Listening to Rush Limbaugh this past Friday whilst driving from a small city in Louisiana to Houston, I thought I heard Rush say, “... take a look what Buckley did to Pat Buchanan ...".

Well.

Since I was focused on driving safely on the challenging back roads of Louisiana and East Texas, I was not sure I heard that right.

Checking Rush's website today, here is the quote:

I think what Buckley would think of Trump? Probably for lessons there, take a look at what Buckley did to Pat Buchanan.  Pat Buchanan had written a couple of columns that were thought by many to be anti-Semitic in his references to Israel and the AIPAC, the lobbying group.

And Buckley did write a piece saying that he, after careful thought, did consider Buchanan to be anti-Semitic in those instances.  Buckley, of course, succeeded in excommunicating the John Birch Society from the conservative movement and so forth.  So my guess is that Buckley would be amused and would get as much out of it as he could, but, at some point, he would probably denounce Trump.

But then the question is what would Trump do, you know, after that.  (laughing)

What Would Mr. Buckley Think of Mr. Trump? August 14, 2015

[VDARE.com note: This refers to the infamous In Search Of Anti-Semitism issue of NR (December 30, 1991) which Buckley made into a book. Pat Buchanan’s career survived that, but Joe Sobran’s didn't.]

Often on VDARE we read of the NR purges, and the more recent NRO purges. It appears Rush is tuned in to that issue in his own way.

Encouraging!

I myself was barred from commenting on NRO after I got really fired up last year about Obama's child-immigration-invasion. I wear my NRO shunning as a badge of honor.