Jay RosenJan 4, 2023

Semafor said today that "a critical mass of conservatives do not trust McCarthy to lead them..."

Conservatives. Is that what they are?

John Boehner's description of the same crowd in his memoir:

"What they're really interested in is chaos... They want to throw sand in the gears of the hated federal government until it fails."

Are the sowers of chaos properly called "conservatives?"

Is MAGA conservative?

Why do #journalists with a commitment to accuracy maintain this fiction?

#uspolitics

Show threadvolkrisJan 4, 2023

@jayrosen_nyu

I think you’ll find that in American politics, terms like conservative and liberal have drifted so far over the generations as to have largely lost meaning.

Even just talking to self-described conservatives you’ll hear vastly different political ideas.

That’s just how the vernacular changes over time.

Show threadJay RosenJan 4, 2023
@volkris When I come upon a phrase that is essentially meaningless, I remove it from my writing. What do you do, sir?
Show threadScot Close
@jayrosen_nyu @volkris Thomas Zimmer refers to them as the reactionary right. But he's a historian, not a journalist.
Jan 4, 2023 at 2:08pmWeb