How would Christopher Hitchens have respond to today's world?

[James Monroe]

10 1/2 years ago, one of the rousing public intellectuals of our time said goodbye to our world. The man was a provoking individual on all aisle of political ideologies, a wordsmith of trades, a guy who saw the Enlightenment as the path to humanity push forward. The man was a writer for esteemed magazines as The Nation and Vanity Fair, he was a pundit all over cable television, he went to college campuses and debated with fellow opponents from war to religion.  Fair to say not many other intellectuals in this early part of the century who stirred up the gin quite like the racquet of knowledge and rationalism.  Ladies and gentleman, that man was Christopher Hitchens.

If Hitchens was still kicking with the world how would he have responded to the cycling events in the time since? Personally, I think he would have been a fierce critic of Donald Trump and the Qanon movement, which he would call out in brutal fashion. Putting aside his long dislike of the Clintons, Hitchens would have been a supporter of her primary campaign candidacy once Trump became the nominee of the Republican Party. The presidency of Donald J. Trump would have provided a attack machine for Hitchens to relish against, as Trump represented the opposite of Hitchens wisdom in favor of ignorance and lack of curiosity.  In short, Hitchens is the intellectual we need today to combat the insanity of our governance and the lies from normal public individuals.

[John Dule]

I find it hard to believe that Hitchens would've expended much intellectual energy on Trump or his followers.

[James Monroe]

I find it hard to believe that Hitchens would've expended much intellectual energy on Trump or his followers.

Oh, Hitchens would have a field day with Trump and his cult of followers.

[H. Ross Peron]

Antiwoke Berniecrat. Probably would be very critical of tankie types on the revived left though.

[H. Ross Peron]

It's not fashionable, but Hitchens is someone to whom my thoughts often return. My feeling is that the past decade has vindicated his harshest critiques of both the right and the left in this country so thoroughly that it may have led him to revise his fundamental optimism about the United States.

It would have been a joy to read how he parsed the 2016 primaries, though. I cannot think of another political writer who would have been so primed for invective against every major player. His attitude toward both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump could only be something to the effect of "candidates so grotesque that only the unchecked misdeeds of the Clintons could inflict such horrors on us."

Antiwoke Berniecrat. Probably would be very critical of tankie types on the revived left though.

I cannot imagine Hitchens reconciling his journey away from the left with the sensibilities of a Berniecrat. Sanders would have bothered Hitchens at his core for all kinds of reasons, and not just on account of Sanders' vocal record as a critic of US foreign policy.

That's a fair point though I think Sanders's domestic policy record and honesty would be pluses for Hitchens. At the same time, who else would he support in 2016? He was no fan of the Clintons and the level of his contempt for Trump as well as most other major 2016 Republican candidates would be hard to contemplate.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Hitchens had a lot of smart things to say, and I do agree he's enough of a maverick to be an anti-woke Berniecrat.

[James Monroe]

It's not fashionable, but Hitchens is someone to whom my thoughts often return. My feeling is that the past decade has vindicated his harshest critiques of both the right and the left in this country so thoroughly that it may have led him to revise his fundamental optimism about the United States.

It would have been a joy to read how he parsed the 2016 primaries, though. I cannot think of another political writer who would have been so primed for invective against every major player. His attitude toward both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump could only be something to the effect of "candidates so grotesque that only the unchecked misdeeds of the Clintons could inflict such horrors on us."

Antiwoke Berniecrat. Probably would be very critical of tankie types on the revived left though.

I cannot imagine Hitchens reconciling his journey away from the left with the sensibilities of a Berniecrat. Sanders would have bothered Hitchens at his core for all kinds of reasons, and not just on account of Sanders' vocal record as a critic of US foreign policy.

That's a fair point though I think Sanders's domestic policy record and honesty would be pluses for Hitchens. At the same time, who else would he support in 2016? He was no fan of the Clintons and the level of his contempt for Trump as well as most other major 2016 Republican candidates would be hard to contemplate.

The other alternative would be supporting an third party candidate like Jill Stein or Gary Johnson, if you think Hitchens would support. Hitchens would have been skeptical about Bernie proposals initially, though faced with the prospect of a Clinton candidacy he would do everything in his pursuit to stop the triumph of a Hillary victory.  No Republican would earn any respect from the Hitch. Ben Carlson and Ted Cruz would get the most scrutinizing as being the two most extremist on the issue of separation of church and state, which would alarm Hitchens own begrudge against the tenants of organized religion.

[Middle-aged Europe]

"What the actual f**k?"

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

My reaction to only the thread title and not reading a single post in this thread:

[PSOL]

Antiwoke Berniecrat. Probably would be very critical of tankie types on the revived left though.

Christopher Hitchen’s deathbed conversion back into a want-er of communism kind of throws a wrench at that sort of idea. The most positive review of Bernie Sanders that man could make is the sort of commentary longtime ex-Sander’s friend Michael Parenti reviewed of him. I have my doubts on whether he would’ve liked the trajectory he took after the primaries. Similarly, Hitchens would have not liked either Gary Johnson or Jill Stein in any way given that he would view them as appealing to the lowest common denominator and following ideological and subcultural leanings he has no connections to.

Hitchens would despise Trump and view him as an outgrowth of evangelical Christianity.

[James Monroe]

Hitchens would despise Trump and view him as an outgrowth of evangelical Christianity.

My gut feeling is Hitchens would notice the snake oil attachment of Evangelicals to Trump side, noting a man who was not deeply committed to any organized religion would become a figurehead for the community, with the hypocrisy of a man who is far from the values the Church preaches. The Qanon movement that spared out of the alt-right/Trump movement would be seen as the outgrowth of Evangelical Christianity, would have been terminated in public by Hitchens if he was around to witness Trump.

[GeneralMacArthur]

Let's not pretend Hitchens wouldn't be an IDW star who goes on podcasts to talk about the intellectual decline of men and periodically makes bigoted remarks on purpose so he can stir up a s--tstorm for attention and play the victim.