11/27/2018
Angela Nagle, who earned condemnation across the left earlier this month for writing the essay, “The Left Case Against Open Borders” for the Trumpian American Affairs, has managed to compound those condemnations this week by appearing on Tucker Carlson Tonight to discuss said essay.
The segment is very brief, but Tucker praises her essay to high heavens, and the two never disagree on anything at any point — despite Nagle being an avowed Socialist of the Corbyn-Sanders variety. This was too much for many of Nagle’s enemies within the left, and even many of her former allies as well.
Here is Alex Press, who works for Jacobin Magazine — which used to publish Nagle regularly — declaring the debate about immigration within the left to be over:
every argument — ethical, economic, political, pragmatic, strategic, whatever — favors welcoming anyone who wants to come to the US and defending their right to organize once they’re here. the left has plenty of people who can (and have) elaborated on this so I’ll leave it at that
— Alex Press (@alexnpress) November 27, 2018
Here is Virgil Texas, a host of the popular Socialist podcast Chapo Trap House — which has had Nagle on for sympathetic interviews more than once:
angela nagle IS the left case against open borders
— Virgil Texas (@virgiltexas) November 20, 2018
(The joke is a reference to Nagle being an Irish citizen, though she is an American one as well.) [VDARE.com Note: People have been railing at Peter Brimelow for being an "immigrant himself" since the '90s.]
Anarchist Malcolm Harris declared:
Can you imagine any scenario where you’d go on Fox News to support borders while people are being beaten and gassed for trying to cross one? Of course not. Would 100% rather die. Amazing.
— Malcolm Harris (@BigMeanInternet) November 27, 2018
And went on to guilt-trip the publications that have published Nagle:
Jacobin, Baffler, and Current Affairs all caught a break on that chyron huh https://t.co/QBBFduo0rp
— Malcolm Harris (@BigMeanInternet) November 27, 2018
… and then labeled Nagle a “white nationalist”:
Oh come on haven’t we all uh accidentally paid a white nationalist to write about people of color and queers being too pushy https://t.co/wL4Eed0Ro5
— Malcolm Harris (@BigMeanInternet) November 27, 2018
Harris, though an enfant terrible, did manage to scare a few past associates of Nagle. Current Affairs defensively tweeted:
for the record: @curaffairs is a steadfastly pro open borders publication.
— Current Affairs (@curaffairs) November 27, 2018
Maximillian Alvarez, one of The Baffler’s marquee writers, responded:
Let us dunk on Nagle thusly. But "ANY MAG THAT EVER PUBLISHED ANYTHING BY HER BEFORE SHE EMERGED AS A FULL-BLOWN REACTIONARY MUST STAND TRIAL FOR THEIR SINS" is … not a great take. These mags should (continue to) publish critical takedowns of her BS tho, obviously https://t.co/wYLkEgHSRG
— Maximillian Alvarez (@maximillian_alv) November 27, 2018
Not long after having tweeted:
Get fucked, Nagle pic.twitter.com/eenT5YLCM6
— Maximillian Alvarez (@maximillian_alv) November 27, 2018
Hannah Gais, who worked at The Baffler back when they published Nagle regularly, is also running scared. After Nagle’s Tucker appearance, she retweeted this passive-aggressive jibe:
The contrarian left case against open borders shows among many other godawful things a real conspicuous blind spot around the climate crisis, which demands compassionate internationalism.
— Kate Aronoff (@KateAronoff) November 27, 2018
Does this mark the end of Nagle’s career on the left? Well, it certainly won’t make things easier for her. The contemporary left is an ever-raging fire of moral panics and condemnations. In light of Nagle’s recent activities, other writers who have had books released by the same publishing house as her have felt the need to “clarify” their associations. [Clarification of my relationship with Zero Books, by Adam Kotsko, Itself, November 22, 2018] This would suggest Nagle has become very deeply toxic in the rather small world of left-wing journalists, pundits, and professors.
This whole episode is another example of the left’s deep-seeded volatility. From its purges of talented writers over spurious allegations of sexual misconduct, to its need to juggle the interests of wealthy Jews and migrating Muslims, to its obsessive need for absolute fealty to amorphous moral axioms, staying on top within the left is no easy feat. What happens next to Angela Nagle will prove interesting, and indicative of trends to come.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.