It started with a simple enough question in light of the current media landscape:
Would Christopher Hitchens be able to get a job at any mainstream journalistic institution today? Highly doubtful.
— Jamie Kirchick (@jkirchick) April 5, 2018
It’s an interesting question and one that was quickly derailed when Vox’s Matthew Yglesias decided to weigh in with this opinion:
My guess is that if Hitch were alive today he’d be the leading pro-Trump columnist in America, following the siren song of faux contrarianism to its ultimate end. https://t.co/Gq3Nj4HyML
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) April 7, 2018
It’s Matthew Yglesias, not it’s not surprising that he’s wrong; many were shocked by just how wrong he was on this one, though.
In case you’re ever tempted to take Yglesias seriously about anything, a useful reminder https://t.co/9qO63rINXs
— Cathy Young (@CathyYoung63) April 7, 2018
One of the worst takes I have ever seen on this godforsaken website https://t.co/BYsVcZq0fP
— Michael Hefner (@Liv4theBeat) April 7, 2018
Wow this is a bad take https://t.co/16PqJItJHf
— Kameron Pavy (@HoosierKam) April 7, 2018
This is an atrocious take. https://t.co/iprjUSN1XN
— Josh Thorp (@JoshuaThorp) April 7, 2018
Cursed take https://t.co/f2vqlXYNwX
— Ryan McGovern (@McGovern1994) April 7, 2018
Almost certainly untrue. Definitely unfair. https://t.co/w31E5OK8O6
— Kurt Andersen (@KBAndersen) April 7, 2018
This does not look right to me https://t.co/iB5zVzDm9F
— Jonn Elledge (@JonnElledge) April 7, 2018
My god, this is a stupid take. https://t.co/4CYHCI2lMF
— Jordan Jameson (@NJordanJameson) April 7, 2018
Wow. What a genius. https://t.co/XcB9zIdplt
— Kevin (@Intrinsic29) April 7, 2018
As Christopher Hitchens rightly pointed out, it is sometimes entirely appropriate to criticize the deceased.
But speculating that they would take a loathsome political opinion that is entirely unlike anything they ever endorsed while they were alive is in disgustingly bad taste. https://t.co/8ZaGfhzGCO
— Yascha Mounk (@Yascha_Mounk) April 7, 2018
This is absurd. Hitchens was an internationalist. His brand of internationalism moved from Marxism to something compatible with The Weekly Standard, but the underlying impulse stayed in place. Trump's "America First" nationalism would repel him. https://t.co/pbRqWxD9GI
— Jesse Walker (@notjessewalker) April 7, 2018
This is particularly stupid—to say nothing of its being gratuitously offensive—given that almost everyone I can think of who was allied with Christopher in his last two decades or so, on both the left and right, is now anti-Trump. https://t.co/9AhbOXvKpj
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) April 7, 2018
The stupidity of this hot take is truly something to behold https://t.co/4cCsFDiQCF
— The Illuminaughty (@MatthewEyre) April 7, 2018
Is this a joke? https://t.co/WYMredTWPe
— Jason Pontin (@jason_pontin) April 7, 2018
Weekend Twitter, because everyone has free time, tends to be filled with outrageously bad takes. https://t.co/CCdgrZuC0w
— Bill Shea (@Bill_Shea19) April 7, 2018
Lol do you even know who Christopher Hitchens was? https://t.co/ra9IzmK6LZ
— Dow Joans Bare Market Capital (@EthanNagler) April 7, 2018
The dumbest commentator of all time, and it isn’t even close: https://t.co/3HGJdIuwPB
— Indy 08 (@Independence24) April 7, 2018
when “siren song” and “faux contrarianism” show up in the same sentence, you KNOW you’re dealing with a next level blogger https://t.co/o6cFM3Zya5
— Brandon Wilson (@brandonwilson) April 7, 2018
Geez, Matt, this might be the stupidest thing you have ever come up with. By an order of magnitude, too. https://t.co/fSSD82gnPa
— Don's Back! (@DonKeh0te) April 7, 2018
This strikes me as a slander. Hitchens was a nonconformist, but that was a style and method. The end was a deep and abiding anti-totalitarianism. https://t.co/KxwdQsiiy6
— Brian Stewart (@bstewart1776) April 7, 2018
If Hitchens stood against one thing, it was religious, fascistic thinking, which describes Trump and his followers pretty well. https://t.co/NWCZy6EtDb
— Alfredough (@alfredossauce) April 7, 2018
You obviously haven’t seen the footage of Hitch stomping Hannity. Fox is too pro-religion to have Hitch as a regular. My guess is that if Hitch were alive today, the SJW’s would join forces with the alt-right attempting to censor him. https://t.co/kHleDX9bsZ
— Matt Deguzman (@Matt_Deguzman_) April 7, 2018
Hitchens — for right or wrong — would’ve obviously despised Trump in the same way he despised Buchanan and Palin, and the fact that @mattyglesias doesn’t understand that (or pretends not to) doesn’t surprise me. But you can safely dismiss Matt’s political analysis from now on. https://t.co/xnXOQNNGlg
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) April 7, 2018
Christopher Hitchens on Trump in the 1980s: "If the country can be run as US Inc by a real 'can-do' guy, there's a whiff of fascism to that." https://t.co/ghPGcsfGxC
— George Eaton (@georgeeaton) April 7, 2018
Hitchens called Trump a "nutball narcissistic tycoon" in 1999 …https://t.co/6eklT8gzTz https://t.co/2v2qiC4RVr
— Nico Perrino (@NicoPerrino) April 7, 2018
If you actually think this, then you need to read more Hitchens. https://t.co/xO03YyF1Qu
— Ironic Imperialist (@IImperialist) April 7, 2018
Nobody who’s actually read anything from Hitchens thinks this https://t.co/1GHiTqvbQ5
— Scott Davies (@scottjdavies01) April 7, 2018
Anyone who thinks this did not understand Hitch AT ALL. There's precisely ZERO chance of it. What an embarrassing piece of foolishness! https://t.co/aMOMpPdznk
— Hussein Ibish (@Ibishblog) April 7, 2018
Requirements to believe Hitchens would have admired Trump:
1) Never having read Hitchens
2) Having no understanding of Trump
3) Thinking liberal democracy is Daily Kos
4) Having no familiarity with the civilization of EnglandMatthew Yglesias is a very highly paid commentator.
— John-Paul Pagano (@johnpaulpagano) April 7, 2018
This is an incredible insult to the memory of someone who would be the leading anti-Trump columnist in America. He wasn’t contrarian just for the sake of being contrarian. https://t.co/LiEbByXKev
— Dave Quast (@davequast) April 7, 2018
I mean, Hitchens called the Tea Party the modern day Know Nothings, but sure, pretend he’d be pro trump. https://t.co/IeNTSazrOQ
— A Game for Kings (@AGameForKings) April 7, 2018
My guess is that if Hitch were alive today, he'd bitch slap you for being an assumptive asshole. https://t.co/fu5UXCxlWe
— Scott Greenfield (@ScottGreenfield) April 7, 2018
Of the people most intellectually intimate with Hitch- his wife Carol, his children, agents, editors, Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis, @sullydish, @Ibishblog@michaeldweiss , @mcmoynihan , @jkirchick etc … not one pro-Trump. But anyone can draw a mustache on a dead man's image
— David Frum (@davidfrum) April 7, 2018
Even Hitchens’ son had to get in on this pile-on.
Utter, utter nonsense here. You have no idea what you're talking about.
— Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens (@amhitchens) April 7, 2018
What would have really been delicious would be reading a slow, careful Hitchens takedown of Matt Yglesias. https://t.co/dgerxzGQYD
— John Ettorre (@workinwithwords) April 7, 2018
