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Notes -
Mystery Grove was the first name that came to my head too tbh. IM1776 is also good. Justin Lee at First Things. (Not to be confused with Justin Lee the gay activist.) Frontier Magazine. The American Mind?
What I would argue contra your perception is that MAGA is like the Bible, it speaks to both the high and the low. There's a version with ornamented deep explications and theory and there's a simpler hellfire and brimstone that speaks to the base. And actually, in a way, the simpler version is more important and it's often the intellectuals who don't understand because the beautiful elaborations are actually less powerful than the simple truth. As implausible as it sounds to many, I really think Trump is speaking at a deeper register of truth when he talks about hating communism than when the intellectuals dress it up with all sorts of abstractions and theory.
But if you want the elaborations, let's see.... A lot of the best stuff remains on twitter, you kind of have to just follow a few accounts and see how they play with and argue with the same ideas over time. Off the top of my head I would put a word in for Malmesbury Man, Covfefe Anon, Ben Braddock (of IM-1776), Bronze Age Pervert (yes, unironically), Jeff Clark, Jeremy Carl, Lomez... I don't know I could recommend all sorts of others but I don't think a normal man can really take too much of this stuff without starting to roll his eyes. For instance I like an account by the name of Kaiser Lohengramm (after a character from a TV Show called Legend of the Galactic Heroes) who writes decent longform but even I can only take so much of the character schtick before I start to tire.
I can console myself that a lot of the Founders wrote their best works anonymously as well and I don't think there's any shame in admitting that's the form we're still stuck with.
I do think a lot of the best content on Trump remains locked up in this form. I think there's a lack of "serious" writing about Trump. I've thought about addressing it myself, but I think there are too many people writing slop about Trump already to throw my hat in the ring. Maybe I could be cajoled into it. But if you're willing to tolerate this anonworld contentslop, the best actually comes from an obscure forum now locked behind a $20 paywall called "My Posting Career". Oldheads remember.
If you want more serious writers, let's see... Michael Anton is good, Victor Davis Hanson is a serious historian, Newt Gingrich has some decent content on Trump actually. (His best stuff is when he's been interviewed in his capacity as a historian about Trump, his books fall somewhat in the political memoir camp genre.)
There's another part of me that just wants to say actually watch Trump speeches and Trump interviews instead of the headlines and the press. Trump is much smarter than people give him credit for and I believe he's outperformed all his detractors and critics and everyone who imagines that they've conceived of a better way. I feel the same way about Steven Miller, who is usually coaching his arguments in terms that sound extremely partisan as red meat for the base -- but he's at least intelligent and you may as well drink from the firehose instead of reaching for the diet coke. But then sometimes I think that precisely because they're speaking at that register that their arguments and ideas bounce off most of the smart set and intellectually-minded as something less than they really are.
Thank you for such a thoughtful response!
I am familiar with Anton and Davis Hanson. Unfortunately I cannot say I'm particularly impressed with the two; Anton's Flight 93 essay sounded like a histrionic rhetorical piece, he called Taiwan a "Cold War relic" that is not in America's interest to defend while ignoring entirely the TSMC and Taiwan being a test case for America's deterrence and maritime capability, and he didn't sound particularly knowledgeable in his interview with Eli Lake. Hanson was a serious historian in the 80s and 90s, but shifted to full-time punditry around the 00s, which is why his field has seemingly moved past him.
Will take a look at the other people you mention.
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