1. I think someone should write a book entitled "'The Left' Image in the Right's Mind." There are few things Donald Trump, Jr. enjoys talking about more, for example, than the phantom, totalitarian menace called "the left." 
2. But here's the thing, though he may be a latecomer to the whole "politics" thing, Jr. is trodding on well-worn, conservative ground. For example, check out NeverTrump conservative David French's heightened level of concern about "the left."
3. In the 8 months following Trump's announcement that he was running for President, French tweeted out 14 articles with the phrase "the left" in the title. And all of that news about "the left," you'll be surprised to learn, was very, very scary.
4. Like @cjane87, I find conservatism fascinating and get frustrated when folks treat it as a univocal and simplistic political tradition.
5. But I've also gotta say, nothing makes me want to throw my computer across the room in anger more than seeing the phrase "the left" cynically deployed by people on the right...esp. people like David French who are supposed to be amongst the more thoughtful conservatives.
6. Judging by past practice, America is going to have a political spectrum that runs from right to left for the foreseeable future. Neither "the left" nor "the right" is going to eliminate the other and thus they will continue to occupy the same (tho shifting) political culture.
7. The left-leaning media that I encounter is generally pretty savvy about noting the differences between Freedom Caucus conservatives, evangelical conservatives, Mormon conservatives, libertarians, corporate conservatives, the alt-right, white supremacists, etc.
8. The right-leaning media I encounter (outlets like The Federalist, National Review, Weekly Standard) almost always talk in generalizations about a monolithic "left" wch poses a dire threat to the nation, if not Western Civilization as a whole. "The left" this, "the left" that.
9. In this one way, the Fox News's and Breitbart's and Donald Trump Jr's and National Review's and Weekly Standard's (RIP) of the world seem very much like each other. Maybe it's a hangover of the Cold War battle against "the pinkos?" Regardless, it's annoying. Pls stop. Kthx.
10. The opening tweet about "'The Left' Image in The Right's Mind" is a reference to these two, excellent books.
11. This has turned into kind of an interesting experiment. Check out The Federalist's takes on "the left." twitter.com/search?f=tweet…
12. The National Review has much to say about "the left" as well. twitter.com/search?f=tweet…
13. Jonah Goldberg, the author of the book Liberal Fascism, not surprisingly, has many thoughts about "the left" as well. twitter.com/search?f=tweet…
14. To be fair...I certainly spend a good amount of time tweeting about "the right" and "conservatives" even though I'm not one. But that's (in part) what I study...so that's my excuse. twitter.com/search?f=tweet…
