Reading an article by Nick Catoggio, I had a memory. “Populism is pure us-and-them politics,” he wrote. I thought of Bill Bennett and Pat Buchanan. Do you remember this, by chance? We’re talking the mid-’90s.

Bennett gave an interview to The New Yorker. He was criticizing Buchanan for “flirting” with fascism. In the course of describing Buchanan’s ideology, Bennett said, “It’s a real us-and-them kind of thing.”

When the article came out, it had Bennett saying, “It’s a real S&M kind of thing.” Oops (but racy). The magazine had to run a correction.

While I’m on Memory Lane, do you remember this? John Roche once spoke of “Upper West Side Jacobins.” In a Jimmy Breslin column, that phrase came out as “Upper West Side jackal bins.”

Norman Podhoretz made great use of that. (And the phrase “jackal bins” is burned on my mind.)

• This was a rotten, stomach-turning thing: “California store owner, mother of 9, fatally shot over a Pride flag displayed in her shop.” (Article here.) As readers may know, I’m not crazy about the pride flag. For one thing, I think we have too much focus on sexual matters, and identity politics. For another, I’m not real big on pride. But when I read about the murder of this dear woman, Lauri Carleton, I wanted to put out like a thousand of the flags.

I know that some readers will understand me (and that others won’t).

• With your indulgence, I would like to paste three items, then make a comment — a general comment. Okay, here we go.

Item 1:

Item 2:

Item 3:

My general comment: The concept of ordered liberty is very important. Without the “ordered” part, there is no real liberty. Liberty becomes an illusion, a fraud. The phrase “law and order” is often abused. But, properly understood, law and order is golden, and crucial.

Yes, that is elementary — but the restatement of the elementary is a key part of public discussion . . .

• Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican presidential candidate, has been wading in conspiracy-theory waters. Talking about 9/11, he said, “I think it is legitimate to say how many police, how many federal agents, were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Maybe the answer is zero. It probably is zero for all I know, right?” He’s just asking questions, you see.

There are true believers — true believers in all sorts of conspiracy theories. (I know many such people.) Then there are people who are jes’ playin’, for political reasons. The true believers are pitiable, at one level. But the jes’-players — damnable.

• Kari Lake was talking to Steve Bannon (of course). On the subject of Donald Trump, she said, “He won in 2016.” (True.) “He won even bigger in 2020.” (False.) “All that January 6th was, was a staged riot to cover up the fact that they certified a fraudulent election.” Lake also described 1/6 as a “fedsurrection.”

Get it?

This woman was the Republican nominee for governor of Arizona in 2022. She has signaled that she will next run for the U.S. Senate. When parties nominate a candidate, they tell you who they are.

• The Ramaswamy stuff, concerning 9/11, made me think of an earlier era. Many, many Americans were led to believe that FDR engineered the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, for the purpose of getting the U.S. into the war, for the sake of international Jewry. “Franklin Delano Rosenfeld,” some called him.

Populism of this sort has deep roots, and it will never be plucked out altogether. Never.

• You may have seen this news story: “Trump vows massive new tariffs if elected, risking global economic war.” And the subheading: “Former president floats 10 percent tax on all foreign imports and calls for ‘ring around the collar’ of U.S. economy.”

As the article explains, he is being advised by a clutch of former Reaganites and free-marketeers — who are now doing the nationalist-populist thing. It makes you wonder: Have they had a genuine change of heart? Did they believe their former beliefs in the first place? (A funny sentence, but you know what I mean.) Is it a matter of being proximate to power, no matter what the season?

In the past, advocates of a free economy — and the open society generally — had to grapple with the Left. More and more, they have to grapple with the Right as well. I hope they do not tire.

• Here is a story that is very, very American — in its legal unfolding and its racial politics. See if you agree.

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A judge has ordered Starbucks to pay an additional $2.7 million in lost wages and tax damages to a former regional manager who was earlier awarded more than $25 million after alleging she and other white employees were unfairly punished following the high-profile arrests of two Black men at a store in 2018.

(For the full article, go here.)

That’s us, right?

• Speaking of us, or “us”: A headline: “Texas Woman Charged With Threatening to Kill Judge in Trump Election Case.” (Article here.) Another headline: “Trump supporters post names and addresses of Georgia grand jurors online.” (Article here.)

Gonna be a lot more of that. A lot more.

• Care for a little language? A colleague alerted me to this item:

True, true. In its strictest sense, “to decimate” means “to select by lot and kill every tenth man of.” (I have quoted Merriam-Webster.) It may also mean “to exact a tax of 10 percent from.” But, more liberally, it means “to reduce drastically especially in number” and “to cause great destruction or harm to.”

I don’t think etymology needs to rule everything. Otherwise, we’d pull our hair out and barely be able to speak.

On a related note, I am a great accepter of idioms, in all languages. “I could care less,” we Americans say — when we mean, “I just don’t give a darn.” Does the phrase make logical sense? Well, the point of idioms is . . . that they don’t (often). They are idiomatic.

End of my language sermon.

• Let’s have some sports. I just loved — loved — knowing this about Mickey Mantle. Has made me a bigger fan of his than I ever was.

Do you know Boo? Oh, my gosh. You’ll love him. This is, like, the most endearing video I ever saw.

But don’t let him fool you with his shtick: Boo Weekley is talented as all get-out. A fabulous athlete. Won three times on the PGA Tour. Beat the best of them. Won a boatload of money, in addition to his championships. Serious, serious talent.

And, as you have seen, a total delight.

• Thank you for joining me today, everyone. Something I saw on the street made me tweet this:

I would like to share a response:

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