Wednesday 24 June 2026
Chris Stirewalt /

The Contradictions of Paranoid Nationalism

Suspicion of authority is an old and important part of American conservatism. But so too is respect for righteous authority and tradition.
The Contradictions of Paranoid Nationalism

We’ve come to an odd pass in American politics. The people who have the deepest suspicions about the way government works are increasingly enthusiastic about the use of government power. 

Somehow, many of the same folks who say that government authorities shouldn’t be trusted to make sure vaccines are safe or that elections are fairly conducted also say that we should have the government set industrial policy, regulate speech on the internet, or even engineer the size and shape of American families.

Chris Stirewalt is a contributing writer for The Dispatch, the politics editor for The Hill and NewsNation, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, co-host of the Ink Stained Wretches podcast, and author of Broken News, a book on media and politics.

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