What the Claremont Institute failed to learn from Leo Strauss

Claremont mag.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Claremont, iStock)

This week's must-read essay comes from author Laura Field at The Bulwark. "What the Hell Happened to the Claremont Institute?" is a tour de force of critical intellectual journalism, carefully laying out the history of the influential conservative institute and how it has been transformed by its encounter with Donald Trump to become a leading force for the radicalization of the American right. (Full disclosure: I regularly appear on "Beg to Differ," The Bulwark's weekly podcast on current affairs.)

Though Field mentions controversial political philosopher Leo Strauss early on in the essay, he is passed over quickly, described as an important early influence on Harry Jaffa, the leading figure behind the institute and its distinctive approach to understanding American politics and history. This lack of attention to Strauss is justified. Jaffa's single-minded focus on the United States and overriding emphasis on producing hagiographical treatments of Great Statesmen (the American constitutional framers, Abraham Lincoln, and Winston Churchill, above all) place him quite far from Strauss' more philosophical focus and concerns.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.