The contemporary conflict within American culture between the Left and the Right has been increasing in intensity and divisiveness since the election of Donald Trump in 2016. This division is seen in many dimensions: the news media, academia, politics, entertainment media, and even within religious institutions. In general, the conflict can be understood as the Left attempting to gain political and cultural power, with the Right either in a defensive mode, or simply acquiescing to the Left’s intrusion.
The label “Left” implies a combination of “ism’s” over the past nearly 200 years: Socialism, Communism, Marxism, Progressivism, each with their individual characteristics and variations. Since its inception in the 1830s under President Andrew Jackson, the Democrat party has been the major home for these related ideologies, with occasional exceptions not of significance in this discussion.
The expression of these ideologies within the Democrat party has sometimes been overt such as the emergence of publicly expressed support for Socialism in 2019; more often, it has been concealed. It is noted that there have also been “centrists” Democrats who have tended to support traditional constituencies rather than ideology, but by 2019 they seemed to have been effectively silenced, with the Democrat party capitulating to the more extreme forms of ideology. Further, over time, the penetration of Leftism into the culture as a whole has been growing, until today it is dominant; the Left essentially owns academia from K to post graduate, as well as news and entertainment media for the most part, and additionally the governmental “deep state.” The “long march [of Marxism] through the pillars of culture” is near completion in the West in general, and specifically in America.
What is critical to understand is that knowledge of the effect of Marxist ideology has generally been hidden from the culture at large, and that camouflage has included history of the past, mostly written and published by Leftists. However, occasionally there have been people on the Right who have been able to break through the Gramscian Leftist hegemony, and provide the fresh air of reality and truth.
One such person is Diana West. There are others, of course such as Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, as well as contemporaries of Ms. West such as Andrew Breitbart, Dinesh D’Souza and Jordan Peterson, but in this posting we want to examine the important contributions that she has made, along with some details about push-back from both the Left and Right on what she has written and stated in speeches and interviews.
About Diana West
Here is some promotional material about Ms. West, outlining books that she has written, in addition to her many years of postings as a journalist.
Diana West is an award-winning journalist and the author of The Red Thread: A Search for Ideological Drivers Inside the Anti-Trump Conspiracy (Center for Security Policy Press, 2019), American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character (St. Martin’s Press 2013) and The Death of the Grown-Up: How America’s Arrested Development Is Bringing Down Western Civilization (St. Martin’s Press 2007). In Fall 2013, West brought out a companion volume to American Betrayal titled: The Rebuttal: Defending American Betrayal from the Book-Burners, which includes essays by Vladimir Bukovsky and M. Stanton Evans, among others. She is also one of 19 co-authors (including Frank Gaffney, Andrew C. McCarthy and James Woolsey) of Shariah: The Threat to America, a 2010 publication of the Center for Security Policy.
The two books we want to focus on in this article are The Red Thread and American Betrayal, both of which deal with Leftist infiltration into the American government, supported by the Left-leaning media and academia.
Red Thread deals with the ideology behind the attempt by the Leftist “deep state” to prevent the election of Donald Trump, and failing that, to overturn the results of the election through criminal prosecution, impeachment, or verbally smearing.
American Betrayal deals with the clandestine quasi-occupation of the US Government before, during and after WWII by Communist agents and “fellow travelers.” Ms. West demonstrates how the Leftist assets aided the Soviet Union in the building of its Eastern European empire, setting stage for the Cold War which essentially lasted into the early 1990s. She notes that even then, the US and the West – controlled by embedded Leftists – denied the attempt by Boris Yeltsin and others to undertake an accountability procedure for Soviet Communism, similar to the Nuremburg trials for the Nazi regime after WWII. Thus, she makes a compelling case that the Soviets “won” the Cold War.
Given in the following are articles and videos dealing with these two books. Note that there is a two-front “battle” that is being undertaken: not only exposing the Left and its Marxist ideology, but also dealing with some on the Right who disagree with the depth or perhaps content of her critique of the Left.
The Red Thread (2019)
This book serves as an expose of the conspiracy to derail Donald Trump’s campaign for the Presidency, followed by the attempts to overthrow the election results. It examines the motivations behind some of the principal players, and connects the dots to the ideological basis for their essentially criminal and sometimes treasonous actions.
Book published February 21, 2019. (From YouTube:) The first investigation into why a ring of senior Washington officials went rogue to derail the election and the presidency of Donald Trump.
There was nothing normal about the 2016 presidential election, not when senior U.S. officials were turning the surveillance powers of the federal government — designed to stop terrorist attacks — against the Republican presidential team. These were the ruthless tactics of a Soviet-style police state, not a democratic republic.
The Red Thread asks the simple question: Why? What is it that motivated these anti-Trump conspirators from inside and around the Obama administration and Clinton networks to depart so drastically from “politics as usual” to participate in a seditious effort to overturn an election?
Finding clues in an array of sources, Diana West uses her trademark investigative skills, honed in her dazzling work, American Betrayal, to construct a fascinating series of ideological profiles of well-known but little understood anti-Trump actors, from James Comey to Christopher Steele to Nellie Ohr, and the rest of the Fusion GPS team; from John Brennan to the numerous Clintonistas still patrolling the Washington Swamp after all these years, and more.
Once, we knew these officials by august titles and reputation; after The Red Thread, readers will recognize their multi-generational and inter-connecting communist and socialist pedigrees, and see them for what they really are: foot-soldiers of the Left, deployed to take down America’s first “America First” and most anti-Communist president.
If we just give it a pull, the “red thread” is very long and very deep.
Diana West’s ‘The Red Thread’ Book Launch–Featuring Chris Farrell of Judicial Watch (1:02:40)
2019-03-14 Last week, a group of experts–including Judicial Watch Director of Investigations & Research, Chris Farrell–appeared in a broadcast by the Center for Security Policy to discuss author Diana West’s new book–“The Red Thread.”
The Red Thread – Who Runs the Anti-Trump Conspiracies – West Molyneux (58:40)
2019-03-31 A discussion between Stefan Molyneux and Diana West talk about her new book, The Red Thread.
American Betrayal (2013)
When published in 2013, American Betrayal broke new ground. For one thing, it contained knowledge obtained from the opening of top-secret files in both Russia and the West following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Most of the classic texts on the political and governmental intrigue in the years leading up to World War II and well into the Cold War era did not have the benefit of this new information. Based in part on that information, and taking a fresh look at the overall narratives seemingly fixed in place, a series of new perspectives were provided by the author.
There are two sections found below: the book itself, and the controversy that followed.
Diana West: American Betrayal – The Secret Assault on Americas Character
This very comprehensive book unveils the great degree of Communist infiltration into the US government before, during and after World War II. Much of this aspect of the history of that era has needed to be rewritten due to the great body of new information obtained by the opening of the KGB files (and some of the similar US files) during the Yeltsin regime in the early 1990’s. Diana West’s haunting question is, “Who really won WWII?” The resounding answer appears to be the Left.
Diana West ‘American Betrayal’ at Politics and Prose Bookstore DC (36:29)
2013-07-17 Diana West talks about her 2013 book, “American Betrayal” at the DC area Politics and Prose bookstore. (From YouTube:) In her bold refutation of recent history’s official stories, West, Dispatch International Washington correspondent, casts a skeptical eye on FDR and other leaders, asking if the West’s “victory” in the Cold War was in fact more of a deal with the devil – one that led to today’s moral relativism and other social ills.
American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character (1:02:37)
2013-06-17 In “American Betrayal”, Diana West argues that — current policies today notwithstanding — America began to abandon its core ideals and march toward Socialism nearly 75 years ago. Starting in the late 1930s, at the time of FDR, the Soviets were already in a position to take advantage of the many communist sympathizers in the U.S. Not only FDR, but also Presidents Truman and Eisenhower and those in their inner circles played roles in enabling the U.S.S.R. as well as concealing the massive Moscow-directed penetration of American society. West shows that the system of spies designed to denigrate the American way of life was deep and extensive.
A Conversation with Diana West (1:02:21)
2013-06-12 Pastor David Stokes has a conversation with best-selling author, Diana West about her new book “American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character”.
Diana West – American Betrayal – LIVE from Boston (2:07:46)
2013-08-29 A LIVE broadcast from the Rabbi Jon Hausman Memorial Speakers Series, Ahavath Torah Congregation 1179 Central Street Stoughton, MA. In this lecture, Diana West discusses her latest book ‘American Betrayal: The Secret Assault on Our Nation’s Character’ in which she takes a deeper look at America’s historical record, uncovering a body of lies that Americans have been led to regard as the near-sacred history of World War II and its Cold War aftermath.
This lecture was given three weeks after the Ron Radosh putdown of American Betrayal.
2013 Mightier Pen Award: Diana West (21:31)
2013-11-21: Acceptance speech at the 2013 award ceremony, dealing with her book “American Betrayal” and the controversy surrounding it.
Controversy Surrounding American Betrayal – From the Right
“American Betrayal” was published in May of 2013. It was initially well-received, including a positive review published in FrontPage Magazine. However, FrontPage owner David Horowitz disagreed with the review to the extent that he withdrew it from the FrontPage website. As the months rolled by, a controversy arose among conservative intellectuals concerning the book.
In October 2013, Diana West published a book entitled “The Rebuttal: Defending ‘American Betrayal’ from the Book Burners.” In this book, she takes on the criticisms which had been cited, and attempts to clarify and refute, often with the concluding statement, “Not in my book.”
In early December, National Review Online’s Andrew C. McCarthy published an extensive review of the book, followed a few weeks later by another extensive article dealing with the controversy.
The articles and video listed below provide some idea of the concerns on all sides.
David Horowitz: Diana West Invents a New Conspiracy
2013-09-08 David Horowitz reviews the sequence of events that led up to this posting relative to his actions in respect to American Betrayal. Initially, he had removed a favorable review of American Betrayal, and in this posting he explains why. He deals with what he considers Diana West’s over-the-top response to Horowitz’s critique, as well as to other unfavorable reviews posted in Frontpage Magazine and elsewhere.
M. Stanton Evans – In Defense of Diana West
2013-09-13 M. Stanton Evans responds to the controversy surrounding American Betrayal, and outlines in some depth his support for Diana West’s conclusions.
2013-09-26 Essay in support of Diana West and American Betrayal, written by two Russian exiles:
Vladimir Bukovsky is one of the founders of the Soviet dissident movement. He spent twelve years in Soviet prisons, labor camps and psychiatric hospitals during his fight for freedom. In 2007, he was nominated for president of Russia by the democratic opposition in moral protest of Putin’s powers. His many works include “To Build a Castle” and “Judgement in Moscow.”
Pavel Stroilov is a Russian exile in London and the editor and translator of Alexander Litvinenko’s book, Allegations. He is co-author with Bukovsky of “EUSSR: The Soviet Roots of European Integration,” and the author of “Behind the Desert Storm: A Secret Archive Stolen from the Kremlin that Sheds New Light on the Arab Revolutions in the Middle East.”
The Rebuttal – Diana West Defending ‘American Betrayal’
As the push-back from the Right grew during the Summer of 2013, Diana West decided to collect expressions of support for American Betrayal and refutation of aspects of the critiques in book form; hence: The Rebuttal.
In what follows, there are links to the continuing controversy, following the publication of Rebuttal in October 2013.
The Rebuttal: Defending ‘American Betrayal’ from the Book-Burners
2013-10-02 Diana West and a host of others – including illustrious authors M. Stanton Evans and Vladimir Bukovsky – defend her new book, “American Betrayal,” against a wave of calumnious charges and vicious personal attacks.
Additional information on the internet “dialog” over the next 6 months or so in 2014 concerning the American Betrayal controversy can be found on this webpage.
Discussion
From 2016 to the present, there has been a comprehensive effort on the part of the Left to (a) prevent Donald Trump from being elected, and failing that, (b) seeking to destroy his presidency by establishing false narratives such as “Russian Collusion”, “Racism”, and “White Supremacy”; whatever works. For example, in the Summer of 2019, when the final attempt at “Russian Collusion” failed miserably with the pathetic hearing of Robert Mueller, the “Collusion” narrative simply vanished, and it was on to the two-pronged “Racism” and “White Supremacy” mantra.
And while all this was going on, the crimes of the Obama administration – including especially those of Hillary Clinton – were nowhere to be found in the media, other than the few conservative voices, the Internet, and talk radio.
During 2018-2019, several important books in addition to Red Thread came out to deal with aspects of the Left’s assault on the American government. Here are three:
Dan Bongino – Spygate: The Attempted Sabotage of Donald J. Trump – Oct 9, 2018
The McCarthy book is perhaps the most comprehensive, dealing extensively with the criminal activities undertaken by the Obama administration.
While these books are vital – and there will be more, for sure – what is critically important about Diana West’s “Red Thread” is that she links principal players explicitly to beliefs in and adherence to Leftist ideology. These players include Nellie Ohr, James Comey, Christopher Steele, John Brennan, Madeleine Albright, Edward Lieberman, the Clintons, and John Kerry. And there are undoubtedly many more.
Until the depth of the Red Threads are understood within our culture, we will continue to shake our heads and wonder, “what will they think of next?” But that does not need to happen. Knowledge of Leftist ideology must become widespread, so that it came be constantly exposed and discredited.