The Inconclusive Mr. Buckley [Teaser]

Know Your Enemy

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Matt and Sam gab about "The Incomparable Mr. Buckley," a new PBS documentary on William F. Buckley Jr., which features Matt Sitman (!) as a talking head — along with a rogue's gallery of KYE friends and former guests: Perlstein, Tanenhaus, Tait, Gage, Burns, the whole gang... What do we make of the doc? Is it a whitewash? Is it too credulous about the conservative movement? Does it "get" Buckley, the man? (Does anyone?) And what does Buckley have to do with Donald Trump? This was a lot of fun. Good ol' KYE classico.

Sources Cited:

Barak Goodman, "The Incomparable Mr. Buckley," PBS (2024)

Rick Perlstein, "An Implausible Mr. Buckley," American Prospect, April 17, 2024.

Alexander Chee, "Mr. and Mrs. B," Apology Magazine, Jan 1, 2014.

Ross Douthat, "'We're On Our Way Home Now, Duckie!'" Atlantic, Feb 2008

Nicholas Buccola, "The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America," Princeton U Press, Oct 2019.

Sam Adler-Bell, "The Conservative and the Murderer," New Republic, March 7, 2022

Previously on KYE:

Buckley vs. Vidal (2020)

Buckley for Mayor (w/ Sam Tanenhaus) (2021)

The Conservative and the Convict (w/ Sarah Weinman) (2022)

In Search of Anti-Semitism (w/ John Ganz) (2023)