There has been a desultory undercurrent of commentary here regarding Tucker Carlson’s championing of Darryl Cooper’s historical revisionism—especially regarding WW2.
Mark, you write: "In a sense you could say that the world wars have never ended and that the assault on mankind of these three ideological cousins and their various clones continues. In that sense, Elon Musk is correct to speak of a struggle to preserve Western Civilization."
Interestingly, of all the protagonists on the world stage promoting and opposing one or another version of the three ideological cousins, is it not Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation with the clearest view and policies of how to preserve Western Civilization?
Putin, in opposing Western liberalism, the "ideological cousin" of fascism and communism, is hearkening back to Dostoevsky's critique of liberalism and to Orthodox Christianity, so there are definitely Russian roots to his position. Bolshevism, by contrast, is a foreign import.
I finally read the auto generated transcript of the Tucker / Cooper interview after coming across another article denouncing Tucker. I don’t usually listen to podcasts due to time constraints. In the YouTube app you can often see transcripts, but not on the web page version. My head hurts after reading it.
The Interview meandered all over, and I missed the anti Semitic part. Cooper Seems more a book smart person that has read a lot, and Tucker let him talk unfiltered.
I’m not sure Cooper’s point on Jim Jones’ was. My take is Jim Jones was a highly charismatic person intertwined with the Democratic power structure in SF, and got paranoid and had a cult that moved and committed suicide in Guyana.
Churchill was Churchill and I agree with Mark on need to go back to ww1 and the aftermath. I don’t think the holocaust was mentioned in the interview. My view on the Shoah is what an incredibly evil event done by the most advanced scientific nation in Europe at the time, with typical German efficiency. I do believe it has been weaponized against any critics of Israel. And the antisemitism in the Roosevelt administration is often ignored.
By the time I gave up there had been no mention of the Holocaust, per se. I gave up on it for reasons similar to yours. One thing he made a point of that I thought was simply not correct was he maintained that a lot of the killing on the Eastern Front was because the Germans weren't prepared for the large numbers of POWs and rounded up civilians. I believe that's one of his claims that has led to people calling him a Nazi apologist, and I don't accept that. Systematic brutality was deployed on the Eastern Front beginning in Poland, so what happened beginning two years later in the USSR was not simple unpreparedness. I don't believe Cooper is a holocaust denier exactly, but he seems to be a war crime minimizer.
Thanks for the analysis on the Tucker/Cooper interview. I like Tucker a lot but I do think he lets his enthusiasm for certain topics and causes get out of hand. He’s not great at nuance and he platforms his guests rather than interviews them. That’s fine if your goal is simply to provide an outlet for certain people and views, and I’m no fan of the ‘gotcha’ style of interviewing, but if you don’t challenge your guest, especially on controversial points, you leave yourself open to criticism that you endorse those views, which is what happened to Carlson with Cooper.
I prefer Rogan as an interviewer for that reason because he does push back, although I sometimes wish his podcasts were shorter or edited to remove occasional dull bit.
For an amazing interview with no dull bits, I can highly recommend this gem from Modern Wisdom with Eric Weinstein. It’s 3.5 hours so it took me a couple of days to get through it but it’s so good I’m listening to it again already! It covers politics - especially Democrats politics, AI, and a range of other topics. Fascinating! https://youtu.be/PYRYXhU4kxM
While I really enjoy your posts, Mr. Wauck, I’m disappointed by this one with regards to Darryl Cooper. Unlike you, I listened to the whole podcast, not turning it off because of parts I didn’t like. I was not familiar with Mr. Cooper, and was fascinated by his approach to history. Right now I’m listening to his deep dive series on the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (any who would take the time to listen to it, in the first ten minutes of part 1, would be convinced Mr. Cooper is not anti-Jewish (I say anti-Jewish, as Palestinians and Arabs are certainly more Semitic than Ashkenazi Jews). I listened yesterday to his lecture on the parallels between Nietzsche and Dostoevsky—fascinating! The smears against Cooper and Carlson have to do with Cooper calling Churchill a villain. Pat Buchanan inferred as much in his “Hitler, Churchill, and the Unnecessary War.” The Zman yesterday noted that Mr. Cooper (again if one takes time to listen to his very deep and long podcasts) would note that he is no fan of Hitler at all. As to his views on the roots of WWII, I’ll have to listen again, but I didn’t find them wanting, especially relative to Pat Buchanan’s research. The problem, and I think Mr Cooper pointed this out, one has to be careful with WWII historical revisionism (I prefer the word “corrections,” or maybe even better “additional perspectives”) that if one challenges the WWII myths we’ve grown up with, be fed year after year, movie after movie, and accept without critical thinking or analysis, then that person is automatically accused of being a Hitler lover and/or Holocaust denier. I wish I could be around (I won’t be) when the next generation of historians, who will research and write their own histories of WWII after the greatest generation and baby boomers (of which I am one) are long dead. I would imagine and hope they are more balanced than most of the histories and myths we’ve been feed over the years since the war.
Other than this quibble, I really do enjoy your analyses, Mr. Wauck and know my cost of subscription is worth it!
Argh!
Another article denouncing Tucker at Powerline! It’s now at 5 posts.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/09/the-case-of-tucker-carlson.php
And no posts about Tucker Live Event that has had Vivek, RFK, as guests. Priorities!
If you have a chance to attend Tucker Live, do so, he has different guests in each city:
https://next-prod.tuckercarlson.com/events
And #7 post by Ed Driscoll!
https://instapundit.com/671240/#disqus_thread
Mark, you write: "In a sense you could say that the world wars have never ended and that the assault on mankind of these three ideological cousins and their various clones continues. In that sense, Elon Musk is correct to speak of a struggle to preserve Western Civilization."
Interestingly, of all the protagonists on the world stage promoting and opposing one or another version of the three ideological cousins, is it not Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation with the clearest view and policies of how to preserve Western Civilization?
Talk about cognitive dissonance.
Putin, in opposing Western liberalism, the "ideological cousin" of fascism and communism, is hearkening back to Dostoevsky's critique of liberalism and to Orthodox Christianity, so there are definitely Russian roots to his position. Bolshevism, by contrast, is a foreign import.
I finally read the auto generated transcript of the Tucker / Cooper interview after coming across another article denouncing Tucker. I don’t usually listen to podcasts due to time constraints. In the YouTube app you can often see transcripts, but not on the web page version. My head hurts after reading it.
The Interview meandered all over, and I missed the anti Semitic part. Cooper Seems more a book smart person that has read a lot, and Tucker let him talk unfiltered.
I’m not sure Cooper’s point on Jim Jones’ was. My take is Jim Jones was a highly charismatic person intertwined with the Democratic power structure in SF, and got paranoid and had a cult that moved and committed suicide in Guyana.
Churchill was Churchill and I agree with Mark on need to go back to ww1 and the aftermath. I don’t think the holocaust was mentioned in the interview. My view on the Shoah is what an incredibly evil event done by the most advanced scientific nation in Europe at the time, with typical German efficiency. I do believe it has been weaponized against any critics of Israel. And the antisemitism in the Roosevelt administration is often ignored.
By the time I gave up there had been no mention of the Holocaust, per se. I gave up on it for reasons similar to yours. One thing he made a point of that I thought was simply not correct was he maintained that a lot of the killing on the Eastern Front was because the Germans weren't prepared for the large numbers of POWs and rounded up civilians. I believe that's one of his claims that has led to people calling him a Nazi apologist, and I don't accept that. Systematic brutality was deployed on the Eastern Front beginning in Poland, so what happened beginning two years later in the USSR was not simple unpreparedness. I don't believe Cooper is a holocaust denier exactly, but he seems to be a war crime minimizer.
Agree on the systemic brutality.
Your post mentioning the amount of orphans, 20% of all kids in Poland was eye opening.
https://meaninginhistory.substack.com/p/the-end-of-self-delusion?
Thanks for the analysis on the Tucker/Cooper interview. I like Tucker a lot but I do think he lets his enthusiasm for certain topics and causes get out of hand. He’s not great at nuance and he platforms his guests rather than interviews them. That’s fine if your goal is simply to provide an outlet for certain people and views, and I’m no fan of the ‘gotcha’ style of interviewing, but if you don’t challenge your guest, especially on controversial points, you leave yourself open to criticism that you endorse those views, which is what happened to Carlson with Cooper.
I prefer Rogan as an interviewer for that reason because he does push back, although I sometimes wish his podcasts were shorter or edited to remove occasional dull bit.
For an amazing interview with no dull bits, I can highly recommend this gem from Modern Wisdom with Eric Weinstein. It’s 3.5 hours so it took me a couple of days to get through it but it’s so good I’m listening to it again already! It covers politics - especially Democrats politics, AI, and a range of other topics. Fascinating! https://youtu.be/PYRYXhU4kxM
Great synopsis, thank you.
While I really enjoy your posts, Mr. Wauck, I’m disappointed by this one with regards to Darryl Cooper. Unlike you, I listened to the whole podcast, not turning it off because of parts I didn’t like. I was not familiar with Mr. Cooper, and was fascinated by his approach to history. Right now I’m listening to his deep dive series on the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (any who would take the time to listen to it, in the first ten minutes of part 1, would be convinced Mr. Cooper is not anti-Jewish (I say anti-Jewish, as Palestinians and Arabs are certainly more Semitic than Ashkenazi Jews). I listened yesterday to his lecture on the parallels between Nietzsche and Dostoevsky—fascinating! The smears against Cooper and Carlson have to do with Cooper calling Churchill a villain. Pat Buchanan inferred as much in his “Hitler, Churchill, and the Unnecessary War.” The Zman yesterday noted that Mr. Cooper (again if one takes time to listen to his very deep and long podcasts) would note that he is no fan of Hitler at all. As to his views on the roots of WWII, I’ll have to listen again, but I didn’t find them wanting, especially relative to Pat Buchanan’s research. The problem, and I think Mr Cooper pointed this out, one has to be careful with WWII historical revisionism (I prefer the word “corrections,” or maybe even better “additional perspectives”) that if one challenges the WWII myths we’ve grown up with, be fed year after year, movie after movie, and accept without critical thinking or analysis, then that person is automatically accused of being a Hitler lover and/or Holocaust denier. I wish I could be around (I won’t be) when the next generation of historians, who will research and write their own histories of WWII after the greatest generation and baby boomers (of which I am one) are long dead. I would imagine and hope they are more balanced than most of the histories and myths we’ve been feed over the years since the war.
Other than this quibble, I really do enjoy your analyses, Mr. Wauck and know my cost of subscription is worth it!
This article, while focusing on fascism and communism, also gets into the relationship of both to the winner of WW2, liberal progressivism:
https://amgreatness.com/2024/09/07/nazis-marxists-and-the-history-of-ideas/
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/us-intel-undercuts-dojs-foreign-interference-claim-used-smear-conservative-pundits
And censor them.
Soon as they were accused of being unwilling accessories YouTube started demonetizing and deplatforming them.