The 1916 Easter Rising is generally portrayed as harebrained, inept, suicidal, but it wasnt; it eventually yielded independent Ireland, making Ireland and the USA the only two countries ever to win independence from Great Britain by force of arms. Michael, what are three books youd recommend to the audience? He was also standing up to the media, standing up to Fauci, in a way that Donald Trump wasnt standing up to Dr. Fauci. And I think that is what puts him so far ahead of a Brian Kemp or Greg Abbott in these past couple of years, and why hes polling as high as he is. New York: Sentinel Books, 2019. Artificial Intelligence, Fifth Generation Warfare, Intermarium as a Viable Model for White Revival, My Father Left Me Ireland: An American Sons Search for Home, When this was first published a couple of years ago, reviewers had two distinct takes about the book. Dougherty doesnt explain why, but probably Mum was just too bloody-minded, bossy you know,American. working hard to register new people. The Ezra Klein show is produced by Emefa Agawu, Kristin Lin, Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Rog Karma. Is it important to hire Catholic intellectuals at Catholic universities? And so, yeah, theres definitely a feeling that and this is, I think, actually a broader problem of conservative parties in the West, is that as establishment liberals consolidate control over a lot of other institutions in national life, whether its universities, media as they set the tone more and more in corporate life, theres a sense in which all Republican political action or all actions by conservative governments are against the grain of society and are always felt as rough and almost feel violent, whereas Democratic actions are smoothed over because the institutions accept them and internalize and metabolize them much more easily. It reminds me of something that journalist Molly Ball said about Trump in 2016, which I always thought was very smart, where she said, all the other candidates that get up on the stage and Im paraphrasing her here, of course and they say voters are angry, and I understand that. The party didnt bother putting forward a policy platform before the 2020 election or articulating an alternative policy vision in 2022. Now they are not. And I just dont see any other figure uniting the whole of the Republican Party and presenting opportunities for expansion the way I do in DeSantis. The prescribed prayers of the new Mass tended never even to refer to that structure anymore as an altar but as the Lords table. Anyone can read what you share. In 2022, his candidates dont do well. michael brendan dougherty fordham. But yeah, the thing is is that Trumps success is not transferable to anyone else in the Republican Party. Here is perhaps MBDs most salient observation: fatherhood is critical to national welfare, not just for wonkish reasons like improved educational opportunities and reduced crime, but because it perpetuates a people. Irish people are ignoramuses about their own history, he tells us. Today, it is celebrated in thriving parishes, full of young families. You can listen to our whole conversation by following The Ezra Klein Show on Apple, Spotify, Google or wherever you get your podcasts. Its not the embodiment of a coherent philosophy. 2023 Commonweal Magazine. I was struck by how similar Doughertys experience is to that of a Latin American living in the United Statesnot only my own experience, but also that of friends from other places south of the border. But I feel like it didnt used to be the way parties processed defeat. He wanted to run the machine hot, which in a way aligns a little bit with where I think the center left has been drifting intellectually, too. In the years after Pope Benedict liberalized the old rite, parishes began to bring back the mystical tones of Gregorian chant, the sacred polyphony written by long-dead composers like Orlando Lassus and Thomas Tallis as well as contemporary composers like Nicholas Wilton and David Hughes. Illness eventually forced Doughertys mother to leave a good job at IBM, and she lived the rest of her life in dependent precarity. So people will credit him with the hot economy. So the story were telling about the 2022 election is that Republicans underperformed. Mike DeWine won Ohio by more than DeSantis won Florida. Let me offer a contrary thought to that that goes back to your very first answer to me, which is that the Republican Party is not the Democratic Party. And so Democrats got what they wanted out of the deal or liberal-leaning voters on immigration got what they wanted out of the deal amnesty and Republicans were left holding the bag. He wants to find out where and how the rot set in, and he finds it in the Emerald Isle, where abortion and sex perversion are legal, even encouraged, and where only a minority baptize their children and attend weekly Mass. There was a big demand for that among people, and it showed in Florida tourism, both nationally and from internationally, that a lot of people wanted this, at least temporarily. So I invited him on the show for an inside-the-tent conversation on the chaotic state of the current G.O.P. So thats one narrative. Well, listen, Im at National Review, and I think the predominant answer among my colleagues would be Trump was an electoral anchor on Republicans for the third election in a row. They believed their revolution had been stalled in 1968 when Pope Paul VI issued Humanae Vitae, affirming the churchs opposition to artificial contraception, and then put it on ice in 1978 with the election of Pope John Paul II. The child of an Irish man and an Irish-American woman who split up before he was born, Michael Brendan Dougherty grew up with an acute sense of absence. And Republicans can misplay this to look like theyre persecuting a man who is not in control of himself. AEI's Timothy. Theres a little bit of roll clearing, too, which I will acknowledge. He considers its instigators less noble than the tragic revolutionaries of the Rising. I have my own, more practical, interpretation of this episode. If you look at who theyve nominated for president. Dougherty rightly perceives that this groundlessness doesnt just injure individuals personal sense of place and purposeit also ravages the broader national identity. Now as a father of three, I aim to communicate that uniquely American vision of the good life to my children. But its the sort of thing that I think actually worked for him politically, is that Im going to highlight to you how much I care about an issue that isnt being talked about by saying the most outrageous thing imaginable about it. Maggie Haberman's book shows how Donald Trumps New York experience set the context for his odd and sometimes dangerous presidential style. And I am that way for the reason that I think he has brought in voters into the Republican coalition in Florida and nationally. But he always comes back to the central theme of modern anomie and loss of tradition. Shouldnt he be exposing his progeny to American culture and history as much as that of Korean, if not more so? So he was at the forefront of a couple of major trends in thinking about economics. I think thats right. I think people believe that he was part of why Republicans didnt succeed more. What did seem different about DeSantis was his level of identifying that the out-group to those policies, the antagonist to them, was somewhere in between the public health establishment, the C.D.C., Anthony Fauci and the media the liberal media. Most essentially, they need to hurl a baseball, not a sliotar; to recognize the blues, not the bodhran; and to cherish barbecue, not bangers and mash. To protect the unity of the church, he abolished the permissions Pope Benedict XVI gave us in 2007 to celebrate a liturgy, the heart of which remains unchanged since the seventh century. But that is what it is. The nebulousness of it all reminded me of a hilarious review Norman Mailer gave to a Morley Callaghan memoir about 1920s expatriates in Paris. It does not the R.N.C. I believe the practice of the new Mass forms people to a new faith: To become truly Christian, one must cease to be Christian at all. An American Sons Search for Home That had never been done before by a Republican and it made a huge connection with pro-lifers for whom that kind of description is part of their political cause and culture for decades. He doesnt orate. Dougherty argues that, after the Good Friday Agreement and the rise of the Celtic Tiger, Ireland itself caved into the temptation of commodifying Irishness. (He is not a big fan of Riverdance, Angelas Ashes, or the cult of Guinness.). 2023 Counter-Currents Publishing, Ltd. But the big question is, like, what kind of investigations or oversight are Republicans going to launch, and whether theyre substantive or whether they are show trials, and what they produce? The last person fluent in Irish died in 1998. This is partly because Dougherty has a compact subject at hand to criticize Ireland even though hes really talking about degeneracy in Europe and the West in general. Its a very profound work, and its not like some treacly Christian apologetic like from Max Lucado. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. [LAUGHS]. Terrible things can happen, right? He believes it consists of something more concrete than a Lockean social contract. Mr. Dougherty recounts how, on the way to becoming a father himself, he reconnected with his mothers Irish nationalism the rebel songs, the Irish language, and the history of his fathers homeland.The book shows the appeal of political nationalism to young people who feel marooned at the end of history. Michael Brendan Dougherty provides an introduction. My children cannot return to it; it is not their religious formation. But what does he believe? Please email comments to [emailprotected] and join the conversation on our Facebook page. For our nation to survive, we need fathers, be they of Irish, Korean, or Indian extraction, to do the same. Kevin McCarthy is if you could imagine [LAUGHS] a cat herder but all the cats are on fire. Pope Benedict had temporarily allowed us to begin repairing the damage. And his rare childhood visits to his father. It took me a month to adapt to its rhythm. And hundreds of thousands of people moved into Florida in the last couple of years. As a Paraguayan immigrant growing up in the pristine suburbs of Kansas, I sometimes found my own cultural assumptions at odds with those of my high-school classmates. This book covers a lot of subjects: fatherhood and its absence; motherhood, unnoticed and undervalued; consumerism; the Catholic faith; poetry and politics; authenticity; revolution; the meaning of sacrifice. And a ton of voters will connect with that if theyre expressed in that way. This is disgusting. What did you hear in what Trump said that was the same or different or telling? It merely explained such terms as dindu and normie. Well, sir, this was too much for the Dublin apparatchiks, who denounced it as neo-Nazi propaganda. He writes: Ive been told all my life that I didnt need my father. Michael Brendan Dougherty, a senior writer at National Review and a visiting fellow for the social, cultural and constitutional studies division at the American Enterprise Institute, is the. But nationally, I think Republican leaders just dont know where they are. And so hes seen as a potential viable successor or bridge from Trump to the future. Furthermore, he serves as a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. A freshman religious studies major would know that revising all the vocal and physical aspects of a ceremony and changing the rationale for it constitutes a true change of religion. And I think theyll do that. However, I got to say I am on the team put all your eggs in the DeSantis basket. You see it just as badly in the French and dont even start in about the Germans. But it is a different party. So I want to note something in that answer, which is that, very quickly, Kevin McCarthy vanished into complete nothingness at the center of it. What challenges stand in the way? Ive seen her work relatively friendly crowds and not do all that well. One answer is she exulted in being an unmarried mother. But he will, in a way, have the most institutional power of any Republican coming out of this election. I mean, its literally this gilded ballroom that he announces to his court, literally to the people who live in and around Donald Trumps life since he became president. The theme of our conversation is that there is nothing in the center, that the Republican Party is kind of doughnut hole, where the outer edge determines everything and theres literally a vacuum in the middle a vacuum of authority. But the Vatican Council had called for a revision of every aspect of the central act of worship, so the altar rails, tabernacles and baldachins were torn up in countless parishes. Whose lead does it follow? The American Ideas Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, D.C. 2022 The American Conservative, a publication of The American Ideas Institute. Raised by his single mother, he yearned for a father figure who would love him, encourage him, and impart to him all the passions and life lessons needed to become a man. Michael Brendan Dougherty is a senior writer at the National Review. The 2024 Senate map it is so much worse for Democrats than the 2022 map was. Like a relative or think tanker." / Twitter @michaelbd (Which arguably defeats the whole purpose of Ireland as a nation.) Apart from demonstrating MBDs remarkable proclivity for polished prose, the book offers a profound reflection on the connection between fatherhood and national identity. I am indebted to him for the many sacrifices he made on my behalf, and the focused, intentional efforts he made to communicate to me masculinity, Christianity, and patriotism. Become a member and enjoy the very best from The American Conservative in print & digital. Dougherty doesnt want us to know. (See my discussion of the movie and the book here.) [2] But this idea that theres nobody to call on the Republican side. The prayers of the traditional Mass emphasized that the priest was re-presenting the same sacrifice Christ made at Calvary, one that propitiated Gods wrath at sin and reconciled humanity to God. So he seemed more vulnerable than maybe a Greg Abbott. My Father Left Me Irelandis a social document disguised as a memoir. Sentinel, $24, 240 pp. And so he used that. Who is he? My friend, a patriotic American himself, had to agree. The only thing is, though, is that people have been talking about this idea of realignment for a long time. Who were you, anyway? Dougherty asks his father. It dissolved the social bonds that hold together a community, and that make up a home. Yeah, and I want to come back to that because that is, I think, a really interesting dynamic. And what was so funny was on Fox News, they didnt even show the whole speech live. Tim Scott sort of has this appeal. He is not known as a champion of any theological vision, traditional or modern. Dougherty doesnt actually name the location; hes very skimpy with proper names. He had deeper reach with Puerto Rican voters, with Cuban voters than anticipated as well. His mum, a fiery and headstrong young American woman, went solo backpacking through Europe in the 1970s. Hes not necessarily a turnoff to them. She had been working for Toshiba, but Toshiba terminated her for being an unmarried mother. Back then, conservative Catholics called people who sought it out schismatics and Rad Trads.. Thats from the Florida G.O.P. Obviously, Mums marital misfire is the biggest plot point in the Dougherty narrative. A child ensued. And then he goes back to the gated community and maybe holds a fundraiser in the gated community and then tries to get to work. But you still have, in the Republican Party today, and going back all the way to the 1920s, you still have a class of individual business owners, people that Romney spoke to where he said, you built this. When the new faith was young, after the council, it expressed itself in tearing up the statues, the ceremonies and religious devotions that existed before. They are maybe politically activated and organized by Fox News or talk radio or the websites they go to, or just the chatter around the break room over copies of the New York Post. One thing I find a little bit odd about the modern Republican Party is how personality-driven its strategic discussions appear to be. If you don't see your comment, please be patient. Megyn Kelly is joined by Jim Geraghty and Michael Brendan Dougherty of National Review, to discuss Don Lemon's sexist comments about women and Nikki Haley being "past their prime," his pattern of misogynistic outbursts, Chris Cuomo saying he wanted to "kill everyone and himself" after he got fired, the network's downward spiral, President Biden's latest racially-insensitive comment, trans . Ireland, a country not much larger than Connecticut, and once the most impregnably conservative Christian country on earth, has fallen to the same ideological infection that felled the rest of the West. This is The Ezra Klein Show.. I despair for the most part- of the Irish tribe in our own time. [LAUGHS]. He writes at a John Le Carr level of caginess. And its been harder and harder to figure out where exactly that is. But it was obviously highly motivating for Democrats to get out there and punish a party that, in effect, was able to change the status quo through its judicial appointments even while its out of power in the two elected branches. How to find ones self and ones calling? Obviously, Mums marital misfire is the biggest plot point in the Dougherty narrative. Twenty-five years ago I used to spend a lot of time in Vancouver, BC. There is a Republican and I think global conservative appeal, of course, to say, hey, were going to show you our principles are not just white supremacy, because, look, we have a person of color as our candidate. If they do, they will create or reveal more division in the church. By that I mean rule by the Democratic Party, not by democracy. The tension between the culture of ones ethnic identity and the culture of ones adopted land is an especially relevant one in the United States, where almost 15 percent of the population are immigrants. I mean, I think they were hoping there would be a red tsunami and the Fed would have solved the problem by the time Republicans showed up in January. And like I said, I think thats because he became this national anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine mandate figure in the party. They lose the presidency in 2020. Circumstances intervened, and instead, she became the wife of Ernests youngest son, Dr. Gregory Hemingway. I wonder now listening to that if some of this is geographic, because I just, in California, always heard much more about Texas. And what exactly would a healthy and reasonable American nationalism look like, given that the United States is now in many ways more like an empire than a nation? When this was first published a couple of years ago, reviewers had two distinct takes about the book. We will never knowingly harvest your data beyond the cookies November 12, 2016. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. Dougherty's embrace of his Irish heritage arose in part from the hollowness of the American culture he grew up in near New York City. Among a lot of people, I think a lot of people are . Casey Chalkwrites about religion and culture issues forThe American Conservativeand is a contributing editor for theNew Oxford Review. Mum and Dad met up at long intervals, most memorably when little Michael was five years old and they visited County Clare and the Aran Islands. But that job can be done in very different ways, and always is by different speakers. And its like that particular bridge over the rushing waters that Republican leader after leader keeps falling into. Michael Brendan Dougherty is a senior writer at National Review and a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Mum and Dad met up at long intervals, most memorably when little Michael was five years old and they visited County Clare and the Aran Islands. Housing costs and rent are at extortion levels- large amounts sold to international investors. He doesnt give speeches. Let the failures cascade so the dam may break. Good salaries,benefits and an upper middle class lifestyle from a job in a US tech company or Pharma giant will buy you a lot of support. I think its going to be another clown rodeo where 30 people are pouring out of a minibus competing for attention. Outside of Florida, where it actually seems like the Republican Party has, since the Jeb Bush era, consciously tried to take itself seriously as an organization that identifies potential new blocks of voters and tests strategies for appealing to them and adding them to their coalition. Do Republicans actually have to have views on these issues anymore to be successful within their own party? And Donald Trump has tried to shift blame onto that lie. I assume it's someone I know. I dont know how painful they are willing to make our religious life. IBM was a little more progressive. Bush lost to Bill Clinton, Republicans were still the party for college graduates in the United States. Michael completed his education at Fordham University, with his major in History passing out in 2003. I think everyone else is a little bit too uncreative and probably keeps too much of the old council. And further I mean, one of the reasons DeSantis did so well is his fund-raising in the party was beyond everyone elses, even Donald Trumps, in the last year. I mean, that gives him an actual lane of substance that I dont think hes going to communicate on through white papers and deep analyses of pricing decisions in the economy. demonstration. And weve even seen a shift during the last four or five years. And he is an author and a senior writer at National Review Online. But it is questionable whether Republicans even understand the politics of this. In the summer of 2001, I drove up to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to find what we called the traditional Latin Mass, the form of Roman Catholic worship that stretched back centuries and was last authorized in 1962, before the Second Vatican Council changed everything.