and so i'm going to ask you a question before we leave since we are at the russell kirk center, i do have a comment about russell. in an interview i think you gave, you said nice things about him. at the end, i'd like to hear how you found him and what you thought about about his writing, whatever else you can remember. >> well, i first read russell kirk's work in college, and it just immediately resonated with me on a gut level. as i think often times certain works can when you meet a kindred spirit through the printed word. and one of my favorite quotes is that he said he found himself a conservative once i began to reflect on such concerns. [laughter] and i can relate to that very deeply. i think because of my upbringing and -- [inaudible] many of these things were imparted to me by, i think, wendell berry said at one point by osmosis. there's these cultural traditions that we take in often times on a spiritual or a subconscious level before they even become if fully clear in our heads. but then as i began to read russell kirk and he began to express those thoughts verbally or on t

probably would have considered myself a classical liberal, mark belcher, made me a conservative, russell kirks particular aggressive of takedown of the enlightenment of moral disorder, an important thing and formed my intellectual curiosity for the past couple decades at least. >> >> >> we have referred to a couple times. and not the political sense too. not prone to fly off the handle, it is practical minded. that is what they had in their minds. it is run by a stuffy old white guy and the conversation here, dramatically changed and the bizarre looking glass world version that went by anti-capitalist, to invoke in wartime fred smith, he had a theory of many years that the left wing turn of big business had to do with the self-esteem of individual inference writ large, that they had brought into the long cultural narrative, they felt the need maybe not explicitly, progressive virtue signaling. is that part of the problem? >> making the case that the notion that conservatives and republicans have gone hand-in-hand has almost entirely a myth, has its foundations in the great crash of 1929 when

libertarians and classic liberals like freedman traditionalist conservatives like russell kirk. anti-communist cold warriorss and national security conservatives, disillusioned men and women on the left own as neoconservatism. and the religious right or as we now say social conservatives. buckley junior and ronald reagan were ecumenical leaders. sustaining this alliance because the theoretical instructor that came to be known as fusionism. that is a fusing or merging of the competing perspectives of therg libertarians. although with never without its critics and is and has political action proved to be considerable success. it taught libertarians andha traditionalists that they needed each other. an unmerited conservatism must not become sectarian or doctrinaire. from a historical perspective conservatism as a modus, held up pretty well during the cold war era. and for a time thereafter. about five years ago the alliance and its institutional manifestation inside the beltway came under blistering attack from the populist national eruption as it came to be called associated with

libertarians and classical liberals like hayak ask prideman, traditional conservatives like russell kirkmmunist cold warriors and national security conservatives, disif luigss men women of the left known as neilow conservatives, and the religious right, or as we now say, social conservatives. william f. buck he jr. and ronald reagan were its great ecumenical leaders. sustaining this alliance was a theoretical construct or modus avendy that came to be known as fusionism, that is a fusing or merging of the competing perspectives of the libertarianses and traditionalists. never without its critics, fusionism as a formula for political action proved to be a considerable success. it taught lib be tareans and traditionalists they needed each other, and that american conservatism must not become sectarian or doctrinaire. from a historical perspective, fusionism held up pretty well during the cold war era, and for a time thereafter. what five years ago the fusionist alliance and its institutional manifestations inside the beltway, came under blistering attack, from the populist nationalist erupt

among these were russell kirk ann a tear who in particular is a takedown of the enlightenment and the moral disorder upon the western civilization that is a very important thing and that formed intellectual curiosity for the past couple of decades at least. >> coming off of that, we've had a big narrative change we've referred to a couple of times in the idea business and corporate america is an inherently conservative institution between big c and small c and not overtly political sense but sort of temperamentally conservative which is not prone to fly off the handle on the new ideas and straightforward and practical minded and yes that is still the narrative a lot of americans have every corporation is run by a an old white guy and there's no new ideas. yet as the book shows, it's dramatically changed and we have the sort of bizarre looking glass of the companies in the world led by anti-company businessmen and to invoke. he's had a theory that it had to do with the self-esteem of business people at large that they bought into the narrative of the capitalism so they felt the need ma

read a few things that changed my perspective and made me a conservative and emergency these were russell kirkand alice mcen tier, and mcintyre in particular i think his aggressive takedown of the enlightenment and the moral disorder that the enlightenment unleashed upon western civilization i think is very important thing and it's sort of formed my intellectual curiosity for the past couple decades at least. >> and coming off of that, we have had a big sort of narrative change in american history. we have already referred to a couple of times the idea that business, especially big business' and corporate america is an inherently conservative institution. a big c and small c not in overtly political sense but sort of tempermentally conservative which is not prone to fly off the happen and adopt crazy new ideas that is straightforward and practical minded, yet -- and that's still the narrative i think lot of americans have in their mind, that every corporation is run by a stuffy old white guy in a suit and there's no new ideas and no diversity, yet as the book shows and as our conversations her

you look at russell kirks, the conservative mind. you real bill buckley's books.nnect. you read ronald reagan's speeches. margaret thatcher's speeches. there is no correlation between those ideas and those ideologies and actually this sort of bizarre house of mirrors where you've got twisted and distorted images of what being a republican means in 2021. no relation at all, philip bump. and here you have again, people who didn't you'd to be conservatives. people who are conservatives. liz cheney. mitt romney, who are now being considered insufficiently loyal to a failed president and a failed reality tv show host. and they're getting drummed out of the party because they don't embrace the personality cult that's completely twisted, warped, and disordered conservative thinking inside the republican party. >> there's a fascinating bit of research that came out, and essentially, they did polling and asked the republican party activists who they thought they were more conservative and showed them a pair of senators. they were able to compile this ranking of who the mos

and learn from ronald reagan and actually grow up reading conservative books and reading what russell kirkare not conservative. >> the family members and colleagues of fallen officer brian sicknick were on capitol hill yesterday, pleading with republican senators to support a commission to investigate the attack of the capitol. gladys sicknick, officer sicknick's mother, spoke with reporters about those meetings. >> does it anger you, mrs. sicknick, to hear senators who do not sport this commission and what emotions do you feel when you're confronted with that? >> this is why i'm here today. usually i stay in the background and i just couldn't stay quiet anymore. >> you sent a letter to the gop to meet with them, did you call it a slap in the face or? >> yes, i did. because they put their lives on the line. >> what are you hoping will be on their mind when they vote on this commission? >> the country. this was to uphold the constitution and right now, i don't think they're doing it. >> as plainspoken as it gets. here's congresswoman val demings. do not claim to support the police and then