To call it Persuasion right-wing is disingenuous at best. To be leftist is not to be liberal. Yascha is trying to do what Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. did after World War II, which is to hold the liberal center. Leftists in California are forcing professors to incorporate DEI into every discipline. Leftists are trying to force everyone to write DEI statements despite the precedent of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. Loyalty oaths and forced statements are anathema to liberals, but heartwarming to Fascists.

Most of all, you deliberately ignore the central arguments of this excellent and perspicacious essay. Melenchon is indistinguishable from Chavez. He is an authoritarian and hardened antisemite. The leftist coalition in France has stifled moderation and ability while elevating extremism.

The hard right and the hard left are anti-liberal. They use identical tactics, such as the suppression of the liberty of one’s conscience and the right to speak freely. If sticking your head out of the ideological echo chamber causes you to panic, then you need to ask yourself if you are in the Melenchon/Chavez camp or with those who wish to restore the post-war liberal consensus.