Pat Buchanan was a white supremacist back in the days before it was cool for a President to proclaim them “good people.” His wild and crazy nativist speech at the 1992 Republican Convention prompted the great Molly Ivins to famously write: “It was better in the original German.” Trump’s Nuremberg rally routines are Buchanan’s 1992 speech on Adderall, playing on repeat at venues in red state venues near you.
Buchanan was a regular on The McLaughlin Group, the ‘80s era prototype for cable shout-fests like Crossfire. In other words, the model for the shows Jon Stewart said were ruining America. The moderator, John McLaughlin, was an ex-priest who ruled over a right wing panel with token liberals like Eleanor Clift. McLaughlin, for whom the word curmudgeon was coined, shouted out topics, lobbed questions to younger relics like Fred (“Beatle”) Barnes, Morton Kondracke and Buchanan, and reduced everything to a poll of one word or yes or no answers at the end of the topic.
Very much the model for the Democratic debates this year.
Buchanan has not changed in 27 years. He and Trump both frequently use “invasion” rhetoric to describe immigration, with Buchanan calling it “ a legitimate description of what is transpiring on the Southern border.”
Now PBS has decided to revive the McLaughlin Group, with Buchanan as a panelist. The reviews are in:
The ADL: Especially as white supremacist violence surges, it is irresponsible and dangerous to give Pat Buchanan a public platform for his repugnant #antiSemitic, white supremacist and homophobic views.
PBS responded:
“Public media provides a big tent for the expression of many points of view. The McLaughlin Group has been a long-time staple on public TV. It’s a program series viewers appreciate for its wide range of views and perspectives, as well as the lively debate on issues that takes place among its panelists
PBS’s ”big tent,” with "many points of view,” has room for racism, nativism, anti-Semitism and justification of mass murder whipped up by hate. I expect to read that other panelists are expected to include Ben Shapiro and Mike Cernovich.
Where have you gone, Alistair Cooke, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.