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What is going on with the right? Why are they so mad at each other? What accounts for their apparent malaise? Why are they arguing about the price of burritos? Is anyone qualified to replace Ross Douthat at the NY Times? How is Reihan Salam’s Manhattan Institute gearing up to combat Mayor Zohran Mamdani? Will it work? And why is Chris Rufo suddenly so worried about the far-right fever swamp, which he did so much to cultivate? 

Matt and Sam check in with their favorite enemies — and find them wanting.

Sources:

Ezra Klein interview with Chris Rufo, New York Times, June 30, 2026

Rufo & Lomez, “Trump Won…Now the Online Right Is Falling Apart,” BlazeTV, Jul 28, 2026

Eliza Shapiro & Nicholas Fandos, “Can This Man Stop the Mamdani Agenda? Reihan Salam Loves New York. He Loves the Free Market. And He’s Very Worried,” New York Times, July 29, 2026

Sohrab Ahmari, “Trump Was the Never the One,” UnHerd, Mar 19, 2026.

Natalie Allison & Isaac Arnsdorf, “Trump Privately Tells Donors to Back Vance While Publicly Keeping 2028 Open,” Washington Post, Aug 6, 2026

Dan Adler, “Tucker Carlson Threw Down the Post-MAGA Gauntlet. Can He Actually Build a Movement?” Vanity Fair, Aug 6, 2026

Amos Barshad, “Tucker Carlson: ‘I’ll I Have Is the Power to Talk and Be Heard,’” Columbia Journalism Review, July 1, 2026

Brendan Rascius, “MTG and Tucker Carlson Announce New ‘Movement’ in Photo Packed with MAGA Renegades,” The Independent, Aug 1, 2026

Russ Buettner, “Trump Crypto Took $100 Million From a Businessman With Red Flags,” NYTimes, Aug 9, 2026

Christopher Hitchens & Christopher Caldwell, eds., Left Hooks, Right Crosses: A Decade of Political Writing (2002)

Reihan Salam & Ross Douthat, Grand New Party: How Republicans can Win the Working Class and Save The American Dream (2008)