Last week, the Daily Beast ran a story with a shocking headline: “Influential Anti-Woke Activist Is Open to Working with Racists and Fascists.” Even more shocking, as I read the first few paragraphs, the “influential anti-woke activist” in question was me.
According to the report by Jared Holt, I had hosted a X Spaces debate on the concept of “no enemies to the Right”—a variation on the French Revolution principle “no enemies to the Left”—during which one participant “floated an ear-burning idea” of “an armistice between the establishment Republican Party and the racists and fascists who are excited about its current trajectory.” By some property of guilt-by-association, Holt and the editors reasoned, I, too, held these views—so they attacked.
There was, however, one problem: The article and its claims against me were entirely false. As I wrote to the Daily Beast editors in protest: “I have never suggested in any way, shape, or form that I am ‘open to working with racists and fascists’— and your claim that I have done so is deliberately false, malicious, and defamatory, with a clear intention of tarnishing my reputation.” In fact, I told them, I have “repeatedly argued the opposite,” making the case against “right-wing racialism,” which, like its left-wing counterpart, critical race theory, is antithetical to American principles.
The editors didn’t even need to look through my past work to understand my view. During the announcement for the debate in question, I made it...
Mick Jagger, lead singer of The Rolling Stones, held a moment of silence in tribute to Charlie Kirk during a September 2025 concert. Following the fatal shooting of conservative activist and Turni...