The Far-Right Algorithm: Anti-Churchill, Anti-West
Historian Lord Andrew Roberts on why many right-wing podcasters now believe the wrong side won the Second World War, and the rise of algorithmically driven pseudo-historians. Plus: Trump is looking for an off-ramp from his war in Iran, and Gore Vidal’s novel Burr.
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Show Notes
On this week’s episode of “The David Frum Show,” The Atlantic’s David Frum opens with his thoughts on President Trump’s recent comments that appear to show a desire to back away from his war in Iran. David argues that Trump is comfortable as a “wartime” president as long as the enemy is American Democrats, and then he compares the president’s rhetoric about Iran with his rhetoric about his fellow Americans.
Then, David is joined by the historian and journalist Lord Andrew Roberts to discuss why right-wing podcasters seem so fixated on insisting that Winston Churchill was the villain of the Second World War. Frum and Lord Roberts discuss the origins of pseudo-historians and why they appeal so much to the American right.
Finally, David ends the episode with a discussion of the novel “Burr,” by Gore Vidal, and the relationship between art and morality.
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