In the mid 1980s, I met Mike Potemra in grad school. Later, we would be colleagues at National Review. He told someone, back when we met, “We both worship at the Church of McLaughlin.” He meant that he and I watched The McLaughlin Group, religiously. A lot of us political junkies did. Maybe we all did — especially on the right (because The McLaughlin Group was conservative-tilted).

I have a specific memory of the Group — one I have related before, in particular circumstances. Bob Novak was explaining why many on the right had a problem with Jack Kemp. After he finished, Mort Kondracke said, “He’s not a hater, is what you’re saying.”

Boy, did I burn. I seethed at what Mort had said. And the reason was: He was right, pretty much. People like me wanted Kemp to hate — hate the other side — more than he did. We wanted him to show more passion, more bite, against our enemies (or perceived enemies).

I thought of this when reading a news article in the Salt Lake Tribune. Spencer Cox is the governor in Utah, a Republican. The Republicans had a convention last Saturday. I will quote from the article:

The atmosphere inside the convention hall was decidedly anti-Spencer Cox as delegates booed him when he took the stage.

“I love you guys,” Cox said, trying to lighten the mood.

“We don’t love you,” one delegate yelled back before Cox moved forward with his address.

“Maybe you’re booing me because you hate that I signed the largest tax cut in Utah history. Maybe you hate that I signed constitutional carry into law. Maybe you hate that we ended CRT, DEI, and ESG,” Cox said. “Or maybe you hate that I don’t hate enough.”

I wish to relate another story. Recent. About a month ago, I attended a chamber concert that included Derrick Inouye, who is an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. This put me in mind of the late senator Daniel Inouye, the Hawaii Democrat. I hated him — or at least was anti-him. Why?

He chaired the Iran-Contra committee: the committee investigating that scandal. I hated anything that jeopardized President Reagan. So I was all for Ollie North, Admiral Poindexter, and the rest of them. Inouye was on the Other Side. The Dark Side.

These days, I see a larger picture. The Iran-Contra affair deserved investigation. And Inouye was a bona fide war hero — who lost an arm fighting the Nazis in Italy. That story is incredibly stirring (told here, in Inouye’s Wikipedia entry).

(In college, I interned for a senator who almost lost an arm — who lost the use of an arm — fighting the Nazis in Italy: Bob Dole, the Kansas Republican.)

As long as I’m in a confessional mood, I will tell you something else: It used to bother me, slightly, that Bill Buckley did not hate enough (as I saw it). (Doesn’t he understand that his buddy John Kenneth Galbraith would turn us all into serfs?!) I understand Bill better now, in multifarious ways. I wish I could tell him. (Maybe I’ll get the chance.)

There are people who deserve the highest contempt, and outright, unyielding opposition. My list is long, heaven knows. Maybe I could start with Putin, Xi, Kim, the mullahs, and Hamas. But my point is — well, maybe I could put it this way: We should make sure our hatred is well spent.

Can you stand another story? This one is on the light side (sort of). I had a dear friend in Michigan who’d say, “More than I want the Pistons to win, I want the Celtics to lose.” I understood him, completely.

• On the subject of tribalism — here is something typical, and something very today:

• By now, you have heard, probably, the story of Kristi Noem and her dog, the late Cricket. Helluva story. (For an account, go here.) Noem is the governor of South Dakota. Apparently, she wishes to be Donald Trump’s running mate. There is a theory that she told the story of her dog in order to impress Trump. Apparently, he has an aversion to dogs.

And Noem shot Cricket dead.

On social media, someone recalled a delicious moment from Veep, the TV show: here. It takes a minute to watch. I’ll pause while you do, if you care to.

Okay. Over the years, lots of Republican politicians — and Republican media figures — have tried to impress Trump. You can see this on Fox News. Sometimes, people seem to be talking directly to Trump — or in the hope that their words will reach his ear.

Reading about Governor Noem and Cricket, I thought of a GOP congressional candidate, years ago. He talked of Trump’s “massive hands” — “like a workman’s hands.” Olivia Nuzzi wrote this up, in New York: here.

Why would the candidate have done that? Because it had been reported that Trump was sensitive to the idea that he had small hands. The candidate was trying to — well, ingratiate.

An amazing period, we’re in. Maybe we always are. But some periods are more amazing than others, I think we can grant.

• See this fellow here? He’s a West Virginia Republican, running for the Senate. Recently, he cut an ad. I thought he looked familiar. Then it hit me: He’s the one who, in a previous race, nicknamed Senator McConnell “Cocaine Mitch.”

• I wish to recommend some articles — beginning with this one, a column by Peggy Noonan: “The Uglification of Everything.” Its subheading is, “Artistic culture has taken a repulsive turn. It speaks of a society that hates itself, and hates life.” The column is, among other things, deeply conservative (in an old sense of that word).

“Here is something sad about modern artists,” writes Ms. Noonan: “They are held back by a lack of limits.” Yes, yes, and yes again.

• An article by Kevin D. Williamson concerns “Mr. President” — the use of that term after a person has left the office. (The same applies to “Senator,” “Governor,” etc.) Many years ago, I made a pledge to the public: “If you elect me president, I will not, when my term or terms are finished, expect to be called ‘Mr. President.’ In fact, I will discourage it.” Somehow, that has not been enough to get the public to bite . . .

(I should try another tack: “Low taxes, big spending!”)

• Daniel Hannan has written about Scottish nationalism. The whole column is splendid — but I think one passage, in particular, should win a prize for alliteration: “In a single generation, Scottish separatism went from being a kooky cause for kilted cranks to carrying all before it.”

“A kooky cause for kilted cranks” — a phrase for the ages.

Even so, I . . . well, since I have made confessions in this column, maybe I can make another one. One I have made before. I will quote from a piece I wrote last year — a Glasgow journal:

I was so very, very pleased when Scots, in a referendum, decided to remain part of Britain. But I have to ask myself: If I were Scottish, would I be a nationalist? Would I favor separation? Independence? I can’t say I wouldn’t.

I love Britain, as a foreigner. I love the United Kingdom. I want things to stay the way they are forever. But, again: I am a foreigner, and see through foreign eyes. Were I Scottish, I think my nationalist juices would flow, and I’m sure I would burn at every English insult . . .

Yeah, man.

• A little language? A reader sends me a headline from the Austin American-Statesman, over this article: “These 3 Texas universities among most prettiest campuses on Architectural Digest list.” Oops.

(Journalists should not guffaw at the typos and misfires of others. These things will come for us, sooner or later.)

• I smiled at this:

Maybe a similar warning should appear over my columns?

Thanks for joining me, Impromptus-ites, and I’ll catch you later.

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