The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Michelle Malkin vs. ‘Conservatism Inc.’

Posted on | March 7, 2020 | 1 Comment

 

Last year, Michelle Malkin gave a speech at CPAC in which she denounced the open-borders faction within the Republican Party, specifically making mention of “the ghost of John McCain.” A few months ago, I became aware that Michelle Malkin had offended some people by defending Nick Fuentes, who had been accused of anti-Semitism, but I somehow missed the story of what happened next. Her enemies somehow managed to get her dumped by the Young America’s Foundation, which had been sponsoring her campus appearances for 17 years.

Keep in mind that I’ve known Malkin for nearly 20 years, having first interviewed her in 2002 when she published her first book, Invasion: How America Still Welcomes Terrorists Criminals & Other Foreign Menaces to Our Shores. In 2006-2007, Malkin rallied the conservative blogosphere to stop John McCain’s amnesty proposals, and in 2013, she again led the online opposition to the “Gang of Eight” amnesty plan. My point is that it has never been any secret how serious Malkin is about immigration, and no one who knows her would accuse her of racism or anti-Semitism. She is a woman of color, her parents were immigrants, and her husband is Jewish, for crying out loud. Just incidentally, Malkin also (a) created Hot Air and Twitchy, two of the most popular conservative sites on the web, (b) was instrumental in forming the Tea Party movement in 2009, and (c) has done me more than a few favors over the years, including rallying support against Brett Kimberlin in 2012. If there is a fight, you want Malkin on your side, and when she decided to defend Nick Fuentes, my advice to anyone who asked would have been, “Get out of her way. She knows what she’s doing.”

If she’s willing to vouch for this kid and his “Groyper” crew, I would assume she’s investigated enough to satisfy herself that they’re not actually Nazis, and that she has undertaken to advise them against drifting any further toward the fringe. I don’t know the background, nor do I know what happened at YAF, but like I said, when Michelle Malkin decides it’s time to fight, you don’t want to be on the other side.

So, during CPAC this year, Malkin organized a get-together of the “Groypers,” calling it AFPAC (America’s First Political Action Conference), and she gave a speech that included this:

A year ago this week, I had no idea who most of you were and most of you had no idea who I was and that’s okay–even though we have been largely, unbeknownst to each other, fighting many of the same battles against many of the same enemies, against the same fearful odds on the same rigged playing field. I did not know you then, but I did stand on that stage at CPAC in 2019 calling out the feckless organizers for barring real conservatives, immigration hawks, free thinkers and various dissidents from the conference. Meanwhile, the simulators and the saboteurs and the speech squelchers and the Soros smear merchants — like that, Jared Holt [Boos.] weasel that you chased out [of CPAC] — and of course the highest bidding sponsors who were all enjoying free rein back then in the front seats, in the VIP sections, and backstage. On stage last year, I mentioned our friends, Gavin McInnes and Laura Loomer and others who had been banned from darkening the CPAC door. But of course in a larger sense, I was talking about all of you here now and so many others who’ve been forgotten in the past. Who’ve been relegated to our motley Valley of the Banned in one way or another, either by CPAC or ConInc.
It’s an intergenerational club. Nick Fuentes, Patrick Casey, VDARE and Peter Brimelow. Faith Goldy, Milo, Frank Gaffney, Pamela Geller, Robert Stacy McCain, Dinesh D’Souza, Ann Coulter, John Derbyshire, Jason Richwine, Darren Beattie, and on and on and on.
A fury had welled up inside me a year ago that had long been simmering. There was a time when CPAC did at least give the grassroots nationalists a seat at the table. And I’ll never forget this, because this was a very pivotal moment for me in my young career. 17 years ago when I had the privilege of teaming up with the original Godmother of America First, the Catholic author, lawyer and social conservative, mom of six and grandmother of 16, Phyllis Schlafly. . . .

Thanks for the shout-out, ma’am. Being in the Valley of the Banned is a tremendous honor, and I’m sorry I missed your event.

 




 

Category: Immigration, Michelle Malkin

Comments

One Response to “Michelle Malkin vs. ‘Conservatism Inc.’”

  1. Michelle Malkin: Mother of Groypers - The Bulwark
    March 9th, 2020 @ 5:23 am

    […] immigration policy, which at some point, began to tickle Malkin’s ears. So, too, has she adopted the anti-“Conservative Inc.” language, even though her entire career had been—if we are being honest—a product of the actual […]