing power. Standing Hayek recognized that there are two types of govern- up as a conservative policymaker required standing down, ing beliefs among state leaders. There are those who believe and the best use of authority is enabling and invigorating in “central direction and organization of all our activities others. according to some consciously constructed blueprint.” The But in moments of actual governing, it is terribly tempt- better approach, he thought, was the other, “that the holder ing to reach a very different conclusion, and the pressure of coercive power should confine himself in general to cre- is there for conservatives not to go soft and give in to the ating conditions under which the knowledge and initiative status quo—to use the authority it was so hard to acquire. of individuals are given the best scope so that they can plan If you believe that you have identified the right answer most successfully.” and know you possess the power to make it happen, your Now here is something to which every policymaker instinct will be to act. You might consider it governmental should aspire, using government malpractice not to act. authority to encourage non-govern- I saw this early this decade ment authority. The challenge, of when I was involved in crafting course, is the policymaker’s accepting If you are going to legislation to overhaul teacher the diminution of his own authority. If empower others, you evaluation in New Jersey. Here, you are going to empower others, you must accept that those too, I thought that some districts must accept that those empowered will empowered will do things were not subjecting educators do things that you don’t agree with and that you don’t agree to rigorous enough evaluation, don’t like. You must put the principle of meaning that there were students devolving power above your personal with and don’t like. In assigned to the classrooms of inef- policy preferences. In my experience, my experience, though, fective teachers. The bill gave though, most people who seek posi- most people who seek the state government substan- tions of authority do so because they positions of authority do tial authority—at the expense of want things to go their way, not some- so because they want principals and district adminis- one else’s. trators—and there were detailed A decade ago, I was working at the things to go their way, rules on what percentage of the White House, and the Bush adminis- not someone else’s. teacher’s evaluation had to be tration was contemplating new regula- based on student success and the tions under the No Child Left Behind Act. One issue was consequences for educators deemed ineffective. whether to categorize a particular set of schools as low-per- After the bill was passed, in the state’s department of forming, which would make them subject to intervention. education we had internal debates about implementation. I was a strong supporter of this kind of tough account- The biggest battle was over how swiftly and comprehen- ability and wanted to aggressively identify and address fail- sively to bring the law to life. Some thought that anything ing schools. I was very firm in my views, and the trappings other than rapid statewide implementation was an invita- of White House employment do very little to encourage tion for local delay and mischief. But did we really know self-doubt. Back then everyone liked you when you worked enough about each of New Jersey’s 600 school districts, at the White House. Everyone returned your calls. It was which assessments they used, what complicating provi- easy to feel smart and accomplished. sions might be in their various union contracts? Didn’t we Sitting with my boss in his office in the West Wing, we need a pilot implementation plan? Everyone agreed that considered using our authority to force the outcome that piloting—working with and learning from a few districts we liked. But in truth, it would’ve been a one-size-fits-all first—would broadcast uncertainty. It would encourage ruling from Washington. Did we know enough about the local differentiation and slow the pace of change. Interest- history of the schools that would be affected? No. Did we ingly—importantly—some of us thought these were assets, know how families and educators would react? No. Could not problems. Others thought them a worst-case scenario. we have made swift adjustments as facts on the ground The pro-pilot side won, and some of the expectations changed? No. of both sides were realized. The pilot program did lead to In the end, we didn’t do it. This was a turning point in differences in local implementation and course-corrections my policymaking career. I was realizing that the conser- in overall policy. But it also revealed significant variation vative principle of decentralization, when combined with in the school districts and enabled the reforms to be bet- the dose of humility and judiciousness essential in public ter tailored to actual needs. It helped instill in practitioners

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 31 a sense of ownership of the work—that it was being done profound. Looking to the daily lives of individuals, I can’t with them, not to them. The very uncertainty we broadcast help but be humbled. I recognize how little I know about enabled local success. their activities, what they value and why, their goals and A few years later, I wrote an article advocating the worries. I’ve found that it’s all but impossible not to be struck training of what I called “school choice technocrats.” by what Hayek called the “spontaneous” order that results These would be people who worked inside government from individuals leading their vastly different lives together. to advance school choice. The term—“school choice tech- It is like the passive voice in English, when a writer nocrats”—was purposely paradoxical. School choice is the emphasizes what has been done and de-emphasizes who antithesis of state planning; it means not having the govern- has done it. It’s not that a single brilliant mind created ment run all schools and not having it decide where kids go a social practice; it’s that a practice was created through to school. It means empowering families. But technocracy an unplanned process. Consider the difference between means governing by elite experts who use their knowledge a national agency designed by law to solve poverty and and power to plan for others. The school choice technocrat, the thousands of locally developed food pantries, shel- I hoped, would be an example of Hayek’s vision of a gov- ters, health clinics, treatment programs, and so on. Hayek ernment official who doesn’t aim to control more and more cleverly got at this point by differentiating the terms but instead to foster citizens’ knowledge and initiative. “institution” and “formation.” The former implies an When some area of public life isn’t working, we needn’t actor—someone instituted. The latter highlights the upshot— look for a central authority to solve things. Public officials something was formed. can find creative policy tools that broadly distribute author- Hayek suggests a light hand when it comes to govern- ity so individuals and communities can use their knowledge ing. If we know only the smallest fraction about individuals and preferences to plan for themselves. In The Road to Serf- and their associations, and if their unplanned interactions dom, Hayek offered a helpful binary—“planning for com- are generating such social benefits, we should show great petition” instead of “planning against competition.” This is care before meddling. I view this as the policy equivalent governing with energy and purpose, but also with humility. of the old saying, “Don’t speak unless you can improve the silence.” It is akin to the insightful formulation known as f The Road to Serfdom is a catalogue of the conse- Chesterton’s Fence: Never take down a fence until you are quences of experts consciously dominating indi- absolutely certain that you know why it was put up. I viduals, Hayek’s follow-up, The Counter-Revolution of As Hayek noted, if we believe that all valuable institu- Science (1952), describes the dangers of overlooking or dis- tions are the work of human planning, it’s a short step to regarding individuals. He was warning us against studying the view that we have complete power to refashion them. If “wholes,” namely big systems, to the exclusion of under- we built the machine, then there’s no harm in adjusting the standing their component parts. As Hayek noted, there is a knobs. Tinkering is just good engineering. major difference between observing individuals’ actions as I was once on my way to becoming this kind of engineer. if through a telescope and understanding what things mean I’d gone to graduate school for policy. I was taught how mon- to individuals on the ground. The “expert” central admin- etary and fiscal policy can change the economy. I collected istrator may have well-developed theories, massive data data and ran those fascinating regressions. I worked for a sets, and fascinating regressions, but these are often just the state legislature and Congress, where I learned to think in illusion of knowledge. terms of laws and regulations. I was developing what Hayek When politicians and policymakers lose sight of indi- called the “telescopic” view—comprehensive and from far viduals, and their countless motives and their interactions away. But all the while, even as I was being pulled along by with one another, we fail to grasp how complex and inter- the hubristic impulses of the aspiring policy leader and the twined lives are. We can miss that people create—without technocratic instructions from policy school, I was being fol- any direction at all—systems, associations, and traditions lowed around by countervailing lessons from the most for- that serve them well. It is easy to think that all of our social mative, most humbling experience of my career: In 2006, I structures were the product of advanced planning and con- ran for the Maryland House of Delegates. scious design, when in fact they are organic and adaptive. In campaigning, I knocked on over 10,000 doors. My The technocrat may dream of systems that are more ratio- district had farms, trailer parks, and public housing. It nal, more intelligible, and more efficient, but those who had middle-income townhouses and apartments, affluent understand the evolutionary nature of existing systems suburban neighborhoods where houses had huge yards, should also marvel at their natural wisdom, complexity, densely populated row houses on tight city streets. I met and robustness. government workers who played in cover bands in their I’ve found the differences between these worldviews spare time; entrepreneurs working at home in pajamas;

32 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 people taking care of sick family members. I met folks who of technocratic exuberance, and the genius of evolved social loved their local schools and the local library; three times I formations—things I had to stumble upon while attending was asked if I wanted to join the Knights of Columbus. bureaucratic meetings and canvassing for votes in remote I noticed that a surprisingly high number of people neighborhoods. He knew we can more readily trust indi- who had a “beware of dog” sign had no dog. I noticed older viduals, communities, and the associations they form than women disproportionately looked at my left hand to see if anything created in Washington. He saw we could lean on I had a wedding band. I learned to know what to expect philanthropy, nonprofits, and local governments instead of when I approached a house with an American flag and a immediately turning our eyes to Washington. He hoped we Semper Fi sticker on a car’s bumper. I was asked my views would choose leaders who appreciate the limits of their own on abortion, the death penalty, and guns. But just as often knowledge, the expanse of others’ wisdom, and the value I was asked about dredging, state policy on midwives, and of pluralism—leaders who possess a deep-seated desire to that new speed bump the county put on the road just out- elevate and activate their neighbors, who will act on their side the neighborhood. principles in the best interests of My experiences meeting so many country rather than simply acquir- different people, seeing so many differ- ing more and more authority. And ent situations, were absolutely invalu- If we know only the such figures can contribute to able. They taught me the dangers of smallest fraction about legislation that answers pressing zooming out, of abstraction. I learned individuals and their problems, as welfare reform did in how people used rules of thumb, tradi- associations, and if their 1996 and the Every Student Suc- tions, family, and voluntary associations unplanned interactions ceeds Act in 2015. Both explicitly to thrive. It was through retail politics, pushed authority down and out. not graduate school, that I learned the are generating such For me, the domestic-policy difference between an “institution” and social benefits, we reform that has best exempli- a “formation.” should show great care fied this approach in recent years To this day, when I hear aspir- before meddling. is “chartering,” the process that ing policymakers leaning heavily on I view this as the policy enabled charter schools to come empirical analyses, trusting in their about. The traditional policy own intellectual and moral powers to equivalent of the old approach to public education has solve every problem, and believing that saying, ‘Don’t speak been to have a single government human institutions need to be designed, unless you can improve body—the school district—own my response is simple: “Go knock on the silence.’ and operate all schools in an area. 10,000 doors.” In some cities, this meant that one set of central-office experts made entered public service thinking of myself as a “con- decisions related to hiring, contracts, purchasing, and much servative reformer.” What has remained constant over more for hundreds of schools. And in instances where that I time is my belief in markets, in an enduring moral urban district was failing, the typical response was to central- order, and in limits on government power. But what has ize and give more power to the state or federal government. shifted for me is where I put the emphasis in the term. I Chartering went in the other direction. It empowered used to prioritize big, swift policy changes, whether with a vast array of community-based organizations to create regard to schools, welfare, Social Security, or other domes- different types of public schools. It empowered families tic issues. I emphasized being a reformer. to choose from among them. It was a policy that devolved But I’ve come to appreciate the risks of trusting that far- authority. It appreciated the valuable differences among us. away government bodies know what reforms ought to be It allowed individuals and communities to plan for them- pushed, and how quickly. I increasingly emphasize the con- selves. It helped create in America’s cities high-performing, servative part of “conservative reformer”—understanding nimble, dynamic, responsive systems of schools. the indispensability of humility, prudence, gradual change, Government can be modest if politicians and policy- existing institutions, and the empowerment of others. I makers appreciate the limits of central agencies, the com- have remained constant in my basic understanding of good plexities of individuals’ lives, and the spontaneous order government, but I’ve become more conscious of the mind- around us. If public officials have as their North Star the set used to bring them to life. empowerment of others, then government leadership Hayek understood all this long before I did. He deduced can be meaningful, exhilarating, and inspiring. It can be and explained the seductions of state authority, the dangers deeply humble. ♦

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 33 Books&Arts The Battle of Pershing Park What the fight to build a World War I memorial near the White House reveals about the state of civic art and architecture

by Catesby Leigh

hese days M. Paul Friedberg trees and equipped, at its southeast cor- and to the east, postmodern mandarin is looking like one lucky guy. ner, with commemorative mahogany Robert Venturi’s forlorn Freedom Plaza A retired modernist land- granite slabs and a larger-than-life- (1980), which, aside from a few months scape architect in his late 80s, size statue of General John J. Persh- as a camping site for Occupy D.C. pro- The has only a few purportedly important ing, Friedberg’s largely sunken park testers in 2011-12, mainly serves as a projects to his credit, and his reputation features unattractive lighting fixtures skateboarder’s resort. rests largely on an innovative approach and a rather drab brownish hardscape. You may never have laid eyes on to playground design. A few years ago, A domed steel-and-clear-plastic kiosk, Pershing Park, especially in light of Congress redesignated his der- its lamentable condition. But this elict Pershing Park (1981), situ- is a precious chunk of real estate, ated just east of the White House occupying a strategic node on the and Treasury Department along nation’s most important avenue. It Pennsylvania Ave­nue, as a World is a fitting site for the long-overdue, War I memorial, authorizing the appropriately monumental com- park’s much-needed “enhance- memoration of a war that changed ment” with “ap­propriate sculp- the course of Western civilization— tural and other commemorative a war in which 4.7 million Ameri- elements, including landscaping.” cans served and over 116,000 were But it turns out the federal killed. So far, however, the World Commission of Fine Arts, which War I memorial episode mainly reviews such projects in the provides fresh evidence of the dis- nation’s capital, is determined to orientation and ineptitude of the retain the essence of Friedberg’s authorities overseeing develop- Pershing Park—especially quali- ments in Washington’s civic realm. ties associated with its now-empty And the wrangling over the memo- central pool and boxy, granite-clad where refreshments were once sold, rial offers a case study in the barriers the fountain, which has been out of action stands near the shallow pool, aban- nation’s cultural elites have placed in for over a decade—even if doing so doned. The park is situated on a trape- the way of clear thinking about the pur- stands in the way of the creation of an zoidal, 1.75-acre site along Pennsylvania poses as well as the aesthetics of public appropriate war memorial. Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets. art and architecture. So much for congressional intent. To the north lies the venerable Willard Elevated above the din of street traf- Hotel; to the west a handsome park ike Freedom Plaza, Pershing Park fic by grass berms, heavily screened by focused on an equestrian statue of Gen- L is a creation of the Pennsylvania eral William Tecumseh Sherman; to the Avenue Development Corporation. So Catesby Leigh, a research fellow of the south the White House Visitor Center, is a third problematic landscape to the National Civic Art Society, writes about housed within the vast classical pile that east, John Marshall Park (1982), a ver-

public art and architecture. is the Commerce Department building; dant yet remarkably desolate expanse STANDARD / THE WEEKLY HANNAH YOEST

34 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 Just east of the White House, views of Pershing Park today: Ugly tables, above, hunch near the empty pool, enclosed on two sides by granite steps and planters. At right, a skateboarder practices tricks near the statue of Gen. Pershing on the park’s east side. Below, the pool and graffitied fountain box, which once doubled as a shed. At left, the refreshment stand, long abandoned, with its glazing of discolored plastic.

whose terraces descend to Pennsylvania Avenue from C Street. From 1972 to 1996, the PADC—a brainchild of Daniel Patrick Moynihan—reshaped the pre- viously down-at-heel north side of the avenue facing the magnificent Federal Tr i angle complex and National Gallery of Art. Architecturally, the results ranged from the dismal modernism of the J. W. Marriott Hotel at National Place (1984) to the lively classicism of the hemicy- clical Market Square complex (1989). Market Square’s plaza, with its Navy Memorial, is easily the most successful public space the PADC created. The PADC campaign, in short, was a very mixed bag. But whereas Freedom Plaza confounds the layout of the ave- nue, which might be better off without it, Pershing Park occupies a block cre- ated by Peter Charles L’Enfant’s mas- terful plan of 1791 for the new capital.

TOP AND MIDDLE: HANNAH YOEST / THE WEEKLY STANDARD; BELOW: JOE WEISHAAR BELOW: STANDARD; / THE WEEKLY TOP AND MIDDLE: HANNAH YOEST (That plan is itself inlaid at large scale

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 35 The central feature of the proposed World War I memorial is this narrative allegory in bronze by sculptor Sabin Howard . . . on Freedom Plaza, which is bereft of the This unconventional concept has at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, surrealistically large architectural mod- fortunately undergone serious down- Frank Gaylord’s triangular formation els of the Capitol and White House as sizing. (The design team now includes of 19 soldiers at the Korean War Veter- well as the pair of flattened pylons fram- Philadelphia landscape architect David ans Memorial, and Raymond Kaskey’s ing a vista of the Treasury Department Rubin.) The grass mound is gone. reliefs depicting wartime scenes on the building’s south portico that Venturi What emerged instead is a stone wall, balustrades at the World War II Memo- intended. The vast plaza’s only verti- somewhat resembling an outdoor altar, rial. Howard’s figure work is superior to cal elements are a couple of flagpoles.) that serves as a monumental armature what we see in those memorials, and it is The Pershing Park block was once for Howard’s 38-figure bronze frieze— certainly preferable to Robert Winthrop occupied by residential and, later, com- now modeled in deep rather than low White’s muddled Pershing statue (1983), mercial buildings, demolished after its relief—portraying a soldier’s journey the focus of the existing memorial, acquisition by the federal government from home front through the torments which was designed by the prominent in 1928 to amplify views of the Com- of war and back again. The frieze runs modernist architect Wallace K. Harri- merce Department building, which was across the wall’s front. This sculpture son in consultation with Friedberg. completed four years later. Since then wall would replace Friedberg’s foun- the block has mostly served as a park, tain box on the pool’s western flank. he seven-member Commission though temporary federal office build- (The box once doubled as a Zamboni T of Fine Arts, chaired by National ings were erected there during World garage because the pool became an ice Gallery of Art director Earl A. Pow- War II. rink in winter.) This sculpture wall is ell III, approved the Weishaar-Howard The World War I Centennial Com- much broader than Friedberg’s box but sculpture-wall concept in May 2017, mission, which is charged with building is likewise set in steps descending to the requesting only “further study” of its the World War I memorial, held a com- pool. It is, in other words, embedded in breadth (which has since been consid- petition that yielded five more or less Friedberg’s landscape. Water streams erably reduced) and more information unpromising finalist designs in the sum- down the sides of the sculpture wall about the treatment of the architectural mer of 2015. In preparing for the last and is channeled into the pool, while structure itself and the steps flanking it. round, architect Joseph Weishaar, a new walkways running perpendicular At the same time, however, Fine Arts young Arkansas native, teamed up with to one another span the pool in front of emphasized “the fundamental impor- veteran New York City sculptor Sabin the wall. tance of the design’s experiential charac- Howard. In Weishaar’s winning entry, Howard’s sculptural design offers ter—including the visual, auditory, and announced in January 2016, Fried- not only an allegorical narrative that is tactile qualities of water—in making berg’s square pool would be replaced by very carefully thought out as a dynamic this park work successfully as a memo- a grass mound enclosed on three sides formal composition but also an excep- rial.” This qualified approval has turned by retaining walls bearing over 200 feet tionally competent rendition of the out, perhaps unwittingly but no less out- of narrative bas-relief and crowned by realist sculptural vernacular that, since rageously, to be a classic bait-and-switch three figures in the round—an artillery the 1980s, has given the nation’s capi- routine based on an arbitrary assessment

crew preparing to fire a cannon. tal Frederick Hart’s Three Servicemen of “experiential character.” Fine Arts SABIN HOWARD

36 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 . . . with 38 figures depicting a soldier’s path from home to the crucible of the battlefield and back home again. appears content to sink the Weishaar- setting merely to accommodate the Fine the memorial itself, devoid of an indis- Howard design because it considers Arts commission’s obsession with pre- pensable symbolic focus. The result retaining the “visual, auditory and tac- serving the existing pool landscape as would be not a World War I memorial tile [!] qualities” of Friedberg’s pool much as possible and its belated con- but a disjointed park that happens to more important than civic commemo- cern with the “perceived heaviness” of contain two memorials. (Fine Arts also ration. This is perverse. the integrated wall concept it approved has belatedly and unhelpfully suggested The Fine Arts commission’s wholly last year. (Never mind that the District that the kiosk, which is situated just east unjustified obstructionism poses a mor- of Columbia’s State Historic Preserva- of the pool, might serve as the site for a tal threat to the entire memorial project, tion Office has determined that the circular sculptural composition. This too which relies on private fundraising and integrated version of the wall would fit would be completely incompatible with was originally scheduled for completion into Friedberg’s landscape better than Howard’s design.) in time for the centennial of World War the freestanding version.) The location and orientation the I’s end, which falls in November. But not even the freestanding Centennial Commission has proposed The Centennial Commission has approach was enough for Fine Arts. for Howard’s relief seems to be the only already gone too far in its efforts to After its last meeting in May, it unctu- one that makes sense. On the other accommodate Fine Arts. It has nar- ously urged “an earnest reconsidera- hand, there is no question that the rowed the breadth of the sculpture wall tion of the wall, sculpture and fountain sculpture wall’s water feature and the to what Howard says is the absolute beyond what has been presented,” sug- walkways require careful study. And the minimum—56½ feet—whereby its gesting that the freestanding wall be cluster of flagpoles the Centennial Com- figures can be endowed with an accept- flipped to face west—away from the mission has proposed does not appear ably monumental scale of about 6½ feet pool. This recommendation is a pre- to be the best use of the kiosk site. The apiece. Far more problematically, the posterous bureaucratic tergiversation. kiosk might well be refurbished—start- Centennial Commission has abandoned Howard’s relief has been modeled with ing with the replacement of its discol- its original “integrated” wall concept the expectation that it would be elevated ored plastic glazing with the glass Fried- in favor of a “freestanding” option that just over three feet above the walkways, berg specified in his design—to serve reduces the wall to something like a so that visitors would approach it on a more propitiously this time around as stone-and-bronze billboard set not in level plane and gradually proceed from a refreshment stand as well as a visi- but in front of the steps. This would general views to particular aspects of the tor facility. allow an abundance of water to flow composition. The flip recommended into the pool from the flattened wall’s by Fine Arts would ruin this sequence: ine Arts, alas, isn’t the only prob- rear, thanks to the elimination of the One would step down to the sculpture F lem. In 2016, months after the U-shaped enclosure in back of the “inte- wall, and closer-range movement in Weishaar-Howard design prevailed in grated” wall that would have provided front of Howard’s relief would be con- the memorial competition, Pershing an overlook facing east. The “freestand- stricted. More importantly, this recom- Park was determined eligible for the ing” design would diminish the monu- mendation would leave the pool, the National Register of Historic Places in mental effect of the frieze’s architectural existing park’s central feature, and thus a report commissioned by the National

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 37 Park Service. This means the Centen- Sherman park, Friedberg’s landscape den and Associates, whose lush and col- nial Commission could face litigation presents an amorphous spectacle that is orful array of plantings extended right over the memorial, and a leading can- not terribly inviting. Long semicircular down and even into the pool, where didate for bringing suit would be the steel-mesh benches literally turn their lily pads once flourished. (Friedberg’s Washington-based Cultural Landscape backs to that street. He made no effort crape myrtles continue to add welcome Foundation, a 20-year-old organiza- whatsoever to create an axial relation- splashes of color amidst the prevailing tion founded and directed by Charles ship between the two parks, as L’Enfant gloom.) Such a landscape, sans berms, A. Birnbaum, a vocal opponent of the would not have failed to do. might have served nicely as a garden for Centennial Commission’s sculpture-wall Pershing Park’s emphasis of spatial a museum, conservatory or other well- concept. Birnbaum formulated guide- enclosure rather than openness to its endowed institution, where scrupulous lines for landscape preservation years urban setting is hardly conducive to a maintenance could be expected. This ago as coordinator of the NPS’s Cultural sense of security, and for many years the isn’t a realistic prospect for a city park Landscape Initiative. In 2012, his foun- park’s denizens have tended to be mar- in Washington, including one under dation joined the Preservation Alliance ginal characters. One might question NPS jurisdiction as Pershing Park is. of Minnesota in a successful suit to pre- the Fine Arts commission’s assertion The NPS isn’t exactly famous for vent demolition of Fried- quality maintenance of its berg’s Peavey Plaza in Min- D.C. parks that lie outside neapolis (1975), whose $10 the hallowed confines of the million restoration is now National Mall. underway. Birnbaum, also a journalist and visiting profes- erely restoring Fried­ sor at Columbia University, Mberg’s existing land- is an exceptionally able cul- scape, which would be costly, tural operator who, it should would in all likelihood sim- be noted, has gone to bat for ply inaugurate another cycle traditional as well as modern- of deterioration and obsoles- ist landscapes. cence. The most promising The NPS Pershing Park Rendering of architect Joe Weishaar’s freestanding wall concept, way to preserve the existing eligibility report simply with Sabin Howard’s frieze facing the shallow pool park to a significant degree regurgitates­ the defective is to incorporate a powerful logic that guided the Friedberg design. that the park’s problems are “the direct monument that can capture a much big- In an attempt to respond to the automo- result of inadequate maintenance.” This ger share of the many millions of tourists bile traffic on three sides of his park— is curiously reminiscent of the rational- who troop along Pennsylvania Avenue the fourth side, a stretch of Pennsyl- ization of the failure of Brutalist hous- each year. Such a flow might well make vania Avenue on the park’s northern ing projects in this country and Europe the park more inviting to the public at flank, is not heavily trafficked—Fried- as a simple matter of “inadequate main- large. A renovated kiosk refreshment berg ran his grass berms, bedecked with tenance.” No doubt the inadequacy has stand and the Belgian-block terrace, rows of honey locusts, along its east, been real in both cases, just as there can equipped with attractive seating, could south, and west perimeters. The south- be no doubt the problems have run a enhance the memorial’s allure, not least ern berm, the highest and longest of the whole lot deeper in both cases. for local office workers on lunch or cof- three, is particularly unfortunate, creat- Needless to say, the historic regis- fee breaks. The memorial’s $42 million ing an urban dead space for an entire ter eligibility report provides no per- price tag includes both renovation of the city block—directly across the street spective on these issues. It misses the park and an endowment for its future from the White House Visitor Center, elephant in the room—the anti-urban upkeep as part of the memorial. which receives tens of thousands of visi- impact of the berms, especially the Fine Arts, alas, would appear to be tors monthly. Only on the north side, southern one—along with notable deaf to such reasoning. Elizabeth K. where Friedberg housed willow oaks in details like the obviously cramped and Meyer, the commission’s outspoken a diagonally zig-zagging array of square inadequate space allowed for read- vice chair, is a conspicuous part of the granite planters running parallel to the ing the Pershing quotation extending problem. A professor of landscape archi- avenue, can his design be described as across the back of the slab that serves as tecture at the University of Virginia, she reasonably open for a downtown park. a backdrop to White’s statue. contributed to a 1999 primer on mod- The planters are abutted by steps lead- Pershing Park does appear to have ernist landscape preservation edited by ing down to the poolside terrace with exuded a measure of picturesque Birnbaum. Her scholarly pursuits have the kiosk, this terrace being agreeably charm in its early days thanks largely yielded essays with titles like “Slow paved in Belgian blocks arrayed in a to the alteration and supplementation Landscape: A New Erotics of Sustain- fish-scale pattern. But from its west- of Friedberg’s planting scheme by the ability.” Her online faculty profile com-

ern flank along 15th Street, facing the landscape designers Oehme, van Swe- mences thus: “Landscape architecture JOE WEISHAAR

38 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 is a socio-ecological spatial practice with like Frank Gehry’s ludicrous theme- include senators or representatives, and its own vocabularies and theories, yet park scheme for a Dwight D. Eisen- there can’t be much of a veterans’ lobby discourse about the designed landscape hower Memorial, with its humongous to support it when the last known vet- is hampered by reliance on interpreta- open-work stainless-steel billboard and eran of World War I died in 2011. Com- tions by those outside our field.” This kitschy sculpture. pletion of the World War I Memorial is precisely the mentality that, beyond It so happens Uncle Sam is footing has now been pushed back to 2021, and nurturing nonsensical productions like the bill for Gehry’s $150 million boon- continued resistance from Fine Arts the historic register eligibility report for doggle, which would never be built (not to speak of a historic preservation Pershing Park, produces pathologically if that weren’t the case. The Centen- lawsuit) could cause the project’s donor insular, self-regarding cliques that look nial Commission is in a very different support to dry up. for ways to impose their “theories and boat. Unlike the Eisenhower Memorial The Centennial Commission returns vocabularies” on the public whether Commission, its membership does not to Fine Arts on July 19. ♦ the public likes it or not. Historic pres- ervation is one such vehicle. It has not only been hijacked but weaponized B A by a modernist apparat since emerging & as a major cultural force in the wake of the unconscionable­ demolition of New Remedial Bergman York City’s majestic Pennsylvania Sta- tion half a century ago. On his centennial, introducing the great director Meyer, one of three modernist land- scape architects serving on the Fine to a new generation. by John Simon Arts commission (which is maybe three too many), outdid herself at the May hearing, lecturing the Centennial Com- mission and its designers in a manner more becoming a slightly unhinged schoolmarm than a professor at Mr. Jef- ferson’s university. She upbraided them for their “stubbornness” for adhering to a design concept she and her colleagues approved last year—even though the Centennial Commission has literally, and regrettably, taken a big chunk out of that concept to address the Fine Arts commission’s remarkably inane con- cerns. She declared that “arguing” about the sculpture wall’s breadth “is not the solution,” when it is Fine Arts that has repeatedly raised the issue. She called Ingmar Bergman (left) and his frequent cinematographer Sven Nykvist in the early 1980s the integrated wall “a massive intrusion into the Friedberg park,” even though ear the beginning of my author of books both autobiographi- monuments do tend to be massive and 1972 book Ingmar Berg­ cal and fictional, not to mention vari- this project is not about “the Friedberg man Directs, I wrote that ous articles and speeches. But neither park,” but rather creating an appropri- “Ingmar Berg­man is, quantity nor diversity matters as much ate war memorial in line with the park’s Nin my most carefully considered opin- as quality and originality, in which his statutory redesignation. Meyer went so ion, the greatest filmmaker the world works abound. far as to criticize Howard personally has seen so far.” Forty-six years later, Many of Berg­man’s films received for not being “as open creatively as you I stand by that judgment. Berg­man wide critical acclaim, and even his need to be to work in the public realm,” made about 50 feature films, as well as lesser achievements became objects of as if she had been a model of open- many television and radio programs. fascination and admiration during his mindedness during this sorry episode. He staged several operas and ballets, lifetime. Whole new modes of film- On the other hand, Meyer did manage and directed—and sometimes wrote— making derived from Bergman,­ and the to offer Howard some advice straight many theater productions. He was the vast number of commentators on his out of the depths of the swamp: Sit still works is very nearly equaled by those and pay attention so your project can John Simon is an author and influenced by him, whether or not

SUNSET BOULEVARD / CORBIS GETTYSUNSET BOULEVARD reach a happy review-board conclusion critic in New York. they know it. But the passage of time,

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 39 the evolution of tastes, and our cultural of the circus owner who gets involved and actresses of the Dramaten, Sweden’s emphasis on the new has meant that with the arrogant theater star and occa- Royal Dramatic Theater. They were today’s young American moviegoers sions a spectacular fight between the recurring cast members in his films, are unfamiliar with the Swedish film- men on the sand of the arena. The way appearing in roles in which they were maker’s work. Even true cinephiles their relationships play out establishes wonderfully diverse yet somehow also under the age of, say, 40 may never have the conflict between quasi-superior, affectingly familiar. They are as good- seen one of his pictures. So Berg­man’s condescending art and besieged but looking as they are talented, often con- centenary—he was born on July 14, resisting reality. veying story with searching expressions 1918—provides a good occasion to The film is a fine example of Berg­ that mutely speak for themselves. introduce his work to new generations man’s love for, or at least preoccupation Consider the 1963 film that would of viewers, with a brief overview of his with, women and their ways. It also eventually become Berg­man’s favorite, career and a few suggestions for films shows that he was not just an expert the only one that fulfilled everything he that could serve as points of entry. wanted to achieve, Winter Light. (In this Berg ­man’s films often revel in case, the title change—from The Com­ extremes—sometimes intimate, some- Bergman is unequaled municants in Swedish—was wise, since times harrowing—about almost-happy Lutheran ritual and practice are much families or love affairs that break up. in his filming of the less resonant in America.) The pale, Consider his early filmSummer Interlude human face; he uses exquisitely lighted wintry exteriors (a title more accurately rendered Sum­ and interiors, and the chilling implied merplay). In this 1951 movie, a ballerina, faces in eloquent, feelings, are all superbly shot by Sven Marie, is rehearsing for a production sometimes sublime, Nykvist, Ingmar’s final, and probably of Swan Lake when she receives an old greatest, cinematographer. diary of hers. Reading it, she recollects a close-ups to tell much This is one of Bergman­ ’s chamber summer she spent years earlier as a teen- of his stories. This films, with minimal cast. The wid- ager on a lovely island in the Stockholm owed pastor Tomas suffers from both archipelago. Henrik, her young lover is one reason why a bad flu and from personal coldness that summer, dives into shallow water conventional synopsis toward his parishioners, including and dies of a broken neck in Marie’s his loving mistress, the schoolteacher arms. Back in the present, Marie has a often doesn’t suffice Märta, whose solicitude merely irri- new lover, David, with whom she quar- tates him. Tomas is conflicted by his rels, but they make up and she dances with Bergman’s films. memories in viewing old photographs the lead in the ballet. For quite a while, of his dead wife and by his discovery of Berg­man called this film, with its medi- an old letter from Märta in which she tations on love and loss, his favorite. teller of complex stories but a great declared her boundless love for him. The English titles inflicted on Berg- stylist as well, able to bring psycho- He is unable to bring peace to a deeply man’s films for commercial purposes logical insight and highly telling detail depressed fisherman, Jonas, who com- sometimes distort and confuse. So A into the plot. mits suicide. Passion becomes The Passion of Anna, Equally important in Bergman­ ’s Tomas confronts Märta cruelly— even if it is more the passion of her oeuvre is the human face; he uses faces yet he still asks her to accompany him lover Andreas and the implied passion in eloquent, sometimes sublime, close- on the drive to another, fairly distant is more Christ-like than physical. In ups to tell much of the story. Thus in church where it is his duty to hold a America we got The Naked Night for what is called in English The Magician service again in the afternoon. On the what the British call Sawdust and Tin­ but in Swedish The Face, we get a plot way, they stop to tell Jonas’s pregnant sel and the Swedish something like The that largely concerns the importance of wife about his death and are impressed Clown’s Evening. This, from 1953, was mask or disguise versus bare reality— by her stalwartness. Before the service Berg ­man’s first true masterpiece. The their fraught interaction and troubled, at the afternoon church, the hunch- story contrasts the ways of the circus troubling coexistence. We also get faces backed sexton, Frövik, tells Tomas that with those of the theater, and contrasts in confrontation, in marvelously prob- he has realized from the Gospels that strength (the circus owner and earthy ing close-up. The wonder of how faces Christ’s greatest torture, the real pas- ringmaster) with subtlety (the snotty matter, often in mirrors, always reve- sion, was one he too has endured: that actor and grandiose theater director). latory of the inner being, truly carries of not being understood by anyone, At the center of the story are three the story. This is why, unlike with the including God. The greatest agony is women: the errant but loving wife of work of lesser filmmakers, conven- not being answered by man or God, the clown; the solid but unexciting tional synopsis often doesn’t suffice with the terrible understanding that no one wife of the circus owner, who won’t Berg­man’s films. has understood you. But God’s silence take him back after he leaves her; and Berg ­man’s work profited immensely must be endured. the flamboyant equestrienne mistress from his having at his disposal the actors The afternoon service is totally

40 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 In Summer Interlude (1951), Marie (Maj-Britt Nilsson) recalls a teenage love affair with Henrik (Birger Malmsten).

unattended and Tomas could skip problems shines through his work. Sec- musical A Little Night Music pays sin- it, but he doesn’t; he celebrates with ond, also evident is his respect for other cere but diminishing tribute. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, directors, such as Fellini and several I have also omitted discussions of the whole earth is full of His glory,” earlier Swedish ones, from whom he Persona, A Passion, and Scenes from a while Märta, kneeling in a pew, prays was not ashamed to learn. Finally, even Marriage, complex masterpieces requir- for their future shared happiness. though music is used very sparingly in ing elaborate analysis. And I have The close-ups of Ingrid Thulin as Berg ­man’s films, it is worth mention- bypassed films that I find less thrilling, Märta are among the most inspired ing that he loved classical music, from such as Hour of the Wolf, The Silence, ever put to film, thanks to the efforts Bach to Bartók and beyond, and its and Cries and Whispers, although even of the director, cinematographer, and influence can be detected in the way he those contain admirable passages. actress. The work is a moving tribute to directed—including his use of a sonata- Excellent video versions of many the faith of Bergman­ ’s stern Lutheran like form and various musical devices. of Berg­man’s movies—chiefly put out minister father, particularly so because The films I’ve described here by the Criterion Collection—are read- by that time the writer-director had should serve as a good entrée to Berg­ ily available for purchase. And any given up the God and religion with man’s work. I have concentrated on questions you may have about him are which he had so long struggled. less obvious films, though I have handily dealt with in Birgitta Steene’s Beyond his intense love of women unstinting admiration for the more magnificent, omniscientIngmar Berg­ and his unequaled filming of the face, popular ones: The Seventh Seal, Wild man: A Reference Guide. Filled with all it is worth making three further notes Strawberries (which should be The kinds of rewarding insight, it clocks in in passing. First, Berg­man’s identifica- Strawberry Patch), and that impeccable, at 1,150 pages, the sort of thing not elic- tion with every single one of his charac- profound comedy, Smiles of a Summer ited by most other filmmakers. Doesn’t

AF ARCHIVE / ALAMY ters and their distinctive psychological Night, to which the 1973 Sondheim that in itself make a statement? ♦

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 41 Hildyard­ is committed to following where the second body will take her, B&A but more often than not she reaches interesting dead ends. She interviews various people whose jobs involve Your Other Body nonhuman life—from a butcher to various scientists—and asks them A thought experiment in how we relate to the world. questions about their work and how by B. D. McClay they think about living organisms. These conversations often conclude with her recognizing that she started n her brief and rather notori- in the wrong place, as when she tries ous story “The Ones Who Walk The Second Body to pry from a researcher some insight Away from Omelas,” Ursula K. by Daisy Hildyard into genetics but instead is led to think Le Guin describes a beautiful, Fitzcarraldo, 118 pp., $18 about communication and imagination. Iflourishing city that depends for its Of another of her interviewees, Hild­ wealth and stability on the torture of can reasonably expect to do. Or maybe yard writes that “he spoke of learning as a child. Everyone who lives in Omelas not—after all, working in a factory mak- a process of realising his own mistakes.” understands this cost, and some, ing iPhones might not be my idea of a The same could be said of Hildyard’s­ unable to accept it, leave. dream career, but isn’t it putting food on overall method in The Second Body. “Omelas” is a useful fable for under- the table for the people who do it? Another way of understanding standing the ambient feeling of com- Thus “Omelas” says: You can indi- Hild­yard’s project is that she wants to plicity we all have from time to time vidually “walk away” or you can accept find some way of describing human when we look out at the bewildering that living in society comes with dirty actions and their effects that involves array of systems that (if we’re lucky) hands. Faced with the dizzying degree individuals but isn’t about them. She bring us convenience and prosperity of our interdependence, almost all of us reads books on animal behavior and but often bring others misery. Indeed, accept the second option. Still, some- tries to apply the terms and categories it’s not hard for me to rattle off a list of thing about the story, this morality of ethology to her friends. She also things that make my life slightly easier problem, bothers me. Why, of all the looks for patterns of behavior in lit- that make the lives of others substan- people who leave, have none of the ones erature. “When Hamlet, Macbeth and tially worse, right down to the com- who walked away from Omelas ever Lear die,” she notes dryly, “in spite of puter I’m typing on. I remember that made the decision to carry off the child? their nobility, they act like animals: around 2010, when I read about the sui- In her new nonfiction bookThe they repeat themselves increasingly cides taking place at factories making Second Body, Daisy Hild­yard, a novel- until they make funny sounds.” iPhones, I resolved that adopting new ist with a background in the history Hild­yard’s approach can sometimes technologies probably wasn’t worth of science, offers a fable of her own: lead to conclusions that feel a bit pre- the moral cost. But by 2012 I owned an Suppose everyone has two bodies, one cious. In 600 years, according to one of iPhone and a few years later a MacBook being the body of his or her individual her interviewees, people won’t really Air—because it was inconvenient not experience—this body, with its fingers, care if you were kind, if you helped to. So much for my high-mindedness. toes, interior life, and cheeseburger others, fell in love, achieved your Of course, if I insisted on writing consumption—and the other being the dreams or failed at them. The only everything on a typewriter—keeping a body formed by the first body’s global legacy you’ll leave that will really affect perfectly good machine out of a landfill interactions—the cows and the farmers them is whether or not you drove a car. and not sending more money to Apple that bring the cheeseburger, the work- What you did with that car will hardly than I already have—and conducting ers who make our clothes, the trees cut matter. This brings to mind an essay I all business through the post office, that down to make our buildings and paper. once read that stated: would inconvenience people and have “Every living thing,” she writes, “What will survive of us is love,” all manner of negative effects too. Per- wrote Philip Larkin. Wrong. What has two bodies these days—you are haps the only way fully to “walk away” will survive of us is plastic. flying into the atmosphere and back is to go off the grid and adopt some down to the ground right now, but you sort of zero-waste, zero-footprint life- can’t feel it. You breathe something in, Of course, when we look back 600 style. Yet even then what good would and what you breathe out is some- years, we are interested not just in the I have really done? I would have puri- thing else. . . . This second body is detritus but by the things people did. fied myself, which is perhaps all anyone your own literal and physical biologi- It is hard to imagine the same won’t be cal existence—it is a version of you. It is not a concept, it is your own body. . . . true 600 years in the future. Then again, B. D. McClay is a senior editor at Personally, I do not always find it easy as somebody who sometimes is haunted the Hedgehog Review. to believe that I have two bodies. by the idea of leaving in my wake a trail

42 / The Weekly Standard July 23, 2018 of plastic takeout containers, empty Hild­yard says, an act of global signifi- seem to be variations on “erase your- wine bottles, and angry chicken ghosts, cance, one would expect this to ripple self ”: Have one fewer child, or none; I can’t say I don’t get it. out in ways good as well as bad. don’t drive a car, or travel. But I won- It is interesting, too, that the per- der if we can think about the world as he real value of Hildyard’s­ second son in her book who deals most something we are all responsible for T body approach is in rendering directly with the animal world is a without simply exalting our own guilt; humans natural organisms by making butcher and not (for instance) an if we can accept interdependence with- us slightly uncanny. This is achieved animal trainer. Notably, pets and out believing it comes at the cost of in a variety of ways, perhaps most working animals are almost entirely striving for goodness. powerfully when Hildyard­ thinks absent from this book—someone Much like “Omelas,” The Second about the effect of a massive flood of recounts a dream of being a pet fox, Body pushes me to ask why we can her own home, imagining the only tell a story about how ways in which her house has human connection with each become something for water other and with the rest of the to fill and creatures to explore. world inevitably involves cru- When the water level falls suf- elty and exploitation; one in ficiently that she can move which moral ground can only back in, she finds the house be sought through individual is still not quite hers, in part purity. No one takes the child because the flood caused her to because it would mean the end consider the degree to which of Omelas, and ending Omelas her house wasn’t entirely her would introduce the people in own deliberate arrangement. that shining city to the idea of (She imagines the teaspoons guilt. No one who walks away in their drawers slowly being has the idea that perhaps an picked up by the water and Life-size statues made of debris by German artist HA Schult altogether different kind of city then pauses to note she has could be built. They simply never consciously bought a teaspoon.) and Hild­yard makes a reference to want to extract themselves. Even without something as cata- hamsters, but that’s it. Just as a mouse But of course, we don’t really have clysmic as a flood, this is still my own provokes me to see my home differ- the option of extracting ourselves. Even reaction when a living thing moves ently, so too does my dog, who doesn’t if you took up residence in a spaceship into my home uninvited. For a mouse, understand why a couch is a place to far away, the world would still be the nothing in my apartment is what it is sit but a coffee table isn’t. Might our world, and people would still be stuck to me, except the food; my books and relationships with the animals closest working with and developing interde- clothes and furniture are all just objects to us—ancient relationships of work, pendence. And while Hild­yard finds a to be used, lived in, or hidden behind. play, and companionship in which beautiful image in the extreme inter- The mouse doesn’t even really recog- humans and animals have adapted to dependence of bacteria, which become nize me, certainly not in the way that one another—offer some sort of path “fatally dependent on their neigh- it recognizes my dog. Hildyard’s­ sec- forward? It’s hard to say. But since Hild­ bours,” on the human level, it’s slightly ond body approach, by incorporating yard opens with an anecdote about car- harder to imagine what this might look everything human-caused that might ing for a sick, wild pigeon and makes like. (Not that we really understand have led a mouse into my apartment, clear that she wants to figure out how to what it looks like to bacteria either.) helps me see the ways in which we are have that sort of concrete relationship Hild­yard’s notion of the second parts of environments and ecosystems, with the whole world, pets do seem like body is a dramatic way of making big, not simply the managers of them or one path worth exploring. systemic problems concrete: Here’s parasitic on them. This is not a plea for a feel-good how you are involved, or might be On the other hand, Hild­yard’s sec- book, one that imagines that every indi- involved, in each thing happening in ond body often seems like a creation vidual pursuing his or her individual the world, a kind of environmental solely of our misdeeds and consump- fulfillment will somehow produce for Laplace’s demon. Perhaps, as she sug- tion, as if we are only interconnected the world a harmonious and successful gests, there is nothing that happens via the ways we harm each other. The whole without anyone ever planning that you aren’t a part of. But if we are unavoidable implication is that it would this end. The reason environmental to see how we all need each other, we be best if we each reduced our second problems tend to induce such despair need a story that goes further than talk- body to the smallest body possible— in conscientious people is precisely ing about how we harm each other. something at odds with the themes of because they don’t really bend much The idea of my second body is a useful connection that run throughout the for individual virtue, and because the provocation. But I wish it could have

ISA FOLTIN / GETTY ISA FOLTIN book. If putting a kettle on for tea is, as recommendations handed down often been more than that. ♦

July 23, 2018 The Weekly Standard / 43 NOT A PARODY

From TheHill.com, July 3, 2018

July 23, 2018