Yeah, sure, William F. Buckley caused Donald Trump — but so did a lot of us | Opinion

In a new PBS documentary on William F. Buckley, one of the founders of the conservative movement, the liberal government broadcaster smears the writer and intellectual with Jan. 6.

As the Media Research Center’s Brent Baker wrote on X: “PBS’s American Masters on William F. Buckley Jr, who died in 2008, ‘The Incomparable Mr. Buckley,’ ended by blaming him for Jan. 6.” He notes that the documentary quotes a commentator, played over footage of the Capitol insurrection: “What people, particularly in the Trump years, have come to realize more clearly is that there always was a dark side to the conservative movement, that it got a lot of its energy from a sense by many white Americans that the country was changing in ways they didn’t like. Buckley understood that it was part of his role to keep a lid on the dark energies that fueled the conservative movement, but not to repress them entirely, became it was those kind of resentments that he was drawing on that gave conservatism its power as a movement.’”

I don’t think that’s fair to Buckley, who stood for the very elitism that Donald Trump and his followers so hate. But PBS can get away with this calumny against the founder of National Review because there is a tiny — and banal — kernel of truth there.

Every movement has a dark side. The George Floyd riots of 2020 did $1-2 billion in damage, injured hundreds and killed more than a dozen across 20 states, but it is the justness of Black Lives Matter’s cause that gives it power today, not the violence that heralded its birth. That is also true of the conservatism of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

So yes, in some small way, the dark side of the movement Buckley birthed can be blamed for Jan. 6, but there is a lot of blame to go around for the perfect storm of insanity that has given us our current conspiracy-addled political moment.

Here are five ways that the liberal elitists, experts and media types have pushed the right into totally losing its collective mind and descending into the conspiracy swamps awash in misinformation and Trump idolatry:

• False scientific certainty and putting political concerns above science during COVID-19 shattered conservatives’ trust in experts. The two big instances that stand out during the Trump administration were claims that the lab leak theory was false and the flip-flop on social distancing that allowed the Black Lives Matter protests to go forward when other gatherings were condemned as reckless.

• Real government conspiracies, wrongdoing and needless secrecy have given room for many to doubt the official story that comes out of Washington press conferences and the elite media. Two examples from recent decades that resonate on the right are Waco and Ruby Ridge, where the official stories and what came out years later didn’t match. The Biden administration is still clinging to the last few secrets related to the granddaddy of American conspiracy theories, the JFK assassination.

• Instances where the experts put partisanship over facts while broad swathes of the press didn’t ask enough questions before parroting the official line. In the 2020 election, The New York Post raised questions about then-candidate Joe Biden’s son’s ties to Ukraine and China based on files found on a laptop provided by the owner of a Delaware computer repair shop, who said President Biden’s son Hunter left it there. Dozens of former intelligence officials signed a letter that alleged the laptop information was Russian disinformation. The press reported their allegations as if they were fact, and social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter either restricted access to The Post’s reporting or labeled it as questionable when it all turned out to be true. Too little was made of the fact that of the 50 intelligence officials who signed the letter, most served in the Obama administration.

• Epic lies from Democrats have been used to justify the fact-free style of politics practiced by Trump. One of the biggest — and most consequential for millions of Americans — was President Barack Obama’s false claim that “If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance,” during the Obamacare debate.

• The final way that political leaders have paved the way for Trumpism is by disregarding constitutional guide rails when it is convenient. Obama said he was prevented by the Constitution from rewriting immigration laws without Congress to allow children brought to the United States by parents who’d broken our immigration laws to stay in the United States. When Congress wouldn’t act, he did it anyway. When Congress wouldn’t fund Trump’s border wall, Trump did it anyway. When Congress wouldn’t forgive student loans, Biden did it anyway until the Supreme Court slapped him down — and still he’s doing it in dribs and drabs. Today, to most partisans on both sides, the Constitution stands for exactly as much as you can get away with.

So yes, in some small way, William F. Buckley is responsible for what Trump hath wrought. But if that’s the case, there are a lot more of us who should look in the mirror too – among members of the press, among our more traditional leaders and among our expert class. They too paved the way for Trump.

David Mastio, a former editor and columnist for USA Today, is a regional editor for The Center Square and a regular Star Opinion correspondent. Follow him on X: @DavidMastio or email him at dmastio1@yahoo.com