Know Your Enemy - A Low, Dishonest Decade: The Right in the 1990s (w/ Nicole Hemmer)

Matt and Sam talk to Nicole Hemmer about her new book, Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s.

Duration: 1h 11m
Broadcast on: 31 Aug 2022
Audio Format: other

In this episode, historian Nicole Hemmer returns to the show to discuss her new book, Partisans, about the ascendancy of an angrier, more radical strain of conservatism in the Republican Party in the 1990s—a backlash driven by the right's dissatisfaction with the genial, popularity-seeking Ronald Reagan. As the Cold War ended, many conservatives stopped genuflecting to democracy and freedom and used new forms of media—talk radio and cable news especially—to spread their grievances. Topics include: Pat Buchanan's campaigns for the presidency, Ross Perot, Newt Gingrich and the GOP's takeover of the House of Representatives, Rush Limbaugh, Dinesh D'Souza, and the new breed of anti-feminist, rightwing women such as Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter.

Sources:

Nicole Hemmer, Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s (Basic, 2022)

Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics (Penn, 2016)

Kevin Phillips, The Politics of Rich and Poor (Random House, 1990)

John Ganz, "The Year the Clock Broke," The Baffler, November 2018

Know Your Enemy, "The Year the Clock Broke" (w/ John Ganz), March 16, 2020

...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy to listen to all of our bonus episodes!

All right, welcome listeners to episode 60 of Know Your Enemy. I'm Matt Seppen, your podcast co-host, and I'm here with my great friend Sam Heather Bell. Hey, Sam. Hi, Matt. I should say welcome back in one sense, but we're both back in New York after a few weeks of travel, which means we're gearing up for the fall. A lot of stuff is happening, the midterms, of course, but a lot's happening on the right. We're excited for lots of episodes we have planned, including some great bonus episodes. But today we're kicking things off kind of a return to full schedule with an amazing guest about her amazing book. Who did we talk to this time, Sam? We had Nikki Hemmer and Nicole Hemmer on the podcast again, author of a new book, which is called Partisans, the conservative revolutionaries who remade American politics in the 1990s. Listeners will remember we had Nikki on before to talk about Rush Limbaugh after he died. She's a really great writer, incredibly, incredibly smart and poised podcaster. And her new book, Partisans, is about what happened to conservatism in the 1990s. Yes, in addition to being on the podcast before and the author of this great new book, Nikki is also now an associate professor of history at and the director of the Rogers Center for the Study of the Presidency at Vanderbilt University. She also co-hosts her own podcast, Not Surprising When You Hear How Great She Is, called Past Present and This Day in Esoteric Political History. And you've probably seen her around. She writes for CNN. She's of course going to be plugging this book and we were really happy she was able to stop by, know your enemy, to talk about it with us. Yeah, and the book is now out, yes. But conservatism in the 1990s is something that we've covered on the podcast a few times. But Nikki's thesis here is specifically that something changed between Reaganism and the 90s, sort of coarsening more partisanship. And we walk her through that thesis and try to sort of kick the tires of it. And I think listeners will find it really interesting. Yes, so far more comprehensive and I think systematic look at the 90s than we've done before. You know, not just talking about what happened, but kind of how we got there and how it fits into some of the things we talk about a lot on the show, the history of conservatism, the narratives we use to describe it. So on and so forth. Nikki's book is a really, I think, unique and pleasingly written contribution to some of those debates. Totally. As we mentioned, we're excited to be back kind of podcasting full time. And one of the things that we mentioned was that, you know, we'll have some really interesting bonus episodes, especially if you're interested in the midterm elections coming out, in addition to our other ones, you know, our book episodes and those kinds of conversations. But to listen to those, you should subscribe to us on patreon.com/knowyourenemy. For $5 a month, you have access to all of our bonus episodes. And for $10 a month, you not only get those, but a digital subscription to our sponsor, Descent Magazine, who, as always, were grateful for their generosity to us and their support. And we're happy to partner with them.

Transcription truncated.

Matt and Sam talk to Nicole Hemmer about her new book, Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s.