Get rid of it all

Episode three of The Takeover podcast hears from a New York Times journalist who has been writing about the major actions of US President Donald Trump’s administration. 

“The key factor of the educated elite is that they're not pro-conservative. They're anti-left. They don't have a positive vision, a conservative vision for society. They just want to destroy the institutions that the left now dominates.”

Columnist David Brooks, who describes himself as a moderate opinion writer, went against the grain in his speech which opened day two of the ARC conference in London, U.K.

ARC, the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, was co-founded by Canadian Jordan Peterson. The goal of the alliance is to “unite conservative voices and propose policies based on traditional Western values.” It positions itself as an intellectual hub for the growing right-wing movement. 

The list of conference speakers is a who’s who of rich power brokers from around the world, including Canada, many working quietly in the background to influence governments on issues like immigration, business regulation, and climate change. 

Organizers might have seen Brooks as a friendly journalist.  He has said when he joined the New York Times, he was the only conservative on the op-ed page. 

But he made it clear to the audience that he is not MAGA and believes that what Elon Musk is doing to the U.S. government — closing agencies and firing thousands of people is wrong. 

“They just want to destroy the institutions that the left now dominates.  And this means in the first place they're astoundingly incompetent,” said Brooks. 

There was some booing at that, but there was also some clapping for Trump’s behavior, including bashing net-zero goals and renewables.

Paul Marshall, the man who provided the money to create ARC and the conference said Britain's net-zero and renewable policies are a failure.

“Renewables are essentially a parasitic energy," he said. 

Listen to episode three of The Takeover here.