Did William F. Buckley get us Donald Trump...

In some ways yes and in some ways no, but a new biography of WFB is fascinating.

On the surface, William F. Buckley, the founder of National Review, the host of Firing Line, seemed like the ultimate Republican establishment elitist. In so many ways he was far from that and his upbringing, and his Canadian connections, show the truth.

Right about now, younger readers will be asking, “Who is William F. Buckley?” or “What is a National Review?”

Well, from 1955 until sometime in the early Trump era, National Review was one of the most influential conservative media outlets in the English speaking world. Buckley founded the magazine when he was just 29 years old and sat at the helm for the next 35 years helping usher in Reagan and having dealings with Nixon.

He wasn’t just about politics though, he had his finger on the pulse of pop-culture hosting the popular Firing Line TV show on PBS. He was a man of his times who changed his views on issues of race and more.

He also wielded enormous power in the conservative movement and inside the Republican Party. The latest biography on him, one Buckley endorsed before his death, wasn’t even written by a conservative but it is fantastic.

I had a chance to chat recently with author Sam Tanenhaus about his book Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America.

Consider buying the book for yourself or as a Christmas present. yes, I’ll get a small commission if you buy from my link. We all need to eat.

Sam is an academic, but an entertaining one. Incidentally, he used to be a visiting professor at the University of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto and we spoke about our favourite parts of my neighbourhood and where I walk my dog, but not during the podcast.

Part of our discussion is how the Buckley revolution resulted in what we are seeing with Donald Trump now.

Enjoy the conversation.

Official show notes - AKA, the ones the bosses wrote.

The U.S. Republican party today isn’t what it used to be. But the evolution toward President Donald Trump’s MAGA-ism began decades ago when William F. Buckley launched a revolution on the American right. As Buckley’s official biographer Sam Tanenhaus tells Brian, the late conservative icon was a lot like Trump: a media-savvy wealthy elite who rebelled against the very establishment he came from. In his new book, Buckley: The Life and Revolution That Changed America, Tanenhaus lays out the improbable, fascinating story of the arch-Catholic New Englander who chummed around with hardcore leftists but transformed the GOP into a political powerhouse. In no small part by engaging Republicans in the culture war that eventually put Trump in the White House. (Recorded July 24, 2025)