Politics


Pat Buchanan’s Mighty Pen Paved Way for Trump


After six decades, presidential candidate and pugnacious pundit calls it quits.


N BY JOHN GIZZI


ot since swashbuckling New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley was the Democrat nominee for presi-


dent in 1872 has a professional word- smith had the impact Pat Buchanan has had on contemporary politics. But when Newsmax contacted Buchanan after he recently announced retirement after nearly 60 years in poli- tics and the punditocracy, he quickly — and, as always, graciously — said no. “Sorry, my friend,” Buchanan, 84,


emailed me. “When I ended the col- umn, I ended my participation in the public dialogue. “And I cannot now start making exceptions for interviews when I have already had to turn down so many old friends and associates. Have said what I came to say.” So be it. Patrick Joseph Buchanan


really does not need to reflect on his storied career. There are more than enough who were moved, either posi- tively or negatively, by his brass-knuck- led columns, his pugnacious polemics on radio and TV, and his three losing- but-memorable races for president.


44 NEWSMAX | MAY 2023 He drew an average of 30% of the


vote in the GOP primary against Presi- dent George H.W. Bush. “Buchanan worked wonders with his


brigades, his message, and his attack ads,” wrote Allan Ryskind, onetime co-owner of the conservative weekly Human Events. “Every time he decided to raise


an issue, Mr. Bush appeared to give ground.” In 1996, Buchanan scored an upset


victory in the New Hampshire prima- ry before eventually losing the GOP presidential nomination to Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan. Buchanan’s campaign nonetheless


rallied conservative Republican voters who shared his views on issues from abortion to cutting taxes to caution about U.S. involvement abroad. His consequential involvement in


national politics paved the way for Don- ald Trump’s improbable nomination and election as the 45th president. Buchanan took a hard line on interna-


tional trade and embraced tariffs in the 1990s when it was definitely not a main- stream conservative platform, and Trump ran hard on the same issues in 2016.


Similarly, Buchanan’s outspoken


stance against illegal immigration was a major plank in the Make America Great Again manifesto. Even before he ran for president, Buchanan railed against “global- ists” who wanted a “Pax Americana” imposed on the rest of the world — angering then-Vice President Dick Cheney.


Summarizing his own attitude


toward politics, Buchanan shared a quote attributed to legendary football coach Vince Lombardi: “Football is not a contact sport. It is a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport.” One of nine children of a certified


public accountant in Washington, D.C., Buchanan attributes his certitude to his upbringing in strict Roman Catholi- cism, that is, before the church of his youth underwent the changes of the Second Vatican Council which Buchan- an abhorred. It was a household where anti- communist Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy, R-Wis., and Gen. Douglas MacArthur were revered.


A


fter completing his undergradu- ate degree at Georgetown (during


which he had an altercation with two policeman who had to subdue him fol- lowing an arrest for speeding that he


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